Energy Consumption Management

Scope / Goals

>Develop an OPC UA information model for power consumption management in automated industrial applications. The primary focus is on the communication of energy consumption data, which is to be used in subsequent systems to fulfill use cases from discrete and continuous production, especially concerning the efficiency of the production and consequently the protection of the climate. Existing OPC UA models for Energy Management (e.g., OPC 30141) together with other energy management profiles present in the market will be considered.
It will allow management of energy consumption by automated equipment in manufacturing and processing applications. The model shall is intended to be scalable from small stand-alone devices to complete machines to production cells or entire factories and plants. Therefore, the energy-related Use Cases of existing fieldbus technology shall be considered.

Technical content

In terms of content, the specification describes energy measuring points. Depending on the requirements, these can also be implemented multiple times in systems, machines or components. Typically, a wide variety of consumers come together in a production facility. Consumption can be in the form of electrical energy or in other forms such as heat, compressed air or gas, for example.

Fig 1: Aggregation of consumption in a production line

Each of these energy measuring points in itself contains one or more measured energy values. For example, a particular sensor could measure pressure, temperature and flow. A table with the corresponding IDs, descriptions, units and data types is used to uniquely label the energy measurement values. The description of the measured energy values also includes an AccuracyClass, an AccuracyDomain and information describing the type of resource (e.g. electrical).
In addition to displaying energy consumption values, the specification can also be used to perform standby management. Standby management enables a device or parts of a device to switch to an energy-saving mode when it is not in operation or activated. If a standby management device supports more than one energy-saving mode (with different energy consumptions), transitions from one energy-saving mode to another are possible. For the smooth integration of devices with standby management functionality into a production process, standby management provides commands for the transition to an energy-saving mode and the termination of an energy-saving mode with returning to normal operation.
The specification is an important building block for the description of Energy Consumption data. That kind of data can be used for a wide variety of Use Cases like the monitoring and saving of energy. The energy consumption information can also be used to calculate a PCF foodprint or to draw conclusions for Predictive Maintenance. Accordingly, this specification adopts an integral role in an ecological and economically progressive world.