CLPA Adds Energy Management to CC-Link IE

March 7, 2014
The new CC-Link IE Energy capabilities allow production managers to easily monitor energy consumption by individual machines or processes over the same networks they already use for general control purposes.

The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) has added energy management functions to CC-Link IE, the open automation network technology, to create CC Link IE Energy, a combined energy and production management control system. The new CC-Link IE Energy capabilities allow production managers to easily monitor energy consumption by individual machines or processes over the same networks they already use for general control purposes.

CC-Link IE is a high-performance, gigabit Industrial Ethernet open network technology that handles both control and information data at high speed to provide efficient integrated factory and process automation. With the addition of energy management functions, CC-Link IE Energy provides real-time monitoring of a plant's many energy-consuming devices, ensuring energy optimization of each device.

Installed using a single cable network, CC-Link IE Energy can control entire production systems and feed real-time production information to enterprise management IT systems. A controller connected to the network analyzes data in real time and issues energy management instructions, facilitating simultaneous cross-optimization of operational control and energy management.