ITRM20080085U1 - AUTO SYSTEM POWERED BY A TURBINE GENERATOR FOR THE CONTROL AND REMOTE MONITORING OF WATER AND GAS - Google Patents

Description

TITLE: System powered by a turbine generator for the remote control and monitoring of water and gas.

DESCRIPTION

Fields of Application

The present invention relates to an electronic system for the remote monitoring and control of water or gas powered by a turbine generator, which converts the kinetic energy obtained from the flow that passes through it into electrical energy, which in turn is stored in an accumulator. Such an accumulator? able to power an electronic control unit that has the capacity? to read the data from the monitoring device, to process them, to memorize them inside and to proceed with the? forwarding, through unit? wireless communication (GSM / GPRS / UMTS / EDGE / ZIGBEE) to a remote system, from which to receive instructions on actions to be taken if necessary. This system allows you to take advantage of all the advantages offered by an electronic control and monitoring system, which are difficult to obtain with a traditional mechanical system.

In particular, this invention is intended to be applied in all those fields in which? request the possibility? to monitor a liquid or a gas in motion and therefore equipped with kinetic energy, without having to necessarily resort to the aid of power supply from the mains or batteries.

For example, the aforementioned system could replace the current water meter present in each home to support the network manager, in order to monitor the consumption of its users. With this replacement the manager? able to equip itself with a remote reading system, freeing itself from the burden of having to send an operator to carry out a reading.

The same considerations apply to a gas distribution system.

Another peculiarity? of the system ? the possibility? to monitor the level of the tanks and / or to measure the flow of water or gas in various strategic points of the distribution network, in order to be able to identify sections where there are leaks, and in the case of gas tanks, to allow control of any fraudulent supplies, or to monitor that no one goes to refuel the tank without the knowledge of the manager.

State of the art

With the introduction of new generation electricity meters (which communicate the consumption of users directly to the energy manager), yes? a new frontier has been opened as regards the field of consumption estimation, through the introduction of the? hourly remote tariff ?, and the identification of the characteristics of its users. In recent years, therefore, a series of devices have become widespread that deal with monitoring and control from remote locations in various fields of application, without physically reaching the device.

These devices suffer from a great disadvantage, they have the drawback of needing electrical power for their operation through the use of mains or batteries. However, these devices are often installed in places that are not easily connected to the mains or if they are powered by batteries (which have a limited duration), they require periodic replacement. On the other hand, even where the network? present or easy to access, there are a whole series of inconveniences, both bureaucratic, and costs for connection to the electricity grid.

One of the main innovations of this invention? the adoption of an alternative solution, which allows a thrifty and optimal use of the power supply, both through the use of low energy consumption components, and through an autonomous power supply system. The flow of water or gas that crosses the system activates a generator that converts the kinetic energy into electrical energy, which is stored in an accumulator and all? occurrence is delivered to the device. Keeping in mind that the part of the system that needs the most energy? the part responsible for data transmission over wireless links (typically a series of pulses of the order of hundreds of mA), adopting an optimized strategy of periodic communication, interspersed with long periods of acquisition and processing (through ultra low-power microcontrollers already ? present? on the market whose energy requirement for their task is in a range ranging from 1 uA to hundreds of uA) yes? made possible an? efficient self-sustainability? energy.

A practical example applicable if you want to adopt the system to replace the current water and gas meters? the following: the energy produced by the generator present in the system is stored for a month, keeping only the unit operational? data acquisition and storage, and the part in charge of wireless communication becomes operational for a few minutes at the end of the month.

Summary of the invention

This invention represents a configurable self-sufficient device from the point of view of the energy requirement (by means of the transformation of the kinetic energy of the flow that passes through it into electrical energy and of the optimal strategy of storage and use of the latter) of remote reading. , which can be integrated with current water and gas network monitoring systems, capable of transmitting data through wireless links. The pervasive installation of this invention in a water network (for example) will allow? to extend the current functionality? offers of the operator with the following:

1) Automatic reading of consumption and relative storage in its memory with additional information such as dates and other parameters.

2) Periodic transmission of the readings to the management center via GSM / GPRS / UMTS / EDGE or zigbee network.

