News and insights

Where intelligence drives power and the Internet of Things

Learn more about the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on how you can drive efficiency and productivity. We believe that the way our world works improves with Intelligent Power Management, and we're investing in people and technology to bring to market digital innovations that will impact your products, processes and bottom line.

Today’s power management innovations have transformed the way people live, work and play for the better.

Advancements in intelligent digital technologies have changed our world. What we are able to do today far surpasses what we’ve done and is just a fraction of what we’ll be able to do tomorrow. And at the heart of it all are the “things” that generate, collect and process data.

At Eaton, we’ve embraced the digital world and our place in it to rethink innovation. We’re leveraging technology to improve our customer experience and inspiring our employees with digital tools to drive productivity. We’re taking Industry 4.0 head-on, employing artificial intelligence and advanced machinery in our factories and developing technologies to help our customers to do the same. And we’re generating the insights needed for you to make better decisions with more products and services with Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity built in.

We believe that how our world works improves with Intelligent Power management, and we’re investing even more in our people and technologies to bring to market the digital innovations that will impact your products, processes and bottom line.

We believe that how our world works improves with Intelligent Power management.

Ramanath Ramakrishnan, Chief Technology Officer

Intelligent Power: How our IoT thinking advances power management

In the age of big data and IoT, digital connectivity exists across the manufacturing floor, electric grid, buildings, healthcare facilities, transportation and in the home. We’re innovating Intelligent Power solutions that collect data, learn and provide actionable insights to optimise power use and continuity.

Through our focus on improving the quality of life and the environment by advancing power management, we are dedicated to engineering connected products that power your home, office, facility, machine, airplane or vehicle today and well into the future.

We dive deeply into data to help you optimise power consumption.

The path to Intelligent Power

We make the “things” that make the Internet of Things work. Our electrical, aerospace, hydraulic and vehicle products and services live at the origin of data.

We bring Intelligent Power to life through three key pillars:

Assets – Sensors in the products that collect data

We equip our products with sensors and sensing capabilities to dissect the fundamental makeup of power, whether it’s electrical power (current, voltage, frequency and power factor), fluid power (pressure, flow rates, displacement and contamination) or mechanical power (force, speed, pressure and displacement). Because we know how our products are best operated and maintained and have a depth of expertise in your applications, we make greater advancements in productivity and cost efficiency.

Data science — Creating actionable information and knowledge

Raw, unprocessed data has limited value. It’s the transformation of that data into actionable decision points that helps our customers reduce their cost of ownership, drive efficiency and maximise uptime. We use virtual digital models, or “digital twins,” to mimic physical assets in the real world. This allows us to rapidly design, build and test solutions virtually before committing to large capital deployments. We then extract knowledge from the virtual digital models by asking the right questions (What happened? Why? How can we control it?) to help inform new product development.

Connectivity – Industry-standard protocols to aggregate and disseminate data

We rely on common protocols and infrastructures to send and receive data. While there are many processes within the markets we serve, we remain cloud and services agnostic. We strive to develop a communications platform approach that is open, scalable and secure — transforming the way systems, things, people and processes interact with one another. We also work with your partners to increase scalability and ease compliance.

Explore how data can breathe new life into installed products.

The information collected and analysed by our products helps you optimise processes across the board to increase their overall value throughout an extended product lifecycle. With our Intelligent Power solutions, you and your customers can depend on a lower total cost of ownership and a healthier bottom line.

Our digital expertise and Intelligent Power solutions let us help you:

Generate the raw data you need to develop insights
Better understand your power use to create better business models
Develop and deploy enhanced data-driven solutions

By collecting and transforming data into clear insights, you’ll have the information needed to continually make better decisions faster. See a real-world example: explore how Eaton’s IoT-enabled Energy Management Circuit Breaker changes the way homes across the U.S. manage power.

Flexible programs and technologies that wrap around your needs.

Powering the information blueprint

Because the IoT space moves fast, we are platform agnostic. We report on data by way of core programs that sit on top of today’s existing technologies, allowing us to wrap our solutions around your needs with greater ease.

User experience (UX)

Visualisation tools that use generated data to provide easy-to-use, consistent experiences across mobile devices, digital control screens and web-based apps.

Cloud platform

Services that allow us to consistently pull information from the system, store and analyse it and share it with customers.

Embedded systems

Hardware and software packages that help us take advantage of the latest in computing power as it becomes available.

Cybersecurity

Critical protocols that encompass all the technical standards, tools and processes that provide end-to-end security. Our approach in the platforms and products we bring to market is always “secure by design.”

Our breadth drives intelligence

When it comes to IoT innovation, our scale sets us apart from other solution providers who lack the same breadth of knowledge.

Sharing information throughout our company is a critical part of how we leverage the idea of Intelligent Power. We efficiently capitalise on our scale by sharing the learnings from our core disciplines - electrical, hydraulics, aerospace and vehicle - through the Eaton business system: cross-business processes that allow us to share best practice and synergy. While some players may have electrical expertise, for instance, they don’t have the luxury of data from a vehicle or hydraulics business.

Our shared knowledge, combined with our global reach and resources, helps us realise greater, more immediate innovation for our customers.

Sharing information across Eaton is at the core of Intelligent Power.

Our IoT capabilities in action

See how shared learnings across our disciplines allows for some of the most efficient and versatile IoT innovations in market today.

Vehicles

IntelliConnect: Provides diagnostics and predictive analytics through transmission codes, engine duty cycles and terrain information to notify truck drivers and fleet owners in real time of the severity of issues with a vehicle.

Data centers

PredictPulse: A 24/7 predictive monitoring service for Eaton’s uninterruptible power systems that tracks and sends parametric data and real-time alarm information every 15 minutes to help ensure data center uptime.

Microgrids

Resilient power: Whether on- or off-grid, our Power Xpert energy optimiser controller monitors and regulates every aspect of power. The controller is connected to an energy infrastructure and the utility grid via open protocols. Through diagnostics, predictive and prescriptive analytics and models, grids can operate under challenging conditions.

Machinery

Hydraulic boom stability control: This boom stability control system uses on-board sensors to prevent ‘boom bounce’, detecting vibrations with microprocessors and unique computerised algorithms to automatically stabilise cylinder position and the entire boom structure.

Cities

Connected lighting: Physical light fixtures that increase building, business and community operating efficiencies through controls and data. Users control light and solve higher-complexity problems through sensing and communication features found inside the fixture.

In November 2017, Navigant Research announced that the market for IoT lighting solutions is expected to grow from $651.1 million in 2017 to $4.5 billion in 2026. In their recent report, “Navigant Research Leaderboard: IoT for Lighting,” Eaton was named a leading influencer in IoT for lighting.

Dedicated to making what matters work.*

*Power needs continue to grow, and that growth influences how we design and manufacture solutions in a digital world.

At Eaton, “we make what matters work” is a mindset.

It’s our commitment to increasing efficiencies, creating safer homes and workplaces, and helping both ourselves and you make better-informed decisions. The data that we can help you generate and analyse to create actionable insights is the foundation for innovative, smarter businesses. That’s Intelligent Power.

Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy and helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges.