Energy consumption of the evoVIU as an embedded camera
How much power does the evoVIU consume?
The headlines on the subject of rising energy prices have been piling up in recent days and weeks. There is talk of record prices and price increases of up to 80%. One reason is said to be that after the rather difficult situation in Corona times, industry is increasingly ramping up its production.* Demand for goods is rising again and machines are no longer standing still, which means that demand for energy has also increased. In almost the same course, there has been talk for some time about saving energy and producing greener energy in order to reduce the burden on people and the environment.
This situation is thought-provoking and encourages us to strive for change. That’s why we wanted to compare how much energy the evoVIU requires and calculate what savings potential there is with the evoVIU as an autonomously running embedded system.
In classic Machine Vision, the camera is used to take a photo of the test object and forward the data to an industrial PC (IPC) or host PC. The images are then processed and evaluated there. So with this system, in addition to the camera and the light, you also need another component that consumes additional energy.
Power consumption for smart camera & IPC
Of course, the consumption of the IPC depends very much on the model and some other factors, which is why the calculation can only be seen as a pure estimate. In the calculation, we assume an IPC with relatively low consumption. For example, if you use a conventional PC, it can consume up to 300 W/h. In addition, we assume that the camera will run around the clock and throughout the year, as this is often the case in the industry.
Camera
10 W
*
24 h
per day *
365
days per year =
87.6 kWh
yearly
+
IPC
20 W
*
24 h
per day *
365
days per year =
175.2 kWh
yearly
Total: 262.8 kWh for a classic Machine Vision
Power consumption for smart camera evoVIU
evoVIU
10 W
*
24 h
per day *
365
days per year =
87.6 kWh
yearly
Total: 87.6 kWh for Machine Vision with the evoVIU
Specifically, this means that instead of powering one conventional camera with IPC, you could also power 3 evoVIUs. If you apply this to the current electricity price (as of May 2022), you save just under €63 per year. At first glance, this does not seem to be particularly worthwhile from a financial point of view, but if you consider that you usually have more than one smart camera installed in your system and that you need another IPC from a certain quantity onwards to manage the processes, this can add up to a considerable sum.
For the evoVIU, by the way, this also means: For only €31.50 (at current prices), you can operate the evoVIU for an entire year. It is assumed that the evoVIU has processes to complete 24 hours a day throughout the year.
What other advantages does a compact camera system bring?
In addition to the energy savings, an embedded system has several other advantages. Not only do you save on the purchase of additional equipment and cabling at the point of use, embedded systems are also more space-saving and lighter. Likewise, processing data directly on the camera significantly reduces network load by eliminating the need to send large amounts of data to an external PC for processing. Especially due to the smaller design, systems like the evoVIU can also be used in places that were previously more difficult to reach. This brings many new applications for smart cameras like the evoVIU.
*Source: Hiltscher, Lilli-Marie (05.04.2022): This is how high the energy bill gets, https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/verbraucher/steigende-energiekosten-101.html [abgerufen am 31.05.2022]
Other contributions:
Release Update V5.1.0
A new software version for the evoVIU is available. Read all about new features, improvements and bug fixes here.
Release update V5.0.0
A new software version for the evoVIU is available. Read all about new features, improvements and bug fixes here.
Release update 4.28.0
A new software version for the evoVIU is available. Read all about new features, improvements and bug fixes here.
