Development and evaluation of an intelligent IoT-based monitoring system for energy management in a commercial refrigeration system in the Colombian Caribbean coast

An innovative real-time monitoring system was developed to evaluate the energy performance of an industrial refrigeration process. The system was implemented as a strategy for monitoring and controlling energy consumption. In this way, to reduce the ecological footprint and obtain economic benefits. The proposed system consists of a series of sensors located in the refrigeration system, connected through communication protocols using IoT technologies. The system has a concentrator, which captures and stores the information to be later filtered and processed in the cloud and displayed on an interactive platform in real time. The system allows to track the efficiency of the industrial refrigeration process, identifying all the opportunities to increase energy performance that occur, not only in the timely and conditional development of maintenance activities, but also operational, according to fluctuations in the demand for cold. The results showed that the refrigeration system achieves a consumption rate of 0.897 kWh/ton. To ensure low consumption and high energy efficiency, an evaporator pressure greater than 363 kPa is recommended, as well as a water temperature difference in the evaporator and condenser greater than 6 °C and 4.5 °C, respectively. The development and implementation of the monitoring and control system achieved a saving potential of 28,872 USD over one year. Additionally, an 11 % reduction in the consumption of the compressor in the refrigeration system is demonstrated. These results suggest the potential for economic savings through the implementation of energy efficiency plans that in most cases do not require significant investments