I touched on the topic of the Internet of Things (IoT) in my August industry viewpoint, outlining a basic definition of the IoT and then presenting some market statistics that are currently being offered up by leading research groups tracking the potential growth of this technology. I wrapped things up by noting a few ways in which this might lead to new business opportunities for electrical designers and installers. This month, I turn my attention to a subset of the IoT, otherwise known as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
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As the name implies, this interconnected network is specific to the industrial business sector. The focus here is really in the manufacturing world. The goal is to connect all of the machinery, tooling, and equipment via sensors, and then be able to control and monitor it via software. This will allow plant personnel to leverage enormous amounts of operating data, and make plant engineers and technicians more knowledgeable than ever before. This should yield improved efficiencies in plant operations and productivity. It should also result in improved uptime and higher levels of reliability.
New power distribution equipment being manufactured today plays right into the goals of the IIoT. Today’s equipment features solid-state electronics and sophisticated relaying/monitoring components that tie into power management systems. Many pieces of equipment are outfitted with communication ports for I/O data transfer and remote control. They also feature current and voltage sensors, and can even be outfitted with temperature and pressure sensors. In other words, this new equipment is already set up to play well with the new IIoT.
However, the real challenge for widespread adoption of the IIoT lies in the massive amount of existing industrial electrical equipment infrastructure that is currently “dumb.” Existing equipment that is isolated from any type of control or monitoring system and lacks sensors must somehow be retrofitted or updated in order to communicate in this new “smart” world. The biggest hurdle here is funding. Where will plant managers find the funds to update and retrofit their aging equipment? The other issue is timing. This isn’t going to happen overnight — the transition will be years in the making.
The good news is this industrial-based Internet plan does make sense and will play out in the long-run. You just have to keep working hard to upgrade your older equipment as quickly as possible so it can escape isolation and start communicating with the new world order.
