Sustainability Correlations493 Final Report

Computer and Mechanical Engineering Technologies

ET-493

Fall 2016

Students: Vaughn Ferrara, Ra’Najawhan Poullard, Deuel Vaughn

Advisor: Dr. Koutsougeras

Professor: Dr. Koutsougeras

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the systems that are in place at the Southeastern Louisiana Sustainability Center and propose methods, designs, and solutions to manage its data needs. The operations of Sustainability Center are controlled and are assessed based on data and thus the collection and assessment of data is very important. Our target tasks are to design a data collection system for the various subsystems that comprise the Sustainability Center. We will do our own research to develop a system of our own that would be more efficient, user friendly, and convenient than what is already available at the Sustainability Center. We will use off-the-shelf technology to design a data communication system that can be used on the existing or new mechanical apparatus to facilitate data collection and controls.

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Introduction/Background

The sustainability center has a goal of making the campus more environmental friendly. One of their methods are installing solar panels around the campus for more renewable energy. Since the installation of their systems, they have been collecting data on their energy production and consumption. The sustainability center has other systems in place besides solar panels such as; geothermal, solar thermal, and photo voltaic systems. All of these systems run through the sustainability center and can be monitored in real time. They are shown in the descriptions below.

Subsystems:

The geothermal system takes energy from the ponds they have and transfers energy across campus to be used for heating and cooling buildings.

The photovoltaic energy system consists of multiple grids of solar panels across campus and uses them to turn sunlight directly into electrical power.

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The solar thermal energy system consists of multiple grids of solar panels across campus and uses them to turn sunlight directly into energy used for heating purposes.

Our Purpose

The purpose of this project was originally was to take the data the sustainability center has been collecting form their energy management system, and do analysis of the data they have been collecting. However, after talking to the people who monitor the systems and our advisor, we found out there had been some miscommunication on what was already had in place at the sustainability center. Now our advisor has suggested we shift our goal to the selection of off-the-shelf technology to design a data communication system that can be used on the existing mechanical apparatus to facilitate the data collection and pertinent controls.

Progress

After our objective changed, we started doing research on how to build data communication systems for power meters. With none us having a background in this subject we started researching the basics of data communication systems. As we were researching how to do it we also needed to look into the equipment needed. As a reference, we asked the sustainability center if they had information on their existing system they could share. We discovered they have a web application they use to see the real time data of the energy systems they have in place. We were given a username and password so that we can have access to it. We discovered it had the following information. This is a screen cap of the home page of the web application.

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From the home screen, they can navigate to see the current energy use of any building on campus. Here is a screen for all the energy meters at once. There are many readings available through this web application, more than just a single power meter reading. It can give information on the solar panel grid, solar heating pumps, and boiler temperatures and other systems they have in place on campus.

Below is a webpage that displays the energy usage of every building on campus that is monitored but the Sustainability Center.

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Below depicts the green house solar thermal system readings.

Below depicts three solar panels. The far left is for the one at the Sustainability Center. The one in the middle is and far right are the two at the physical plant.

The issue we had is that we were not given acces to the trednlogs they have. When trying to gain acces to the trendlogs we were directed to the blank page below.

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We tried to gain acces this information multiple times but have been denied everythime. Apparently this is on different secuirty clearnce than what is allowed to us. We asked if it was possible to give us acces, but they said it would cause potential issues with the system. We also asked if they could make a copy the data for us into table or word document. They said they did not know how. Since we don’t have a sufficient amout of access to their equiptment and data, we decided that it would be best for the sake of our project to make up our own design a design a system to collect the data and shows in real time, but also is able to show past records for easy analaysis.

Possible Solutions

We researched ways of setting up data communications network, but now we need to find the equipment to do it. We looked at other companies to see how they went about setting up an energy monitoring system. Power companies like Entergy use things like smart meters. Smart meters are power meters that automatically send data upon request to the companies. There are smart meters on normal homes that energy companies use to collect data about the monthly usage wirelessly from the road in front of the house instead of going directly to read the meter. That is not the type of communication we want.

