Energy Efficiency

Energy Efficiency measures the electrical energy each station uses, what it costs, and how much energy goes into each unit and each hour of production.

It also shows the energy wasted when a station is powered but has no production or non-production schedule running, including out of shift.

How it works

Energy data comes from an energy meter on each station's supply. The meter sends either electrical_kwh (a cumulative meter reading) or electrical_kwh_interval (the energy used since the last reading). See Station signals.

Busroot turns energy into cost (£) and CO2 with the account's price per kWh and CO2 per kWh. It compares each station's power with its nominal power, and checks whether a schedule was running when the energy was used. Energy used when no production or non-production schedule is running counts as wasted energy. A station with no schedule at all reports all its energy as wasted.

Energy is not a page of its own in the Busroot menu: you see it through the tools listed under Where you see it. It is mostly used to find patterns after the event. While a shift is running, you can use the Pulse Chart with the Wasted Energy or Power Usage vs Nominal metric to see which stations are drawing power without a schedule, or drawing much more than their nominal power.

Energy as the productive signal

If you cannot take a productive signal from a machine, Busroot can treat the station as productive whenever its power is above a threshold in kW. See Asset Utilisation.

Energy-only stations

A station can have only a meter and no production signals. Set it to energy only, and Busroot shows its energy without production figures.

Site and line meters

A meter that measures a whole plant or line (an incomer, for example) is set up as a Meter Only station. Meter Only stations are hidden from production views. You can designate it as the meter for a plant or station group. That level's energy (kWh, cost and CO2) is then taken from the designated meter instead of being added up from its member stations. So a plant's total can differ from the sum of the groups below it, because it is a different physical measurement.

Set it up

1. Fit a meter. Fit an energy meter to each station you want to measure. See Energy meters for the supported meters and how to install them.
2. Send the readings. Send electrical_kwh or electrical_kwh_interval as described in Station signals. Register the meter as a device on the Devices admin page.
3. Set a price and a CO2 factor. On the Account admin page, set the price per kWh and the CO2 per kWh. Without a price, the £ figures are zero.
4. Set the nominal power. On the Station admin page, set Electrical Power Nominal (kW), the power the station is expected to draw in normal operation. Power vs nominal needs it.
5. Add schedules. Stations need schedules for wasted energy to mean anything. See Scheduling.
6. Set up shift patterns. Assign a shift pattern to each station. The Pulse Chart and Power vs nominal show out-of-shift time separately.

Optional settings:

• Energy as the productive signal: set Productive Status Mode on the Station admin page.
• Energy-only stations: set Visibility to energy only on the Station admin page.
• Site and line meters: set up the meter as a Meter Only station on the Station admin page, then designate it under Energy Metering on the Plant or Station Group admin page.

Where you see it

• Pulse Chart: Wasted Energy and Power Usage vs Nominal, window by window for each station.
• Trend Viewer: Energy Consumed, Average Power, Energy per Unit, Wasted Energy and Power Usage vs Nominal over time, for up to 5 stations.
• Hierarchy Explorer: the Energy (kWh) and Energy (£) column groups, rolled up from station to station group and plant.
• Production reports: by WO Ref. and by SKU show the total energy and the energy per unit for each work order and each SKU.
• Downtime List & Analysis: the energy used during each downtime reason.

Metrics

Energy consumed

kWh, or £

The total electrical energy used by a station in the range.

in £, energy consumed (kWh) × the account's price per kWh

• Notes The CO2 figure is energy consumed × the account's CO2 per kWh. For a plant or station group with a designated meter, energy consumed is that meter's reading, not the sum of its stations. The Trend Viewer plots it as Energy Consumed, and the Hierarchy Explorer shows it as Total Energy and Total Energy (£).

Average power

kW

The mean electrical load over the window.

energy consumed (kWh) ÷ the length of the window (hours)

• Notes Busroot works out power from the energy used in each one-minute window, not from a separate power reading. On the Trend Viewer, the target line for Average Power is the station's nominal power, shown while a production schedule is running.

Energy per unit

kWh/unit (or £/unit)

The energy used for each unit produced.

energy consumed ÷ production count

• Notes Production count includes good and bad units. When no units were produced, there is no value.

Energy per production hour

kWh/h (or £/h)

The energy used for each hour of production. It is useful for comparing the efficiency of similar stations.

energy consumed ÷ scheduled production time in hours

• Notes Shown in the Hierarchy Explorer as Energy / Production Hour.

Wasted energy

kWh

Energy used when no production or non-production schedule is running, including out of shift.

the sum of energy consumed in every window where there is no scheduled production time and no scheduled non-production time

• Notes In a perfect world, stations would only use energy while they produce. In practice, machines are often left on outside production, from need or from habit. Wasted energy shows how much. Out-of-shift time never has scheduled time, so all energy used out of shift counts as wasted. A non-production schedule, or a non-production signal from a device, stops the energy counting as wasted.

Power vs nominal

%

The power drawn as a share of the station's nominal power.

average power ÷ Electrical Power Nominal (kW) × 100

• Notes Nominal power is set per station on the Station admin page. With no nominal power set, the value is 0. The Trend Viewer and Pulse Chart show it as Power Usage vs Nominal.

FAQs

Is the energy Busroot reports the actual energy used, or is it calculated from amps and volts?

It is the actual energy used. The meter measures active energy consumed in kWh, and Busroot records that reading. Busroot does not calculate energy from current and voltage. Power in kW is then worked out from the energy used in each minute. See Energy meters for what each meter measures.