Systems and methods for testing emergency power supply systems

• US 9,791,520 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2012
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• 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): Breene, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Perez Bermudez, Yaritza H
• Application Number:
  US13/691,376
• Publication Number:
  US 20130158932A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,782 Days
• 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. For an emergency power supply system (EPSS) that supplies emergency electrical power to a protected facility in the event of a power outage of electrical power by a utility, a method for controlling the operation of the equipment of the EPSS for compliance testing and obtaining operational data from an emergency power outage event for use as a load test for purposes of compliance test reporting to a third party regulatory agency, the EPSS equipment comprising at least one generator and at least one automatic transfer switch (ATS), the EPSS equipment providing signals indicative of the status of the EPSS equipment during different types of operational events, comprising the steps of:

providing at least one ATS interface module coupled to at least one ATS in the EPSS equipment, the ATS interface module operative to receive operational data from the ATS and to provide a control signal to cause the ATS to start up at least one generator;

providing at least one generator interface module coupled to at least one generator in the EPSS equipment, the generator interface module operative to receive operational data from the generator and to provide a control signal to cause the generator to start up independently of a control signal from an ATS;

providing an emergency power management system (EPMS) that is coupled for data communications with the at least one ATS interface module and the at least one generator interface module of the EPSS equipment, the EPMS including a management computer system operative for managing operational characteristics of the EPSS equipment with automatically configurable management software, the management computer system including a computer program operative to receive signals from the at least one ATS interface module and the at least one generator interface module of the EPSS equipment indicative of status of the EPSS equipment during operational events including emergency power outage events, automatic test events, and manual test events, to log the signals from the EPSS equipment as operational data, and to provide control signals to control the operation of the EPSS equipment including the testing of the EPSS equipment in automatic test events and manual test events;

in response to a prescheduled automatic test event, providing control signals from the EPMS management computer system to the at least one ATS interface module and the at least one generator interface module of the EPSS equipment to startup the at least one generator and run a test preselected as a load test or a no-load test, the EPMS management computer system creating and storing data records representing operational data that corresponds to a time of initiation of the automatic test event, the nature of the event as an automatic test event, operating parameters of the EPSS equipment during the automatic test event, and a time of termination of the automatic test event;

the control signals for a load test comprising signals to the at least one ATS interface module to start up at least one generator and switch to generator power, and the control signals for a no-load test comprising signals to the at least one generator interface module to start up at least one generator independently of a signal from an associated ATS;

in response to a manual test signal from an item of EPSS equipment indicating a manual test event preselected at test initiation as a load test or a no-load test, the EPMS management computer system creating and storing data records representing operational data that corresponds to a time of initiation of the manual test event, the nature of the event as a manual test event, operating parameters of the EPSS equipment during the manual test event, and a time of termination of the manual test event;

in response to an emergency power outage event that causes the startup of the at least one generator by the at least one ATS, receiving signals from the EPSS equipment at the EPMS management computer system indicating the emergency power outage event, the EPMS management computer system creating and storing data records representing operational data that corresponds to a time of initiation of the power outage event, the nature of the event as a power outage event, operating parameters of the EPSS equipment during the power outage event, and a time of termination of the power outage event and return of utility electrical power to the protected facility;

in response an emergency power outage event that occurs during an automatic test event or a manual test event, the EPMS management computer system (i) providing signals to the EPSS equipment to terminate any in-process automatic test event or manual test event, whether a load test or a no-load test, and (ii) initiating a test log at the EPMS management computer system to record EPSS operational data generated during the emergency power outage event for use as load test data;

cumulating operational data by the EPMS management computer system corresponding to the operating parameters of the EPSS equipment for power outage events, automatic test events, manual test events, and emergency power outage events occurring during automatic test events and manual test events; and

based on the cumulated operational data, providing an output from the EPMS comprising operational data from an emergency power outage event occurring during an automatic test event or a manual test event for use as load test data required for compliance test reporting to a third party regulatory agency.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the compliance test reporting comprises data required for predetermined operational requirements mandated by the Joint Commission and set by the National Fire Protection Agency.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein for the at least one generator the operating parameters are selected from the group comprising:

