Compressed air is an important but expensive energy source for industry. Leaks cause high losses, but often remain undetected. A machine manufacturer has created transparency with a modular IoT solution for compressed air monitoring. The mechanical engineering company achieves savings, improved maintenance strategies, and sustainable process optimization — without the effort of traditional OT systems.
The IoT expert and co-developer of this solution is Perinet GmbH, which implements an end-to-end infrastructure from the field level to IT (including the cloud) based on standards. This allows for direct, smart, and secure integration of sensors and actuators with the cloud, the internet, and company IT.
The challenge: High energy consumption due to compressed air
Compressed air is one of the most important energy sources in industry. It drives pneumatic cylinders, valves, tools, grippers and conveyor systems in production plants. It is also suitable for critical environments because no electrical sparks are generated during use. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most expensive energy sources: the energy required to produce it is high and compressed air appliances are also prone to leaks.
A manufacturer in the mechanical engineering sector was therefore regularly experiencing increased energy consumption and rising energy costs as a result. Leaks went unnoticed for long periods of time and led to considerable follow-up costs. In addition, there were difficulties in the targeted planning of maintenance measures due to a lack of reliable data on the condition of the compressed air lines. This significantly increased the pressure to act.
The manufacturer was therefore looking for a way to monitor compressed air in order to detect leaks and thus tap into potential savings. However, the company wanted to avoid using complex OT systems such as SCADA. Their disadvantages: High license costs and low flexibility. The aim was to keep implementation costs to a minimum and enable simple integration into existing IT structures. The company commissioned Perinet and Zentinel NDS to develop a specially adapted solution.
Challenges at a Glance
- Compressed air losses often remain undetected and lead to high energy costs.
- Maintenance measures are difficult to plan without data.
- Traditional OT solutions are expensive and difficult to integrate.
- The effort required for cross-system connection is high.
The solution: end-to-end detection with IoT components
Compressed air is monitored using a modular IoT solution based on intelligent components. They continuously collect measured values from pressure and flow sensors along the entire compressed air lines. All collected data is stored locally in an SQL database and visualized in a web-based dashboard.
Digital architecture with adapter, server and SPE
The IOT compressed air monitoring system combines Single Pair Ethernet (SPE), an IoT adapter, an edge server, an SQL database and a dashboard.
The ZentNode AL adapter is an intelligent network solution for industrial data acquisition. It monitors analog signals such as fill level, pressure or temperature and converts them into digital measured values. The system automatically calculates maximum, minimum, and average values and sends both real-time and calculated values via MQTT.
The ZentEdge server is a robust edge computer that collects, stores, and processes machine data from ZentNode. The data is stored in the SQL database of ZentEdge and made accessible to your existing systems via standard IT protocols. ZentEdge serves as a bridge between operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT), using Single Pair Ethernet (SPE).
Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) handles communication between the individual components. It enables data transmission at 100 Mbps and power supply through a single cable, significantly reducing installation effort. SPE eliminates the need for complex gateways and allows the integration of industrial devices into IT networks using standard protocols such as HTTPS and MQTT, or via a REST API. All data transmission is additionally secured using mTLS certificates.
Visualization, analysis and process improvement
An intuitive dashboard enables both real-time insights and the analysis of historical data series for IoT compressed air monitoring. For example, pressure curves, flow rates and frequency of leaks are displayed.
With IoT compressed air monitoring, inefficient usage patterns, leaks or abnormal pressure curves can be specifically identified and systematically eliminated. This led to a significant increase in energy efficiency in the company without having to adapt or interrupt existing workflows or production processes.
The maintenance strategy has also been adapted: Instead of reactive measures, predictive interventions are now possible, which reduce unplanned downtimes and use maintenance resources more efficiently. The increased data availability also allows continuous optimization of the systems over longer periods of time.
Wide range of applications in the industry
The software and hardware for IoT compressed air monitoring is extremely versatile in practice. It is suitable for many different industrial sectors.
- In automotive production, it is used to monitor painting lines and assembly lines and to control robot grippers, lifting systems and test benches.
- In power generation, it supports the control of compressed air systems for generators, for example for cooling, cleaning or as a drive for pneumatic valves.
- In the food and pharmaceutical industries, it enables process control in pasteurization, homogenization or drug production, where hygiene requirements and pressure consistency play a central role.
- They are also highly relevant for use in plastics processing, packaging machines and electronics production. There, pneumatic systems ensure precise positioning and dosing.
- In the pharmaceutical industry, the system helps to achieve a more consistent quality of intermediate products through more precise pressure control.
In all these fields of application, IoT compressed air monitoring helps to use resources in a more targeted manner, save energy and make production processes more reliable. In addition, the data obtained offers potential for further applications such as integration into energy management systems in accordance with ISO 50001 or use for key performance indicator systems in sustainability controlling.
The result: sustainable savings with potential for expansion
The presented solution for IoT compressed air monitoring offers companies modern IoT technology with industrial-grade reliability. It shows how energy-intensive processes can be made more efficient without complex OT infrastructures or proprietary systems. As a result, the machine manufacturer was able to analyze its compressed air supply, identify leaks and thus significantly reduce its energy consumption.
The software has great potential for further development. The data obtained can be integrated into energy management systems or higher-level production performance indicator systems to optimize all position processes. Expansion to other locations or additional infrastructures is also conceivable.
Results at a glance
- Leaks are systematically detected and eliminated.
- Energy consumption is reduced without interfering with production processes.
- Maintenance is proactive and efficient.
- Data forms the basis for long-term optimization.
