Merging IIoT with power

Imagine a society where we will have more connected devices than people living on the planet. In the immediate future year 2025, more than 24.9 billion Internet of Things (IoT) connections are forecasted compared to the estimated population of 8.1 billion people.

Connecting industry sectors such as mining, automotive, smart metering, logistics, factories and warehouses can boost the industry’s efficiency, safety, reliability and ultimately profitability. Cellular connectivity may give you the competitive advantage you need.

Industry 4.0 is the name for the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber physical systems, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and cognitive computing.

It is also referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The First Industrial Revolution focused on mechanisation by water and steam power. The Second Industrial Revolution dealt with mass production assembly line using electricity, while the Third Industrial Revolution harnessed computers and automation, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution deals with cyber physical systems, IoT, cloud computing and cognitive computing. A traditional factory provides high-end quality service or product with least cost.

Understanding and navigating around the IoT landscape is a prerequisite to maximising its business potential for the power sector. Faced by increased service and solution demands, service providers, enterprises and industries must decide on which IoT path to take.

Different industries have varied ways of coping with IoT and Industry 4.0. To understand how the power sector is divided and yet coming together to implement IoT and Industry 4.0, we took some industry opinions from the applicators.

Cable and wires
IoT and the digitisation of the transmission and distribution system are going to have a large impact on the entire industry. IoT and digitisation bring with them the promise of reducing T&D losses for the utilities, which will bring in a lot of stability for the industry overall.

Industry 4.0 is ready to gear up in an industrial revolution wherein all the machines are equipped with the ability to communicate each other. It is the biggest upcoming trend towards data exchange in manufacturing industry and automation process. “Industry 4.0”, “Internet of Things”, and “Smart Factory” — these concepts are no longer a vague promise of what is to come. Companies are already able to benefit from the use of intelligent systems and products. igus has developed sophisticated smart plastics by using diverse sensors and monitoring modules for energy chains, plain bearings, linear bearings, and slewing ring bearings. These intelligent i-sense modules can predict the service life, which will be helpful in planning for replacement and any other course of action.

Axis Electrical Components (I) Pvt. Ltd explains how rural electrification is one of the most important tasks which the government has undertaken over its 72-year history. This large mission means a large scope for growth for the entire industry. With the electrification of the entire country, Axis is optimistic on the positive growth of the industry led by companies that focus on quality and standardisation of products.

Chainflex®, iGus informs, “We have a wide range of products in cables, energy chains, bearings, linear guides, etc., which provides solutions to many problems. We have introduced the smallest bending radius cables for very rapid moments (high speed) in machines. Speed is 10 m/s and bending factor is 4 X OD. The beauty of these products is that we can offer minimum 40 Mil Double Stroke Guarantee for these cables — CF98 and CF99 with TPE outer jacket. “

Renewables
Renewable energy is bound to play a key role in the emergence of the smart electricity system in India. IoT, automation, cloud computing, co-generation, and hybrid systems would play an important role in deciding the optimum energy mix by the policymakers, project developers, and utilities. In coming years, we may not see any significant capacity addition of coal-fired thermal power plants. Conventional power plants may continue to be there to meet the base load till advanced technologies start playing a dominant role in smart grid and load management. Among renewables, solar thermal technologies have the potential to play an important role in heat management in coal-fired thermal plants to maintain base load capacities, and this affects ONGC Energy Centre.

IoT and Industry 4.0 will enhance the ability to rapidly design, modify, create, and customise things in the real world, while lowering costs and reacting to changes in consumer preferences, demand, supply chain, and technology. As explained by P2 Power Solutions Pvt Ltd, utilisation of data for understanding current operating condition and detecting fault and failure is important. Various tools are available to provide OEE information to the management and highlight root cause of a problem and possible faults in a system.

Decentralised generation and e-mobility will emerge as a key component in this balancing act. In recent years, photovoltaic (PV) based electricity generation in India has become competitive to thermal power based electricity generation. PV offers immense opportunities for both large-scale as well as decentralised electricity generation in the country, including rooftop plants.

In Industry 4.0, in addition to condition monitoring and fault diagnosis, component and systems are able to gauge self-awareness and self-productivity which provides more information to management. Further peer-to-peer comparison and fusion of health information from various components provides a precise health prediction in component and system level to trigger the required maintenance at best possible time. To reduce maintenance to JIT and gain near zero downtime, the Government of India is very clear that all new buildings will be fitted with smart meters. Deki Electronics states that this has benefits for both the distribution company and the customer as they get all the information that they need for their requirements. Customers can see for themselves their daily consumption and take action accordingly. The distribution company can see if there is any sudden increase/decrease in the billing and also take action accordingly.