time and date generator begins running, time and date generator stops running, total engine runtime, time duration of generator cooldown, oil pressure, coolant temperature, exhaust temperature, charging voltage, charging current, power, facility load powered, rated power, percent of rated power, three-phase voltage, three-phase current, and frequency.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein for the at least one ATS the operating parameters are selected from the group comprising:

date and time facility power is transferred from utility electrical power to generator power, time duration of transfer from utility electrical power to generator power, date and time facility power is transferred back from generator power to utility electrical power, time duration of transfer from generator power to utility electrical power, three-phase voltage, three-phase current, total current, rated current, percent of rated current, power factor, total power, facility load powered, frequency, and a percent of rated power for generators connected to the at least one ATS.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a load test comprises a test such that facility power is transferred from utility electrical power to generator, and wherein the at least one generator supplies generator power to a portion of the protected facility.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a no-load test comprises a test such that facility power remains supplied by utility electrical power during the no-load test.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the EPSS equipment further comprises at least one fuel supply and at least one fuel management system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the EPSS equipment further comprises switchgear.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein data record for the at least one generator further includes a generator identifier, event identifier, protected facility identifier, user information, identifier of one or more EPS S'"'"'s subject to the event, group of EPS S equipment subject to the event, and a creation date and time of the data record.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each data record for the at least one ATS further includes an ATS identifier, event identifier, protected facility identifier, user information, identifier of one or more EPS S'"'"'s subject to the event, group of EPS S equipment subject to the event, and a creation date and time of the data record.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying live EPSS operating parameters to a user via a graphical user interface (GUI) as the event is occurring.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the prescheduled automatic test event is initiated based on a schedule of automatic test events for running tests of the EPSS equipment according to a calendar of automatic test events maintained at the EPMS management computer system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the EMPS management computer system maintains a calendar of historical power outage events, automatic test events, and manual test events for viewing EPSS testing data related to past power outage events, automatic test events, and manual test events.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of retrieving a beginning data point, middle data point, and ending data point from the EPSS operating parameters for each of the power outage events, automatic test events, and manual test events for inclusion in the output from the EPMS.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an alarm to a user via a graphical user interface (GUI) when one or more predefined occurrences related to the EPSS equipment occur during a power outage event, automatic test event, or manual test event.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more predefined occurrences are selected from the group comprising:

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

17. For use with an emergency power supply system (EPSS) that supplies emergency electrical power to a protected facility in the event of a power outage of electrical power by a utility, the EPSS comprising one or more items of EPSS equipment including at least one generator and at least one automatic transfer switch (ATS), the EPSS equipment configured to provide signals indicative of the status of the EPSS equipment during operational events, a system for controlling the operation of EPSS equipment for compliance testing and obtaining operational data from an emergency power outage event for use as a load test required for compliance testing by a third party regulatory agency, comprising:

at least one ATS interface module coupled to at least one ATS in the EPSS equipment, the ATS interface module operative to receive operational data from the ATS and to provide a control signal to cause the ATS to start up at least one generator;

at least one generator interface module coupled to at least one generator in the EPSS equipment, the generator interface module operative to receive operational data from the generator and to provide a control signal to cause the generator to start up independently of a control signal from an ATS;

an emergency power management system (EPMS) coupled for data communications with the at least one ATS interface module and the at least one generator module of the EPSS equipment, the EPMS including a management computer system operative for managing operational characteristics of the EPSS equipment with automatically configurable management software, the management computer system including a computer program operative to receive signals from the at least one ATS interface module and the at least one generator interface module of EPSS equipment indicative of status of the EPSS equipment during operational events including emergency power outage events, automatic test events, and manual test events, to log the signals from the EPSS equipment as operational data, and to provide control signals to control the operation of the EPSS equipment including the testing of the EPSS equipment in automatic test events and manual test events;

in response to prescheduled automatic test event, the EPMS management computer system operative to provide control signals to the at least one ATS interface module and the at least one generator interface module of the EPSS equipment to startup the at least one generator and run a test preselected as a load test or a no-load test, the EPMS management computer system operative for creating and storing data records representing operational data that corresponds to a time of initiation of the automatic test event, the nature of the event as an automatic test event, operating parameters of the EPSS equipment during the automatic test event, and a time of termination of the automatic test event;

the control signals for a load test comprising signals to the at least one ATS interface module to start up at least one generator and switch to generator power, and the control signals for a no-load test comprising signals to the at least one generator interface module to start up at least one generator independently of a signal from an associated ATS;

