Energy Monitoring using FT Optix

Energy monitoring is the first step in understanding the behavior of my equipment and my plant. The idea is to be able to structure our energy consumption hierarchy as we have it in our plant. - [Implementation time: 60 Minutes]

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What is this for?

The application was developed using FactoryTalk Optix software. The main objective of this application is to monitor energy (WAGES). In this example, we consider electrical energy, but this is the basis for developing the faceplates for the other WAGES. This solution uses Optix's ability to structure objects associated with data and graphics in dashboards.

Another objective is to be able to utilize visualization features, data management, and programming structures using C# and an example of HTML development with JS. The platform allows our operations to be at the forefront with technological solutions that help us facilitate the challenges of today's industry.

General Features

FactoryTalk Optix can help improve your processes, efficiency, and end products—all with one easily accessible tool. Leverage the levels of collaboration, scalability, and interoperability you need to achieve your digital transformation vision.

FT Optix stands out for its ability to connect to a wide variety of industrial devices and protocols such as OPC UA, Ethernet/IP, Profinet, Modbus, HTTPS, MQTT, and many others. This capability enables the integration and real-time monitoring of equipment from different manufacturers from a single IoT platform. Additionally, FactoryTalk Optix offers the ability to create data logs and save this information in a SQL database.

Using FT Optix as a visualization platform is essential; however, it also helps us send information to other structures or files, such as HTML web pages. In this case, we will use code to display a Sankey chart and analyze the energy in our example. However, you can use other charts that you can develop or search for as a complement. The idea is that you can identify how to send data in real time via FT Optix.

Advantages

Use of structured code
Connectivity flexibility
Impact on development time
Notifications based on the operating model
Sending data to HTML web pages
High reliability
Compatible for implementation in your applications
Flexibility and scalability
Improved information flow
Data optimization
Real-time monitoring
Information analysis

Downloads

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Downloadable file ›

Need Help?

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Is this useful to me?

Being able to monitor assets or energy consumption is the first step in understanding the behavior of my equipment and my plant in general. The idea is to structure our energy consumption hierarchy as we do at our plant.

This application is the basis for developing the WAGES faceplates you need to monitor and can complement your real-time data analysis projects by sending data to graphs in HTML pages.

It is applicable to any industry or industrial segment where you want to begin analyzing and monitoring plant energy consumption.

This functionality can be replicated as many times as necessary in your projects, increasing the value of your products, optimizing implementation costs, and leveraging the data from your meters and instrumentation by monitoring and analyzing the data.

How can I make it work?

Requirements: products, tools, prior knowledge.

Hardware
- Controllers/PLC compatible with FT Optix connectivity.

Software
- FactoryTalk Optix (V1.5.6.0) o higher

Background knowledge 
- Basic knowledge FactoryTalk Optix, C#, html.

Implementation Guide

Open All Close All

Step 1

Download the program file to your FT Optix project folder.

Identify the application you want to use: FactoryTalk Optix.

Open the EnergyMonitoring file in the location where you downloaded it.

Make sure you have the .NET SDK x64 installed

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download

Remember the path where you will install the Optix project.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 1

Step 2

Step 2.1

Explore the application, open the main window, where you can see the elements that make up this demo.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 2_1

Step 2.2

Within the project view you will identify several Folders: Faceplates, Levels, Model, Variables, which we will be reviewing for the creation of the Faceplates and creation of the Navigation Panel.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 2_2

Step 3

Creating a Faceplate - In this case, we will create the Faceplate for electrical energy monitoring.

Step 3.1

An object named Electric is created in the Model folder.

With the basic variables for an electric energy meter:

name
kw
v
i

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 3_1

Step 3.2

In the Faceplates folder, create a Panel called ElectricFaceplate, which will be used to register all our electricity meters.

Generate an Alias associated with our Electric Object from the previous Step.

