A Retrofit Strategy for Real-Time Monitoring of Building Electrical Circuits Based on the SmartLVGrid Metamodel

Abstract

The Internet of things (IoT) paradigm promotes the emergence of solutions to enable energy-management strategies. However, these solutions may favor the disposal or replacement of outdated but still necessary systems. Thus, a proposal that advocates the retrofit of pre-existing systems would be an alternative to implement energy monitoring. In this sense, this work presents a strategy for monitoring electrical parameters in real time by using IoT solutions, cloud-resident applications, and retrofitting of legacy building electrical systems. In this implementation, we adapted the SmartLVGrid metamodel to systematize the insertion of remote monitoring resources in low-voltage circuits. For this, we developed embedded platforms for monitoring the circuits of a building electrical panel and application for visualization and data storage in the cloud. With this, remote monitoring of the consumer unit was carried out in relation to energy demand, power factor, and events of variations of electrical parameters in the circuits of the legacy distribution board. We also carried out a case study with the proposed system, identifying events of excess demand in the consumer unit, mitigating the individual contribution of the installation circuits in this process. Therefore, our proposal presents an alternative to enable energy management and maximum use of existing resources.

A Demand Forecasting Strategy Based on a Retrofit Architecture for Remote Monitoring of Legacy Building Circuits

“…In previous works, we utilized wifi network infrastructures for communication with the supervisory centers [3][4][5]. However, in this study, we explore a different alternative for communication between our monitoring proposal and the supervisory center, as well as for the physical interface of the retrofit modules with the legacy building circuits, considering the specific characteristics of the monitored consumer unit.…”

“…However, in this study, we explore a different alternative for communication between our monitoring proposal and the supervisory center, as well as for the physical interface of the retrofit modules with the legacy building circuits, considering the specific characteristics of the monitored consumer unit. Specifically, we focus on a wifi router assembly factory where the main power distribution panel does not have sufficient space for installing retrofit modules, as shown in [5]. In this scenario, it is a factory regulation not to use wifi networks within its facilities to reduce interference issues and IP node conflicts during router testing and validation processes.…”

“…Subsequently, Figure 3 presents an architecture diagram of the devices used in accordance with the SmartLVGrid metamodel, highlighting the adopted communication standards as well as the physical and logical interfaces of our monitoring proposal. As depicted in Figure 2, the new strategy involves the integration of more compact retrofit modules compared to the modules developed in [5]. Still referred to as ACU-BREAKERs, in this study, the retrofit modules were powered by connecting them to the breakers of the main power distribution panel, enabling the monitoring of electrical parameters for each circuit.…”

“…However, the digital transformation of legacy systems still presents challenges such as a lack of support and updates, incompatibilities, and insufficient resources to interact with current systems. Alternatively, updating these systems can occur through a process of gradual and less costly technological transformation compared to the complete replacement of legacy systems [3][4][5]. Thus, using strategies that promote the digital transformation of legacy infrastructures can be a viable alternative for acquiring data and information for data-driven management of legacy systems.…”

“…The SmartLVGrid metamodel enables the digital convergence of electrical systems to the smart grids paradigm [3,12]. In the literature, this metamodel has been used to achieve smart building convergence in legacy buildings to promote energy efficiency through resources for managing energy demand and electrical parameters in building installations [4,5].…”