WO2017109669A1

WO2017109669A1 - Device and method for real-time monitoring and control of distributed power generating stations

Info

Publication number: WO2017109669A1
Application number: PCT/IB2016/057771
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sreekumari Bhavani AMMA; Jiju Kuttipalakkal; Brijesh PUTHUMANA; Saranya SARACHANDRAN; Stanley Regis MUTHUSWAMY; Anoop PODIYAN
Original assignee: CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED COMPUTING (CDAC)
Current assignee: CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED COMPUTING (CDAC)
Priority date: 2015-12-22
Filing date: 2016-12-19
Publication date: 2017-06-29
Anticipated expiration: 2018-06-22
Also published as: EP3395008A4; EP3395008A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to device and method for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations. Each power generating station is associated with a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU), a controller board and a computing device. The controller board receives a request for measured energy data associated with the power generating stations or one or more control commands from the computing device using one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication and transmits it to the PCU through a serial communication interface. The PCU transmits the measured energy data or a response for the one or more control commands to the computing device and the computing device transmits it to Remote Monitoring and Control Server (RMCS) through IP based communication. The remote control station accesses the received measured energy data from the RMCS and performs monitoring and controlling of the distributed power generating stations at real-time.

Description

DEVICE AND METHOD FOR REAL-TIME MONITORING AND CONTROL OF DISTRIBUTED POWER GENERATING STATIONS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present subject matter is related, in general to a field of networks, and more particularly, but not exclusively for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations.

BACKGROUND Renewable energy is a form of energy obtained from a source that does not get depleted upon using. Currently, Renewable Energy Sources (RES) such as solar, wind, fuel cells etc. are reliable contributors of electricity. The RES plays a major role in the electrification of the rural areas. Even though the RES is a major contributor of electricity in rural areas, the number of RES power generating stations is very less due to the lack of effective remote monitoring and control tools to monitor and control the power generating stations. The remote monitoring and control has certain advantages like regular visits to the sites of the power generating stations can be avoided, effective handling of emergency situations like shutdown, alarm monitoring, data logging etc., allows technicians to operate more than one power generating station at a given point of time etc. Currently, the remote monitoring and control tools require wired infrastructure for internet connectivity and also the components for the remote monitoring and control tools are very expensive. Therefore, the effective integration of the RES power generating stations in the rural areas can be accelerated by implementing a better and an economic monitoring and control tool.

One of the conventional techniques for remote monitoring and control of the RES sources comprises an on-board web server such as Raspberry-pi, Rabbit core etc. The on-board webserver is an embedded hardware with communication interfaces like Ethernet for internet connectivity and Serial Communication Interface (SCI) / Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) for communicating with the embedded controllers in certain devices. But this type of hardware demands additional Human Machine Interface (HMI) and infrastructure for wireless communication with multiple public Internet Protocol (IP) as most of the RES sources are located in rural areas. Also, the on-board webservers have memory limitations. Therefore this technique of remote monitoring requires high maintenance annually as the number of RES source units increase, making this technique a very costly package.

Another conventional technique for remote monitoring and control of the RES sources involves using a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) module. The GSM module transmits the measured data from the RES sources periodically to the remote monitoring and control station, through a Short Message Service (SMS). But according to the telecommunication authorities in few regions, for example, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regulations, only limited number of SMS can be transmitted per day. Also, SMS technique allows only one-to-one communication and demands additional display, keypad and controller for HMI leading to increase in the total cost.

Therefore, there is a need for real-time remote monitoring and control of distributed power generating stations which is cost effective and utilizes the least communication infrastructure. SUMMARY

One or more shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the techniques of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed disclosure.

Disclosed herein are device and method for real-time monitoring of distributed power generating stations. Computing device requests for the measured energy data from power conditioning unit and provides the measured energy data to remote control station for centralized monitoring and control of the distributed power generating stations at realtime.

