Energy saving through smart monitoring

The Motion Control and Industrial Applications (MCIA UPC) Centre, together with the CTM, developed a system for monitoring the continuous copper casting production process for La Farga Rod, in order to maintain quality and reduce energy consumption associated with copper reprocessing. The process has high energy requirements, at 1,277 kWh per tonne produced, which is equivalent to the annual consumption of 15,400 homes. The smart software that was developed uses the production line’s operating variables and artificial intelligence algorithms to determine whether the operating conditions are within optimal ranges, to prevent the resulting wire from the machine from containing defects such as air bubbles. The aim of the new software is to reduce quality deterioration by 1%, which would save 4,880 Mwh of energy every year associated with the reprocessing of copper (equivalent to the energy consumption of over 600 homes) and around 1,100 t of CO2 every year.