The rapid growth in PV capacity addition in the country will also help the utilities to go for time of the day availability of low-cost energy and reduce distribution losses. In coming years, renewables will play a decisive role in demand side load management. This will lead to new business opportunities which are expected to be IT and automation based.

Switchgears
Industry 4.0 and IoT open up opportunities for electrical and electronic manufacturing in multiple ways. Deployment of SMART devices and technologies will enhance productivity, quality, and profitability. Machines, processes and people will be able to talk to each other. Huge volumes of data will be available for enhancing informed and appropriate decisions. Control Panel and Switchgear Manufacturers’ Association confirms that better process definition will decentralise decision making and largely reduce unnecessary vertical decision making in the organisation. Smart electricity is the way of the future. Higher efficiencies through optimal utilisation of all resources will mean affordable costs of power.

T&M
Traditionally, the test and measuring instrument industry has functions limited to measuring electrical parameters and either displaying it on the instrument screen or retaining it in the internal memory of the instrument for later download to a PC. Lately, some instruments have the facility of Bluetooth transmission of data. Yet IoT has not penetrated this industry. In the future when more features will be added to the instruments, IoT may play a greater role. The implementation of artificial intelligence and research-based data collection shows the behavioural pattern of human beings or the futuristic requirement of our system. Like any other industry, IoT is also going to make a mark in our industry because using IoT, we will be able to do a lot of predictions. These predictions will help us get ready for any kind of expediency that may come in our system. Any technology, if it helps you in certain cases, also has a negative impact. For example, a lot of people fear that with the rise of IoT and artificial intelligence, there will be a huge job loss for human beings. Something that IoT can do in one minute takes human beings probably one hour or more. But the problem, according to ISA Instruments, would be that IoT or any artificial intelligence is based on data and not emotions or feelings that may affect that data.

Rishabh Instruments Pvt. Ltd. thinks that Industrial IoT is changing the way customers interact with the data, and now they are making data work for them. Its customers can log data every minute into the cloud applications to analyse and get relevant alerts about the quantity and quality of their process or parameter. Government under EESL is also contributing a lot to push IoT in the industry, with the case in point being the huge tenders of GSM-based tariff meters under smart city for state utilities. Rishabh is keeping up with the times and has its range of multi-function meters with direct GSM option for communication and the company complements that with its cloud-based analytics platform managed and maintained by its Energy Solution Lab, its IoT division with 18 people dedicated for the initiative.

Smart electricity is nothing but the implementation of IoT. So, on one hand, it will make the system appreciate by predicting what is going to be the future needs. Anything based on artificial intelligence, systems, or processes is also prone to hacking and being blocked by the people who don’t want it to function properly. With hacking, disruption of technology is quite easy, where functional and telecommunication systems are tapped conveniently. Coming to the power sector, consumers are highly dependent on electricity. With the intense use of electronics and electricity, most consumers are used to the luxury of power; hence, interruption in power supply takes away their comfort, making them restless. We need some policy reforms like Europe and certain other nations in terms of manpower and employment. Strong implementation of smart technology is good. But for a country like India, where we have a huge population like China, we need a balance in usage of technology so that we can get the best from technology without creating socio-economic problems. If we utilise more of technology and there are lesser jobs for human beings, then it will create unemployment, poverty and other problems. So, this is another aspect that we need to be careful about.

There are a lot of opportunities for smart electricity in India. So far, we have been using traditional manual means of measuring and recording. With more and more automation taking place in our country, many systems which are now controlled manually will be controlled automatically. Kusam Electrical Industries Limited says that signalling in the Railways is one example. Another example is the regulation of traffic by electronic signals. As a step further, the traffic department has now installed remote cameras at various locations to catch traffic offenders, whether the policeman is present or not. So also at many international airports, human interference has been reduced tremendously., ensuring better security and efficiency. All these contribute towards smart city infrastructure.

Conclusion
Although IoT and Industry 4.0 have many advantages, there are yet some drawbacks which might pull the power sector a little behind. However, when compared all the sub-sections of the power sector, connectivity among each one of them is being increased, which is a positive sign for IoT. Industry 4.0 being the fourth level of growth in the industry is being implemented in all the sub-sections of power sector which would boost the growth in both generation and supply.