System and methods for managing emergency power supply system operational information

• US 9,709,636 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2012
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Generac Power Systems Incorporated (Generac Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Blue Pillar, Inc. (Generac Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Witter, Bradley Jay, Butler, Thomas Joseph, Scoufis, Joseph J., Reichel, Eric D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Saavedra, Emilio J
• Application Number:
  US13/691,366
• Publication Number:
  US 20130158736A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,691 Days
• Field of Search: 700296
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 13/006 measuring volume in function of time
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/40 Testing power supplies testing photovoltaic devices H02S50/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/10 Complex mathematical operations function generation by table look-up G06F1/03; evaluation of elementary functions by calculation G06F7/544
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00017 using optical fiber
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00028 involving the use of Internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00034 the elements or equipment being or involving an electric power substation
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/10 using a centralized architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/86 Performing a diagnostic of the sensing device
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/30 State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/124 using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 : Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to systems and methods for managing and monitoring a plurality of emergency power supply systems (EPSS'"'"'s) at a facility via an emergency power management system (EPMS). The EPMS generally comprises EPSS equipment, a management computer system for managing, monitoring, and testing the operational characteristics of the EPSS equipment, and a plurality of interface modules for providing unified communication capabilities between the management computer system and the EPSS equipment. Additional aspects relate to methods for easily and efficiently creating and installing an EPMS at a facility. Further aspects are directed to providing predictive analyzes related to the EPSS equipment. Also, aspects of the present disclosure relate to normalizing EPSS equipment information across varying vendors, makes, and models of equipment so as to provide a unified view of all equipment across a given facility.

Claims

1. An emergency power management system (EPMS) for managing one or more pre-existing emergency power supply systems (EPSS'"'"'s) at a site, comprising:

a plurality of items of data acquisition equipment operatively connected to one or more items of EPSS equipment at the site for collecting EPSS operational data from the one or more items of EPSS equipment at the site, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment are manufactured by one or more manufacturers;

a database for storing EPSS inventory information resulting from input of information relating to the items of data acquisition equipment and the items of EPSS equipment at the site, at least some of the EPSS inventory information stored as a configuration file representing properties of the items of data acquisition equipment and properties of the items of EPSS equipment at the site;

one or more interface modules operatively connected to the plurality of items of data acquisition equipment for receiving the collected EPSS operational data from the plurality of items of data acquisition equipment and operative for transmitting information between the EPPS'"'"'s and the EPMS, wherein the one or more interface modules also normalize the EPSS operational data for subsequent processing;

an interactive display of information derived from each of the items of EPSS equipment at the site;

and an EPMS computer system coupled to the interactive display and operatively connected to the one or more interface modules for receiving the normalized EPSS operational information from the one or more interface modules and storing the normalized EPSS operational information in one or more databases, wherein the EPMS management computer system includes automatically configurable management software comprising a configuration loader/sequencer responsive to access the configuration file stored in the database for determining appropriate handling and display of EPSS operational data from each of the items of EPSS equipment at the site and for processing the normalized EPSS operational data into a predetermined format for display to a user on the interactive display and presenting the interactive display to the user via a user interface;

the EPSS management computer system further operative, based on information in the configuration file, to configure the one or more interface modules to operatively connect each specific item of EPSS equipment to the EPMS computer system, wherein the one or more interface modules are thereby configured to receive EPSS operational data from the one or more items of EPSS equipment, normalize the EPSS operational data into the predetermined format, and communicate the normalized EPSS operational data to the EPMS computer system, whereby the user utilizes the interactive display of the normalized EPSS operational data to manage the one or more items of EPSS equipment at the site,

the EPSS management computer system further operative, after collecting EPSS operational data as informational data during a test process, to generate a test report, the test report including a general informational field with basic information regarding the test process, the system operator, site, and test ID, and wherein for a test process conducted for a power generator, the test report further comprises;

a Pre-Test Checklist field detailing that certain items were checked before the test, the certain items including at least one of whether an EPSS main circuit breaker was closed and whether protective equipment was utilized;

a generator information field that lists at least one of a location of the generator, manufacturer, model, rated power, and a percentage rated power corresponding to a predetermined load rule;

and the generator field further including various time measurements for the generator during the given test, including at least one of engine crank time, engine cool down time, total run time, beginning engine hours, ending engine hours.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment comprise a plurality of predefined EPSS'"'"'s at a facility.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of items of data acquisition equipment are selected from the group comprising:

