WKU News

Morton Electric has hired two Western Kentucky University Electrical Engineering students, Aric Springob and Ha’ani Whitlock, as engineering interns supporting the company’s growing Automation Lab at the WKU Innovation Campus on Nashville Road. 

Springob and Whitlock are both juniors in WKU’s Electrical Engineering program. They will assist Morton Electric’s engineering team with the development of a customizable industrial energy-management software platform designed for large commercial, institutional and manufacturing facilities. 

The platform will help organizations such as university campuses, hospitals, metal-processing facilities, water and wastewater systems, and advanced manufacturers better understand where electricity is being consumed, identify areas of high demand or waste and make more informed decisions about energy use and infrastructure investments. 

Morton Electric plans to build each application around the customer’s existing facility and electrical systems. Whenever practical, the platform will communicate with energy-monitoring meters and power-quality devices already installed in switchgear and electrical-distribution equipment. This approach can reduce unnecessary equipment replacement, shorten deployment time and lower implementation costs. 

The platform will use open industrial communication standards and highly customizable software tools to bring electrical, automation and operational data into a centralized visual interface. Each customer will receive dashboards, graphics, alarms, reporting tools and energy-cost calculations tailored to the layout and operating requirements of its facility. 

Planned capabilities include: 

• Monitoring electrical consumption and peak demand 

• Identifying the buildings, production areas or equipment associated with high energy use 

• Estimating demand-charge exposure 

• Communicating with existing power meters, PLCs, variable-frequency drives, robots and other automated equipment 

• Monitoring solar-energy production 

• Integrating battery energy storage systems 

• Coordinating large motor startups with battery dispatch 

• Supporting demand reduction, power-quality improvement and critical-load resilience