Product category:
Simulation, modelling and validation software
News Release from: Curvaceous Software | Subject: Curvaceous Visual Explorer
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 18 October 2001
Visual analysis software cuts energy
costs
A visual tool applied to half-hourly readings from a production site electricity meter has allowed Flexsys at Ruabon to recover costs several times greater than its annual outlay on the tool.
A visual tool applied to half-hourly readings from a production site electricity meter has allowed Flexsys at Ruabon to recover costs several times greater than its annual outlay on the tool Analysis using Curvaceous Visual Explorer (CVE) showed that readings followed only a handful of different patterns over a couple of months during the maintenance season
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 17 Sep 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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They turned out to be estimates and, it became clear, were based on an earlier period with higher consumption.
Flexsys was able to claim a substantial refund.
The Ruabon site generates its own electricity by a combined heat and power system; it uses grid electricity only to top up.
Andrew Jackson, an experienced process engineer and energy specialist for the site, was already intrigued by potential uses for CVE, and decided to see how it could help him in his new role.
"I was looking at 24-hour cyclic patterns of electricity use," he explained; "48 readings per cycle.
I fed them into CVE and saw at once that there were an unusually small number of patterns which kept repeating, far fewer than you would expect.
I doubt if I would have picked it up by staring at the rows and columns of figures.
But the clear visual presentation of CVE made it stand out." Jackson knew that during the period of the readings he was looking at, three of the production units were undergoing maintenance, and he could see that not only did the same readings keep repeating but that they were also too high.
"The electricity company usually read the figures by telemetry," said Jackson, "but I discovered by asking that, during the period I was studying, the telemetry system was not working properly." So, as they were quite entitled to do, the electricity company made estimates instead.
But the basis for estimation was an earlier period during full-scale production.
A little discussion with the suppliers and Flexsys was able to negotiate a substantial refund.
The company has subsequently moved to routinely monitoring electricity usage. Request a free brochure from Curvaceous Software ...
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