monitoring sensors, connectors required by particular types of monitoring sensors, power supplies, fuel gauges, power meters, gauges, status indicators, viewing cameras, microphones, vibration sensors, inertial sensors, motion sensors, actuation components, solenoids, and relays.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the monitoring sensors are selected from the group comprising:

thermocouples, resistive temperature detectors (RTDs), pressure sensors, current transformers (CTs), and limit switches.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of items of data acquisition equipment are physically installed on the one or more items of EPSS equipment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment are preconfigured to include one or more of the plurality of items of data acquisition equipment.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment are selected from the group comprising:

generators, automatic transfer switches (ATS'"'"'s), switchgear, fuel supplies, and fuel management systems.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the EPSS operational data for each generator within the one or more pre-existing EPSS'"'"'s is selected from the group comprising:

jacket water temperature, exhaust temperature, oil pressure, oil temperature, coolant temperature, battery charging voltage, battery charging current, engine running status, engine “

not in auto”

status, engine runtime, engine speed, generator power, rated load, generator power factor, percent generator capacity, three-phase voltage, three-phase current, generator frequency, and applied torque.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the EPSS operational data for each ATS within the one or more pre-existing EPSS'"'"'s is selected from the group comprising:

emergency power, emergency power factor, emergency frequency, emergency three-phase voltage, emergency three-phase current, emergency average current, emergency power hours, normal power, normal power factor, normal frequency, normal three-phase voltage, normal three-phase current, normal average current, normal power hours, emergency power status, normal power status, emergency breaker status, and normal breaker status.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the EPSS operational data for each fuel supply within the one or more pre-existing EPSS'"'"'s is selected from the group comprising:

fuel level, fuel supply status, and exit fuel flow rate.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more interface modules includes a microprocessor, memory, communication bus, one or more data inputs, one or more data outputs, and interface module software for carrying out the functions of receiving, normalizing, and transmitting EPSS operational data from the plurality of items of data acquisition equipment to the management computer system.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more interface modules comprises a remote terminal unit (RTU).

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more interface modules comprises a programmable logic controller (PLC).

14. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more interface modules includes a firewall for preventing unauthorized access to the one or more items of EPSS equipment, the management computer system, and the EPSS operational information.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the management computer system further includes one or more servers for operating the automatically configurable management software.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the management computer system logs historical EPSS operational data in the one or more databases for providing operational trends of the one or more items of EPSS equipment over time.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the automatically configurable management software comprises supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface is displayed on a computer screen.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises a chart or graph of one or more items of EPSS operational data over a predefined time period.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises one or more visual pictures of the one or more items of EPSS equipment for visually monitoring the EPSS equipment at the site.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises an interactive map view of the one or more items of EPSS equipment for enabling a site-wide view of the pre-existing EPSS'"'"'s at the site.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises a report detailing specific normalized EPSS operational data for one or more selected items of EPSS equipment for a predetermined time period.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises an electrical one-line view of power connections of the one or more items of EPSS equipment at the site to utility power or emergency power.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface displays an alarm to the user when one or more predefined conditions related to the EPSS operational data are satisfied.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the one or more predefined conditions are selected from the group comprising:

one or more values of EPSS operational data exceeds one or more predetermined values, one or more values of EPSS operational data falls below one or more predetermined values, and one or more items of EPSS equipment malfunctions.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface displays normalized EPSS operational data related to a power disruption event as the event is occurring.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the power disruption event comprises a planned or unplanned loss of utility power.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the management computer system provides user security to prevent unauthorized access to the EPMS.

29. A method for an emergency power management system (EPMS) for managing operational information relating to one or more items of emergency power supply system (EPSS) equipment at a site, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment are operatively connected to one or more interface modules, the one or more interface modules being operative to process and transmit operational information between the one or more items of EPSS equipment and a management computer-system associated with the EPMS, comprising the steps of:

storing, in a database associated with the management computer system, EPSS inventory information resulting from input of information relating to the items of EPSS equipment at the site, at least some of the EPSS inventory information stored as a configuration file representing properties of the items of EPSS equipment at the site;

accessing the configuration file stored in the database for determining appropriate handling and display of EPSS operational data from each of the items of EPSS equipment at the site and processing the normalized EPSS operational data into a predetermined format for display to a user on an interactive display;

