WO2013138839A1

WO2013138839A1 - Remote beverage supply management method and system

Info

Publication number: WO2013138839A1
Application number: PCT/AU2012/000962
Authority: WO
Inventors: Benjamin Paul Baker
Original assignee: Tempak International Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Tempak International Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2012-03-22
Filing date: 2012-08-15
Publication date: 2013-09-26
Anticipated expiration: 2014-09-22

Description

Title

Remote Beverage Supply Management Method and System

Cross-Reference to Related Applications

The present application claims priority from Australian Provisional Patent Application No 2012901152 filed on 22 March 2012, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Field

This invention relates generally to a method and system for monitoring remote appliances, in particular, to beverage supply appliances.

Background

For many years, onsite refrigeration and dispensing appliances have consisted of stand alone units which have required onsite monitoring to determine any malfunction. To change a set point within an appliance a technician has had to visit the appliance. If changes to the controls have been required, a technician or contractor would be called, perhaps from considerable distance, to make the required changes. Furthermore, beverage dispense volumes have been determined by counting the number of containers of beverage processed by the equipment, or by installing flow meters in the equipment to measure the throughput.

Traditionally, equipment has either been sold or leased to a user by any of the usual methods of medium term financing.

Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each or any claim consequent on this application.

Summary In a first broad aspect, the present disclosure describes a method for monitoring and controlling remote individual or multiple onsite appliances by measuring operation status data of the onsite appliances and using these data to control operation of the remote appliances, comprising:

defining a list of events that represent operation status of the remote appliances; measuring operation status data of the remote appliances; and

comparing the events in the event list with the measured operation status data to determine if one or more events in the event list occurs;

wherein if an event in the list of events occurs and user intervention is needed, sending an indication to a human machine interface for control commands from an user, if an event in the list of events occurs and no user intervention is needed, automatically generating control commands and sends the control commands to control operation of the remote appliances.

The measured operation status data of remote appliances may comprise beer outlet temperature, pressure, flow rate.

The control commands may comprise real-time generating invoices to a consumer for the purchased beverage based on the beer outlet flow rate.

The control commands comprise chilling the beverage if the beer outlet temperature is above a pre-set threshold.

In a second broad aspect, the present disclosure describes a system for monitoring and controlling remote individual or multiple onsite appliances by measuring operation status data of the onsite appliances and using these data to control operation of the remote appliances, comprising:

a human machine interface for displaying operation status data of remote appliances and receiving control commands from a user;

a server connected to the human machine interface for storing a list of events indicating operation status of the remote appliances and communicating the operation status data and the control commands;

a modem having a port and a link, the modem connected to the server via the link for communicating with the server; and an appliance control board connected to the modem via the port for obtaining the operation status data from onsite sensors and controlling operation of the remote appliances according to the control commands received from the server;

wherein the server compares events in the list of events with the operation status data received from the appliance control board via the modem in real time; if an event in the list of events occurs , and user intervention is needed, the server sends an indication to the human machine mterface for the control commands from the. user, if an event in the list of events occurs and no user intervention is needed, the server automatically generates control commands and sends the control commands to the appliance control board.

The operation status data of remote appliances may comprise beer outlet temperature, pressure, flow rate.

The link connecting the modem to the server may be a GPRS link.

The control commands may be communicated over the GPRS link as AT commands in TCP/IP packets.

The control commands may comprise chilling the beverage if the beer outlet temperature is above a pre-set threshold.

The server may be configured with PHP to communicate the operation status data of the remote appliances and the control commands.

The port of the modem may be configured with a RS 232 serial port protocol.

The port of the modem may be configured with a RS 485 serial port protocol.

The appliance control board may include control circuits configured with machine readable instructions that control operation of the remote appliances.

The machine readable instructions may be developed by a programming language. The programming languages may comprise C/C++, assembly language, VHDL, and HDL.

The machine readable instructions may be remotely uploaded to the appliance control board via the human machine interface.

The present disclosure also provides software including machine readable instructions to operate the system.

A remote beverage supply management method is described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A remote beverage supply management system is described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

A specific embodiment will now be described by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic drawing for a remote beverage supply management system.

Figure 2 shows a logic flow chart for the system.

Figure 3 shows an interactive display dashboard used for monitoring and control of single or multiple on site appliances.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

FIG. 1 shows a schematic drawing for the remote beverage supply management system. The remote beverage supply management includes a dashboard human machine interface (HMI) 110, a server 120, a modem 130 and an appliance control board 140.

