Low cost power and flow rates measurements for manufacturing plants

The ability to measure, monitor and control energy consumption at several key locations in a manufacturing plant is a major prerequisite for any efficient energy management program. To identify and evaluate energy savings, one must get a clear view of how the energy is used. Furthermore, measuring energy flows is one of the necessary conditions for long lasting energyefficient solutions. Most of the time energy managers are reluctant to put in place power and flow rate measuring devices either because of their cost or because this implies stopping production. To find acceptable and economical solutions for long lasting energy measurements in Industry, EDF R&D launched a 3-year collaborative research project called CHIC. This project is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) and involves 7 partners. Its total budget amounts to 2.55 M€. This project serves two purposes: to build a clamp-on power meter that could be installed around multi-conductors power cables without interrupting power supply, and to build power and flow meters that derive the sought-for variable from mathematical models and from simple and easy to collect other physical measurements (e.g. command signals, etc...).