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their maintenance costs, but also to allow the utilities and airline
companies that use these assets to provide better levels of service
to their customers. These are a few of the many examples where the
Power of One Percent and the potential of the Industrial Internet are
being realized today.
Over time these historical assets have been augmented, and in many
cases supplanted, by new, even more intelligent assets and devices.
As a result, in many industrial companies, a hybrid environment
exists, made up of highly advanced, state-of-the-art technology
working alongside assets and devices that are literally decades old.
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Building Blocks of the
As Industrial Internet pioneers and visionaries began to envision Industrial Internet
the future of operational and industrial analysis and control, it
became apparent that the platform that would set the stage for
the Power of One Percent would have to take into account the need
for analyzing vastly different data types, formats, and frequencies
as a precondition for delivering advanced analytics and operation
optimization. In order to advance the business processes needed to
realize the Power of One Percent, a new platform was needed.
Intelligent Machines
This realization became a core foundation for the development of New ways of connecting the
Predix. In order to support these new analytics and processes, Predix world’s myriad machines,
needed to be able to collect data of any kind, in particular sensor- facilities, fleets, and networks
based time series and historian data, and make it available to a wide with advanced sensors, controls,
range of predictive and operational analytics. and software applications.
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manufacturing plant, and even to doing broad-based analysis across
multiple fleets or plants. At each level of analysis different data types
are needed at different frequencies, and different analytical tools and
technologies are needed to provide the required analysis. This is why GE
created Predix.
How GE was able to improve power usage for HVAC systems in one
of its plants is an excellent case in point. Ambient plant temperature
is a core variable in the manufacturing process in many plants: Many
of the materials used in manufacturing turbines and other valuable
assets have a very limited acceptable temperature range. A few
degrees one way or the other can deform a part enough to make it
unusable.
The plant in question had relatively old HVAC systems, and it was
recommended that the plant upgrade its HVAC systems by adding
new intelligent controls that would theoretically provide overall energy
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savings from 25-30%. But the projected cost was over $1 million, so
a pilot project was initiated to see if those savings were realistic.
A single rooftop unit was upgraded to include the new controls, and
then, as the new controls were put in place, usage data was
downloaded from the newly upgraded unit as well as a unit that had
not been upgraded. By comparing these two data sources, a usage
model for the entire plant was built that predicted a reduction of
energy use of more than 50%, with a year one savings of $1 million.
Based on that analysis, the plant upgraded a total of 100 rooftop units.
When the first year of operation was over, the actual savings from
the 100 upgraded units came to $987,000, proving not only that this
was a good business decision, but that the model guiding the decision By updating one hvac unit
was exceptionally accurate. More importantly, this project showed
and comparing usage
the value of making relatively small, incremental changes in existing
plants and equipment. Subsequent studies showed that this kind data with a unit that had
of analysis – modeling and examining the use of energy in factories not been updated, a
– can yield important benefits, all without a massive retrofitting of
expensive assets.
usage model for the
entire plant was built that
In-plant testing is another area where GE has put Predix to work.
Testing expensive assets such as electric turbines involves enormous
predicted a reduction of
amounts of energy. In some plants, testing a $25 million turbine can energy use of more than
cost an average of $200,000. Managing a cost of that magnitude is 50%, with a year one
important: Electric rates can fluctuate dramatically, and the cost of a
kilowatt-hour has historically varied from five cents to one dollar in a savings of $1 million.
single day. Needless to say, planning when a test takes place can
have a huge impact on the profitability of an individual turbine.
In order to better monitor these costs and provide better visibility into
the optimal time and day for a test, GE built an analytical model that
combined historical data on energy usage for testing with pricing
data from the utility that supplied the plant. This in turn allowed GE to
improve the timing of its product testing to coincide with lower energy
prices, thus lowering costs and improving its profit margins. This kind
of analysis can also allow GE to improve overall factory operations by
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adding important information regarding optimal testing windows to
the ERP system’s production plans, and ultimately, to the service-level
guarantees in a particular contract.
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GE monitors exhaust temperature of the engines it manufactures at
variable rates: some of the data is transmitted to GE’s flight support
center during flight, other data is transmitted in “batch” when the
aircraft lands. From these two kinds of data, a comprehensive
exhaust temperature curve for a given engine is developed and then
compared to a temperature curve based on predicted normal use.
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the grid. That information flow is a perfect example of the different data
and analytical requirements – and their time sensitivity – that go into
operating and optimizing complex assets like wind turbines.
There are a total of three primary use cases for the data generated by
a wind turbine. Each one has its own requirements in terms of data
quantity and timeliness, and each can be used to generate vastly
different, but equally valuable, operational analyses. Supporting this
data and analytical complexity makes a strong case for a platform like
Predix, which has been designed specifically to manage use cases as
different as those found in a wind farm.
A third level of analysis is at the “fleet” level. In this case GE monitors all
the turbines of a particular model and revision and checks for anomalies
that could indicate the need for preventive maintenance. The data
collection for this level of analysis can be up to once per hour, depending
on the use case and the algorithm being used.
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these new approaches. In one use case, PowerUp was able to drive
a 5% improvement in power output at a wind farm, which in turn
resulted in a 20% increase in profit for the operator. When
deployed at scale, PowerUp and similar systems can have an
enormous impact. Another operator, working with GE, plans to
install PowerUp across a network of wind farms containing over
400 turbines. The wind farm operator and GE estimate that
PowerUp could improve output by 420,000 megawatt-hours across
the operator's wind farms.
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About the Author
Joshua Greenbaum has over 30 years of experience as a computer
programmer, system architect, author, consultant, and industry
analyst. His work and interest in the Industrial Internet began over
10 years ago, and he has been working with leading IT and
industrial companies on the promises and challenges behind this
issue ever since. Josh is frequently quoted in the technical and
business press, and he blogs at www.eaconsult.com/blog-ematters.
GE Software
www.gesoftware.com
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