New MEASUR Software Tool Suite a Boon for Manufacturing Sector

By Better Buildings Beat Team on Nov 19, 2018

For years, manufacturing plant personnel and experts have relied on several Department of Energy (DOE) software tools to increase industrial energy efficiency –both at the plant-level and for specific energy-consuming systems. Now, these tools have been combined into the new Manufacturing Energy Assessment Software for Utility Reduction (MEASUR) tool suite! The combined tools include:

  • The Pumping System Assessment Tool (PSAT) helps manufacturers assess the efficiency of pumping systems;
  • The Process Heating Assessment and Survey Tool (PHAST) enables people to assess energy consumption in industrial furnaces; and
  • The Fan System Assessment Tool (FSAT) helps manufacturers quantify energy use and savings opportunities in industrial fan systems.
     

The MEASUR tool suite also ensures that these tools are interoperable. Three additional “legacy” tools – the Steam System Assessment Tool (SSAT), MotorMaster+, and AIRMaster+ – are being updated and incorporated into the MEASUR suite. As the MEASUR tools become available they will be used in the Better Plants program’s In-Plant Trainings.

MEASUR’s platform works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The tool suite is open-source, allowing users to customize or use the calculation library for other applications. To explore and interface with this developmental process, visit the DOE AMO GitHub page.

MEASUR contains capabilities to assess most major support systems found within manufacturing facilities, including pumping, fans, process heating, steam, motors, and compressed air. By entering facility-specific energy and operating data, users can discover how much energy each piece of equipment uses annually, plus estimated annual energy costs, and evaluate opportunities for improvement.

The tool suite also displays schematics of specific systems to help users better understand their energy systems, as well as a “Sankey Diagram” view that breaks down all energy flows for specific scenarios. Readily visible help text and other visual cues guide new users throughout the assessments. Users can view, print, or export any information from assessments. This includes raw data, report graphs, Sankey diagrams, input summaries, and more. In addition to assessments, MEASUR offers more than 40 useful equipment calculators, with capabilities such as pump and system curve analysis, motor performance characteristics, and steam properties. Better Plants partners that utilize diagnostic tools through the program’s field validation and diagnostic equipment program can easily input the data from these tools into the MEASUR tools and calculators.

Learn more about MEASUR by watching an overview webinar, or try it out for yourself by visiting its online home here and downloading Windows, Mac, or Linux compatible versions!

Please report any errors in the user interface or calculations to Gina Accawai at accawigk@ornl.gov. Include your operating system (e.g., Windows 10, Mac OS 10.12), a screenshot of the issue and download your current data set (export the assessment) so that we can understand the problem.