Claims:
We claim:
1. A system for monitoring and managing distribution transformers, comprising:
a processing device 104 configured to monitor the health and detect the fault conditions of various parameters of a distribution transformer 102, the processing device 104 configured to transmit the fault conditions, fault alerts and various parameters to a centralized monitoring system 108 via a network 110, whereby the fault conditions comprising rise in oil temperature, rise in fuse temperature, improper earthing, voltage surge, voltage drop, current over loading, and short circuit;

a cloud server 112 configured to receive the fault conditions and the various parameters from the distribution transformer 102 via the processing device 104 and the network 110; and

a distribution transformer monitoring module 114 configured to track and update the fault conditions and the various parameters of the distribution transformer 102 to know the health status of the distribution transformer 102 the data is analyzed on cloud server 112 and health status and fault alerts sent to an end user device 116 via the network 110, the end user device 116 configured to receive dashboard, reports, and alerts to track the distribution transformer health, the cloud server 112 analyzes voltage values, oil temperature, fuse temperature, transformer load values, and earthing continuity.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing device 104 is coupled to an oil temperature sensor 202 and a fuse temperature sensor 204 and the oil temperature and fuse temperature sensors 202, 204 configured to capture the oil and fuse temperature values of the distribution transformer 102.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing device 104 is coupled to a digital energy meter 212 configured to capture the instantaneous values of the distribution transformer 102.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing device 104 is coupled to a voltage sensor 216 configured to collect the values of voltage between phase to earth connection and phase to neutral connection of the distribution transformer 102.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing device 104 is coupled to a memory module 208 configured to store the collected values of various parameters measured and the memory module 208 is coupled to the processing device 104.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the distribution transformer monitoring module 114 comprises a central database 308 configured to transmit the updated fault conditions and the various parameters to the end user device 108 via the network 110.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the distribution transformer monitoring module 114 comprises a data acquisition module 302 configured to receive the various parameters of the distribution transformer 102 captured by the processing device 104 through the network 110.

8. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the distribution transformer monitoring module 114 comprises a data processing module 304 configured to perform data analysis or data pre-processing on the distribution parameters to identify the fault distribution transformers.

9. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the distribution transformer monitoring module 114 comprises a report generating module 306 configured to generate the reports based on the identified fault distribution transformers and displays the dashboards on the end user device 108.

10. A method for monitoring and managing distribution transformers, comprising:

measuring the fault conditions and various parameters of a distribution transformer 102 by a processing device 104, whereby the processing device 104 configured to transmit the fault conditions and the various parameters to an end user device 108 via a network 110, the fault conditions comprising rise in oil temperature, rise in fuse temperature, improper earthing, voltage surge, voltage drop, current over loading, and short circuit;

tracking and updating the fault conditions and various parameters by a distribution transformer monitoring module 114 to know the health status of the distribution transformer 102;

receiving the fault conditions and various parameters from the processing device 104 via the network 110 to a cloud server 112, the cloud server 112 located in a remote location and the various parameters comprising voltage values, oil temperature, fuse temperature, transformer load values, and earthing continuity. , Description:TECHNICAL FIELD

[001] The disclosed subject matter relates generally to distribution transformer monitoring system. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and methods for monitoring and managing distribution transformers by analyzing their health and alerting the stakeholders if there are any chances of transformer failure to anomalous readings of the parameters like transformer oil temperature, earthing, voltage, current and overloading.

BACKGROUND

[002] Generally, the increase in temperature of the distribution transformers impacts on the safe operation of the transformer and the life of the transformer. The transformers monitoring stations are increasingly concerned about the status of the transformers and how long the transformers will continue to perform before a failure due to overload occurs. The wireless remote monitoring techniques to monitor the condition of distribution transformers situated at multiple locations is not implemented and failed to monitor the operating state of the transformer accurately. Currently, the transformer monitoring systems often require support staff to make regular checks to ensure the functioning of the transformers. Hence, it is necessary to provide a system to monitor the health of the distribution transformers that works without human intervention.

[003] In the light of the aforementioned discussion, the system with novel methodology to monitor transformer health and proactively inform stakeholders on likelihood of a fault is the need of the hour for the government as well as for all industries using distribution transformers.

SUMMARY

[004] The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of the reader. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and it does not identify key/critical elements of the invention or delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts disclosed herein in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[005] An objective of the present disclosure is directed towards requirement of reduction in human intervention and dependency.

[006] Second objective of the present disclosure is directed towards controlling the distribution transformer data workflow using IoT (Internet of Things).

[007] Third objective of the present disclosure is directed towards tracking the health condition of distribution transformers through the central database and analytics.

[008] Fourth objective of the present disclosure is directed towards providing the easy maintenance of the distribution transformers.