Accordingly, the present disclosure relates to a controller board for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations. The controller board comprises a control unit, a receiver, a transmitter and an Analog-to-digital converter. The control unit initializes a serial communication interface and one or more communication modules of the controller board for communicating with a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU), associated with the distributed power generating stations, and a computing device respectively. The controller board communicates with the computing device using one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication. The receiver receives at least one of a request for measured energy data of the distributed power generating stations and one or more control commands from the computing device. The received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by a processing unit of the computing device and received from a remote control station. The computing device communicates with the remote control station using the IP based communication. The receiver further receives at least one of the measured energy data and response for the one or more commands from the PCU. Further, the transmitter transmits at least one of the request and the one or more commands to the PCU. The transmitter then transmits at least one of the measured energy data and the response to the computing device upon receiving the request from the computing device for monitoring and controlling the distributed power generating stations in real-time.

Further, the present disclosure comprises a method for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations using a controller board. The method comprises initializing, by a control unit configured in the controller board, a serial communication interface and one or more communication modules of the controller board for communicating with a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) associated with the distributed power generating stations and a computing device respectively. The controller board communicates with the computing device using one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication. Upon initializing, the receiver configured in the controller board, receives at least one of a request for measured energy data of the distributed power generating stations and one or more control commands from the computing device. The received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by a processing unit of the computing device and received from a remote control station. The computing device communicates with the remote control station using the IP based communication. Upon receiving, the transmitter configured in the controlling device transmits at least one of the request and the one or more control commands to the PCU. Further, the receiver receives at least one of the measured energy data and a response for the one or more control commands from the PCU. The transmitter further transmits at least one of the received measured energy data and the response, to the computing device for monitoring and controlling the distributed power generating stations in real-time.

Furthermore, the present disclosure comprises a computing device for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations. The computing device comprises a receiving unit, a transmitting unit, a user interface and a memory unit. The receiving unit receives at least one of a request for measured energy data of the distributed power generating stations and one or more control commands from a remote control station. The received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by a processing unit of the computing device and received from a remote control station. The computing device communicates with the remote control station using Internet Protocol (IP) based communication. The receiving unit further receives at least one of the measured energy data and a response for the one or more control commands from a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU), associated with the distributed power generating stations, through a controller board associated with the computing device using one or more communication module. The controller board communicates with the computing device using one or more non IP based communication. The receiving unit further receives response corresponding to the measured energy data from the remote control station through the IP based communication. Further, the transmitting unit is configured to transmit at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more control commands to the PCU through the controller board. The transmitting unit then transmits the received measured energy data and the response to the one or more control commands to the remote control station through the IP based communication. The user interface is configured to display at least one of the request for the measured energy data received from the remote control station, information associated with the measured energy data, the response for the one or more control commands, the one or more control commands received from the remote control station and the response for the measured energy data.

Further, the present disclosure comprises receiving by a receiving unit configured in the computing device at least one of a request for measured energy data of the distributed power generating stations and one or more control commands from a remote control station. The received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by a processing unit of the computing device and received from a remote control station. The computing device communicates with the remote control station using Internet Protocol (IP) based communication. Upon receiving, a user interface configured in the computing device displays at least one of the received request for the measured energy data and the one or more control commands. Further, a transmitting unit configured in the computing device transmits at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more control commands to a power conditioning unit (PCU) associated with the distributed power generating stations through a controller board associated with the computing device. Upon transmitting, the receiving unit receives at least one of the measured energy data and response for the one or more control commands from the PCU through the controller board using one or more communication modules. The controller board communicates with the computing device using one or more non IP based communication. Upon transmitting, the user interface displays at least one of information associated with the measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands. Further, the transmitting unit transmits the received measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands, to the remote control station through the IP based communication. Upon transmitting, the receiving unit receives response corresponding to the measured energy data from the remote control station through the IP based communication. Further, the user interface displays the received response from the remote control station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DIAGRAMS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left- most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: Fig.l shows an exemplary architecture for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig.2 shows a block diagram illustrating a controller board in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig.3 shows a block diagram illustrating a computing device for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig.4 illustrates a flow chart showing process of a controller board for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig.5 illustrates a flow chart showing process of a computing device for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The foregoing has broadly outlined the features and technical advantages of the present disclosure in order that the detailed description of the disclosure that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the disclosure. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific aspect disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the spirit and the scope of the disclosure.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by "comprises... a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or apparatus.