Each object, such as Label, Text Box, and Circular Gauge, is associated with the Alias variable it is to display.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 3_2

Step 4

Create the objects for the meters and define the hierarchical structure of the electric energy meters we have.

Step 4.1

We must consider how many electricity meters we have (in this case, they are simulated; however, you can later associate them with a controller) and define how we will create our hierarchical structure.

In this example, we will have 17 meters:

Meter	Name
1	Sub1
2	Sub2
3	Line 1
4	Line 2
5	Line 3-1
6	Line 3-2
7	Aux
8	Machine 1
9	Machine 2
10	Machine 3
11	Machine 4
12	Machine 5
13	MCC1
14	Compressor 1
15	Motor 1
16	Motor 2
17	Motor 3

With a hierarchy that will normally be the one you have in your electrical diagrams.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 4_1

Step 4.2

In the Model > Variables > Electric folder, all the Objects associated with the 17 meters we have considered are created, with the same structure that we have handled: name, kw, v, i.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 4_2

Step 5

We generate the screens of the different levels we have in the plant for energy measurement:

Main
Substations
Areas: Lines and Auxiliar
Machines, MCC, Compressor
Motor (engine)

In the Levels folder we have the Panels for creating the different levels:

Sub
Areas
Machines
Devices

In this case, they are the Faceplates called ElectricFaceplate that we associate with each meter as appropriate with Meter Objects.

Step 5.1

For the Panel Sub we created two meters

Sub1 associated meter1
Sub2 associated meter2

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 5_1

Step 5.2

For the Panel Area we created 5 meters:

Line1 associated meter3
Line2 associated meter4
Line3_1 associated meter5
Line3_2 associated meter6
Auxiliars associated meter7

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 5_2

And so on with the other Panels for the following levels and meters.

Machines
Devices

Step 6

Data to the HTML webpage.

In the EnergyMonitoring > ProjectFiles > Sankey folder, we have our sample files for an HTML webpage to display data in the Sankey chart.

It's important to mention that the charts or libraries for the HTML webpage can be developed at your convenience or obtained from other templates. This is just an example to show how to send data to the webpage.

There are two files:

Sankey.html – which we will be continually reviewing
Template-Sankey.html – which helps us send data from Optix

Step 6.1

Sankey.html will be the file where we'll review the data to analyze it in the Sankey chart.

Here we see the structure of how our Sankey chart will be defined, practically according to our hierarchical levels.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 6_1
Step 6.2

Template-Sankey.html will be the file we'll use to build our HTML website with the Optix data.

We'll primarily name the variables $01, $02, and $17, associating them with the meters we created in our Optix application.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 6_2
Step 6.3

In our Optix application in the UI > MainWindow folder we will find our RuntimeChartHTML, which is a NetLogic to send the Optix data to the HTML web page, written in C#.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 6_3
Step 6.4

Reviewing the C# code for RuntimeChartHTML, we find the block where we associate the variables from our HTML page with the objects created in Optix.

$01 associated with the Optix data from the meter1/kw object.

Since what we will analyze on the HTML page in the Sankey chart is kw.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 6_4

Step 7

We also created Faceplates to be able to manually structure our hierarchy in a Panel for the Energy layout.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 7

Step 8

Step 8.1

Run the application and you'll be able to see the simulated energy consumption measurements (you can later link them to your real meters).

First, the energy layout.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 8_1
Step 8.2

Substation

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 8_2
Step 8.3

Areas

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 8_3
Step 8.4

Machines

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 8_4
Step 8.5

Devices

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 8_5
Step 8.6

Sankey HTML

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 8_6

Step 9

In your project folder, EnergyMonitoring > ProjectFiles > Sankey, you can open the Sankey.html page and view the data from a browser to analyze the Sankey chart.

You can view the data sent directly from Optix to the HTML page and analyze it.

energy-monitor-using-optix_Step 9

Energy Monitoring using FT Optix

Version 1.2 - June 2026

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