Real-Time Demand Control in HVAC Optimization for Cleanrooms: Chilled Water Energy Optimization and Predictive Condition Monitoring

JULY 10, 2021 | CLEANROOM TECHNOLOGY, PREDICTIVE CONDITION MONITORING, HVAC ENERGY SAVING INSIGHTS

Cleanrooms requires high energy usage, and it’s typical for power requirements to be specified based on standards rather than a thorough grasp of the dynamics. Cleanrooms require a significant amount of energy – ranging from 2 to 50 times that of non-classified spaces, depending on the application.

Despite knowing that, it is challenging to achieve energy savings in cleanrooms because of the stringent conditions they adhere to, such as maintaining a temperature control limit of below 26°C, a humidity control limit of below 60%, additional positive pressure in the sealed area and so on.

With overcooling as the only method to maintain the temperature control limit for a cleanroom, not only it is producing energy wastage, air balancing issues and hot spot areas are also hard to identify due to the limited availability of sensors (typically 1 sensor per 5k-10k sqft) on the production floor of a semiconductor manufacturing plant.

Not to mention that measuring dust particulate concentration is normally performed via manual sampling method and not on a real-time basis, such reactive and corrective measurements would have already caused defects to products, easily wasting millions in value during just a single shift.

Higher Feedback Accuracy with Real-Time Sensors to Maximize Cleanroom Energy Savings and Minimize Product Defects

Tanand places various real-time wireless sensors throughout the production floor to automate energy consumption and prevent air contamination through heat-load balancing and indoor sensors.

  • Our non-invasive temperature, humidity and pressure sensors can be easily clipped-on via Velcro patch without complicated and dusty wiring works that will cause cleanroom operation downtime.
  • Our sensors can be linked to your Wifi network, Power over Ethernet (PoE) and LoRa, which will then be able to work independently without the need to upgrade your existing cleanroom infrastructure.
  • Although our sensors can run purely on Lithium battery (1-2 years of lifespan with a single charge), they can be also be powered up by any 5Vdc power source in the cleanroom through a micro-USB.
  • Our cleanroom-standard dust particulate sensors can detect PM0.5 air in real-time using optical sensing method.

A Smart HVAC Solution That Is Beyond Temperature Control

  • Dynamic air side balancing with real-time demand control algorithm.
  • Dynamic chilled water balancing with real-time chiller set point & part load optimization.
  • Access to various inputs such as heat loads, humidity, zone-specific temperatures, airflow temperatures, weather, occupancy and so on.
  • Instant alert via Telegram or WhatsApp when operating control limits thresholds (e.g. temperature, humidity, pressure, dust particulate) are exceeded.
  • Save installation cost, implement fast and reap significant savings!

Improving Chiller Lifespan with Predictive Condition Monitoring

Chiller is not only the most important workhorse, but also the most expensive asset in a building. Hence, chiller can easily be the biggest power consuming equipment in your cleanroom.

With the unique features of EasiChiller:

  • Prolong your chiller lifespan with predictive conditioning monitoring specifically designed for chiller
  • Powered with IoT sensors (energy, noise, vibration, flow/delta T) for real-time scanning and machine learning fault analysis through your chiller logs (EasiChiller+)
  • A Data-Driven Chiller Expert to monitor your critical chiller 24×7 with trend analysis
  • Monthly summary report for your chiller health score & historical scoring trend via email to never miss any insights
  • Instant notifications for your operation team via Telegram or WhatsApp to detect potential faults and major damages before they occur
  • Analyze & audit the performance or health score of your chiller after every maintenance job

Easily achieve the benefits:

  • Save energy – Chiller performance will be closely monitored to ensure energy efficiency
  • Reduce workload issues – Avoid under-maintenance that causes unpredicted chiller breakdowns & over- maintenance that causes unnecessary chiller or spare parts replacements
  • Increase chiller lifespan – While a normal chiller lifespan is around 15-20 years, a well-maintained chiller with predictive condition monitoring can easily operate up to 25 years. That additional lifespan of 5 years in your chiller with a capital expenditure of RM500,000 will save you RM125,000.00 – RM166,667.00.

Production Line Monitoring: Real-Time Data Visualization and Analytics Matters More Than You Think

JUNE 22, 2021 | LEAN MANUFACTURING, PRODUCTION LINE MONITORING, MANUFACTURING INSIGHTS

Manufacturing industries had been facing numerous challenges in order to achieve higher output despite the increasing operating cost, especially during pandemic time.

These has made the situation worst when there is:

  • Unplanned downtime (equipment’s, machines or other critical assets)
  • High energy & production wastage
  • Reduced manpower as per government’s SOP
  • Lacks historical analytics as conventional production and maintenance dashboard only has real-time data
  • Inaccurate machine data due to manual logging
  • Additional recovery time due to longer troubleshooting period
  • Unknown root cause and unidentified production process limitations due to limited knowledge and lack of experience in dealing with specific problems

Unfortunately, one of the great ironies here — and one that keeps many businesses from carrying out actionable results — is that implementing a new system necessitates additional short-term downtime.

