Visual monitoring system for a load center

• US 10,210,393 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2015
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schneider Electric USA, Inc. (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Schneider Electric USA, Inc. (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Van Gorp, John C., Stanlake, Matthew, Chidichimo, Mark A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Suh, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US14/883,736
• Publication Number:
  US 20170109589A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,223 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/265 Mixing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

According to one aspect, embodiments herein provide a visual monitoring system for a load panel comprising a first camera having a field of view and configured to be mounted on a surface of the load panel at a first camera position such that a first electrical component of the load panel is in the field of view of the first camera and to generate image based information corresponding to the first electrical component, and a server in communication with the first camera and configured to receive the image based information corresponding to the first electrical component from the first camera and to provide the image based information from the first camera to a user via a user interface.

Claims

1. A visual monitoring system for a load panel comprising:

a first camera having a field of view and configured to be mounted on a surface of the load panel at a first camera position such that a first electrical component of the load panel is in the field of view of the first camera and to generate image based information corresponding to the first electrical component;

a monitoring circuit coupled to the first electrical component and configured to monitor at least one parameter associated with the first electrical component and to generate parameter based information corresponding to the first electrical component; and

a server in communication with the first camera and the monitoring circuit, the server configured to;

receive the image based information corresponding to the first electrical component from the first camera and provide the image based information from the first camera to a user via a user interface, and

receive the parameter based information corresponding to the first electrical component from the monitoring circuit and identify an event of interest in the first electrical component based on a correlation between the image based information corresponding to the first electrical component and the parameter information corresponding to the first electrical component, wherein in identifying the event of interest, the server is further configured to;

model a relationship between the parameter based information and the image based information corresponding to the first electrical component; and

identify the event of interest in response to the parameter based information received from the monitoring circuit deviating from the model by more than a predetermined threshold.

2. The visual monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second camera having a field of view and configured to be mounted on a surface of the load panel at the first camera position such that the first electrical component of the load panel is in the field of view of the second camera and to generate image based information corresponding to the first electrical component in the field of view;

wherein the server is further configured to receive the image based information corresponding to the first electrical component from the second camera and to provide the image based information from the second camera to the user via the user interface.

3. The visual monitoring system of claim 2,

wherein the first camera is a wide-angle lens camera and the second camera is a focused-area camera;

and

wherein the server is further configured to combine the image based information from the wide-angle lens camera with the image based information from the focused-area camera to generate a composite image of the first electrical component including merged information from both the wide-angle lens camera and the focused-area camera and to provide the composite image to the user via the user interface.

4. The visual monitoring system of claim 2,

wherein the first camera is a visual light based camera and the second camera is an infrared light based camera;

and

wherein the server is further configured to combine the image based information from the visual light based camera and the image based information from the infrared camera to generate a layered image of the first electrical component including both visual light based information from the visual light based camera and infrared light based information from the infrared based cameral and to provide the layered image to the user via the user interface.

5. The visual monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the first camera is further configured to generate at least one of still-image based information corresponding to the first electrical component and video image based information corresponding to the first electrical component.

6. The visual monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second camera having a field of view and configured to be mounted on a surface of the load panel at a second camera position such that a second electrical component of the load panel is in the field of view of the second camera and to generate image based information corresponding to the second electrical component;

wherein the server is further configured to receive the image based information corresponding to the second electrical component from the second camera and to provide the image based information from the second camera to the user via the user interface.

7. The visual monitoring system of claim 6, wherein the server is further configured to combine the image based information from the first camera with the image based information from the second camera to generate a composite image of the first electrical component and the second electrical component and to provide the composite image to the user via the user interface.

8. The visual monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring circuit is further configured to monitor an electrical parameter associated with the first electrical component.

9. The visual monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to transmit a notification to the user via the user interface in response to identifying the event of interest.

10. The visual monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to analyze the image based information over a period of time and to identify an event of interest in the first electrical component based on a determination that the image based information has changed over the period of time.

11. The visual monitoring system of claim 10, wherein the server is further configured to store at least a subset of the image based information in memory in response to identifying the event of interest.

12. The visual monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring circuit is further configured to monitor an environmental parameter associated with the first electrical component.

13. A method for monitoring a load panel comprising:

monitoring, with at least one first camera having a field of view and mounted on a surface of the load panel, a first electrical component of the load panel;

transmitting, by the at least one first camera, image based information associated with the first electrical component from the at least one first camera to a server;

providing, with the server, the image based information to a user via a user interface;

monitoring at least one parameter associated with the first electrical component;

analyzing the image based information and the at least one parameter; and

identifying an event of interest in the first electrical component based on a correlation between the image based information and the at least one parameter,

wherein identifying the event of interest includes;

modeling a relationship between the at least one parameter and the image based information associated with the first electrical component; and

identifying the event of interest in response to a determination that the image based information deviates from the model by at least a predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

monitoring, with at least one second camera having a field of view and mounted on a surface of the load panel, a second electrical component of the load panel;

transmitting, with the at least one second camera, image based information associated with the second electrical component from the at least one second camera to a server;

combining the image based information associated with the first electrical component with the image based information associated with the second electrical component to generate a composite image of the first and second electrical components; and

providing the composite image to the user via the user interface.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising notifying the user via the user interface in response to identifying the event of interest.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein monitoring the at least one parameter includes monitoring an electrical parameter associated with the first electrical component.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein monitoring the at least one parameter includes monitoring an environmental parameter associated with the first electrical component.

18. A load panel comprising:

at least one load section;

at least one electrical component located within the at least one load section;

a door configured to cover the at least one electrical component within the at least one load section when closed; and

means for capturing image based information corresponding to the at least one electrical component while the at least one electrical component is energized and the door is closed, for monitoring at least one parameter of the at least one electrical component while the at least one electrical component is energized and the door is closed, for modeling a relationship between the image based information corresponding to the at least one electrical component and the at least one parameter of the at least one electrical component, and for identifying an event of interest in the at least one electrical component based on a determination that the at least one parameter has deviated from the model by more than a predetermined threshold.