Digital technologies open up novel possibilities for the continuous monitoring of parameters relevant to the energy consumption and maintenance of electric motor systems. While they can contribute to saving energy, digital technologies also consume energy. Within the framework of the International Energy Agency Technology Collaboration Programme 4E Electric Motor Systems Annex (EMSA www.iea-4e.org/emsa/) the energy consumption attributable to the digitalisation of industrial motor systems was analysed.

Since the availability of data considering the impact of digital energy consumption in motor systems is currently poor, this study aimed to make a first step through the analysis of concrete cases. The following five cases are included: (1) adaptive air pressure management system in a compressor system with intelligent control and real-time monitoring (2) water pump system equipped with electrical sensors allowing the optimisation and control of the pumps (3) results from a project where approximately 1’000 motors were equipped with electrical sensors (4) air ventilation system equipped with a sensor that can detect clogged air filters (5) smart sensors attached to motors.

The analysis shows that the advantages (both qualitative and quantitative) of using a digital solution outweigh the disadvantages, including an increased energy consumption. The energy consumption of applying digital solutions is negligible, in the range of a few percentages compared to the total energy consumption of an installation. The energy savings potential depends largely on how optimised systems already were and what type of hardware upgrades were made. Looking at the potential of the digital solutions without hardware upgrades, in our cases we found that these are below 10%.