In FIG. 1, the dashboard HMI 110 is an interactive user interface, preferably, a graphical user interface, through which a user monitors operation status data or indicators of remote appliances received from the server 120. The dashboard HMI 110 resides in the sever 110 or in a device separate from the sever 110. With the dashboard HMI 110, the user is also able to input control commands to manage and maintain operation of the remote appliances so that onsite monitoring and maintenance can be avoided. In order to take advantage of modern communication capabilities and reduce development costs, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the dashboard HMI 110 is a web-based (e.g., HTML/script language-based) portal that runs in Internet browsers, e.g., Microsoft™ Internet Explorer™, Google™ Chrome™, Apple Safari™, etc. The dashboard HMI 110 can also be an independent program running on desktops, laptops or mobile devices supported by a variety of operating systems, e.g., Windows™, Unix™, Linux™, Android™, iOS™, etc. The dashboard HMI 110 can also be integrated into integrated circuits (IC) as part of an IC chip or across multiple IC chips. FIG. 3 is an example of the dashboard HMI 110.

Although the server 120 shown in FIG. 1 is a standalone computing device, it could equally be a network of computing devices, e.g., a network of computers interconnected by wireless and/or wireline links. The server 120 serves as a bridge between the dashboard HMI 110 and the appliance control board 140 via the modem 130, communicating data and control commands in TCP/IP packets. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the server 120 is configured with a server-side script language, e.g., PHP or ASP, to communicate data and control commands with the dashboard HMI 110 and the appliance control board 140. As shown in FIG. 1, the link between the server 120 and the modem 130 is a wireless link, specifically, a GRPS link, so as to maximise flexibility of geographical deployment. However, the link between the server 120 and the modem 130 can also be wireline links, e.g, Internet or Ethernet. To communicate data and control commands between the server 120 and the modem 130 over the GPRS link, the data and control commands are formatted as AT commands, which are recognized by the modem 130, and packetised into TCP/IP packets. The TCP/IP packets are transmitted over the GPRS link between the server 120 and the modem 130.

As describe above, the modem 130 is connected to the server 120 via a wireless or wireline link. In FIG. 1, the modem 130 also includes a port to interface with the appliance control board 140 that controls operation of the remote appliances via a variety of control circuits included in the appliance control board 140. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, serial port protocols, e.g., RS 232 or RS 485, are adopted to communicate information including data and control commands as AT commands between the modem 130 and the appliance control board 140. It is worth noting that the present invention does not exclude other appropriate ports and protocols that can be used to bear information between the modem 130 and the appliance control board 140, e.g. parallel ports, DB-25 standard.

The appliance control board 140 interfaces with onsite sensors to obtain the operation status data and include control circuits to control components (e.g., refrigerant condenser, compressor, valves, etc.) of the remote appliances according to the control commands received from the user via the dashboard HMI 110 or automatically generated by the server 120 in response to occurrence of events. The control circuits in the appliance control board 140 are configured with machine readable instructions developed by a programming language such as C/C++, assembly language, VHDL, HDL, etc., to perform control function of the remote appliances. The instructions are remotely uploaded and/or updated by the user to the appliance control board 140 through the dashboard HMI 110 and the server 120, so that the user does not need to perform onsite upload and/or update.

FIG. 2 is a logic flow chart for the remote beverage supply management system. The order of blocks 10-14 shown in FIG. 2 is for exemplary purpose only and does not necessarily mean the actual operating order.

, In block 210, the user starts the remote beverage supply management system to initialize communication protocols, e.g., TCP/IP protocol stack, GPRS, RS 232/4SS. The web-based interactive dashboard HMI 110 can be started automatically at the same time as the start of the system, or can be started later by the user. The user monitors the operation status of remote appliances through the dashboard HMI 110 and controls the operation of the remote appliances based on the operation status by inputting control commands.

In block 220, onsite sensors connected to the appliance control board 140 are activated to collect the operation status data of the remote appliances. The onsite sensors include temperature sensors, pressure sensors, flow rate sensors, valve status sensors, etc. The operation status data obtained by the onsite sensors include, but not limited to, refrigerant condenser temperatures, beverage inlet temperatures, beverage outlet temperatures, beverage trunking temperatures, ambient site temperatures and temperatures of other equipment associated with refrigeration and fox beverage dispense systems or other appliance, line pressure, compressor head pressure, compressor refrigerant pressure and the pressure in other associated equipment, on/off status of pumps and associated equipment, open/closed positions for valves in the system, the beverage use during a predetermined period of time, and operation status data history. For example, the onsite sensor records beer outlet flow rate data in order for the sever 110 to generate invoices for the beverage purchased. The operation status data collected by the onsite sensors are fed back to the appliance control board 140, which in turn transmits the data to the modem 130 via RS 232 or RS 485 protocol. The modem 130 communicates the data as AT commands in TCP/IP packets to the sever 110 over the GRPS link.