We spoke to the workers at the sustainability center about what kind of power meters do they have in place currently. They gave us a manual for their power meter called the Acuvim II Series. According to the manual, it has real time metering, data logging, time of use, and waveform capture. The problem is it uses something called a Modbus protocol. Therefore, we researched what Modbus protocol is. Modbus is one of the staples in the industrial technology world with regards to communication networks. Modbus is used in multiple master-slave applications to monitor and program devices; to communicate between intelligent devices and sensors and instruments; to monitor field devices using PCs and HMIs. Finding material on this software has been difficult. We found one book called Practical Industrial Data

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Communications: Best Practice Techniques, it covers the basics of Modbus. After seeing what they used we looked for different power meters to compare them.

When deciding on what meter to use, we looked at what they must do for this particular job. One of the things you need to know about the energy system you are trying to measure is if it is a single or three-phase system. A single-phase system is where you only have one voltage source or circuit. Most homes in the United States are examples of a single-phase system. Whereas a three phase system is when there is more than one voltage source meaning it there is more than one circuit connecting to power system. A three-phase system is usually used when some devices require more power than others like a motor, pumps, or HVAC. We have not asked if the solar panels in place on campus are single or three phased. They could be either because some are connected to the geothermal pumps in the sustainably center meaning, they could be three phase. While some could be independent like the ones on the biology building.

Here is a map of the current installations of solar panels on campus.

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Positions of solar panels around Southeastern Campus

1. Sustainability Center2. Physical Plant (Tracking)3. Kinesiology Building

(Solar Thermal)4. Biology Building

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1

3

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The sustainability center has a control room where they have someone always monitoring the energy systems across campus. The newer power meters have a built in alarm system. Each user can set the limits for when the alarms go off and a warning is sent through either an email, or web application. We took this into consideration when researching meters. The main function we are looking for in a power meter is the type of communication it has to relay this information elsewhere. What we want are ones with internet communication. Through things like MasterSlave, BACnet IP, ModBus, TCp, Modbus/BACnet, and via Ethernet.

Another critical function a power meter should have is data logging. All smart meters can read current power usage, but there are some that can store this data for later use for analysis. This makes it so we can see data from past days and months. When you have data over a long period, it makes for a more accurate analysis of the system and its efficiency. One thing the data logging can store is waveforms of voltage and current. You can see the waveform of the voltage and current over a determined period. These waveforms are useful for analysis of the system during something like a daily cycle as to when the most power is produced by the solar panels.

We also looked into simpler solutions like home wireless measuring systems. When looking into way of measuring energy consumptions many home owners have solar panels for themselves. There are many ways for homes to easily measure their own power usage remotely other than going outside to look at a power meter. Most companies use the same method of measuring the energy usage using something called a CT sensor (Current Transformer). Like any other transformer, a current transformer has a primary winding, a magnetic core, and a secondary winding. A current transformer is similar to a voltage transformer. It has an iron or ferrite core and two windings, but unlike the voltage transformer, it comes with only one winding on the secondary side. The primary winding is supplied in the form of the cable that passes through the transformer core. This means it only works for currents. Thus, it will generate an output current flowing in the secondary winding that is proportional to the current in the cable that is the primary winding. The CT will generate whatever voltage is necessary to drive the secondary current. There are two types of CT’s, a ring core and a split core. The ring core requires the circuit panel to be disconnected to put on the ring. Whereas the split core is in two parts that clips around the live wire without having to disconnect them. When installing a CT, it is important to make sure it is in the right direction because that will effect whether if it shows if power is positive when exporting or importing.

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One company that uses the CT sensors is called Open Energy Monitoring. They offer a variety of methods for measuring energy usage. The one that caught our attention the most was the EmonPi. The EmonPi is an all-in-one Raspberry Pi based energy monitoring unit that can utilize either Ethernet or Wi-Fi. The data collected from the EmonPi and can be accessed from the company’s website application called EmonCMS. The EmonPi and EmonCMS then can monitor the real time and historic performance of the generation from the solar panels, and grid import. The reason we think a system like this would not work is because it only works for single phase system.

