Low Carbon Manufacturing

In response to global climate change and sustainable development trends, low-carbon green technology has become a key focus for industrial transformation. Taiwan has built an industry ecosystem for green tech development. For example:

• Delta Electronics is advancing smart factory energy monitoring and power quality management.
• ITRI focuses on flow battery materials and industrial carbon emissions detection.
• Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) is providing infrastructure for energy transition through smart grids and renewable energy systems.

Globally, leading companies each have distinct approaches:

• Siemens centers its efforts on smart energy management and real-time factory carbon monitoring.
• ABB focuses on industrial automation and energy-saving technologies.
• General Electric (GE) emphasizes building IIoT-based energy platforms.

Compared to these international firms, Taiwan still has room to grow in system integration and contextual application development. While global leaders integrate low-carbon technologies into Industry 4.0 solutions, Taiwan's efforts are still evolving.
AIM-HI aims to leverage the existing smart manufacturing demonstration line to incorporate low-carbon green concepts. Our goal is to develop green machine tool applications, and ultimately integrate a microgrid system with smart manufacturing to support a low-carbon transformation of the machine tool industry. In addition to the traditional goals of machining—precision, speed, and surface finish—energy conservation and carbon reduction are now also prioritized.
In 2024, we completed several key developments and validations. Achievements include:

• Construction of a power measurement and quality analysis platform for the demonstration production line, with power quality measured at 0.42.
• Development of a CO₂ emission prediction model for machining processes with an R² accuracy of 0.9.
• Energy efficiency improvement of flow batteries by 2.2%. Building on our Phase 1 deep cultivation project, our smart factory demonstration line now serves as a platform for low-carbon R&D, supporting innovations in energy efficiency and carbon footprint monitoring.

Key Technologies in 2024:

1. Highlight Technology 1: Smart Factory Power Quality Measurement and Analysis Platform
   We completed a microgrid system within the smart factory to monitor machine tool power usage and carbon emissions. Using ICP DAS smart meters and an IoT management system, we set up an energy monitoring server to analyze power quality. Data is stored in an InfluxDB database and visualized via Grafana dashboards. The recorded power quality score was 0.42.
2. Highlight Technology 2: CO₂ Emission Prediction Model for Machine Tool Machining
   We developed a CO₂ emission model for machine tool operations, achieving a determination coefficient (R²) close to 0.9. The model systematically analyzes how different machining parameters—spindle speed, feed rate, cutting depth, and flow rate—affect carbon emissions. Machine learning techniques and experimental design were used for validation and prediction.
3. Highlight Technology 3: Optimization of Flow Battery Conductive Materials
   We optimized conductive materials in flow batteries by chemically and thermally treating the carbon black in slurry electrodes. This improved energy efficiency by 2.2%, with only a ~1% decline after 100 charge/discharge cycles. Our study examined how treated carbon black affects battery performance across different current densities and electrolyte flow rates, revealing significant potential for enhancing the performance and durability of iron-based flow batteries in energy storage applications.