3) Organic and simplified management of all meters installed on the territory at the operations center, through the management software that allows the display and control of the meters.

4) Communication to the central d? faults in the water network via SMS messages to the control unit and to the maintenance company of the system.

5) Activation of a series of signals and alarms that take the form of text messages intended for users or through messages on the display of which the invention? equipped (eg excessive water consumption, alarm on possible leakage or faucet left open, periodic supply suspension).

6) Possibility? by the water manager having readings of a large part of the network available to be able to estimate and locate any leaks on the water network.

Brief description of the figures

FIG. 1: Conceptual scheme of the system

FIG. 2: Principle diagram of the operation of the device installed at a user in the case of application on water or gas mains

FIG. 3: Block diagram of the unit? control unit or electronic control unit

FIG. 4: Conceptual diagram of the operating software

Detailed description

This device? consisting of a small size control unit that acquires the readings from the monitoring device, stores them in its own memory, and periodically sends them to the central system via the GPRS / GSM / UMTS / EDGE or Zigbee network.

By adopting this device as an integration / replacement of the current water or gas meters, the following advantages are obtained, as shown in FIG. 1

1) Cost and time savings

Savings on the costs of the personnel involved in reading the meters.

Elimination of non-reading due to the decreasing presence of? users in homes.

2) Realistic billing

Invoicing takes place on real consumption, avoiding the down payment billing badly supported by users.

3) Savings and rationalization of consumption

Possibility to perform readings at predefined times and days in order to estimate consumption in certain periods or time bands, and therefore to be able to better rationalize distribution.

Possibility to perform billing at volumes consumed in certain time slots, trying to stimulate users to consume more water? rationale that dampens consumption peaks at certain times

4) Alarm signaling alarm? user

Possibility to activate a series of automatisms and alarms that can materialize in text messages intended for users (e.g. excessive water consumption, alarm on possible leakage or faucet left open, etc.)

5) Monitoring, maintenance and organic control of the water network by means of meters installed on the territory

The control staff at the management center can? have an overview of all the control units present in the area through the PC installed in its headquarters. Of each user with whom? once the system is installed, it will be possible to check consumption, the presence of any problems, and even send specific commands remotely (for example: a higher reading frequency in order to allow analysis of the consumption of a particular user). These commands will be automatically detected by the control unit in a phase called? Synchronization ?, during which the device will send? all the readings accumulated in its memory to the server, and will request? to the server itself all pending commands for him.

With precision, architecture in addition to the Hardware and Firmware (FIG.3) making up each single control unit has software (FIG.4) to support the architecture with which "authorized" operators and maintenance personnel will be able to access the management system through authentication . Once that, the operator will be? authenticated and will be? been authorized by the system, access? to an interface and visualizzer? all the data of the meters scattered in the network in an organic way, thus obtaining? a vision of the whole, which will allow him? to check where the control units are located, if they are working, and what they are detecting.

Claims (4)

Claims 1. System (6) in FIG.l for remote monitoring and control of water and / or gas (7) - self-powered by a turbine generator (1), which converts the kinetic energy obtained from the flow that passes through it into electrical energy and stores it in an accumulator (2) which in turn? able to power - an electronic control unit (3). This control unit reads the data from the monitoring device (8), processes them, stores them inside and proceeds to the? Forwarding, - via wireless link (GSM / GPRS / UMTS / EDGE / ZIGBEE) (4), towards a remote system (5) which acquires the data sent and? able both to send commands to the system when necessary, and to carry out analysis and billing actions (in the case of water or gas mains). The system (6) according to what is set forth in claim 1 includes a turbine generator (1) which converts the kinetic energy of the fluid flow into electrical energy which can be stored in an accumulator and can be used to power the electronic control unit 3. The system (6) as set forth in claim 2 includes an electronic control unit (3) which has the purpose of processing the data and transmitting them through a unit? of wireless communication remotely. 4. The system (6) as set forth in claim 3 includes a? Unit? wireless communication capable of opening a connection protected from external intrusions with a remote information system to which the accumulated data is sent and from which the commands to be executed are received.