configuring the one or more interface modules to operatively connect each specific item of EPSS equipment to the management computer system, wherein the one or more interface modules are thereby configured to receive EPSS operational data from the one or more items of EPSS equipment, normalize the EPSS operational data into the predetermined format, and communicate the normalized EPSS operational data to the management computer system, receiving operational data relating to a particular item of EPSS equipment at a particular interface module, the operational data provided in a format defined by the particular item of EPSS equipment;

retrieving a configuration flag from the configuration file relating to the particular item of EPSS equipment, wherein the configuration flag comprises instructions for modifying operational data for the particular item of EPSS equipment to conform to a predetermined standardized format;

at the particular interface module, generating standardized operational data by modifying the received operational data to conform to the predetermined standardized format according to the instructions in the configuration flag;

and transmitting the standardized operational data information to the management computer system for subsequent processing;

collecting EPSS operational data as informational data during a test process, to generate a test report, the test report including a general informational field with basic information regarding the test process, the system operator, site, and test ID, and wherein for a test process conducted for a power generator, generating the test report further comprises;

defining a Pre-Test Checklist field detailing that certain items were checked before the test, the certain items including at least one of whether an EPSS main circuit breaker was closed and whether protective equipment was utilized;

defining a generator information field that lists at least one of a location of the generator, manufacturer, model, rated power, and a percentage rated power corresponding to a predetermined load rule;

and the generator field further including various time measurements for the generator during the given test, including at least one of engine crank time, engine cool down time, total run time, beginning engine hours, ending engine hours;

and displaying information derived from each of the items of EPSS equipment at the site or from the generated test report on an interactive display to a user.

30. The method claim of 29, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment comprise a plurality of predefined EPSS'"'"'s at a facility.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment are manufactured by one or more manufacturers.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the operational data relating to a particular item of EPSS equipment is received from a particular item of data acquisition equipment.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the particular item of data acquisition equipment is selected from the group comprising:

monitoring sensors, connectors required by particular types of monitoring sensors, power supplies, fuel gauges, power meters, gauges, status indicators, viewing cameras, microphones, vibration sensors, inertial sensors, motion sensors, actuation components, solenoids, and relays.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the monitoring sensors are selected from the group comprising:

thermocouples, resistive temperature detectors (RTDs), pressure sensors, current transformers (CTs), and limit switches.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the particular item of data acquisition equipment is physically installed on the particular item of EPSS equipment.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment are preconfigured to include one or more items of data acquisition equipment.

37. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment are selected from the group comprising:

generators, automatic transfer switches (ATS'"'"'s), switchgear, fuel supplies, and fuel management systems.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the operational data for each generator is selected from the group comprising:

jacket water temperature, exhaust temperature, oil pressure, oil temperature, coolant temperature, battery charging voltage, battery charging current, engine running status, engine “

not in auto”

status, engine runtime, engine speed, generator power, rated load, generator power factor, percent generator capacity, three-phase voltage, three-phase current, generator frequency, and applied torque.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the operational data for each ATS is selected from the group comprising:

emergency power, emergency power factor, emergency frequency, emergency three-phase voltage, emergency three-phase current, emergency average current, emergency power hours, normal power, normal power factor, normal frequency, normal three-phase voltage, normal three-phase current, normal average current, normal power hours, emergency power status, normal power status, emergency breaker status, and normal breaker status.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the operational data for each fuel supply is selected from the group comprising:

fuel level, fuel supply status, and exit fuel flow rate.

41. The method of claim 29, wherein each of the one or more interface modules includes a microprocessor, memory, communication bus, one or more data inputs, one or more data outputs, and interface module software for carrying out the steps of receiving, normalizing, and transmitting EPSS operational information from the plurality of items of data acquisition equipment to the management computer system.

42. The method of claim 29, wherein at least one of the one or more interface modules comprises a remote terminal unit (RTU).

43. The method of claim 29, wherein at least one of the one or more interface modules comprises a programmable logic controller (PLC).

44. The method of claim 29, wherein each of the one or more interface modules comprises a firewall for preventing unauthorized access to the one or more items of EPSS equipment, the management computer system, and the EPSS operational information.

