Control system and method for IoT boilers using central management server

• US 10,165,054 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2018
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kiturami Co., Ltd., Sung-Hwan Choi, Young-Hwan Choi
• Original Assignee: Kiturami Co., Ltd., Sung-Hwan Choi, Young-Hwan Choi
• Inventors: Choi, Sung-Hwan, Choi, Young-Hwan
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ramesh B
• Application Number:
  US15/976,459
• Publication Number:
  US 20180262574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 229 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: F24D 19/1066 for the combination of central heating and domestic hot water
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/104 Inspection; Diagnosis; Trial operation
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/20 characterised by control inputs
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/414 using electronic processing, e.g. computer-based
• CPC Class Codes: F24H 15/45 remotely accessible
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/406 characterised by monitoring or safety G05B19/19 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31346 Network manager
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31455 Monitor process status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

The present invention discloses control system and method of an IoT boiler. A control system of an IoT boiler according to the present invention includes: the IoT boiler that checks an operation state to transmit state information, and senses whether or not a fault occurs through a sensor to transmit fault information; a manager terminal that includes a boiler control application for monitoring and controlling the IoT boiler, monitors a state of the IoT boiler, receives control information for controlling the IoT boiler from a manager, and transmits the control information; and a central management server that is connected to the IoT boiler and the manager terminal through a network, periodically or non-periodically receives and stores the state information of the IoT boiler from the IoT boiler, and receives the control information for controlling the IoT boiler from the manager terminal to perform control of the IoT boiler.

Claims

1. A control system of an internet-of-things (IoT) boiler, comprising:

a plurality of IoT boilers, each IoT boiler checks an operation state to transmit state information including its identification information, and senses whether or not a fault occurs through a sensor to transmit fault information including the identification information;

a plurality of manager terminals, each manager terminal includes a boiler control application for monitoring and controlling the IoT boilers, monitors states of the IoT boilers, receives control information for controlling the IoT boilers from a manager, and transmits the control information; and

a central management server that is connected to the IoT boilers and the manager terminals through a network, periodically or non-periodically receives and stores the state information of the IoT boilers from the IoT boilers, and receives the control information for controlling the IoT boilers from the manager terminals to perform control of the IoT boilers,

wherein, when the central management server receives the fault information including the identification information from at least one IoT boiler among the plurality of IoT boilers, the central management server

identifies at least one manager terminal, which corresponds to the identification information included in the fault information, among the plurality of manager terminals, based on data stored in a database of the central management server,

transmits, to the at least one identified manager terminal, a fault code corresponding to the fault information, and

receives, from the at least one identified manager terminal, the control information for addressing the fault occurred in the at least one IoT boiler, and

perform a fault addressing process for the at least one IoT boiler.

2. The control system of the IoT boiler of claim 1, wherein the IoT boiler senses the fault occurrence through the sensor and transmits the fault information to the central management server, in a case where the IoT boiler does not receive a response message corresponding to the fault information within a predetermined threshold time, the IoT boiler broadcasts fault occurrence information to the plurality of manager terminals based on position information of the IoT boiler.

3. The control system of the IoT boiler of claim 2, wherein the fault occurrence information includes the position information of the IoT boiler, and information including a name and telephone number of a user using an installed boiler.

4. The control system of the IoT boiler of claim 2, wherein, after the IoT boiler broadcasts the fault occurrence information to the manager terminal, the IoT boiler turns off power.

5. The control system of the IoT boiler of claim 1, wherein, in a case where the manager terminal is logged in by the manager, the manager terminal displays positions of an installed plurality of IoT boilers on an electronic map based on the electronic map that is stored in the manager terminal, displays information of the installed plurality of IoT boilers differently according to an authority for controlling respective installed IoT boiler, and provides a function of monitoring and controlling the installed plurality of IoT boilers.

6. The control system of the IoT boiler of claim 5, wherein each of the installed plurality of IoT boilers is displayed as a single unit or a group with one or more other installed IoT boilers,

the function of monitoring and controlling the installed plurality of IoT boilers includes monitoring and controlling power on/off of the installed plurality of IoT boilers, operating on/off of the installed plurality of IoT boilers, heating hot water, and controlling return water temperature of the installed plurality of IoT boilers.

7. A control method of a plurality of IoT boilers in a control system of the plurality of IoT boilers, the control system comprising the plurality of IoT boilers, each IoT boiler checks an operation state to transmit state information including its identification information, and senses whether or not a fault occurs through a sensor to transmit fault information including the identification information, a plurality of manager terminals, each manager terminal includes a boiler control application for monitoring and controlling the IoT boilers, monitors states of the IoT boilers, receives control information for controlling the IoT boilers from a manager, and transmits the control information, and a central management server that is connected to the IoT boilers and the manager terminals through a network, the control method comprising:

periodically or non-periodically receiving and storing the state information of the IoT boilers from the IoT boilers, by the central management server;

receiving the fault information including the identification information from at least one IoT boiler among the plurality of the IoT boilers, by the central management server;

identifying at least one manager terminal, which corresponds to the identification information included in the fault information, among the plurality of manager terminals, based on data stored in a database of the central management server, by the central management server;

transmitting, to the at least one identified manager terminal, a fault code corresponding to the fault information, and receiving, from the at least one identified manager terminal, the control information for addressing the fault occurred in the at least one IoT boiler, by the central management server; and

transmitting received control information to the at least one IoT boiler, by the central management server, for addressing the fault.

8. The control method of the IoT boiler of claim 7, wherein the IoT boiler senses the fault occurrence through the sensor and transmits the fault information to the central management server, and in a case where the IoT boiler does not receive a response message corresponding to the fault information within a predetermined threshold time, the IoT boiler broadcasts fault occurrence information to the plurality of manager terminals based on position information of the IoT boiler.

9. The control method of the IoT boiler of claim 8, wherein the fault occurrence information includes the position information of the IoT boiler, and information including name and telephone number of a user using an installed boiler.

10. The control method of the IoT boiler of claim 8, wherein, after the IoT boiler broadcasts the fault occurrence information to the manager terminal, the IoT boiler turns off power.

11. The control method of the IoT boiler of claim 7, wherein, in a case where the manager terminal is logged in by the manager, the manager terminal displays positions of an installed plurality of IoT boilers on an electronic map based on the electronic map that is stored in the manager terminal, displays information of the installed plurality of IoT boilers differently according to an authority for controlling respective installed IoT boiler, and provides a function of monitoring and controlling the installed plurality of IoT boilers.

12. The control method of the IoT boiler of claim 7, wherein each of the installed plurality of IoT boilers is displayed as a single unit or a group with one or more other installed IoT boilers,

the function of monitoring and controlling the installed plurality of IoT boiler includes monitoring and controlling power on/off of the installed plurality of IoT boilers, operating on/off of the installed plurality of IoT boilers, heating hot water, and controlling return water temperature of the installed plurality of IoT boilers.