Reduce energy and resource consumption

One of your main focuses at this year's Hannover Messe was on sustainability, and you will be presenting software solutions for monitoring. What products does Baumüller offer in this area?
In this area, we are concentrating primarily on two drive-based software solutions: the first is Smart Energy Monitoring, which allows customers to measure the energy consumption of their drives without expensive measuring equipment. Cyclical comparative measurements can be used to directly diagnose a change in consumption in order to optimize the energy efficiency of the process, for example.

And then we also present the Drive-based Condition Monitoring software, which also works with internal drive parameters to diagnose the machine's condition. Using specific parameters such as crest and kurtosis, mechanical damage can be detected at an early stage before the entire machine comes to a standstill. This enables preventive maintenance. In addition, optional external sensors, which are connected to our inverters, can be used to further expand the diagnostic options. Both applications increase productivity, optimize the use of resources and enable savings.

Energy-efficient production is currently one of the most important topics. How can your products contribute to this?
Smart Energy Monitoring uses the drive to determine the energy flow in the drive system. This creates energy transparency for the user. The consumed, regenerated and thermally lost energy of a drive is broken down. This makes it possible to optimize the process in terms of energy consumption. In this way, the lost energy can be minimized and the regenerated energy can be reused. By detecting increased energy consumption, wear on mechanical components or misalignments can also be recognized at an early stage, which in turn saves energy and downtime.

What are typical applications and for which customers are these monitoring tools of interest?
_Saving energy and therefore_CO2 is more topical than ever and has long since arrived throughout mechanical engineering and industrial production. Our monitoring functions can be used in a wide variety of applications, regardless of the industry.

With Smart Energy Monitoring, Baumüller servo drives offer a useful function for detecting "energy guzzlers". Regardless of whether it is a process that is not optimally adjusted or mechanical wear. For example, this function can be used to optimize the energy consumption of the travel path after a reference run, thereby reducing the_{CO2 footprint} of the end product.

The software function is also suitable for determining the energy consumption and therefore the costs for an individual end product, as it can display the energy consumption of all drives in a work cycle. For example, the energy consumption for a single product can be determined.

You mention the possibility of using the drive to record signals, what does that mean?
A large number of parameters are available in the drive as standard. Among other things, they are used for the very precise position, speed or torque control of our drives. One major advantage is that the values are recorded directly in the drive in hard real time. This also makes it possible to carry out time-critical analyses. By specifically evaluating this database in combination with suitable algorithms, the drive can then be used to record signals for our monitoring.

How do you see energy efficiency and sustainability developing in the coming years?
Energy efficiency is a key factor for greater sustainability and will become even more relevant in the future. As part of our "Green in Motion" initiative, we have been developing solutions for sustainable drive technology for a long time. With the help of our products, services and systems, manufacturing processes and mobility concepts can reduce their ecological footprint and reduce energy and resource consumption in the long term. As a company, we focus on reducing energy consumption, lowering resource consumption and enabling the circular economy as well as the energy and mobility transition.