In block 230, the user defines, via the dashboard H I 110, a list of events that represent operation status of the remote appliances. For example, the user can define a 'beverage outlet temperature high' event indicating that the beverage temperature at the container outlet is above a pre-set threshold. The user can also define a 'high value drinker' event indicating that the amount of beverage purchased by a customer is above a pre-set threshold, which might mean that the customer is eligible for a coupon for next visit. Further, the user can define an aggregate event by combining multiple events. For example, the user can define an aggregate event, for example, 'beverage outlet temperature high' AND 'beverage purchase low'. The event list is transmitted to and stored in the server 120. Alternatively, the event list can be pre-stored in the server 120 before the system is installed. The server 120 real-time compares the events in the event list stored therein with the operation status data received from the appliance control board 140 via the modem 130. If the values of the operation status data do not represent any event in the event list, i.e. no event is triggered, the sever 110 simply sends the data to the dashboard HMI 110 for display on one or more displays, or just ignores the data. Otherwise, an event in the event list is triggered. If user intervene is needed to respond to the triggered event, the server 120 sends an indication to the dashboard HMI 110 for further instructions or control commands from the user; if user intervene is not needed, the sever 110 automatically generates control commands in response to the event and sends the control commands to the appliance control board 140 .

In block 240, the control commands generated by the user or by the server 120 are sent to the appliance control board 140 in TCP/IP packets via the modem 130. The appliance control board 140 includes control circuits to control operation of components of the remote appliances in response to the control commands, e.g., starting or stopping the compressor, on/off valves, etc. The table below is an exemplary, non-exclusive control command table, showing control commands and their functions.

FIG. 3 is ah exemplary and non-exclusive graphical interface of the web-based dashboard HMI 110 used for monitoring and control of single or multiple remote appliances. In FIG. 3, a number with a circle represents a panel on the dashboard HMI 110. In particular, Panel 1 is for a user to log in and/or log out the system and add locations of remote appliances. The user can set a password for the system for security reasons. Once the user logs in the system, the user browses operation status data of the system and operates the system by defining events and/or sending control commands. Panel 2 includes a map showing locations of the remote appliances that have been added to the system, so the user knows how many remote appliances are currently under management and where they are. If a new remote appliance is installed at a remote location, the user adds the location to the system with Panel 1, which will be displayed on the map of Panel 2. Panels 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 are current temperature readings of condenser, beer inlet, tower, trunking and beer outlet in the system. Panel 3 represents temperature history data for different components in the system over the last 168 hours or 7 days. Panel 4 is a bar graph representing the same details. Panel 10 includes three frequently used control commands: clean, defrost and reset The user sends these control commands regularly or as needed to perform clean, defrost or reset functions for the system. Panel 11 indicates the overall operation status of the system and the type of malfunction the system might have. Panel 12 indicates operation status of components of the system with green colour representing normal status while red colour representing abnormal status. In this particular case, Evaporator 1 is in abnormal status.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments, without departing from the broad general scope of the present disclosure. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A remote beverage supply management method for managing beverage supply from remote appliances without the need of onstte visit, comprising steps of:

2. The beverage supply management method according to claim 1, wherein the measured operation status data of remote appliances comprise beer outlet temperature, pressure, flow rate. 3. The beverage supply management method according to claim 2, the control commands comprise real-time generating invoices to a consumer for the purchased beverage based on the beer outlet flow rate.

4. The beverage supply management method according to claim 2 or claim 3, the control commands comprise chilling the beverage if the beer outlet temperature is above a pre-set threshold.

5. A remote beverage supply management system for managing beverage supply from remote appliances without the need of onsite visit, the system comprising:

wherein the server compares events in the list of events with the operation status data received from the appliance control board via the modem in real time; if an event in the list of events occurs and user intervention is needed, the server sends an indication to the human machine interface for the control commands from the user, if an event in the list of events occurs and no user intervention is needed, the server automatically generates control commands and sends the control commands to the appliance control board.

6. The beverage supply management system according to claim 5, wherein the operation status data of remote appliances comprise beer outlet temperature, pressure, flow rate.

7. The beverage supply management system according to claim 5 or claim 6, the link connecting the modem to the server is a GPRS link.

8. The beverage supply management system according to claim 7, the control commands are communicated over the GPRS link as AT commands in TCP/IP packets.

9. The beverage supply management system according to claim 6, the control commands comprise real-time generating invoices to a consumer for the purchased beverage based on the beer outlet flow rate. 10. The beverage supply management system according to claim 6, the control commands comprise chilling the beverage if the beer outlet temperature is above a preset threshold. 11. The beverage supply management system according to claim 7, the server is configured with PHP to communicate the operation status data of the remote appliances and the control commands. 12. The beverage supply management system according to claim 7, the port of the modem is configured with a RS 232 serial port protocol.

13. The beverage supply management system according to claim 7, the port of the modem is configured with a RS 485 serial port protocol. 14. The beverage supply management system according to claim 7, the appliance control board includes control circuits configured with machine readable instructions that control operation of the remote appliances. 15. The beverage supply management system according to claim 14, the machine readable instructions are developed by a programming language. 1 . The beverage supply management system according to claim 15, the programming language comprises C/C++, assembly language, VHDL, and HDL. 17. The beverage supply management system according to claim 14, the machine readable instructions are remotely uploaded to the appliance control board via the human machine interface. 18. Software including machine readable instructions to operate the remote beverage supply management system according to any one of claims 5-17. / 19. A remote beverage supply management method substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

20. A remote beverage supply management system substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.