[009] Fifth objective of the present disclosure is directed towards sending emergency alerts to the stakeholders in real time.

[0010] Sixth objective of the present disclosure is directed towards the IoT (Internet of Things) based system that works without human intervention and sends the transformer health data to stakeholders is an innovative solution that helps electricity board and power corporations to save huge recurring cost of distribution transformer repairing and replacement.

[0011] According to an exemplary aspect, the system comprises a processing device configured to monitor the health and detect the fault conditions of various parameters. The processing device installed near transformer transmits the health condition and fault alert and other vital health parameters to an end user device via a GSM network.

[0012] According to another exemplary aspect, the fault conditions comprising rise in transformer oil temperature, rise in fuse temperature, improper earthing, voltage surge, voltage drop, current over loading, and short circuit.

[0013] According to another exemplary aspect, the system further comprises a cloud server configured to receive the data from the distribution transformer via the processing device. The data is analyzed on cloud server and health status and fault alerts sent to the end users via internet based network.

[0014] According to another exemplary aspect, the end user devices comprising dashboard, reports and alerts to track the transformer health and react to the fault alert from the distribution transformer to save the life of a transformer and avoid the interruption in the power transmissions. The cloud server analyzes voltage values, oil temperature, fuse temperature, transformer load values, and earthing continuity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting a system for monitoring and managing the distribution transformers, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting a schematic representation of the processing device 104 shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0017] FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting a schematic representation of the distribution transformer monitoring module 114 shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0018] FIG. 4A-FIG. 4B are diagrams depicting an exemplary graph implementation of a dashboard displayed on the end user device, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0019] FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting an exemplary method for monitoring and managing the distribution transformers, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0020] FIG. 6 is a flowchart depicting an exemplary method for analyzing the fault conditions and the parameters of the distribution transformers by using centralized monitoring system, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0021] FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting an exemplary method for detecting earthing of distribution transformer, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0022] FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting an exemplary method for detecting fault conditions of various parameters and delivering to the end user device, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0023] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating the details of a digital processing system in which various aspects of the present disclosure are operative by execution of appropriate software instructions.

[0024] FIG. 10 is a block diagram depicting the processing device 104 shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

[0025] It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The present disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

[0026] The use of “including”, “comprising” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. The terms “a” and “an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item. Further, the use of terms “first”, “second”, and “third”, and so forth, herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another.

[0027] Referring to FIG. 1 is a diagram 100 depicting a system for monitoring and managing the distribution transformers, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. The environment 100 depicts a distribution transformer 102, a processing device 104, a centralized monitoring system 108, a network 110 a cloud server 112, an end user device 116. The centralized monitoring system 108 may include a distribution transformer monitoring module 114. The centralized monitoring system 108 and the end user device 116 may include, but not limited to, a computer workstation, an interactive kiosk, and a personal mobile computing device such as a digital assistant, a mobile phone, a laptop, and storage devices, backend servers hosting database and other software and the like. The applications (for e.g., the distribution transformer monitoring module 114) are mobile applications (for e.g., android applications, IOS applications), software that offers the functionality of accessing mobile applications, and viewing/processing of interactive pages, for example, is implemented in the centralized monitoring system 108 and the end user device 116, as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts by reading the disclosure provided herein. The processing device 104 may include but not limited to, a microcontroller (for example ARM 7 or ARM 11), a raspberry pi, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array, a programmable logic device, a state machine or logic circuitry, Arduino board and STM 32 Controller. The distribution transformer 102 may be situated at the multiple remote locations.

[0028] The processing device 104 may be configured to monitor the fault conditions of the distribution transformer 102 by checking the voltages between the phase to neutral and phase to earth. For example, the voltage between phase to neutral and the phase to earth is same when the earthing is done properly. A voltage drop may be occurred in phase to earth compared to phase to neutral when the earthing is improper. If the voltage difference is greater than one volt, it indicates improper earthing. If there is no voltage between phase to earth, it indicates no earthing (Earthing wire disconnected from the earth-pit). The distribution transformer monitoring module 114 may be configured track and update the fault conditions and the various parameters of the distribution transformer 102 to check the health status of the distribution transformer. The fault conditions of the distribution transformer 102 may include but not limited to, rise in oil temperature, rise in fuse temperature, improper earthing, and increase in voltage, voltage drop, and current over loading, short circuit, and so forth. The fault conditions of the distribution transformer 102 may be transmitted to the cloud server 112 via a network 110. The various parameters may include but not limited to, voltage values, oil temperature, fuse temperature, transformer load values, earthing continuity, voltage and current variance, fluctuations and so forth.