The present disclosure relates to a device and a method for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations. The power generating stations are distributed over the locations for fulfilling the electricity needs. There are instances wherein the distributed power generating stations may have to be monitored and controlled remotely and in real-time for effective management of the distributed power generating stations. Therefore, the present disclosure provides a method and system for monitoring and controlling the distributed power generating stations in real-time. In one embodiment, a remote monitoring control server is configured for centralized monitoring and controlling the distributed power generating stations. In another embodiment, a computing device may be used by a user for monitoring and controlling of the distributed power generating stations in real-time. In one embodiment, the computing device may be replaced by one or more functionally similar devices for remote monitoring and controlling of the distributed power generating stations. But these functionally similar devices have to be associated with Wi-Fi modems or Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) etc. for remote monitoring and controlling. Also these functionally similar devices should be associated with a display unit for local monitoring. Each power generating station is associated with a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU), a controller board and a computing device. In one embodiment, the controller board receives a request for measured energy data associated with the power generating stations or one or more control commands from the computing device using one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication. The controller board transmits at least one of the request and the one or more control commands to the PCU through a serial communication interface. Upon receiving at least one of the request and the one or more control commands, the PCU transmits at least one of the measured energy data and a response for the one or more control commands to the computing device through the controller board. The computing device is capable of monitoring and controlling the power generating station in real-time. In another embodiment, the computing device transmits at least one of the received measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands to the Remote Monitoring and Control Server (RMCS) through IP based communication. The remote control station accesses the received measured energy data from the RMCS and performs monitoring and controlling of the distributed power generating stations at real-time.

In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

Fig.la shows an exemplary architecture for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

The architecture 100 comprises of one or more power generating stations, power generating station 101i to power generating station 101_n (collectively referred to as power generating stations 101). Each power generating station is associated with a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) 103. Each PCU 103 is connected to a power grid 104. As an example, the power generating station 101 may include Renewable Energy Sources (RES), RES 102i- RES 102_n (collectively referred to as RES 102), such as solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy etc. The PCU 103 is configured to measure the energy data related to the RES 102 at predefined intervals of time. As an example, the measured energy data may be amount of power generated, total power generation capacity of the RES 102, amount of power utilized etc.

As illustrated in Fig.lb, the PCU 103 comprises a Direct Current (DC) - DC converter 119, a DC bus 120, three-phase inverter 121, a filter module 123, Delta-star transformer 125, one or more sensors 127, an analog bus 129, a digital bus 131, a power bus 133 and a Digital Control Hardware 137. The DC-DC converter 119 is configured to convert unregulated DC power received from the RES 102 to a regulated DC power. As an example, the unregulated power received from the RES 102 may vary from 250 Volts (V) DC - 404 VDC and the DC-DC converter 119 may convert the unregulated power to the regulated power of 400 VDC. Further the regulated power is fed to the three-phase inverter 121 through the DC bus 120. The three-phase inverter 121, upon receiving the regulated power, converts the regulated power to three phase AC line voltage. As an example, the regulated power of 400 VDC may be converted to three phase 230AVC. The filter module 123 configured in the PCU 103 filters the output of the three phase inverter 121 to remove high frequency Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signals from the three phase 230AVC. The Delta-Star Transformer 125 is configured to provide isolation to the PCU 103. In an embodiment, the Delta-Star Transformer 125 acts as a DC blocking element to the power grid 104. The one or more sensors 127 are configured to convert the high voltage, high current power related parameters to low voltage low power signals. The one or more sensors 127 are used to facilitate voltage and current measurement in proportion to the power generated from the power generation station 101. The low voltage low power signals are fed to the Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) through the analog bus 129. The ADC is configured to convert the analog signals received, to digital data. The digital data is fed to the Digital Controller Hardware 137 through the digital bus 131. The Digital Controller Hardware 137 communicates with a controller board 107 through a serial communication interface 105. The Digital Controller Hardware 137 remains active by extracting power from the power supply 135 using the power bus 133.

