JP2013229870A - Mobile asset auto manager display - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and a method for automatically displaying data particular to an asset when in the vicinity of that asset.SOLUTION: Disclosed is a method of monitoring a plurality of assets using a mobile device, including: determining a position of the mobile device; identifying one of the plurality of assets in close proximity to the mobile device; and accessing, from the mobile device, data relating to the one of the plurality of assets. Also disclosed is a system of monitoring a plurality of assets using a mobile device, including: a location server in communication with the mobile device, the location server configured for determining a location of the mobile device; and an application server in communication with the location server, the plurality of assets and the mobile device, the application server configured for monitoring the status of the plurality of assets and for sending the mobile device the status of one of the plurality of assets, where the one of the plurality of assets is in the closest proximity to the mobile device.

Description

  Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to applications that require mobile telecommunications, and more particularly to systems and methods for automatically displaying asset-specific data when in the vicinity of the asset. And

  Managing large numbers of assets that span a relatively large geographic area can be difficult. This is especially difficult when assets look the same as each other. For example, a wind farm with multiple wind turbines can span several acres with little or no difference in the appearance of each wind generator. Similarly, a plurality of visually indistinguishable assets such as turbines or boilers may be located in a large facility. Although these assets look the same, each asset may have its own operational or maintenance characteristics and schedule. It is critical for the efficient operation and maintenance of the wind farm or the entire facility that the employees responsible for these assets identify each individual asset quickly and undoubtedly.

  It is relatively easy to select controls from the control room that allow the operator to monitor any particular asset. However, for maintenance or asset management duties, the control room may need to communicate with personnel on site or in the facility. Therefore, it may be beneficial to monitor the status of assets when on the site or facility rather than monitoring from a control room away from the site. There is no efficient or accurate method or system for doing so.

US Pat. No. 7,551,130

  In order to be able to perform asset management and maintenance services, field engineers or technicians can use the data generally available in the control room in such a way that field engineers or technicians can quickly and accurately identify assets. There is a need to be able to provide.

  The following presents a simplified summary illustrating some aspects or embodiments of the disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. Indeed, additional or alternative embodiments of the present disclosure may be available other than those described in the overview.

  The present disclosure includes determining a position of a mobile device, identifying one of a plurality of assets proximate to the mobile device, and accessing data relating to one of the plurality of assets from the mobile device. And a method for monitoring a plurality of assets using a mobile device.

  The present disclosure relates to a location server configured to communicate with a mobile device and determine a location of the mobile device, and to communicate with the location server, the plurality of assets, and the mobile device, and monitor a status of the plurality of assets; Multiple using a mobile device, including an application server configured to send a status of one of the plurality of assets to the mobile device, wherein one of the plurality of assets is closest to the mobile device Further targeted is a system for monitoring the assets of

  Thus, data normally available in the control room can be quickly and accurately accessed by a field engineer or technician on the mobile device.

  The following description will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings.

It is a schematic diagram of a plurality of assets spreading in a certain field. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wind turbine, according to an embodiment. FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a wind turbine, according to an embodiment. 2 is an exemplary embodiment of a network for communicating with one or more assets. FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram of a display showing the status of one of a plurality of assets in accordance with the present disclosure. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of the method of the present disclosure.

  Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the invention. One or more examples of various embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings. Each example is provided as a description of embodiments and is not meant to limit the embodiments. For example, features shown as part of one embodiment may be incorporated with respect to other embodiments. Any such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein.

  Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment is shown having a region 12 in which multiple assets 10 may be located. Area 12 may be several acres of land or an area within the facility. Multiple assets 10 may include multiple turbines, wind turbines, boilers, or any other asset that can be tracked and monitored. Although the present disclosure is applicable to a plurality of environments including, but not limited to, facilities having turbines or boilers for illustrative purposes only, the present disclosure will first be described with respect to facilities where the assets 10 are a number of wind turbines. However, one of the plurality of assets 10 is shown as wind turbine 100 in FIG.

  With reference to FIG. 2, a schematic diagram illustrating a wind turbine 100 according to an embodiment is shown. The wind turbine 100 includes a tower 2 on which a nacelle 6 is mounted. The rotor 4 is provided on the rotor blade 8. For example, three blade configurations are rotatably mounted on the nacelle 6. Kinetic energy is obtained from the wind by the rotor blades 8 and rotates the rotor 4 about the axis of rotation. The rotor 4 is connected to a generator (not shown) directly or through a gear box. The generator is driven by the rotor 4 to generate electric power supplied to a utility grid or the like.

