Search Results (5)

Air-pollution-related issues, including the rise in carbon dioxide emissions, require, among others, solutions that include using electric vehicles supplied by the energy obtained from renewable sources. These solutions also include the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging. However, the existing systems mostly employ independent subsystems (such as subsystems for the control of electric vehicle chargers, subsystems for the control of smart battery storage, etc.), leading to hardware redundancy, software complexity, increased hardware costs, and communication link complexity. An architecture of a system for remotely controlling a renewable-energy-source-powered sustainable electric vehicle charging station, which overcomes these deficiencies, is presented in this paper. Consideration is also given to the sizes and combinations of different parts (renewable sources, batteries, chargers, etc.) for various purposes (households, replacing current gas stations, big parking spaces in shopping centers, public garages, etc.). The ability to integrate a wide range of features into one system helps to optimize the use of several subsystems, including the ones that control electric vehicle chargers remotely, smart storage battery remote control, smart electricity meter remote control, and fiscal cash register remote control, creating a sustainable and economically efficient solution. In this manner, consumers of electric vehicles will have easier access to renewable-energy-powered sustainable charging stations. This helps to reduce the amount of air pollution and its harmful effects, including climate change, by promoting the use of electric vehicles that are powered by renewable energy sources. The energy independence and sustainability of the station were considered in such a way that the owner of the station achieves maximum economic benefits. Full article

The evaluation of measurement uncertainty of natural gas properties calculated from composition data are an essential aspect of fiscal metering in the trade of natural gas. For conformity assessment, and in gas allocation, it is essential to have a reliable value for the uncertainty. This need is also reflected in, e.g., ISO 6976, the standard for computing natural gas properties, which follows the requirements of the “Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement” much more closely. Normalised compositions and their associated standard uncertainties do not suffice for this purpose. A novel algorithm is provided to recover these correlations from the normalised fractions and associated standard uncertainties, enabling the industry work with the data already stored in their repositories. The standard uncertainties are reproduced within 2%, which is acceptable for uncertainty calculations. The correlation coefficients obtained from the recovery algorithm agree with the ones obtained by normalisation. Full article

A terminal for remote control of charging stations for electric vehicles (EV) powered by renewable energy has been presented in this paper. This terminal enables remote control of EV chargers, smart batteries, smart electricity meters, fiscal cash registers (FCR), as well as remote control of renewable energy sources and other devices within the station. This terminal also makes charging stations more accessible to electric vehicles users, to electricity distribution companies, to electricity suppliers, to tax administrations, and finally to users and owners of charging stations. Therefore, communication and control with all these devices and systems is integrated in one device. Realization of hardware and software of such a terminal has also been described in this paper. The net result of development and commercialization of terminals would encourage an increase in the use of electric vehicles powered by energy from renewable sources, which would cause a decrease in the level of air pollution and all negative effects it causes in the future. Different categories of this device are considered. Moreover, although it is a device with embedded software, a very advanced method was used, that is, a model-driven development method, which enables fast and more efficient development and maintenance of the device. The results of the application of this method to the terminal for remote control of fiscal cash registers are provided. They were compared with the results of the development of the terminal for remote control of smart meters without applying this method. A simulation of the development of the terminal for remote control of the station is also provided. The presented method can be used in the future for faster and better-quality development of embedded software. Full article

Predictive analytics is usually cited as one of the most important pillars of the digital transformation. For the oil industry, specifically, it is a common belief that issues like integrity and maintenance could benefit from predictive analytics. This paper presents the development and the application of a process-monitoring tool in a real process facility. The PMA (Predictive Maintenance Application) system is a data-driven application that uses a multivariate analysis in order to predict the system behavior. Results show that the use of a multivariate approach for process monitoring could not only detect an early failure at a metering system days before the operation crew, but could also successfully identify, among hundreds of variables, the root cause of the abnormal situation. By applying such an approach, a better performance of the monitored equipment is expected, decreasing its downtime. Full article

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) subsystems monitor and control energy distribution through exchange of information between smart meters and utility networks. A key challenge is how to select a cost-effective communication system without compromising the performance of the applications. Current communication technologies were developed for conventional data networks with different requirements. It is therefore necessary to investigate how much of existing communication technologies can be retrofitted into the new energy infrastructure to cost-effectively deliver acceptable level of service. This paper investigates broadband power line communications (BPLC) as a backhaul solution in AMI. By applying the disparate traffic characteristics of selected AMI applications, the network performance is evaluated. This study also examines the communication network response to changes in application configurations in terms of packet sizes. In each case, the network is stress-tested and performance is assessed against acceptable thresholds documented in the literature. Results show that, like every other communication technology, BPLC has certain limitations; however, with some modifications in the network topology, it indeed can fulfill most AMI traffic requirements for flexible and time-bounded applications. These opportunities, if tapped, can significantly improve fiscal and operational efficiencies in AMI services. Simulation results also reveal that BPLC as a backhaul can support flat and clustered AMI structures with cluster size ranging from 1 to 150 smart meters. Full article