The controller board 107 may be located proximal to the power generating station 101 or may be located a few meters away from the power generating station 101. The controller board 107 in turn is associated with a computing device 111 through the one or more communication modules comprising one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication 109. As an example, computing device 111 may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a tablet, a desktop and a laptop. As an example, the one or more non IP based communication 109 may include, but not limited to, Bluetooth and Universal Serial Bus (USB). The architecture also comprises a Remote Monitoring and Control Server (RMCS) 115 and a remote control station 117. The computing device 111 associated with each power generating stations 101 is associated with the RMCS 115 through IP based communication 113. As an example, the IP based communication 113 may include, but not limited to, Wi-Fi and General Radio Packet Service (GPRS). The remote control station 117 communicates with the RMCS 115 through the IP based communication 113.

In an embodiment, the controller board 107 comprises a control unit 203, a Bluetooth interface 204, a receiver 205, a USB interface 206, and a transmitter 207 as shown in Fig.2. The controller board 107 receives at least one of a request for the measured energy data and one or more control commands from the computing device 111 through the one or more non IP based communication 109. The one or more control commands are for at least one of activating the PCU 103, deactivating the PCU 103 and controlling the operation of each of the distributed power generating stations 101. The request for the measured energy data or the one or more commands is generated either by the computing device 111 or received from the remote control station 117. The computing device 111 communicates with the remote control station 117 using the IP based communication 113. The computing device 111 comprises a receiving unit 303, a computing unit 304, a transmitting unit 305 and a user interface 307 as shown in Fig.3. Upon receiving at least one of the request and the one or more control commands, the controller board 107 transmits the at least one of the request and the one or more control commands to the Digital Controller Hardware 137 of the PCU 103 through the serial communication interface 105. The Digital Controller Hardware 137, upon receiving the at least one of the request and the one or more control commands, transmits at least one of the measured energy data and a response for the one or more control commands, to the controller board 107 through the serial communication interface 105. The measured energy data or the response for the one or more control thus obtained is transmitted to the computing device 111 through the non IP based communication 109.

The computing device 111 receives the at least one of the measured energy data and response for the one or more control commands from the controller board 107. The measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands are displayed on the user interface 307. The computing device 111 further transmits the received measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands to the remote control station 117 through the RMCS 115 using the IP based communication 113. In an embodiment, the computing device 111 uses a technique known as "web posting" to transmit the measured energy data and the response for the one or more commands to the RMCS 115. The web posting method is illustrated in Fig.3. The remote control station 117 provides a second response corresponding to the measured energy data through the IP based communication 113, to the computing device 111. The computing device 111 further displays the received second response from the remote control station 117. In an embodiment, the real-time monitoring and control of the distributed power generating stations can be performed by the computing device 111 and the remote control station 117. The computing device 111 performs the real-time monitoring and control of the power generating station 101 it is associated with. In one embodiment, the computing device 111 may be replaced by one or more functionally similar devices for remote monitoring and controlling of the distributed power generating stations 101. But these functionally similar devices have to be associated with Wi-Fi modems or Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) etc. for remote monitoring and controlling. Also these functionally similar devices should be associated with a display unit for local monitoring. The remote control station 117 performs the centralized real-time monitoring and control of the distributed power generating stations 101.

Fig.2 shows a block diagram illustrating a controller board in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The controller board 107 provides a platform for enabling communication between the Digital Controller Hardware 137 of the Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) 103 and the computing device 111. The controller board 107 comprises a control unit 203, a Bluetooth interface 204, a receiver 205, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface 206 and a transmitter 207. The control unit 203 is configured to initialize a serial communication interface 105 and one or more communication modules of the controller board 107 for communicating with the Digital Controller Hardware 137, associated with power generating station 101 and the computing device 111 respectively. The control unit 203 communicates with the computing device 111 using one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication 109. As an example, the one or more non IP based communication 109 may include, but not limited to, Bluetooth and USB. The Bluetooth interface 204 enables the control unit 203 to communicate with the computing device 111 through Bluetooth. The USB interface

