Comparison of the energy consumption of the groundwater pumps and the volume of water pumped per day. © Econ Solutions

In addition to all media (electricity, gas, water, oil, etc.), econ4 can also evaluate status data such as temperature, humidity, pressure or flow rate. Users can call up these data and evaluations at any time on any end device. The solution from Econ Solutions also enables the combination of different interfaces and standards such as Modbus TCP, Modbus RTU, S0 pulse, OPC, BacNET, data loggers from different manufacturers or different file formats.

The energy management software provides all standard reports, such as progress analyses with time comparisons, reports on threshold value violations and cost reports as well as numerous management and special reports - from ABC analyses to the analysis of operating states, correlation analyses and weekly profiles to energy flow diagrams (Sankey) and spectral analyses (heat maps).

Energy and performance data combined

The energy requirements of systems, machines or appliances not only provide useful information on energy efficiency and energy costs, but also on production states, active power, downtimes, maintenance or repairs. How high is energy consumption actually during different production states? How high is it in stand-by mode? When are there peak loads? How long are the set-up or downtimes for specific orders? Is there an increased energy requirement with constant output? Are threshold values exceeded or undercut? This can indicate higher friction losses or defective parts, for example. In such cases, preventive maintenance can prevent damage to the machine or quality problems.

However, not only energy data can be recorded, but also quantities, throughput times or speeds - i.e. classic key performance indicators from production. The energy data collected can be combined and evaluated with data from existing process and building management systems as well as machine and production data acquisition systems (MDA or PDA) or ERP with econ4. This gives companies an overview of energy and process costs per unit, per machine or per production batch at the click of a mouse. They can provide their customers with information on_{CO2 emissions} per component produced or compare machines in terms of energy and performance indicators. This provides companies with a powerful control tool for energy management, sustainability, quality assurance, process optimization, business controlling and investment decisions.

LoRaWAN in practice

Level meter at the elevated tank of the Riegel drinking water supply with LoRaWAN analog converter and LoRaWAN module. © Econ Solutions

The municipality of Riegel am Kaiserstuhl, for example, shows how municipalities use a LoRaWAN with the solution from Econ Solutions. It uses it to regularly and automatically record various measured values at the pumping station, at the elevated tank for the drinking water supply and at the elementary school.

As in many municipalities, most of this data was recorded manually in Riegel. This is time-consuming and error-prone, for example due to transposed figures when transferring the values to the software. The same applies to the water level of the elevated drinking water tank located outside. In the past, the municipality's water master had to drive to the elevated drinking water tank two to three times a day to read the level. Now, thanks to LoRaWAN and the econ4 energy management software, he has this information on his smartphone at all times. The software is offered to cities and municipalities as a cloud solution by Energieagentur Regio Freiburg.

The LoRa gateway used in Riegel covers a radius of around two kilometers and is installed at the highest point in the municipality for ideal reception of the sensor data. The LoRaWAN network currently comprises two measuring devices at the pumping station and one at the elevated tank for the drinking water supply, as well as four sensors at the elementary school. The groundwater pumps at the pumping station were selected for automated data collection as they are located outside the municipality and manual readings have therefore taken a lot of time so far. With a daily running time of around ten to twelve hours, they also make a significant contribution to the municipality's energy costs.

Two econ sens3 for power measurement of the two groundwater pumps and S0 pulse input for measuring the water volume as well as LoRaWan Modbus converter. © Econ Solutions

In order to quantify this proportion, they were equipped with two econ sens3 energy and power meters as part of the LoRaWAN project. They measure the power consumption and active consumption of the pumps. One of the measuring devices is equipped with a data logger that records four additional analog or digital signals - in this case the amount of groundwater pumped. As the measured values from the econ sens3 are read out via Modbus RTU, a LoRaWAN Modbus converter converts them into a format that can be processed by LoRa. The energy officer receives the current energy consumption of the pumps and their consumption over time on his PC and smartphone.

Riegel already had a corresponding measuring device in use for measuring the fill level of the elevated drinking water tanks. Here too, a converter converts the analog signals for LoRaWAN. The water manager can now easily call up the fill level of the elevated tanks and the amount of drinking water pumped per pumping process on his smartphone. He can also set threshold values so that he receives an alarm message if the fill level exceeds or falls below a critical value.

Better climate

LoRa sensors for temperature and humidity are also used in the local elementary school to analyze the heating and cooling behavior of the buildings during the recent very hot summers and then derive suitable measures. Sensors are now so inexpensive and easy to install that such measurements are also to be carried out in the municipality's multi-purpose hall. This is no problem for the LoRa gateway: the cost-effective model is designed for up to 500 sensors.

In Riegel's new depot, a flat screen will also alternately display the energy consumption of the groundwater pumps and the fill level of the elevated tank. The municipality is also planning to simplify flood protection with the help of LoRaWAN: The water levels of the Elz, Dreisam and Glotter rivers, which flow into the Leopold Canal at Riegel, are to be measured automatically for this purpose and the evaluations also displayed on the screen.

Daniel Wiedmann, System Integration / Automation at Econ Solutions