in response to a manual test signal from an item of EPSS equipment indicating a manual test event preselected at test initiation as a load test or a no-load test, the EPMS management computer system operative for creating and storing data records representing operational data that corresponds to a time of initiation of the manual test event, the nature of the event as a manual test event, operating parameters of the EPSS equipment during the manual test event, and a time of termination of the manual test event;

in response to an emergency power outage event that causes the startup of the at least one generator by the at least one ATS, the EPMS management computer system receiving signals from the EPSS equipment indicating the emergency power outage event, the EPMS management computer system creating and storing data records representing operational data that corresponds to a time of initiation of the power outage event, the nature of the event as a power outage event, operating parameters of the EPSS equipment during the power outage event, and a time of termination of the power outage event and return of utility electrical power to the protected facility;

in response an emergency power outage event that occurs during an automatic test event or a manual test event, the EPMS management computer system (i) providing signals to the EPSS equipment to terminate any in-process automatic test event or manual test event, whether a load test or a no-load test, and (ii) initiating a test log to record EPSS operational data generated during the emergency power outage event for use as load test data;

the EPMS management computer system further operative for cumulating operational data corresponding to the operating parameters of the EPSS equipment for power outage events, automatic test events, manual test events, and emergency power outage events occurring during automatic test events and manual test events; and

based on the cumulated operational data, the EPMS management computer system providing an output comprising operational data from an emergency power outage event occurring during an automatic test event or a manual test event for use as load test data required for compliance test reporting to a third party regulatory agency.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the compliance test reporting comprises data required for predetermined operational requirements mandated by the Joint Commission and set by the National Fire Protection Agency.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein for the at least one generator the operating parameters are selected from the group comprising:

time and date generator begins running, time and date generator stops running, total engine runtime, time duration of generator cooldown, oil pressure, coolant temperature, exhaust temperature, charging voltage, charging current, power, facility load powered, rated power, percent of rated power, three-phase voltage, three-phase current, and frequency.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein for the at least one ATS the operating parameters are selected from the group comprising:

date and time facility power is transferred from utility electrical power to generator power, time duration of transfer from utility electrical power to generator power, date and time facility power is transferred back from generator power to utility electrical power, time duration of transfer from generator power to utility electrical power, three-phase voltage, three-phase current, total current, rated current, percent of rated current, power factor, total power, facility load powered, frequency, and a percent of rated power for generators connected to the at least one ATS.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein a load test comprises a test such that facility power is transferred from utility electrical power to generator, and wherein the at least one generator supplies generator power to a portion of the protected facility.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein a no-load test comprises a test such that facility power remains supplied by utility electrical power during the no-load test.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the EPSS equipment further comprises at least one fuel supply and at least one fuel management system.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the EPSS equipment further comprises switchgear.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein a data record for the at least one generator further includes a generator identifier, event identifier, protected facility identifier, user information, identifier of one or more EPSS'"'"'s subject to the event, group of EPSS equipment subject to the event, and a creation date and time of the data record.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein each data record for the at least one ATS further includes an ATS identifier, event identifier, protected facility identifier, user information, identifier of one or more EPSS'"'"'s subject to the event, group of EPSS equipment subject to the event, and a creation date and time of the data record.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the EPMS management computer system is further operative for displaying live EPSS operating parameters to a user via a graphical user interface (GUI) as the event is occurring.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the prescheduled automatic test event is initiated based on a schedule of automatic test events for running tests of the EPSS equipment according to a calendar of automatic test events maintained at the EPMS management computer system.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein the EPMS management computer system maintains a calendar of historical power outage events, automatic test events, and manual test events for viewing EPSS testing data related to past power outage events, automatic test events, and manual test events.

30. The system of claim 17, wherein the EPMS management computer system is further operative for retrieving a beginning data point, middle data point, and ending data point from the EPSS operating parameters for each of the power outage events, automatic test events, and manual test events for inclusion in the output from the EPMS.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein the EPMS management computer system is further operative for providing an alarm to a user via a graphical user interface (GUI) when one or more predefined occurrences related to the EPSS equipment occur during a power outage event, automatic test event, or manual test event.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more predefined occurrences are selected from the group comprising:

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