206 enables the control unit 203 to communicate with the computing device 111 through USB. The receiver 205 is configured to receive at least one of a request for measured energy data of the power generating station 101 and one or more control commands from the computing device 111, through the one or more non IP based communication 109. As an example, the measured energy data may be amount of power generated, total power generation capacity of the RES 102, amount of power utilized etc. The received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by the computing device 111 and received from a remote control station 117. The one or more control commands are for at least one of activating the PCU 103, deactivating the PCU 103 and controlling the operation of the distributed power generating stations 101. The computing device 111 communicates with the remote control station 117 using IP based communication 113. In an embodiment, the received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is encrypted by the control unit 203. The transmitter 207 is configured to transmit the encrypted request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands to the PCU 103. The receiver 205 receives at least one of the measured energy data and response for the one or more commands from the Digital Controller Hardware 137 through the serial communication interface 105. The control unit 203 decrypts the received measured energy data and the response. The received at least one of the measured energy data and the response thus obtained is transmitted to the computing device 111 by the transmitter

207 through the one or more non IP based communication 109. Fig.3 shows a block diagram illustrating a computing device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

The computing device 111 is a portable or a fixated device used for real-time monitoring and controlling of the distributed power generating stations. As an example, computing device 111 may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a tablet, a desktop and a laptop. The computing device 111 comprises a receiving unit 303, a processing unit 304, a transmitting unit 305, user interface 307 and a memory unit 309. The computing device 111 includes a web application for real-time monitoring and controlling of the distributed power generating stations. The receiving unit 303 associated with the processing unit 304 is configured to receive at least one of a request for measured energy data of the power generating station 101 and one or more control commands from a remote control station 117. The processing unit 304 may also generate the request for the measured energy data and one or more control commands through the web application. The user interface 307 comprises one or more selection icons through which user may send the control commands or request for the measured energy data or for any information related to the power generating station 101. The user interface 307 is also configured to display at least one of the received request for the measured energy data and the one or more control commands. As an example, the user interface 307 may include, but not limited to a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, capacitive touch screen or its equivalents. The transmitting unit 305 associated with the processing unit 304 is configured to transmit at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more control commands to the Digital Controller Hardware 137 of the PCU 103 through the controller board 107. The receiving unit 303 receives at least one of the measured energy data and response for the one or more control commands provided by the Digital Control Hardware 137 through the controller board 107 using one or more non IP based communication 109. The user interface 307 displays at least one of information associated with the measured energy data and the response provided by the Digital Control Hardware 137 for the one or more control commands. The transmitting unit 305 also transmits the received measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands, to the remote control station 117 through the IP based communication 113. The transmission of the measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands is performed using "web posting" method. "Web posting" i.e. POST is one of many request methods supported by the HTTP protocol used by the World Wide Web (WWW). The POST request method requests a web server to accept and store the data enclosed in the body of the request message. The request message to accept and store the measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands is posted using the HTTP protocol, to a unique domain link of Remote Monitoring and Control Server (RMCS) 115. By using the technique of "web posting", the usage of public IP for each PCU 103 is eliminated. Upon accepting the request message, the RMCS 115 receives the measured energy data and the one or more control commands. The RMCS 115 stores the received measure energy data and one or more control commands in the form of Web pages. The web pages are displayed on the web application. The measured energy data and one or more control commands stored in the RMCS 115 are accessed using a domain name. The data stored in the web pages is updated by a hypertext preprocessor function present in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file. The javascript running in the background of the web application periodically reads the updated data and displays the updated data on the web page. The web page invokes the PHP functions to provide a second response to the computing device 111. The receiving unit 303 receives second response corresponding to the measured energy data from the remote control station 117 through the IP based communication 115. As an example, the second response received by the receiving unit 303 from the remote control station 117 is at least one of acknowledgement corresponding to receipt of the measured energy data and a request for retransmission of the measured energy data. The received second response from the remote control station 117 is displayed by the user interface 307. In an embodiment, the measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands and the second response received from the remote control station 117 are stored in the memory unit 309.

Fig.4 illustrates a flow chart showing method performed by a controller board for realtime monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. At step 405, a serial communication interface and one or more communication modules of the controller board 107 are initialized. A control unit 203 configured in the controller board 107 initializes a serial communication interface 105 and one or more communication modules of the controller board 107. Upon initialization, the controller board 107 communicates with a Digital Controller Hardware 137 configured in a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) 103 associated with power generating station 101 and a computing device 111. At step 407, the control unit 203 configured in the controller board 107, establishes a connection between the controller board 107 and the Digital Controller Hardware 137through the serial communication interface 105. At step 409, the control unit 203 communicates with the computing device 111 using the one or more communication modules. The one or more communication modules comprise one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication 109. As an example, the one or more non IP based communication 109 may include, but not limited to, Bluetooth and Universal Serial Bus (USB).