[0029] The network 110 may include but not limited to, an Internet of things (IoT network devices), an Ethernet, a wireless local area network (WLAN), or a wide area network (WAN), a Bluetooth low energy network, a ZigBee network, a WIFI communication network e.g., the wireless high speed internet, or a combination of networks, a cellular service such as a 2G or 4G (e.g., LTE, mobile WiMAX) or 5G cellular data service, a RFID module, a NFC module, wired cables, such as the world-wide-web based Internet, or other types of networks may include Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or device addresses (e.g. network-based MAC addresses, or those provided in a proprietary networking protocol, such as Modbus TCP, or by using appropriate data feeds to obtain data from various web services, including retrieving XML data from an HTTP address, then traversing the XML for a particular node) and so forth without limiting the scope of the present disclosure. The centralized monitoring system 108 may be situated at the remote monitoring stations, distribution transformer monitoring stations, or centralized transformer monitoring stations and can be operated by the stakeholders. The stakeholders may include but not limited to technicians, engineers, operators, service providers and so forth. The end user device 108 may be operated by the concerned authority of the distribution transformer department. The cloud server 112 here may be referred to a cloud or a physical server located in a remote location and transmits the parameters to the centralized monitoring system 108.

[0030] The processing device 104 may be configured to monitor and detect the fault conditions and the various parameters of the distribution transformer 102. The processing device 104 may be configured to transmit the fault conditions and the various parameters to the centralized monitoring system 108 via the network 110. The processing device 104 is configured to capture the instantaneous values of the distribution transformers using digital energy meter (not shown). The instantaneous values may include but not limited to, ac voltage, ac current, ac power and so forth. The cloud server 112 is configured to receive the fault conditions and various parameters from the distribution transformer monitoring module 114 via the network 110.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 2 is a block diagram 200 depicting a schematic representation of the processing device 104 shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. The processing device 104 may include, an oil temperature sensor 202, a fuse temperature sensor 204, a memory module 208, a network module 210, a digital energy meter 212, a continuity detection module 214, and a voltage sensor 216. The oil temperature sensor 202 and the fuse temperature sensor 204 may be configured to capture the oil and fuse temperature values of the distribution transformer 102. The digital energy meter 212 may be configured to capture the distribution transformer voltages and currents of the distribution transformers 102. The continuity detection module 214 may be configured to check the continuity of the earth wire from distribution transformer 102 to the Earth pit. The voltage sensor 216 may be configured to collect the values of voltage between phase to earth connection and phase to neutral connection of the distribution transformer 102. The memory module 208 may be configured to store the collected values of all the parameters till the data is posted to the cloud server 112 through the network module 204. The analytics may be performed at the cloud server 112 based on the received values of all the parameters of the distribution transformer 102. The network module 210, for example, a subscriber identity module may be placed in a slot of the wireless terminal to establish the unique identity of the subscriber to the telecom network. The subscriber identity module may include, but are not limited to, GSM module, a CDMA module or a TDMA module or any other type of modules. The network module 210 may be configured to send all the parameters to the cloud server 112 which are collected by the processing device 104.

[0032] Referring to FIG. 3 is a block diagram 300 depicting a schematic representation of the distribution transformer monitoring module 114 shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. The distribution transformer monitoring module 114 include a bus 301, a data acquisition module 302, a data processing module 304, a report generating module 306 and a central database 308. The bus 301 may include a path that permits communication among the modules of the distribution transformer monitoring module 114. The data acquisition module 302 may be configured to receive the fault conditions and the distribution parameters through the network 110. The data processing module 304 may be configured to perform data analysis or data pre-processing on the fault conditions and the parameters to identify the fault distribution transformers. The report generating module 306 may be configured to generate the data frames based on the identified fault conditions and the parameters of the distribution transformer 102 and displays the data frames on the centralized monitoring system 108. The data frames may include but not limited to, reports, tables, and so forth. The central database 308 may be configured to track and update the parameters, fault conditions of the distribution transformer 102 and transmits to the centralized monitoring system 108. The data frames may be delivered as emergency alerts to the end user device 116 via the network 110 to alert the concerned authority of the distribution transformer department. The emergency alerts may include but not limited to, SMS, alerts, email, warnings, notifications and so forth.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 4A-FIG. 4B are diagrams 400a-400b depicting an exemplary graph implementation of a dashboard displayed on the centralized monitoring system, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. The graph 400a depicts the fault conditions of the distribution transformers based on the geographical locations. The fault conditions of the distribution transformers may represent the minimum issues 402, moderate issues 404, and maximum issues 406. The minimum issues 402 may represent the minimum fault conditions of the distribution transformer 102. The moderate issues 404 may represent the moderate fault conditions of the distribution transformer 102. The maximum issues 406 may represent the maximum fault conditions of the distribution transformer 102. The graph 400b depicts the fault distribution transformers identified in multiple geographical locations. The fault distribution transformers may be identified at multiple geographical locations may represent 408a, 408b, 408c, and 408d. The geographical locations 408a, 408b, 408c, and 408d may be location 1, location 2…and so forth.