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Another company in the same field is called 2 Save Energy Ltd. Who produce solar monitoring equipment. The difference is they have their own hardware that is not just a modified Raspberry Pi. Also the setup for the OWL Intuition-PV involves using two CT sensors instead of one. One CT is connected directly after the grid invert from the solar panels, and the second is before the fuse box, examples can be seen in the pictures below. The use of two CT sensors can lead to more accurate readings, and unlike the EmonPi this can used on Three phase system. The only issue is they are based in the UK.

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Those are some the qualifications we looked for one researching the type of meters to use. With those in mind, here is a list we complied that we believe are the closest with what we need.

Power Meters

Embedded Web Server

Communications 3 Phase or Single Phase

Waveform Capture

Trend Logging

Internal Memory

Alarms

Power Xpert Meter 2280

Yes HTTP, HTTPS, Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP, BACnet/IP, SNMP, SMTP, NTP.

Single Phase, and 3 Phase

Yes Yes 768 MB Yes

Power logicION7550 RTU

No DNP3 Modbus TCP/IP Telnet ION

Single Phase, and 3 Phase

Yes Yes 10 MB Yes

Acuvim II Yes Ethernet, Profibus-Dp, BACnet,Rs485

Single Phase, and 3 Phase

Yes Yes 8 MB Yes

Power Scout

No Modbus/BACnet MasterSlave, BACnet IP, ModBus TCp over Ethernet

Single Phase, and 3 Phase

Yes No None or N/A

No

OWL Intuition-PV

No Transmits over frequency to node gateway that connect over Ethernet

Single Phase Only

No Yes N/A No

EmonPi Yes Ethernet or Wi-Fi

Single Phase and 3 Phase

No Yes N/A No

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That is what we have completed so far in terms of research for designing a data commutation system for the energy systems around Southeastern.

Conclusion

Overall, this first half of the design project has helped us all learn the basics of a data communications networking system. We aim to use this knowledge, and skills obtained from the Engineering Technology program, to successfully demonstrate the capability to perform and find solutions to new task regardless of prior knowledge. Next, we plan on exploring the available technologies and developing a design that will well suit the Sustainability Center or even other work places.

Objectives Completed

1. Research network data communications2. Research sensors that can be used for measuring power

Objectives to Do

1. Design network that can be used with multiple sensors 2. How and where will we store the data if we were to actually build the network

Altered Timeline

• October- research the best way to collect data from the sustainability center topic shifted to building data network

• November - Start setting up a way to collect and store data changed to researching data network setup.

• January – Continue collect data and ensure it is working changed to designing the network

• February -Format collected data Unknown at this time

• March/April - start analyzing the data collected Unknown at this time

• May – Finishing analysis Unknown at this time

Task Done By

Researched Sensors- Vaughn Ferrara

Researched Data Communications- Deuel Vaughn

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Research on the Sustainability Center – Ra’Najawhan Poullard

References

1. "Campus Map." Campus Map. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2016. <http://www.southeastern.edu/map/>.

2. “CT Sensors - Introduction." OpenEnergyMonitor. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.”3. "High Performance Power and Energy MeterAcuvim II Series." Power and Energy Meter

- Acuvim II Series. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2016. <https://www.accuenergy.com/product/acuvim-ii-power-energy-submeter>.

4. Reynders, Deon, Steve Mackay, and E. Wright. Practical Industrial Data Communications: Best Practice Techniques. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

5. "PowerLogic ION7550 RTU - Schneider Electric." Schneider Electric. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2016. <https://www.schneider-electric.com/en/product-range/1872-powerlogic-ion7550-rtu/?parent-category-id=4100>.

6. "PowerScout 3037 Power Submeter." DENT Instruments. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2016. <https://shop.dentinstruments.com/collections/powerscout-product/products/powerscout-3037-ps3037>.

7. "Power Xpert Meter 2000 Series." Power Xpert Meter 2000 Series. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2016. <http://www.eaton.com/Eaton/ProductsServices/Electrical/ProductsandServices/PowerQualityandMonitoring/PowerandEnergyMeters/PowerXpertMeter2000/index.htm#tabs-2>.

8. "Solar PV Monitoring." The Owl. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2016.

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