At step 411, the control unit 203 checks if a receiver 205 configured in the controller board 107, receives a request for the measured energy data of the power generating station 101 from the computing device 111. The request for the measured energy data is generated by at least one of a processing unit 304 of the computing device 111 and a remote control station 117 associated with the computing device 111. If the request for the measured energy data is received by the receiver 205 from the computing device 111, then the method proceeds to step 413 via "Yes". If the request for measured energy data is not received by the receiver 205 from the computing device 111, the method loops back to step 411 via "No". At step 413, a transmitter 207 configured in the controller board 107, transmits the requested measured energy data to the computing device 111. The transmitter 207 transmits the requested measured energy data through the one or more non IP based communication 109. Upon receiving the measured energy data, one or more control commands are generated by at least one of the processing unit 304 of the computing device 111 and the remote control station 117.

At step 415, the one or more control commands generated by at least one of the processing unit 304 of the computing device 111 and the remote control station 117, are received by the receiver 205. The received one or more control commands are further transmitted by the transmitter 207 to the Digital Controller Hardware 137, through the serial communication interface 105. At step 417, the control unit 203 checks if, the process of the controller board 107 needs to be terminated. If the control unit 203 wants to terminate the process, then the method proceeds to step 419 via "Yes". At step 419, the one or more communication modules and the serial communication interface 105 are closed. If the control unit 203 does not want to terminate the process, then the method proceeds to step 411 via "No".

Fig.5 illustrates a flow chart showing process of a computing device for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

At step 505, a user interface 307, Internet Protocol (IP) based communication 113 and non IP based communication 109 are initialized. The computing device 111 initializes the user interface 307 configured in the computing device 111. The computing device 111 also initializes one or more non IP based communication 109 and IP based communication 113.

At step 507, the computing device 111 establishes a connection with a controller board 107 associated with the computing device 111, through the one or more non IP based communication 109. As an example, the one or more non IP based communication 109 may include, but not limited to, Bluetooth and Universal Serial Bus (USB).

At step 509, the computing device 111 establishes a connection with a remote control station associated with the computing device 111, through the IP based communication 113. As an example, the IP based communication 113 may include, but not limited to, Wi- Fi and General Radio Packet Service (GPRS).

At step 511, the computing device 111 checks if one or more control commands, generated by at least one of a processing unit 304 of the computing device 111 and the remote control station 117, are received. The one or more control commands are received by a receiving unit 303 configured in the computing device 111. If the one or more control commands are received by the receiving unit 303, then the method proceeds to step 513 via "Yes". If the one or more control commands are not received by the receiving unit 303, then the method proceeds to step 515 via "No". At step 513, the one or more control commands received are transmitted by a transmitting unit 305 configured in the computing device 111 to a Digital Controller Hardware 137 configured in a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) 103 through the controller board 107. The Digital Controller Hardware 137 provides response for the one or more control commands, to the computing device 111, wherein the response is displayed on the user interface 307. Upon transmitting the one or more control commands by the transmitting unit 305, the method loops back to step 511. In one embodiment, the generated one or more control commands are displayed on the user interface 307.

At step 515, a request for measured energy data of the power generating station 101, is transmitted by the transmitting unit 305, to the Digital Controller Hardware 137. The request is first transmitted to the controller board 107 through the one or more non IP based communication 109 and the controller board 107 transmits the request to the Digital Controller Hardware 137through a serial communication interface 105. The Digital Controller Hardware 137 transmits the measured energy data to the computing device 111 upon receiving the request. The measured energy data is received by the receiving unit 303 and information associated with the measured energy data is displayed by the user interface 307.

At step 517, the received measured energy data is transmitted by the transmitting unit 305 to the remote control station 117 through the IP based communication 113. The transmitting unit 305 transmits the measured energy data to the Remote Monitoring and Control Server (RMCS) 115 using a technique known as "Web posting". The RMCS 115 stores the measured energy data and the measured energy data is accessed by the remote control station 117 using the IP based communication.