  FIG. 3 illustrates a wind turbine 100 according to an embodiment. Mounted on the wind turbine 100 is a global positioning system (“GPS”) receiver 110. The GPS receiver 110 is known in the art and communicates with a series of satellites comprising a global navigation satellite system through a microwave signal shown as a GPS signal 50. The GPS receiver 110 can determine the position of the wind turbine 100. It should be understood that other satellite based navigation systems may be used. For example, a European-based satellite and receiver system known as GALILEO may be used. In addition, other techniques for determining the position of the wind turbine may be used, such as, for example, a triangulation technique in which a receiver on the wind turbine 100 measures signals transmitted from multiple transmitters. Further, as described with reference to FIG. 4, the location of the wind turbine 100 may be hard-coded in the programmable memory associated with the wind turbine 100 on the wind turbine 100 itself or at the application server 48. . Hard coding may include absolute geographic longitude and latitude data, and may include relative locations within the grid that have been developed specifically for location.

  FIG. 3 shows that the GPS receiver 110 is installed in the nacelle 6 of the wind turbine 100. The GPS receiver 110 can be installed at any suitable location at or near the wind turbine, but by placing the GPS receiver 110 in the nacelle, a good window for the satellite, and thus GPS A good reception of the signal 50 results. The nacelle 6 may also include one or more sensors 112 that monitor various aspects of wind turbine operation.

  Further, the wind turbine 100 may include a communication device 120 adapted to transmit information over a network 42 to a remote recipient or a remote computer. Information available to the communication device 120 may be provided from the GPS receiver 110 or one or more sensors 112. The communication device 120 may be wired or wireless. In one example, the communication device 120 includes an internet connection. In other embodiments, the communication device 120 includes a local area network connection. In other embodiments, the communication device 120 may be a near-field wireless communication (NFC) transmitter that communicates using Bluetooth or other NFC communication protocols. Communication device 120 may include a processor that consolidates data from one or more sensors 112 prior to transmission to network 42.

  One or more sensors 112 on the wind turbine 100 may transmit data to the network 42 through the communication device 120. With reference to FIG. 4, which is an exemplary embodiment, the network 42 can be the Internet, which can transmit data using, for example, the IP protocol. However, in other exemplary embodiments, the network 42 may additionally or alternatively include other intranets, extranets, private networks, public networks, wide area networks, local area networks, etc., or any other combination thereof. May be included. The network may be any other type of wired or wireless network. An example of a wireless network may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, also known as 4G, including but not limited to global mobile communication system (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband Code division multiple access (WCDMA®), 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), based on Enhanced Data Rate (EDGE) for GSM® Evolution, or any other type of cellular network It can be any type of cellular network, including Wi-Fi, World Wide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), other IEEE 802. It can be any other type of wireless network, including an XX network, and any other type of wireless network that can transmit data to and from communication device 120. The plurality of assets 10 can be connected to the network 42.

  Also connected to or communicating with the network 42 is one or more network devices 43, such as workstations or other computing devices, such as network computers, laptop computers. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that it may also include tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), Internet-enabled mobile phones, smartphones, and any other network device that can send and receive data to and from the Internet. . The network device 43 may be located in a control room local to the area 12 or in a control room remote from the area 12.

  Also connected to or communicating with the network 42 is a mobile device 44 that communicates with the network 42 through a communication tower 46. Mobile device 44 is representative of a suitable type of device that can communicate over a wireless network. Exemplary devices include any type of wireless receiver or transceiver device (eg, cellular phone, tablet computer, smartphone, pager, PDA, PC, professional broadcast receiver device, satellite radio receiver, satellite phone, and television) ) Exemplary devices include, for example, (a) portable media players, (b) laptops, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), cellular phones, and other smartphones (eg, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android based) Portable telephones such as session initiation protocol (SIP) telephones, video telephones, portable electronic devices, portable clients such as thin clients, portable game machines, (c) televisions, DVD players, set-top boxes, Public electronic devices such as home electronic devices such as monitors and displays, (d) kiosks, in-store music sampling devices, automatic teller machines (ATMs), cash registers, etc. Portable devices, including (e) navigation devices that may be portable or mounted in a car, and / or (f) non-conventional computing devices such as kitchenware, automotive controls (eg, steering wheels) And any suitable mobile device, such as various computing devices, or combinations thereof. For illustrative purposes only, the mobile device 44 may be referred to as a smartphone, but is obviously not limited thereto. The mobile device 44 may have a display 45, which may be a touch screen or other type of display.

