A low cost, flexible power monitoring system
01 October 2010

Products4Automation has launched a low cost, flexible power monitoring system that can be easily programmed to collect data from external devices, providing centralised monitoring of all types of energy intensive operations in industry and commerce. Easy to install and operate, the power monitoring system can be programmed to identify the 15 to 20% annual energy savings, which, according to energy industry estimates, are available simply by reducing the costs of lighting, HVAC and the operation of plant and machinery.
The power monitoring system is based upon P4A’s low cost Monitouch range of flat panel, programmable HMIs. Offering SCADA like performance at HMI prices, the Monitouch range is capable of interfacing to a wide range of external devices, as well as providing multiple screens depicting all aspects of power monitoring. The units conduct data logging in CSV format.
With programming of the Monitouch based system, it is possible to monitor values from up to 31 distributed nodes (power monitors), such as power, voltage, current, power factors (etc). These values can then be logged at user-defined intervals and saved in the CSV format. This data can easily be saved to an Excel spreadsheet on a PC, simply by saving it on a CF card or USB memory stick.
The Monitouch provides three levels of screen imaging, starting with simplified power monitoring graphs, which plot simulated demand expectancy, based on current power values, and also displaying accumulated power values. The second level is batch monitor showing measured values from multiple power monitors at a glance. The third and final level, accumulated power monitor, shows accumulated power data for each month, displayed as a bar graph.
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