In the workshop, the handling robot shuttles back and forth flexibly and transports the production materials to the designated location in an orderly manner; The robotic arm on the production line rises and falls and rotates, and the cutting, welding and other actions are completed without any difference; Real-time display of various production and operation data on the large screen...... With the rapid transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry, more and more highly automated smart factories like this are changing the face of Chinese manufacturing.
At the same time, a large number of automation equipment and industrial robots are produced day and night in smart factories, which greatly improves production efficiency and increases energy consumption, which has become one of the main operating costs of enterprises. Therefore, how to minimize energy consumption has become a topic that smart factories continue to explore.
Figure 1: HCFA Technology Co., Ltd. built a 2.4MW distributed photovoltaic power station on the roof of a factory
HCFA Technology Co., Ltd., located in Quzhou, Zhejiang, is a leading enterprise in the field of industrial automation in China, in recent years, while promoting the intelligent development of China's manufacturing through its own innovation, it is also actively exploring the upgrading of the manufacturing industry from "intelligent" to "green".
In 2023, HCFA Technology will use the roof of the factory to build a 2.4MW distributed photovoltaic power station. With the technical support of AISWEI's high-performance inverters, this power station not only provides surging power supply for the plant, but also significantly reduces the carbon footprint of the enterprise, realizing the re-upgrade from "intelligent manufacturing" to "green manufacturing".
Photovoltaic energy, smart factory electricity does not panic
In order to make the cool smart factory achieve highly automated production, so that the industrial robot can accurately complete every action, it is inseparable from a key component called the servo system. This kind of product, known as the "power system" of industrial robots, is the core of achieving precise positioning and precise motion in the automation industry.
HCFA Technology is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the R&D and manufacturing of industrial automation products, and its core products such as servo system and controller (PLC) are currently the core components of many smart factories in China. At the same time, HCFA Technology itself is also a typical intelligent manufacturing enterprise, with independent production capacity such as independent die-casting, CNC precision machining, and automatic assembly.
Figure 2: The PV power plant project provides an abundant power supply for the enterprise and reduces the operating costs of the enterprise.
In recent years, with the rapid development and expansion of enterprises, the power consumption of HCFA Technology's R&D, production and other links has been rising. On the other hand, Zhejiang, where HCFA Technology is located, is a large economic province, but the power supply is very tight. In 2023, Zhejiang's electricity consumption will rank fourth in the country, but according to the official WeChat data of "Zhejiang Propaganda", more than 33% of its electricity needs to be purchased from outside the province. Coal and natural gas, which are the main power generation units in the province, rely almost entirely on external transfers.
In this context, HCFA Technology has built a distributed photovoltaic power station with a total installed capacity of 2.4MW on the roof of the plant. Based on local solar radiation conditions, module attenuation and other factors, the power station can produce at least 1.96 million kWh of clean electricity per year on average over a 25-year life cycle, which not only ensures the company's production electricity during peak periods, but also contributes to reducing the company's operating costs.
Figure 3: AISWEI three-phase PV inverter ASW110K-LT used in HCFA Technology's rooftop power station project
A total of 20 AISWEI high-performance inverters are used in the power station, including 13 three-phase PV inverters ASW110K-LT, 5 three-phase PV inverters ASW60KC-LT-G3, and 2 three-phase PV inverters ASW40KQ-LT-G3. They play a key role in ensuring the efficient power generation of the photovoltaic plant.
Among them, the three-phase photovoltaic inverter ASW110K-LT is a flagship product created by AISWEI for industrial and commercial scenarios, with a power generation efficiency of up to 98.6% thanks to a number of technological innovations. It adopts an industry-leading 10-channel MPPT design, which can be flexibly adapted to various application scenarios. In addition, it is equipped with intelligent global scan technology, which can further optimize the effect of MPPT tracking, and increase the power generation of multi-shadow scenes.
Integrating green into intelligence, intelligent manufacturing has been upgraded again
In recent years, industrial and commercial PV has developed rapidly, with installed capacity doubling to 52.8GW in 2023. In 2024, the installed capacity of industrial and commercial photovoltaics will further accelerate, according to national energy data, the new installed capacity of industrial and commercial photovoltaics in the first quarter alone will reach 16.89GW, a year-on-year increase of 83.2%.
While industrial and commercial photovoltaics are developing rapidly, they still face many problems and challenges in their construction and operation and maintenance. AISWEI three-phase PV inverter ASW110K-LT adopts a number of innovative technologies and designs to directly address the difficulties and pain points in the construction and operation of industrial and commercial photovoltaics, and creates a perfect solution for enterprises to achieve green manufacturing upgrading with the help of photovoltaics.
In terms of the most critical safety aspect of industrial and commercial photovoltaic power plants, AISWEI three-phase photovoltaic inverter ASW110K-LT adopts an innovative solution to greatly reduce the fire threat caused by DC arcing to photovoltaic power plants through faster and more accurate DC arc pulling intelligent detection (AFCI). In addition, it is compatible with RSD rapid shutdown, in case of emergency, inverter shutdown or grid power outage, support module voltage 0V rapid shutdown, for owners, installation and maintenance personnel and firefighters to provide higher personal safety.
Figure 4: Through the rooftop power station project, HCFA Technology has achieved the perfect integration of intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing.
Under the general trend of intelligent and green integration and development of manufacturing industry, green smart factories have become a key link in the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry, and photovoltaic power generation can play an important role in improving the energy efficiency of smart factories, reducing energy consumption, and helping smart factories achieve green manufacturing.
With the technical empowerment of AISWEI, the distributed photovoltaic power station invested and built by HCFA Technology not only provides a steady stream of green energy for the plant, but also further reduces the carbon footprint of enterprise production, realizing the perfect integration of intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing. The annual production of clean electricity by this power station is equivalent to saving about 589 tons of standard coal and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 1,615 tons per year.
China is the world's largest manufacturing country, and data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that the added value of China's manufacturing industry will account for about 30% of the global proportion in 2023, ranking first in the world for 14 consecutive years. In order to maintain strong competitiveness, China's manufacturing must carry out intelligent and green transformation. In this process, as the world's leading new energy high-tech enterprise, AISWEI will continue to bring users safer, more efficient and more convenient photovoltaic power generation solutions with continuous technological innovation, and help China's intelligent manufacturing move towards a greener future.
Author: Zhong Xinyuan