Smart Power System

No matter whether it’s in metalworking or textile production, machine and plant engineering is booming. At the same time, more and more increasingly powerful drive technology is also being used, which means electrical energy distribution switchgear need to up their game, too. A crucial requirement for switchgear is the ability to handle higher rated currents while taking up as little space as possible. The VX25 Ri4Power system offers the perfect solution, supporting rated currents of up to 6,300 A despite the minimised cross-section of its copper bars. “In spite of the higher current intensity, no extra room is needed – quite the opposite, in fact. We have the same functionality but with 20 per cent fewer articles,” explains Jörg Kreiling, Head of Product Management for Power Distribution at Rittal. “The less copper we install, the more we can reduce costs, since copper is an expensive material,” says Kreiling, pointing out the benefits. Moreover, the systems undergo design verification in line with all relevant standards.

• Intelligent Switchgear

  The VX25 Ri4Power system simplifies intelligent processes – from assembly and engineering right through to maintenance work. When it is combined with the new version of Power Engineering planning software from Rittal, customers can plan switchgear in next to no time. A further benefit is that users have very few parameters to specify and can therefore configure type-tested switchgear.  Besides being extremely intuitive to use, the system can also be linked to Eplan Electric P8, Microsoft Excel and import/export interfaces for data maintenance. VX25 Ri4Power enables users to monitor their switchgear in operation via an IoT interface, which can be connected to various sensors that monitor temperature and humidity or measure voltage, current and power, for example. The data collected can be transferred via an Ethernet network connection to a higher-level control system and visualised. Since the data can also be evaluated in the cloud, users can easily conduct analyses for the purpose of optimisation.

  Darüber hinaus lässt sich das System auch mit Eplan Electric P8, Microsoft Excel sowie dem Import und Export zur Datenpflege einbinden. VX25 Ri4Power ermöglicht dem Anwender die Überwachung der Schaltanlage im Betrieb mithilfe eines Internet-of-Things-Interfaces. Daran lassen sich verschiedene Sensoren, etwa zur Temperatur- und Feuchteüberwachung oder zur Spannungs-, Strom- und Leistungsmessung, anschließen. Via Ethernet-Netzwerkverbindung können die gesammelten Daten an ein übergeordnetes Leitsystem übertragen und visualisiert werden. Da die Auswertung der Daten auch cloudbasierend erfolgen kann, lassen sich so auch einfach Analysen zur Optimierung erstellen.