At next week’s Light+Building trade show in Frankfurt, Siemens will be showing what it says is the first energy management system that holistically captures energy data in buildings.
 
It collects data all the way to the final circuit without any additional wiring or space requirements. All electrical data – from the power feed-in to the socket outlet – can then be seamlessly integrated into building management systems and analysed by cloud-based applications.
 
This makes the electrical infrastructure an integral part of smart buildings that are connected via the IoT. Operators and users gain transparency over their energy flows and benefit from end-to-end digitalisation.
 
“The days of electricity flowing through cables unobserved are numbered,” said Andreas Matthé, CEO of low voltage products for Siemens Smart Infrastructure. “With digitalisation, it will be possible in the future to not only fully monitor electricity, but also to control it flexibly and use it much more efficiently. We already provide the basis for this with our technologies.”
 
With the 5SL6 miniature circuit breakers and 5SV6 arc fault detection devices from the Sentron portfolio, Siemens brings digitalisation to electrical installations. The compact devices combine overload, short circuit and arc fault protection with integrated communications and measuring functions in one modular width.
 
They can measure electrical values such as current and voltage, as well as temperature and switching states for individual circuits and automatically identify error causes. Operators and electrical installers can quickly recognise loads with increased power consumption, as well as anomalies and disruptions in the electrical installation and intervene early on. All the data can be visualised on a PC, tablet or smartphone and connected to analytics tools and digital environments through the 7KN Powercenter 1000 gateway.
 
The updated Sentron Powermanager power monitoring software consolidates building and energy management in one platform. Version 4.x can be used as stand-alone software or, for the first time, integrated into the Siemens Desigo CC building management system as an expansion module. This allows all energy distribution and building automation systems to be operated, monitored and managed from a single system.
 
Powermanager analyses electrical parameters such as voltage, currents and power quality. Small and medium-sized businesses can use the software to identify potential savings or system errors, reduce energy costs and cut CO₂ emissions. All analyses can be shown in flexibly configurable dashboards or report templates and assigned to cost centres.
 
Users are automatically notified by email or text messages of irregularities in energy consumption or unusual system behaviour.
 
In addition, integration in Desigo CC enables regression analyses. By comparing consumption data with information from presence detectors, for example, it can be determined if energy for lighting, heating or air conditioning is being used in temporarily unoccupied parts of the building. If electrical systems such as elevators or escalators consume an unusually large amount of electricity, this can be similarly compared with the maintenance intervals defined in the building management. If necessary, these must be shortened to avoid expensive repairs and breakdowns.
 
The Sentron Powermind app analyses energy data directly in MindSphere, the cloud-based, open IoT operating system from Siemens. Users see a real-time overview of current energy consumption and trends over time, both for entire systems as well as individual electrical loads. The app is easy to use and requires no specific IT skills, allowing even inexperienced users to enter the world of digital energy management.