Schneider Electric launches digital load management system

Schneider Electric has launched a connected system that aims to digitally integrate multifunction motor starters into machine control panels, allowing fast installation and configuration for the direct control and management of low voltage loads and providing an end-to-end digital user experience.

TeSys Island’s object-orientated concept of TeSys avatars acts as a digital replica on top of the physical devices to facilitate integration. This approach lets users focus on machine design, load integration and control, and simplifies the selection and commissioning of each electromechanical component. Due to integration with industrial fieldbus, TeSys Island eliminates the need for auxiliary wiring and therefore reduces the need for I/O modules.

Once in operation as part of Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Machine solution, the company says TeSys Island will help minimise machine stoppages by providing easy and secured access to diagnostic data for engineering and maintenance personnel by generating pre-alarms when unusual electrical load behaviour is detected. Operators can access information remotely and set up timely intervention by maintenance personnel.

This higher level of data should enable more accurate decision-making for all users and reveal the secrets of the machine in operation, according to Schneider Electric, by providing comprehensive device health, load level energy consumption and application-specific protection data. Asset identification data is also available to track installations and support the development of service-enabled business models.

“TeSys Island is the most innovative load management solution in the market today,” said Farokh Ghadially, VP Power Products & Solutions at Schneider Electric Australia. “By making machines and processes smarter and more reliable, TeSys Island enables our customers to advance with their Industry 4.0 journey. It provides savings and efficiencies at every stage of the process or machine life cycle, from design to build to commissioning and operation.”

Automation integration is simplified, as are programming, testing and commissioning. The system manages motors and other electrical loads up to 80 A, and electrical and mechanical configurations can be easily updated throughout a machine’s life cycle, with only basic system knowledge required.