Energy Monitoring
Energy is one of the few factory costs you can see per machine, per hour — if you measure it. This tutorial goes from an energy meter to a working energy dashboard with an alert on abnormal usage.
What you need
An energy meter that can be read digitally. Almost every industrial energy meter speaks Modbus. Machines often have a meter built in; otherwise a meter can be placed in the cabinet.
The meter typically gives you two useful values:
- Energy total (kWh) — an ever-increasing meter reading. The most important one.
- Power (W or kW) — the current usage.
Connect the meter
- Meter on the network (Modbus TCP): create a Modbus connection on your Collector.
- Meter with only RS485 (Modbus RTU) and no PC nearby: use an UpBlue Connect device at the meter. For supported meter brands, the serial settings and parameters are prefilled.
Create the rules
Create a rule for the energy total, for example tag energy_line1. Take the register and datatype from the meter documentation. The default Deduplication transformation is fine: the reading only gets stored when it changes.
Optionally add a rule for the power, tag power_line1.
Give the rules labels per machine or line, so you can compare them later.
Build the dashboard
Create a dashboard with:
- Usage per hour — Bar panel: tag
energy_line1, aggregation Increase, bucket 1 hour. The Increase aggregation turns the meter reading into usage per hour, and handles meter resets correctly. - Usage today — Stat panel: same tag, aggregation Increase, bucket One bucket.
- Power trend — Time series panel: tag
power_line1, aggregation Time-weighted average.
To show costs instead of kWh, add a Math step that multiplies by your energy price.
Alert on abnormal usage
Create an alert rule on the power: for example above the level the machine should ever reach, checked every few minutes. A machine that suddenly uses more energy often has a mechanical problem — the energy meter notices before you do.
Look at the usage outside production hours. The “base load” during nights and weekends is often the easiest saving: compressed air leaks, machines not switched off, heating that keeps running.