2.1. The Story-Line
The customer builds and installs off-grid power generators in remote locations in Africa and Asia. It needs a mechanism to monitor these generators from a central office in Europe and send notifications via SMS to local operators .
As part of the monitoring tasks, each device must send data to a Portal using the 2G/3G data connection since there are no other types of connectivity.
The 2G/3G connectivity must be guaranteed by two SIM cards that must operate redundantly. In case one SIM has any issue, the system must switch to the other SIM and go back to the first when the issue is solved.
2.2. The Solution’s Approach
The double SIM requirement is fulfilled by a hardware customized version of the WE500 that implements an advanced SIM management algorithm that suits the customer requirements.
The WE500 communicates to the generators through a Modbus serial interface that monitors more than one hundred parameters. More than thirty of those parameters are sent to the Nethix Portal each ten minutes from which they can visualize and analyze the trends and export the data in several formats for further processing.
The WE500 sends notifications via SMS and email to the local operators when the generators have an issue such as low oil levels or low battery fuel.
Monitoring examples
The dashboard that allows to monitor the main parameters of the genereator looks like the following image:
Each single parameter of the generator such as the phases, currents, and power can be easily monitored:
Some of the engine parameters such as the oil pressure and fuel level send notifications when their level passes a user-defined threshold:
2.3. Benefits
The customer has been successfully deploying the customized WE500 for 4 years in more than 10 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. These are the main benefits that they have appreciated during these years:
- Reduces maintenance costs of the power generators
- Allows reliable monitoring of each power generator
- Provides a custom solution for specific requirements
- Increases customer satisfaction through reliable and long-term support