At step 521, the computing device 111 checks if the process of the computing device 111, should be terminated. If the computing device 111 wants to terminate the process, then the method proceeds to step 523 via "Yes". At step 523, the user interface 307, the one or more non IP based communication 109 and IP based communication 113 are closed. If the computing device 111 does not want to terminate the process, then the method proceeds to step 511 via "No".

Advantages of the embodiment of the present disclosure are illustrated herein. The present disclosure provides a feature wherein the computing device comprises a monitoring application, therefore the up-gradation of the user interface will be simple. In the present disclosure, the computing device is isolated from the PCU and the controller board, therefore the up-gradation of the user interface does not affect the operation of the PCU and the controller board.

The present disclosure comprises a feature wherein the measured energy data is transmitted to the RMCS using a technique called "Web posting", wherein the measured energy data is posted to a unique domain link of the RMCS. Therefore, the need for public internet protocol for each PCU can be eliminated.

The present disclosure comprises a feature wherein the computing device can locally monitor and control the power generating station when the network or grid fails. The present disclosure does not consist of maintenance cost for the renewal of public internet protocol periodically.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality /features. Thus, other embodiments of the invention need not include the device itself. The specification has described an electronic device, method and a system for providing navigation information to the user. The illustrated steps are set out to explain the exemplary embodiments shown, and it should be anticipated that ongoing technological development will change the manner in which particular functions are performed. These examples are presented herein for purposes of illustration, and not limitation. Further, the boundaries of the functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternative boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed. Alternatives (including equivalents, extensions, variations, deviations, etc., of those described herein) will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the teachings contained herein. Such alternatives fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosed embodiments. Also, the words "comprising," "having," "containing," and "including," and other similar forms are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention are intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

Referral Numerals:

Reference

Description

Number

100 Architecture

101 Power generating station

102 Renewable energy sources

103 Power conditioning unit

104 Power grid

105 Serial communication interface

107 Controller board

109 One or more non IP based communication

111 Computing device

113 IP based communication

115 Remote monitoring and control server

117 Remote control station

119 DC-DC converter

120 DC bus

121 Three phase inverter

123 Filter module

125 Delta- star transformer

127 One or more sensors

129 Analog bus

131 Digital bus

133 Power bus

135 Power supply

137 Digital control hardware

203 Control unit

204 Bluetooth interface

205 Receiver

206 USB interface

207 Transmitter

209 Analog-to-digital converter

303 Receiving unit

304 Processing unit

305 Transmitting unit

307 User interface

309 Memory unit

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A controller board for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations, wherein the controller board comprises: a control unit configured to initialize a serial communication interface and one or more communication modules of the controller board for communicating with a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU), associated with the distributed power generating stations, and a computing device respectively, wherein the controller board communicates with the computing device using one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication; a receiver configured to:

receive at least one of a request for measured energy data of the distributed power generating stations and one or more control commands from the computing device, wherein the received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by a processing unit of the computing device and received from a remote control station, wherein the computing device communicates with the remote control station using the IP based communication; and receive at least one of the measured energy data and response for the one or more commands from the PCU; and a transmitter configured to:

transmit at least one of the request and the one or more commands to the PCU; and transmit at least one of the measured energy data and the response to the computing device upon receiving the request from the computing device for monitoring and controlling the distributed power generating stations in real-time.

2. The controller board as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more control commands are for at least one of activating the PCU, deactivating the PCU and controlling the operation of the distributed power generating stations.

3. The controller board as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to perform encryption of at least one of the received request and the one or more control commands.

4. The controller board as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unit is further configured to perform decryption of at least one of the measured energy data and the response.

