Dynamic installation and uninstallation system of renewable energy farm hardware

• US 7,908,348 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Anjanappa, Hemanth Kumar, Puravankara, Vinish, Jose, Chery, Kumar, Vivek
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart; Benjamin R
• Application Number:
  US12/627,735
• Publication Number:
  US 20100146087A1
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/227, 709/220, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31342 Design of process control system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A system for dynamic installation or uninstallation of a plurality of hardware components of a renewable energy software system, including a reviser including a hardware configuration database, at least one communication device that allows the plurality of hardware components to communicate with the hardware configuration database containing hardware configuration data for the plurality of hardware components, and a plurality of real time objects in the renewable energy software system that represent the plurality of hardware components, wherein the plurality of real time objects are automatically updated by the hardware configuration database at runtime.

Claims

1. A system for dynamic installation or uninstallation of a plurality of hardware components of a renewable energy software system, comprising:

a) a reviser including a hardware configuration database and a graphical user interface, wherein the reviser is adapted to automatically install or uninstall hardware components at runtime without rebooting the renewable energy software system wherein the hardware components are selected from a plurality of wind farm components or a plurality of solar farm components;

b) at least one communication device adapted to send and receive I/O signals from the plurality of hardware components, wherein the I/O signals include a hardware component status signal, and wherein the at least one communication device is communicably linked to at least one hardware component;

c) a platform and device layer, wherein the platform and device layer automatically configures and downloads an IP address for the at least one communication device, wherein the platform and device layer is adapted to send and receive I/O signals from the at least one communication device and the hardware configuration database containing hardware configuration data for the plurality of hardware components, wherein the platform and device layer operates as a bridge between the hardware components and the renewable energy software system;

d) a plurality of real time objects in the renewable energy software system that represent the plurality of hardware components, wherein the plurality of real time objects are automatically created and updated by the hardware configuration database at runtime after receiving the I/O signal from the platform and device layer, wherein the real time objects are created and updated without rebooting the renewable energy software system; and

e) a historical data agent in the renewable energy software system that collects and represents historical data for each of the plurality of hardware components, wherein the historical data agent provides the collected historical data for each of the of hardware components to a centralized server of the renewable software system, and wherein the historical data agent is automatically updated with any changes to the hardware components by the hardware configuration database at runtime.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the renewable energy software system is selected from a wind farm software system, a solar farm software system, and combinations thereof.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of wind farm components include wind turbines, wind farm hardware microcontrollers, wind farm management system components, and meteorological mast components, and wherein the plurality of solar farm components include a plurality of solar panels in a solar array, at least one inverter, a plurality of programmable logic controllers, and a plurality of solar farm management system components.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the hardware configuration database stores a plurality of hardware configuration data that correspond to the plurality of wind farm hardware components, solar farm components, and combinations thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface further includes an interactive editor that allows a user to view and edit the hardware configuration data of the plurality of hardware components.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the interactive editor provides the user with access to the hardware configuration database to modify the hardware configuration data of the plurality of hardware components to install the plurality of hardware components in a renewable energy software system at runtime.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the interactive editor provides the user with an option to uninstall the plurality of hardware components from the renewable energy software system at runtime.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the interactive editor further includes a security level control to limit changes to the hardware configuration data.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the interactive editor limits the number of hardware components to be installed in the renewable energy software system.

10. A method for dynamic installation of a plurality of renewable energy farm hardware components into a renewable energy software system, comprising:

a) providing the plurality of hardware components to be installed in a renewable energy farm at runtime, wherein the hardware components are selected from a plurality of wind farm components or a plurality of solar farm components;

b) providing a reviser, wherein the reviser further includes a hardware configuration database and a graphical user interface in communication with the hardware configuration database, wherein the reviser is adapted to automatically install hardware components at runtime without rebooting the renewable energy software system;

c) providing at least one communication device adapted to send and receive I/O signals from the plurality of hardware components, wherein the I/O signals include a hardware component status signal, and wherein the at least one communication device is communicably linked to at least one hardware component;

d) providing a platform and device layer, wherein the platform and device layer automatically configures and downloads an IP address for the at least one communication device, wherein the platform and device layer is adapted to send and receive I/O signals from the at least one communication device and the hardware configuration database containing hardware configuration data for the plurality of hardware components;