  What is connected to or in communication with network 42 includes one or more servers, including but not limited to application server 48 and location server 60. The application server 48 can be any type of server computer that can execute application programs. Application server 48 is an application that monitors the status or status of multiple assets 10, including tracking real-time status of various sensors and systems, maintenance records and schedules, and operational control programs for multiple assets 10. The program can be executed. Asset 10 may be a device for obtaining wind energy, a turbine for generating energy, or any other type of asset 10. Application server 48 can track the identified data for any or all of individual assets 10, such as wind turbine 100. Application server 48 may also specifically identify each asset 10 and associate each asset 10 with a geographic location.

  Location server 60 tracks the location of mobile device 44 or a plurality of such devices and stores the location data in location database 62. The location of the mobile device 44 is by methods known to those skilled in the art including, but not limited to, GPS, A-GPS, arrival time delay, triangulation, or any other type of location algorithm or method. Can be determined.

  The mobile device 44 can have an application client resident to monitor the status of the asset 10. The application client can be configured to display on the display 45 the status of any asset 10 being monitored by the application server 48. For example, and with reference to FIG. 5, the application client can include a display 45 that displays data relating to the closest asset 10 in relation to the movement 44, and also includes, for example, asset identification, asset location, asset Includes a menu that provides options for searching one or more of the following: operating status, asset operating schedule, asset maintenance status, asset maintenance schedule, asset failure data, and any other asset data be able to. The data identified in FIG. 5 and herein is for illustration only, and any actual data may or may not include any or all of the exemplary status categories. Any additional categories may still be included and still be within the scope of this disclosure.

  The mobile device 44 can also serve as a portable data collection device. One or more inputs to the mobile device 44 use known communication techniques, including but not limited to USB or other wired connections, or Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other wireless communication connections. Thus, it may be made from one or more of the assets 10.

  Facilities can span several kilometers and wind farms can span several square miles. Assets 10 monitored by the application server 48 and condition monitoring software in the mobile device 44 may be physically interspersed across the facility. In operation, processing multiple assets 10 is improved. Referring to FIG. 6, a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for monitoring the status or status of asset 10 is shown. At 80, the position of the mobile device 44 is determined. The location can be determined by any of several methods including, but not limited to, GPS, A-GPS, arrival time delay, triangulation, or any other type of location algorithm or method. . At 82, the asset 10 that is closest to the mobile device 44 is identified. This can be done by comparing the position of the mobile device 44 with the positions of the plurality of assets 10, and the positions of the assets 10 may be determined in advance and stored in the application server 48. At 84, the status or status data of the closest asset 10 is accessed. The state of the closest asset 10 may be received from the application server 48 and may be obtained by the mobile device 44 from information received from the application server 48. The state may include, for example, asset operational status, asset operational schedule, asset maintenance status, asset maintenance schedule, asset failure data, and any other asset data. At 86, the status or status data of the asset 10 closest to the display 45 of the mobile device 44 is displayed. Thus, the field engineer's current location information is used to help the field engineer identify which assets are nearby, in an abnormal situation, or require maintenance. The method also allows the portable data collection device to filter the data collection route shown to the field engineer to include only routes that are very close to the field engineer's current location. The present disclosure can improve the accuracy of data uploaded to the portable data collection device of the mobile device 44.

  There may be variations of the method of FIG. 6 within the scope of this disclosure and the accompanying drawings. For example, the data of the closest asset 10 can be uploaded to a mobile device 44 that acts as a portable data collection device. The status or status data of the closest asset 10 may be automatically displayed on the display 45 of the mobile device 44 and may be retrieved by a command issued by the mobile device 44. The display may be limited to data from one asset 10 and may include data from multiple assets 10 in proximity to the mobile device 44. In addition to the data being populated on the display 45, the data can be communicated through voice communications or alarms, or any other type of mechanism. The technical effect of the present system and method is that field engineers can use the mobile device 44 to manage and / or maintain data in an efficient and accurate manner.

