AAI's Energy Management Control System makes the cover of InTech Magazine October 2000.

An article written by Dr. Fred Thomasson (consultant to AAI) and Ron Childress (Director, Research and Development) and presented at two major conferences this spring has been published in InTech Magazine. The article discusses an EMS system that optimizes the powerhouse operations to meet the steam and electrical requirements of a plant or mill at a minimum cost that is subject to all the operating constraints imposed on the generation equipment.

For most U.S. pulp and paper mills, electricity is profit. Nearly 10% of the overall manufacturing cost in the U.S. pulp and paper industry is used to purchase energy. Minimizing this cost is a major goal at every Mill. The AAI EMS System provides the ability for a mill to make a ‘purchase / make’ decision based on a Real Time Price (RTP) rate schedule. Many utilities are offering industrial customers an RTP rate schedule, where the rates for the next day’s prices is available about eight hours before they go into effect. This offers the mill or plant ample opportunity to evaluate rates and decide if it is of economic interest to buy power or make power.

An EMS system must do more than just have an effect on purchased energy bills. It must also maximize the amount of steam supplied by their self-generation fuel sources, such as bark and black liquor. The third thing a good EMS system does is optimize the boiler loading and boiler fuels to produce the mill’s steam requirement from the power boilers at the lowest cost.

AAI was approached by InTech asking for permission to publish the paper after it was presented at the Process Control, Electrical and Information Conference in March of 2000. The paper appears on the cover of the October issue.

InTech magazine is the official journal for measurement and control and is published monthly by the Instrument Society of America (ISA). ISA is globally recognized as a standards writing organization, developing consensus standards for factory automation, power plants, computer technology, telemetry, and communications. Established in 1945 and accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), ISA has published more than 125 standards, recommended practices, and technical reports.

InTech is the preeminent publication in the measurement and control field. InTech strives to keep readers fully informed about significant technical developments, trends, and standards, and provides the latest industry, economic, and business news important to measurement and control practitioners and the organizations that employ them. 

Automation Applications Inc, LLC (http://www.aai-csi.com/) is an engineering firm specialized in the design, implementation, and integration of advanced process controls using a wide variety of hardware and software platforms. AAI is specialized in providing coordinated powerhouse control systems and energy efficiency solutions. Headquartered in Exton, PA, the company services the chemical, oil & gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pulp & paper, and utility industries.

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