The concern: It requires days of downtime to implement conventional production line monitoring

It’s no secret that installing most production line monitoring solutions take several days. Machines are unavailable during this period, operators are idle, and depending on the technology, you may need to hire expensive outside specialists.

As a result, it is important to factor in implementation time when accessing machine monitoring solutions. Inquire as to: how long will it take to implement? What are the IT requirements? Who is in charge of the setup? What sort of guidance is needed?

The solution: Tanand gets you up and running within a day

Tanand installation may generally be accomplished in a single day, entirely in-house, for small and mid-size factories. In a nutshell, this is how it goes:

  • Our non-invasive sensors are highly integrable to be clipped-on to the outside of the body without requiring PLC integration. One of your maintenance professionals can install each sensor on any machine in around 10-15 minutes.
  • Our sensors can be linked to your WiFi network, Power over Ethernet (PoE) and LoRa, which will then be able to work independently without the need to upgrade your existing infrastructure.
  • Although our sensors can run purely on Lithium battery (last up to >2 years), as a 5Vdc sensors (Jumper selection) or any nearest power source such as lightning point or SSO, we can also provide a simple DC-in-a-box to supply uninterrupted DC power to the sensors with ease and speed.
  • The sensor may be installed during the scheduled machine downtime. There’s no need for complicated wiring works or major dismantling and reprogramming work, as well as no extra first-piece inspection or scrap risk.

Even though we provide on-site installation, our software is so simple to use that your staff will have the system up and running in no time with just minimal training (live and on-demand) from us.

This one distinction alone suffices in contributing as to why manufacturers that have been putting off digitalization of their factories for years eventually pick us as their machine monitoring supplier. 

Access our demonstration video in how to get data fast and east from wireless sensors.

Simple Network Integration Diagram

Centralize all your manufacturing process parameters with real-time monitoring through RTMA

Tanand’s Real-Time Monitoring Visualization and Analytics platform (RTMA) provides accurate insights for fast decision making to empower your team. RTMA can achieve 2 types of monitoring:

1. Energy, Process Data, and IoT sensors monitoring:

By combining machine, energy, process data, PLC, SCADA and IoT sensor data all into single unified real-time monitoring & analytic platform.

  • Remotely monitor and centralize all your application/server/machines data in real-time.
  • Reduce the time needed in manual recording and compiling of data and logs of multiple process parameters, as well as data loggers to greatly reduce troubleshooting time.
  • Stay informed at all times to make better decisions that maximizes facilities and resources.
  • Quickly be informed with real-time notifications when there is a breach of set points or abnormalities, coupled with a detailed report that pinpoints the time frame when those unpredicted events occured.
  • Reduce energy consumption.
  • Identify unnecessary wastage in operations.

2. Production Monitoring:

Real-time production target, actual target, performance target and efficiency are key metrics that we monitor for all manufacturing plants.

  • Get insights into real-time production performance.
  • Provide visual feedbacks to machine operators.
  • Track server/router/application/machine downtime.
  • Identify top losses and wastage in production.
  • Motivate production team with KPI.
  • Automate production reports and remove unnecessary paperwork.
  • Trace back with batch numbers when certain thresholds or parameters are breached.
  • Input downtime, stop time, rejects reason, cycle time, and operator ID using QR code scanner:
Simplifying the input process by integrating a wireless QR code scanner further data accuracy.

With this method, data are captured without a keyboard or touchscreen, saving time and effort of operators and trained machinist to record additional small inputs (such as rejects reason, small stops reason, small adjustments etc).

This method encourages fine data capturing for a better root cause analysis in OEE improvement, so that management can execute the right improvement plan by tapping on the factories’ hidden losses to achieve higher production output.

Manufacturing industries needs to engage in real-time systems to better increase their production yield.

Take note, managers and engineers from the facilities and maintenance team of these industries:

  • Automotive Manufacturing
  • Chemical and Petroleum
  • Machine Makers
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Food and Beverage
  • Plastics Manufacturing
  • Paper and Printing
  • Textile Mills and Apparel
  • Transportation Systems
  • Electronics and Semiconductors

Read our case studies here.

Achieve the following benefits with RTMA:

  • Future-proof your critical equipments with 64-bit Technology
  • Preserve existing hardware investments
  • Reduce engineering and troubleshooting time and cost
  • Automate collection of downtime cause and responsibility
  • Web-based project management and end-to-end deployment
  • Quality and energy analytics capabilites
  • Standard, custom and scheduled reports

If you are one of the advancing IR4.0 manufacturers looking for an experienced consultancy + solution provider for production line monitoring systems, Tanand is the answer for you.

Take advantage of our 90-day rental subscription program to learn how Tanand may help your factory become more productive with zero commitment, and to see for yourself how simple and effective it is to achieve energy savings and improve productivity.