Proceedings of the
Second International Energy 2030 Conference,
November 4-5, 2008, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
A Framework to Collect, Assess and Reduce Energy Consumption of Manufacturing Equipment
Mehmet Bayram Yildirim
Wichita State University, USA
Lawrence Whitman
Wichita State University, USA
Haitao Liao
Wichita State University, USA
Jamal Ahmad
The Petroleum Institute, UAE
Abstract
Worldwide industry consumes about half of the world’s energy [1], and energy costs U.S.
manufacturers $100 billion annually. Nowadays, energy use has become a major concern especially
considering the depletion of non-renewable resources [2]. In addition to reducing manufacturing cost,
energy reduction also positively impacts greenhouse gases as one kilowatt-hour of electricity reduces two
pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere [3].
For the reduction of energy consumption many solutions have been proposed, but such reduction is
difficult to achieve as it appears that consumption is not managed in a structured way. Gutowski et al. [4]
notes that in the Toyota Motor Corporation 85.2% of the energy is used in non-machining operations
which are not directly related to production of parts. Kordonowy [5] characterizes the power consumption
of manufacturing equipment by analyzing the background runtime operations of machining (i.e., spindle,
jog, coolant pump, computers and fans, etc.). It is found that over 30% of the energy input into the system
during machining is consumed by these background processes. However, these calculations consider the
whole system as opposed to a developed model for each process. Dahmus and Gutowski [6] observe that the
total energy requirement for the active removal of material can be quite small compared to the background
processes needed for operating a machine. In all of the above references, energy consumption calculations point
out the magnitude of energy expenditure in non-process related activities and the potential for energy savings.
In order to wisely utilize energy at the sub-cellular operation level and eventually extend the
methodology to the enterprise level, it is necessary to look into and quantify the components of energy
consumption in each process. This paper reports on a framework for energy collection and operational
models at the machine level. The framework gives detailed energy profiles of industrial equipment. That
detailed profile not only provides an accurate assessment of energy consumed for a given material,
machine, and part geometry, but also provides significant information for prescribing energy reduction
strategies at the machine level. The intent will be then to integrate those models into energy consumption
models at the facility level and ultimately into models at the enterprise level.