45. The method of claim 29, wherein the management computer system further comprises automatically configurable management software for processing the standardized EPSS operational data into an interactive display and presenting the interactive display to a user via a user interface.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the management computer system further comprises one or more servers for operating the automatically configurable management software.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the automatically configurable management software comprises supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) software.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein the user interface is displayed on a computer screen.

49. The method of claim 45, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises a chart or graph of one or more items of EPSS operational data over a predefined time period.

50. The method of claim 45, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises one or more visual pictures of the one or more items of EPSS equipment for visually monitoring the EPSS equipment at the site.

51. The method of claim 45, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises an interactive map view of the one or more items of EPSS equipment for enabling a site-wide view of the pre-existing EPSS'"'"'s at the site.

52. The method of claim 45, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises a report detailing specific standardized EPSS operational information for one or more selected items of EPSS equipment for a predetermined time period.

53. The method of claim 45, wherein the interactive display that is displayed to the user via the user interface comprises an electrical one-line view of power connections of the one or more items of EPSS equipment at the site to utility power or emergency power.

54. The method of claim 45, wherein the user interface displays an alarm to the user when one or more predefined conditions related to the EPSS operational information are satisfied.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the one or more predefined conditions are selected from the group comprising:

one or more values of EPSS operational data exceeds one or more predetermined values, one or more values of EPSS operational data falls below one or more predetermined values, and one or more items of EPSS equipment malfunctions.

56. The method of claim 45, wherein the user interface displays standardized EPSS operational data related to a power disruption event as the event is occurring.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the power disruption event comprises a planned or unplanned loss of utility power.

58. The method of claim 29, where in the management computer system provides user security to prevent unauthorized access to the EPMS.

59. The method of claim 29, wherein the management computer system logs historical EPSS operational data in the one or more databases for providing operational trends of the one or more items of EPSS equipment over time.

60. The method of claim 29, wherein the configuration flag comprises an electronic data file.

61. The method of claim 29, wherein the instructions for modifying operational data for the particular item of EPSS equipment are dependent on a specific manufacturer and model of the particular item of EPSS equipment.

62. The method of claim 29, wherein the retrieving step further comprises the steps of:

identifying the specific manufacturer and model of the particular item of EPSS equipment from the received operational information;

transmitting a request for the configuration flag relating to the particular item of EPSS equipment to a management computer system database; and

receiving the configuration flag at the particular interface module from the management computer system database.

63. For use in an emergency power management system (EPMS) including a management computer system, the EPMS configured for managing one or more items of emergency power supply system (EPSS) equipment at a site, a method for managing operational data relating to the one or more items of EPSS equipment, wherein the one or more items of EPSS equipment are operatively connected to one or more interface modules, the one or more interface modules being operative to process and transmit operational data between the one or more items of EPSS equipment and the management computer system, comprising the steps of:

storing, in a database associated with the management computer system, EPSS inventory information resulting from input of information relating to the items of EPSS equipment at the site, at least some of the EPSS inventory information stored as a configuration file representing properties of the items of EPSS equipment at the site, the configuration file including one or more configuration flags relating to one or more items of EPSS equipment at the one or more interface modules, wherein each configuration flag relates to a corresponding item of EPSS equipment and comprises instructions for modifying operational data relating to the corresponding item of EPSS equipment to conform the operational data to a predetermined standardized format;

receiving operational data from a specific item of EPSS equipment at particular interface module, the operational data provided in a format defined by the specific item of EPSS equipment;

retrieving from the database a specific configuration flag relating to the specific item of EPSS equipment;

at the particular interface module, generating standardized operational data by modifying the received operational data to conform to the predetermined standardized format according to the instructions in the specific configuration flag; and

transmitting the standardized operational data information to the management computer system for subsequent processing;

collecting operational data as informational data during a test process, to generate a test report, the test report including a general informational field with basic information regarding the test process, the system operator, site, and test ID, and wherein for a test process conducted for a power generator, generating the test report further comprises;

defining a Pre-Test Checklist field detailing that certain items were checked before the test, the certain items including at least one of whether an EPSS main circuit breaker was closed and whether protective equipment was utilized;

defining a generator information field that lists at least one of a location of the generator, manufacturer, model, rated power, and a percentage rated power corresponding to a predetermined load rule;

and the generator field further including various time measurements for the generator during the given test, including at least one of engine crank time, engine cool down time, total run time, beginning engine hours, ending engine hours.