Quantifying operating strategy energy usage

• US 9,798,343 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2014
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaufman, Philip John
• Primary Examiner(s): Masinick, Michael D
• Application Number:
  US14/553,540
• Publication Number:
  US 20160147242A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/418 Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS] or computer integrated manufacturing [CIM]
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25387 Control sequences so as to optimize energy use by controlled machine
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32021 Energy management, balance and limit power to tools
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/36289 Cutting, machining conditions by optimisation of time, cost, accuracy
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/10 Greenhouse gas [GHG] capture, material saving, heat recovery or other energy efficient measures, e.g. motor control, characterised by manufacturing processes, e.g. for rolling metal or metal working
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 Energy audits or management systems therefor

Abstract

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for quantifying operating strategy energy usage. One embodiment describes an industrial control system that includes a tangible, non-transitory, computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions executable by a processor of the industrial control system. The instructions include instructions to determine a plurality of operating strategies associated with an industrial automation component that is communicatively coupled to the industrial control system, in which each of the plurality of operating strategies includes a set of operational parameters associated with the industrial automation component, determine an expected energy usage cost associated with the industrial automation component for each of the plurality of operating strategies, determine an expected value added associated with the industrial automation component for each of the plurality of operating strategies, and select one of the plurality of operating strategies for operating the industrial automation component based at least in part on the expected energy usage cost and the expected value added associated with each of the plurality of operating strategies.

Claims

1. An industrial control system comprising a tangible, non-transitory, computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions executable by a processor of the industrial control system, the instructions comprising instructions to:

determine a plurality of operating strategies associated with an industrial automation component that is communicatively coupled to the industrial control system, wherein each of the plurality of operating strategies comprises a set of operational parameters associated with the industrial automation component;

determine an expected energy usage cost associated with the industrial automation component for each of the plurality of operating strategies;

determine an expected value added associated with the industrial automation component for each of the plurality of operating strategies;

determine a degree of certainty that the expected energy usage cost and the expected value added will be achieved when each of the plurality of operating strategies is implemented by the industrial automation component; and

select one of the plurality of operating strategies for operating the industrial automation component based at least in part on the expected energy usage cost, the expected value added, and the degree of certainty of the expected energy usage cost and the expected value added associated with each of the plurality of operating strategies.

2. The industrial control system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to operate the industrial automation component using the selected operating strategies by sending one or more operational parameters associated with the selected operating strategy via a communication network to the industrial automation component.

3. The industrial control system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to generate a value-add index comprising the expected energy usage cost and the expected value added for each of the plurality of operating strategies, wherein the value-add index comprises a product throughput, a product quality, an industrial component up-time, or any combination thereof, wherein the selected operating strategy comprises a highest value-add index as compared to other ones of the plurality of operating strategies.

4. The industrial control system of claim 1, wherein the instructions to determine the expected energy usage comprises instructions to infer the expected energy usage by the industrial automation component based at least in part on energy usage by another related industrial automation component.

5. The industrial control system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to determine one or more costs associated with each of the plurality of operating strategies,

wherein the selected operating strategy is selected based on a difference between the value-added and the costs associated with each of the plurality of operating strategies.

6. The industrial control system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to receive an energy usage allotment associated with the industrial automation component, wherein the selected operating strategy is selected based on the energy usage allotment.

7. The industrial control system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to detect a sudden increase in price per unit of current energy usage associated with the industrial automation component, wherein the selected operating strategy is selected based at least in part on the sudden increase in price per unit of the current energy usage.

8. The industrial control system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of operating strategies comprise a production run rate, a production schedule, a product recipe, a product routing, a production method, a supply chain strategy, a component operating parameter, a control algorithm implemented by the industrial control system, or any combination thereof.

9. A system, comprising:

an industrial automation component; and

an industrial control system configured to communicatively couple to the industrial automation component, wherein the industrial control system comprises at least one processor configured to;

determine a plurality of operating strategies associated with the industrial automation component, wherein each of the operating strategies comprises a set of operational parameters associated with the industrial automation component;

determine an expected carbon footprint associated with the industrial automation component for each of the plurality of operating strategies;

determine an expected value added associated with the industrial automation component for each of the plurality of operating strategies;

determine a degree of certainty that the expected carbon footprint and the expected value added will be achieved when each of the plurality of operating strategies is implemented by the industrial automation component; and

select one of the plurality of operating strategies for operating the industrial automation component based at least in part on the expected carbon footprint, the expected value added, and the degree of certainty of the expected carbon footprint and the expected value added associated with each of the plurality of operating strategies.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the industrial automation system is configured to operate the industrial automation component using the selected operating strategy by sending one or more operational parameters associated with the selected operating strategy via a communication network to the industrial automation component.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the industrial automation system is configured to generate a value-add index comprising the expected carbon footprint and the expected value added for each of the plurality of operating strategies, wherein the value added index comprises a product throughput, a product quality, an industrial component up-time, or any combination thereof, wherein the selected operating strategy comprises a highest value-add index compared to the other ones of the plurality of operating strategies.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the industrial control system is configured to determine expected carbon footprint by:

determining expected energy usage associated with the industrial automation component for each of the plurality of operating strategies; and

determining amount of carbon produced to generate energy used to satisfy the expected energy usage.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising associating the expected product throughput with a first weight, the expected product quality with a second weight, the expected energy usage with a third weight, and the expected up-time with a fourth weight based on an objective function.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the expected product throughput, the expected product quality, the expected energy usage, and the expected up-time are indicated using the same cost-based units.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the one of the plurality of operating strategies comprises a highest value-add index as compared to other operating strategies of the plurality of operating strategies.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the value-add index is a single value.

13. A method comprising:

quantifying, using an industrial control system, an expected product throughput for each of a plurality of operating strategies configured to be implemented by an industrial automation component;

quantifying, using the industrial control system, an expected product quality for each of the plurality of operating strategies;

quantifying, using the industrial control system, an expected energy usage for each of the plurality of operating strategies, wherein quantifying the expected energy usage comprises inferring energy usage by the industrial automation component based at least in part on energy usage by another related industrial automation component;

quantifying, using the industrial control system, an expected up-time for each of the plurality of operating strategies;

quantifying, using the industrial control system, a respective degree of certainty that the expected product throughput, the expected product quality, the expected energy usage, the expected up-time, or any combination thereof will be achieved for each of the plurality of operating strategies that is implemented;

generating, using the industrial control system, a value-add index based on the expected product throughput, the expected product quality, the expected energy usage, the expected up-time, or any combination thereof; and

implementing, using the industrial control system, one of the plurality of operating strategies with the industrial automation component based on the value-add index and the respective degree of certainty.