  According to other embodiments, data regarding one or more of the assets 10 may be transmitted from the application server 48 to the mobile device 44 based on the position of the mobile device 44 determined by the location server 60. . For example, the location server 60 determines that the mobile device 44 is located in close proximity to one of the plurality of assets 10 in need of service and notifies or moves while the mobile device 44 is in proximity to the asset 10. Other data can be transmitted to the mobile device 44. The data may be transmitted via SMS, text, MMS, or any other type of wireless data communication, and further, for example, data transmitted to the mobile device 44 or transmitted to a user of the mobile device 44 Audio or visual alarms can be included to alert you that

  In addition to using the location server 60 to determine the location of the mobile device 44, an alternative is to use a near-field wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth, or RFID communication, for the asset 10 or in the region 12 Determining the position of the mobile device 44 as a relative position. Near field wireless communication modules may be placed throughout area 12 to broadcast relative location information that helps mobile device 44 find the closest asset 10.

  It should be understood that the present invention can be applied to automatic displays based on location or based on commands from a mobile device. One or more assets 10 are pre-programmed into the mobile device and the user of the mobile device 44 is guided through the plurality of assets 10, thereby one or more specific assets within the area 12 throughout the area 12. You can also create a route to Although the present disclosure has been described with respect to wind farms, other asset types, including but not limited to steam turbines, can be considered within the scope and breadth of the present disclosure.

  It should be understood that other similar embodiments may be used and various modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiments with respect to the various embodiments in the various drawings. This written description uses such examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and to make and use any device or system and perform any incorporated methods. Enabling anyone of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples may be within the scope of the claims if they have the same structural elements as the language of the claims, or if they contain equivalent structural elements that do not differ significantly from the language of the claims. Intended. Accordingly, apparatus, systems, and methods for reducing turbine clearance flow should not be limited to any single embodiment, but are considered to be within the breadth and scope of the appended claims. Should.

2 Tower 4 Rotor 6 Nacelle 8 Rotor Blade 10 Asset 12 Area 42 Network 43 Network Device 44 Mobile Device 45 Display (Asset Identification: Asset Location: Asset Operation Status: Asset Operation Schedule: Asset Maintenance Status: Asset Failure Status Data: Asset maintenance schedule: Other asset data)
46 Communication Tower 48 Application Server 50 GPS Signal 60 Location Server 62 Location Database 80 Determining Device Location 82 Identifying Asset Location 84 Accessing Asset Data 86 Displaying Asset Data 100 Wind Turbine 110 GPS Receiver 112 sensor 120 communication device

Claims (12)

A method of monitoring multiple assets using a mobile device,
Determining a position of the mobile device;
Identifying one of a plurality of assets proximate to the mobile device;
Accessing data relating to the one of the plurality of assets from the mobile device. The mobile device has an application program that executes on the mobile device, and the application program automatically displays the data relating to the one of the plurality of assets as part of the accessing step. The method of claim 1. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is performed using one of a global positioning system, an assisted global positioning system, and a triangulation system. The method of claim 3, wherein location information is associated with each of the plurality of assets, and wherein the identifying step is performed by comparing the location information with the location of the mobile device. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of assets comprises a near-field wireless communication transmitter and the determining is performed by receiving a transmission from the transmitter by the mobile device. The method of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality of assets is closest to the mobile device. The method of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality of assets is one of a wind generator, a turbine, and a boiler. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving data from one of the plurality of assets at the mobile device. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting the received data to an application server. A system for monitoring multiple assets using a mobile device,
A location server configured to communicate with the mobile device and determine a position of the mobile device;
Configured to communicate with the location server, the plurality of assets, and the mobile device, monitor a status of the plurality of assets, and transmit a status of one of the plurality of assets to the mobile device; An application server, wherein the one of a plurality of assets is closest to the mobile device. The system of claim 10, wherein the mobile device is configured to receive the status of the one of a plurality of assets from the application server. The mobile device is configured to receive the status of the one of the plurality of assets from the one of the plurality of assets and transfer the status to the application server. Item 11. The system according to Item 10.