subject: Energy Conservation with Energy Monitoring [print this page] Energy Conservation with Energy Monitoring
A Technological Objective
To develop intelligent software and hardware for companies that want to do energy conservation. This system is called Energy Surveillance System in commercial and industrial applications.
The Energy Monitoring System provides the ability to monitor electric equipment kWh usage, Peak Demand, Current, Active Power, Reactive Power, Voltage and Total Harmonic Distortion at remote locations. By taking advantage of store benchmark reporting and energy demand control over the Internet, the customer will lower energy costs and indirectly reduce the fossil fuel consumption of the power plants.
The Energy Monitoring System is a networked solution that operates over an existing Corporate Ethernet or Internet. A network management server is installed at the location where energy conservation ideas will be implemented. EMS software communicates with the system at customers' remote locations. In addition, EMS provides detailed energy consumption information including energy patterns and usage cost verification. The benchmark reporting allows the user to compare one facility against another and identify abnormal energy usage.
Typically, The ESS Meters will monitor the following loads:
HVAC
Refrigeration
Lighting
Electric Motors
Electric Hot Water Tanks
Main
In addition, ESS will warn the user of pending equipment failure by continuous monitoring of the electric motor current and total harmonic distortion values.
An intelligent satellite controller is installed at each remote location that sheds loads according to The Energy Monitoring System commands. EMS monitors and takes appropriate action based on the artificial intelligence software algorithm.
With EMS, companies can do energy conservation and take advantage of spot market energy pricing during peak times.
Features
Energy Conservation of electricity/gas or propane Usage
Benchmark Reporting
Monitors Equipment kWh usage, Peak Demand, Current, Active Power, Reactive Power, Voltage and Total Harmonic Distortion
E-Mail Notification
Ethernet/Internet Based System
Multi-Location Management from a Single Point
Controls Demand Peaks
Controls Electrical Generators
Equipment Operational Status Reporting
Interfaces with EMS and 3rd Party Systems
B. Scientific or Technological Advancement
The Energy Monitoring System is based on a microprocessor and will create a virtual interface between server and remote locations (up to 100,000) via Ethernet/Internet.
In order for the Energy Monitoring System to perform accurate store/ facility benchmark assessment, it is mandatory for the EMS to be able to collect and analyze data correctly. This creates a tremendous challenge for the software and hardware designers. The software has to be extremely sophisticated (Artificial Intelligence) to evaluate store/facility variables such as:
Heat loss coefficient
Store/facility energy coefficient
Customer traffic coefficient
Doors opened/closed
Wind speed
Direction of the wind
Outside temperature
Indoor temperature
Humidity (outdoor/indoor)
HVAC load
Refrigeration load
Lighting load
Electric/gas ovens
Due to the fact that various locations are built differently (construction material & design) and are located around the country (Temperature Zones), the EMS has to be extremely intelligent to assess each location separately and develop common platforms for benchmarking.
Here are some advantages:
Allows implementation of energy conservation in multi locations
Reduces maintenance cost
Reduces product spoilage
Reduces green house effect
Scientific or technological uncertainty
The most uncertain and challenging obstacle is to develop intelligent software, which can accurately analyze the data of various stores/locations to perform bench marking, and load control. Since each location has been built from different building materials, it is a big challenge to develop a software and hardware to bring all variables to a common denominator. In addition, in case of retail stores, EMS has to consider how often customer doors get opened and closed. This is very challenging for the R&D team to develop hardware and the software to ensure an accurate energy model under various conditions. The software has to have a complex algorithm to distinguish what is a valid variable and how it relates to other stores/locations. In addition, the hardware cost has to meet 2-3 year pay back criteria. In commercial applications, low cost capital investment is critical. Furthermore, installations of EMS have to be very simple and quick. Otherwise, it is extremely difficult to implement ESS across the continent. The hardware has to be designed in such a manner that it does not interfere with the corporate Ethernet so there is not much room for error. If the software fails to analyze properly the data, nuisance e-mail will be generated and the usefulness of the system will become questionable. For example, a typical grocery chain store has 800-1400 locations and one glitch in the software can jam somebody's e-mail system with unnecessary messages.