e) providing a historical data agent in the renewable energy software system that collects and represents historical data for each of the plurality of hardware components, wherein the historical data agent provides the collected historical data for each of the of hardware components to a centralized server of the renewable software system, and wherein the historical data agent is automatically updated with any changes to the hardware components by the hardware configuration database at runtime;

f) sending the hardware component status signal from the communication device to the platform and device layer;

g) receiving the hardware component status signal at the platform and device layer;

h) sending the hardware component status signal from the platform and device layer to the hardware configuration database;

i) receiving the hardware component status signal at the hardware configuration database;

j) updating a plurality of hardware configuration data that corresponds to the plurality of hardware components in the hardware configuration database based on the hardware component status signal, wherein the hardware configuration database is configured to automatically initiate a change in a plurality of real time objects of the renewable energy software system;

k) automatically initiating a change in the plurality of real time objects of the renewable energy farm software system to reflect the installation of the plurality of hardware components at runtime; and

,

l) automatically initiating a change in the historical data agent of the renewable energy software system to reflect the installation of the plurality of hardware components at runtime.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising automatically displaying on the graphical user interface updated information about the plurality of real time objects of the renewable energy software system.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the graphical user interface further includes an interactive editor, wherein the interactive editor includes at least a computer with a display screen.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the renewable energy farm is a wind farm, a solar farm, and combinations thereof.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the wind farm components include wind turbines, hardware microcontrollers, wind farm management system components, and meteorological mast components, and wherein the solar farm components include a plurality of solar panels in a solar array, at least one inverter, a plurality of programmable logic controllers, and a plurality of solar farm management system components.

15. A method for the dynamic uninstallation of a plurality of renewable energy farm hardware components from a renewable energy software system, comprising:

a) providing a reviser, wherein the reviser further includes a hardware configuration database and a graphical user interface in communication with the hardware configuration database, wherein the reviser is adapted to automatically uninstall hardware components at runtime without rebooting the renewable energy software system, wherein the hardware components are selected from a plurality of wind farm components or a plurality of solar farm components;

b) providing an option to uninstall the plurality of hardware components through the graphical user interface;

c) selecting the option to uninstall the plurality of hardware components;

d) providing at least one communication device to adapted to send and receive I/O signals from the plurality of hardware components, wherein the I/O signals include a hardware component status signal, and wherein the at least one communication device is communicably linked to at least one hardware component;

e) providing a platform and device layer, wherein the platform and device layer is adapted to send and receive I/O signals from the at least one communication device and the hardware configuration database containing hardware configuration data for the plurality of hardware components, wherein the platform and device layer operates as a bridge between the hardware components and the renewable energy software system;

f) providing a historical data agent in the renewable energy software system that collects and represents historical data for each of the plurality of hardware components, wherein the historical data agent provides the collected historical data for each of the of hardware components to a centralized server of the renewable software system, and wherein the historical data agent is automatically updated with any changes to the hardware components by the hardware configuration database at runtime;

g) sending the hardware component status signal from the communication device to the platform and device layer;

h) receiving the hardware component status signal at the platform and device layer;

i) sending the hardware component status signal from the platform and device layer to the hardware configuration database;

j) receiving the hardware component status signal at the hardware configuration database;

k) updating hardware configuration data of the hardware configuration database based on the hardware component status signal, wherein the hardware configuration database is configured to automatically initiate a change in a plurality of real time objects of the renewable energy software system; and

,

l) automatically initiating a change in the plurality of real time objects of the renewable energy software system to reflect the removal of the plurality of hardware components at runtime.

m) automatically initiating a change in the historical data agent of the renewable energy software system to reflect the removal of the plurality of hardware components at runtime.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying status information about the plurality of real time objects of the renewable energy software system on the graphical user interface.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the graphical user interface further includes an interactive editor, wherein the interactive editor provides a user with an option to remove hardware configuration data for the renewable energy farm hardware components being removed from the renewable energy farm software system.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the renewable energy farm is selected from a wind farm, a solar farm system, and combinations thereof.