MachineSense, Siemens Partner on Power Quality Technology

At NPE2018 this week, Baltimore-based MachineSense LLC (Booth W3729) is demonstrating its Power Analyzer product on the Siemens’ MindSphere IoT platform. The companies say MachineSense Power Analyzer is the first vertically integrated IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) solution in Siemens’ MindSphere Platform that offers power quality monitoring, energy management, predictive and preventative maintenance and machine utilization as a MindSphere Application.  

MachineSense is also announcing today that it has joined the global MindSphere Partner Program as a Silver partner, which will provide MachineSense’s technical staff access to Siemens’ MindSphere curriculum, as well as access to other MindSphere ecosystem partners. These partners can complement the capabilities of Siemens and MachineSense, thereby furnishing customers in the manufacturing and commercial building industries with complete solutions and helping them achieve their desired business outcomes.

“This partnership with Siemens will allow MachineSense to penetrate deep into the manufacturing and commercial building base, where power quality is increasingly becoming an issue for safe operation and expensive repairs and replacement of machinery,” says MachineSense co-founder Conrad Bessemer.

MachineSense’s Power Analyzer series is designed to help diagnose everyday electrical issues and present them in a way that can be easily understood by plant maintenance and management alike, regardless of experience on electrical components and related issues. “The technology is one of the most comprehensive series of vertical IIoT products for power quality, predictive and preventative maintenance, energy monitoring and machine utilization available for factories and commercial buildings,” Bessemer says.

“MachineSense delivers tremendous value to industrial and infrastructure consumers through its vertically integrated solutions,” states Paul Kaeley, senior vice president, global partner ecosystem at Siemens PLM Software. “We are excited to have MachineSense join the MindSphere ecosystem as a partner so that together we can address operational challenges around power quality, predictive and preventive maintenance, and energy efficiency using MindSphere.”

MindSphere is the cloud-based, open IoT operating system from Siemens that connects products, plants, systems, and machines, enabling businesses to harness the wealth of data generated by the Internet of Things with advanced analytics. MindSphere Application Centers have been designed to develop new business models, digital solutions and services, as well as industrial applications in focused verticals using MindSphere.

Bessemer explains, “Popular energy saving initiatives, like LED lighting and variable speed motor drives, have unknowingly led to higher harmonic distortion levels in most manufacturing plants and commercial buildings. These harmonics can cause substantial energy waste in unrelated areas of the facility. Harmonics and other power quality problems also contribute to prematurely failed electrical devices like utility motors in compressors and HVAC systems. These harmful conditions can be diagnosed without a technical expert using the MachineSense Power Analyzer, available on the Siemens Mindsphere IoT platform."

“The MachineSense Power Analyzer product line is uniquely capable because of its Edge Analytic Engine,” notes Dr. Biplab Pal, MachineSense co-founder and CTO. “Extremely high velocity current and voltage data are analyzed for anomalies and machine health signature 24/7 using Edge. Power Analyzer has the most comprehensive range of power quality measurements for diagnosis of electrical lines. Coupled with a cloud database and Edge computation, MachineSense’s Power Analyzer provides an extensive range of useful analytics for machines in addition to power quality—such as energy utilization, utilization under load, preventative and predictive maintenance advice, and more. No other system can offer such a comprehensive range of Industrial 4.0 analytics in a single sensor suite.” 

Both companies are leveraging the IIoT partnership to offer the marketplace a reliable and expansive predictive and prescriptive maintenance solution while maintaining leadership positions in IIoT and industrial manufacturing arenas.