The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly and changing how multiple industries operate. By 2030, it’s predicted that 32.1 billion devices will be connected to IoT.
While people often use IoT in daily life, such as with cars and mobile devices, it’s also changing things on a bigger scale. One example of an industry that IoT is revolutionizing is industrial power management.
Industrial IoT Applications for Power Management
If you want to increase productivity in power management, consider integrating IoT into your processes. Whether you want to automate systems, improve sustainability or save costs, implementing IoT can help your business be more efficient.
However, to do so, you must first know how to use IoT in power management. Here are some popular applications and ways this technology can help.
1. Energy Management
If you want to reduce your energy consumption, you need to find strategies to manage and monitor your power use. Doing so will give you more insight into which areas of your business use the most energy, making it easier for you to find ways to reduce your usage.
IoT offers improved power monitoring to help you gain information on energy usage across different systems. You can also use the data gathered from monitoring to automate your management and adjust usage as needed. Advanced IoT systems can turn equipment on and off during peak times, reducing power consumption.
For example, if your business relies on a transformer, you could use IoT power solutions to automatically increase or decrease the voltage to optimize your energy usage.
2. Smart Lighting
While it may be true that a single light bulb doesn’t use much power, providing light for industrial businesses like factories can lead to significant energy usage. Fortunately, IoT can help. You can use IoT for smart lighting that can switch lights on and off as needed or detect how much natural light there is and adjust brightness accordingly. Lights that automatically dim based on the environment ensure you don’t waste energy by having lights on when you don’t need them.
3. Temperature Control
HVAC systems contribute considerably to business energy consumption, so you should switch them off when they’re not needed — or use IoT to do it for you. Implementing IoT in this area can make a notable difference in your business’s overall electricity usage.
IoT energy solutions can help with automatic adjustment. High-level IoT systems can gather information about how many people occupy a specific space and the ambient temperature and use this information to increase or lower temperatures accordingly. Your business can utilize smart industrial power without wasting energy on unnecessary heating and cooling.
4. Remote Monitoring
IoT automatically adjusts various systems and devices, so you don’t need to be on-site to implement these changes. You also don’t need to be at your business to monitor energy levels. The IoT network enables you to connect to various applications from anywhere, allowing you to gain insight into your energy usage and make adjustments regardless of where you are.
IoT Benefits in Power Management
You might still be deciding whether to use IoT in your power solutions, so it can be helpful to consider some of its main benefits for your business.
Sustainability
Sustainability is becoming increasingly vital for businesses. Using IoT for energy efficiency helps lessen your business’s negative impact on the environment. While you can use IoT for multiple industrial purposes, the area where it can make the most significant difference is your energy management.
IoT technology helps you reduce wasted resources, so your company only uses as much energy as it genuinely needs. Using fewer resources also saves your business money.
Regulation Compliance
Your business may be required to disclose how much energy it uses to comply with specific regulations. You may also need to share this information with stakeholders. Regardless of which rules or procedures you need to comply with or why you want to access the data, IoT can help. Many IoT systems gather information while they make adjustments, allowing users to obtain it when needed quickly. You can use these insights to maintain compliance and readily share information.
Prediction and Insights
Since IoT often involves gaining data, information, and insights, it can combine all that with advanced technology to make predictions. Your IoT system can predict when specific applications may require maintenance, allowing you to spend time and money only when needed. These predictions can also help your team understand how your machines perform, reducing the impacts of manual inspections to create a more productive process and support equipment maintenance and longevity.
Points to Consider
If you’re interested in using IoT in your company’s power management approach, you must consider a few key points to ensure you do so safely and effectively:
- Your budget: Implementing IoT is a financial investment. Ensure you have the necessary capital to invest in high-quality IoT systems.
- Compatibility: IoT can only help your business if your machines and devices are compatible. Consider upgrading outdated processes to incorporate and integrate IoT effectively.
- Security: Since IoT involves sending information over the internet, you should take extra steps to secure your confidential information. When you add IoT to your business, consider upgrading your cybersecurity and confirming the software and systems you use are highly secure.
- Quality: Quality should be your number one priority in terms of the IoT systems you plan on implementing and the applications and devices you use IoT for. Work with reputable software providers with excellent customer service to help you make the most of IoT.
- Variety: While using IoT to manage industrial energy usage is a step in the right direction, you should also consider using other types of power management. For example, if you have a transformer that manages electricity flow, it can lower the voltage when needed, resulting in less power used.
Contact Sunbelt Solomon for Your Transformer Needs
If you’re looking for ways to improve your power management, consider combining a transformer with IoT to increase energy-saving results. At Sunblet Solomon, we know how important it is to select the right power management systems, which is why we pride ourselves on providing companies just like yours with quality power products and expert customer service.
Whether you want to buy a transformer or need your existing transformer repaired, we can assist. Our expert team can also provide advice about which distribution electrical equipment is right for you, and our rental services are ideal for testing different options. Are you ready to take the next step? Get a quote today, or contact us for more information.
