Search Results (3)

Due to its potential benefits in data transparency, maintenance, and optimization of operation, the Internet of Things (IoT) has recently emerged in the building automation system (BAS) domain. However, while various IoT devices have been developed, the integration into BAS remains a challenging task due to the variety of conventional interfaces used in existing BAS. From an objective point of view, integrating IoT connectivity on existing devices’ printed circuit boards (PCBs) would be the most efficient option in terms of cost and resources, but requires adaptation of product lines, and vendors would often couple this with their own services and without an option for customization. By contrast, the majority of research activities focus on developing alternative or additional measurement systems, rather than connecting with legacy system components. Furthermore, most research applications cover very simple and individual use-cases with a do-it-yourself character and limited applicability in industrial applications. In this study, we present a scalable, industrial-like embedded solution to connect to common interfaces in BAS applications and share all the hardware and software design as an open-source platform for public use, customization, and further enhancement. Moreover, a thorough measurement performance analysis was conducted, suggesting an acceptable trade-off among accuracy, flexibility, and costs, e.g., achieving a performance increase by over 75% and a cost reduction by roughly 34% compared to a previous design. Full article

The ramping trend of cheap and performant single board computers (SBC) is growingly offering unprecedented opportunities in various domains, taking advantage of the widespread support and flexibility offered by an operating system (OS) environment. Unfortunately, data acquisition systems implemented in an OS environment are traditionally considered not to be suitable for reliable industrial applications. Such a position is supported by the lack of hardware interrupt handling and deterministic control of timed operations. In this study, the authors fill this gap by proposing an innovative and versatile SBC-based open-source platform for CPU-independent data acquisition. The synchronized measurement unit (SMU) is a high-accuracy device able to perform multichannel simultaneous sampling up to 200 kS/s with sub-microsecond synchronization precision to a GPS time reference. It exhibits very low offset and gain errors, with a minimum bandwidth beyond 20 kHz, SNR levels above 90 dB and THD as low as −110 dB. These features make the SMU particularly attractive for the power system domain, where synchronized measurements are increasingly required for the geographically distributed monitoring of grid operating conditions and power quality phenomena. We present the characterization of the SMU in terms of measurement and time synchronization accuracy, proving that this device, while low-cost, guarantees performance compliant with the requirements for synchrophasor-based applications in power systems. Full article

Thermo-Electric Modules (TEMs) are being increasingly used in power generation as a valid alternative to batteries, providing autonomy to sensor nodes or entire Wireless Sensor Networks, especially for energy harvesting applications. Often, manufacturers provide some essential parameters under determined conditions, like for example, maximum temperature difference between the surfaces of the TEM or for maximum heat absorption, but in many cases, a TEM-based system is operated under the best conditions only for a fraction of the time, thus, when dynamic working conditions occur, the performance estimation of TEMs is crucial to determine their actual efficiency. The focus of this work is on using a novel procedure to estimate the parameters of both the electrical and thermal equivalent model and investigate their relationship with the operating temperature and the temperature gradient. The novelty of the method consists in the use of a simple test configuration to stimulate the modules and simultaneously acquire electrical and thermal data to obtain all parameters in a single test. Two different current profiles are proposed as possible stimuli, which use depends on the available test instrumentation, and relative performance are compared both quantitatively and qualitatively, in terms of standard deviation and estimation uncertainty. Obtained results, besides agreeing with both technical literature and a further estimation method based on module specifications, also provides the designer a detailed description of the module behavior, useful to simulate its performance in different scenarios. Full article