5. A method for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations using a controller board, the method comprises: initializing, by a control unit configured in the controller board, a serial communication interface and one or more communication modules of the controller board for communicating with a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU) associated with the distributed power generating stations and a computing device respectively, wherein the controller board communicates with the computing device using one or more non Internet Protocol (IP) based communication; receiving, by a receiver configured in the controller board, at least one of a request for measured energy data of the distributed power generating stations and one or more control commands from the computing device, wherein the received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by a processing unit of the computing device and received from a remote control station, wherein the computing device communicates with the remote control station using the IP based communication; transmitting, by a transmitter configured in the controlling device, at least one of the request and the one or more control commands to the PCU; receiving, by the receiver, at least one of the measured energy data and a response for the one or more control commands from the PCU; and transmitting, by the transmitter, at least one of the received measured energy data and the response, to the computing device for monitoring and controlling the distributed power generating stations in real-time.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the one or more control commands are for at least one of activating the PCU, deactivating the PCU and controlling the operation of the distributed power generating stations.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the received at least one of the request and one or more control commands is encrypted by the control unit.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the received at least one of the measured energy data and the response is decrypted by the control unit.

9. A computing device for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations, the computing device comprising: a receiving unit configured to: receive at least one of a request for measured energy data of the distributed power generating stations and one or more control commands from a remote control station, wherein the received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by a processing unit of the computing device and received from a remote control station, wherein the computing device communicates with the remote control station using Internet Protocol (IP) based communication; receive at least one of the measured energy data and a response for the one or more control commands from a Power Conditioning Unit (PCU), associated with the distributed power generating stations, through a controller board associated with the computing device using one or more communication modules, wherein the controller board communicates with the computing device using one or more non IP based communication; and receive a second response corresponding to the measured energy data from the remote control station through the IP based communication; a transmitting unit configured to:

transmit at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more control commands to the PCU through the controller board; and

transmit the received measured energy data and the response to the one or more control commands to the remote control station through the IP based communication; and a user interface configured to display at least one of the request for the measured energy data received from the remote control station, information associated with the measured energy data, the response for the one or more control commands, the one or more control commands received from the remote control station and the second response for the measured energy data.

10. The computing device as claimed in claim 9 further comprises a memory unit configured to store the measured energy data, the response for the one or more control commands and the second response received from the remote control station.

11. The computing device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the one or more control commands are for at least one of activating the PCU, deactivating the PCU and controlling the operation of the distributed power generating stations.

12. The computing device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the second response received by the computing device from the remote control station is at least one of acknowledgement corresponding to receipt of the measured energy data and a request for retransmission of the measured energy data.

13. The computing device as claimed in claim 9 is at least one of portable and nonportable.

14. The computing device as claimed in claim 9 transmits the received measured energy data and the response to the one or more control commands to the remote control station using a Web Posting technique.

15. A method for real-time monitoring and controlling of distributed power generating stations using a computing device, the method comprising: receiving, by a receiving unit configured in the computing device at least one of a request for measured energy data of the distributed power generating stations and one or more control commands from a remote control station, wherein the received at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more commands is at least one of generated by a processing unit of the computing device and received from a remote control station, wherein the computing device communicates with the remote control station using Internet Protocol (IP) based communication; displaying, by a user interface configured in the computing device, at least one of the received request for the measured energy data and the one or more control commands; transmitting, by a transmitting unit configured in the computing device, at least one of the request for the measured energy data and the one or more control commands to a power conditioning unit (PCU) associated with the distributed power generating stations through a controller board associated with the computing device; receiving, by the receiving unit, at least one of the measured energy data and response for the one or more control commands from the PCU through the controller board using one or more communication modules, wherein the controller board communicates with the computing device using one or more non IP based communication; displaying, by the user interface, at least one of information associated with the measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands; transmitting, by the transmitting unit, the received measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands, to the remote control station through the IP based communication; receiving, by the receiving unit, a second response corresponding to the measured energy data from the remote control station through the IP based communication; and displaying, by the user interface, the received second response from the remote control station.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15 further stores the measured energy data and the response for the one or more control commands and the second response received from the remote control station.

17. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the one or more control commands are for at least one of activating the PCU, deactivating the PCU and controlling the operation of the distributed power generating stations.

18. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the second response received by the computing device from the remote control station is at least one of acknowledgement corresponding to receipt of the measured energy data and a request for retransmission of the measured energy data.

19. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the received measured energy data and the response to the one or more control commands are transmitted to the remote control station by the computing device using a Web Posting technique.