[0034] Referring to FIG. 5 is a flowchart 500 depicting an exemplary method for monitoring and managing the distribution transformers, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. As an option, the method 500 is carried out in the context of the details of FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4. However, the method 500 is carried out in any desired environment. Further, the aforementioned definitions are equally applied to the description below.

[0035] The exemplary method 500 commences at step 502, monitoring the distribution transformer by detecting oil temperature values and fuse temperature values using the oil temperature sensor and the fuse temperature sensor through the processing device. Identifying the voltage between phase to earth and the phase to neutral of the distribution transformers, at step 504. Reading the instantaneous values of the distribution transformer using the digital energy meter, at step 506. Detecting the fault conditions and the parameters of the distribution transformers situated at the multiple geographical locations. Displaying the fault conditions and the parameters on the centralized monitoring system situated at the central monitoring stations, at step 510. Transmitting the emergency alerts to the centralized monitoring system through the network, at step 512.
[0036] Referring to FIG. 6 is a flowchart 600 depicting an exemplary method for analyzing the fault conditions and the parameters of the distribution transformers by using centralized monitoring system, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. As an option, the method 600 is carried out in the context of the details of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 FIG. 3, and FIG.4and FIG. 5. However, the method 600 is carried out in any desired environment. Further, the aforementioned definitions are equally applied to the description below.

[0037] The exemplary method 600 commences at step 602, obtaining the fault conditions and the parameters of the distribution transformers by the data acquisition module through the network. Thereafter, at step 604, analyzing the fault conditions and the parameters of the distribution transformers by the data processing module. Thereafter, at step 606, detecting the fault conditions and the parameters of the distribution transformers and generating the reports by the report generating module with the data collected from the data processing module. Thereafter, at step 608, displaying the generated reports on the centralized monitoring system situated at the central monitoring stations and delivering the emergency alerts to the end user device.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 7 is a flowchart 700 depicting an exemplary method for detecting earthing of distribution transformer, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. As an option, the method 700 is carried out in the context of the details of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG.5 and FIG. 6. However, the method 700 is carried out in any desired environment. Further, the aforementioned definitions are equally applied to the description below.

[0039] The exemplary method 700 commences at step 702, measuring the voltage between phase to neutral and phase to earth by the voltage sensor. Determining whether the voltage between phase to neutral and phase to earth is same, at step 704. If the answer to the step 704 is YES, then the method continues to step 706, detecting the proper earthing to the distribution transformer. Displaying the earthing status of the distribution transformer is proper on the centralized monitoring system, at step 708. If the answer to the step 704 is NO, identifying the voltage drop by detecting the voltage difference between the phase to neutral and phase to earth, at step 710. Determining whether the voltage difference is greater than one volt and is equal to one volt measured between phase-neutral, at step 712. If the answer to step 712 is YES, then the method continues to step 714, detecting the earthing to the distribution transformer is improper. Displaying the earthing status of the distribution transformer is improper on the centralized monitoring system situated at the central monitoring stations, at step 716. Thereafter at step 716, the method continues to step 722. If the answer to step 712 is NO, indicating the earthing wire is disconnected from the earth-pit, at step 718. Displaying the earthing status of the distribution transformer is disconnected on the centralized monitoring system situated at the central monitoring station, at step 720. Triggering the alarm at the central monitoring station to alert the concerned authority in the department, at step 722.

[0040] Referring to FIG. 8 is a flowchart 800 depicting an exemplary method for detecting fault conditions and the distribution parameters of the distribution transformer and delivering to the end user device, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. As an option, the method 800 is carried out in the context of the details of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG.5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. However, the method 800 is carried out in any desired environment. Further, the aforementioned definitions are equally applied to the description below.

[0041] The exemplary method 800 commences at step 802, measuring the oil temperature of the distribution transformer by using oil temperature sensor. Measuring the fuse temperature of the distribution transformer by using fuse temperature sensor, at step 804. Measuring the voltages between phase to neutral and phase to earth of the distribution transformer by using distribution transformer voltage sensors, at step 806. Determining whether the voltages between phase to neutral and phase to earth is same, at step 808. If the answer to the step 808 is YES, then the method continues to the step 810, Preparing the data frame as earthing is proper. Reading all the instantaneous values from the digital energy meter, at step 812. If the answer to the step 808 is NO, then the method continues to step 814, preparing the data frame as earthing is improper. At step 814 and 812, the method continues to step 816, determining whether the voltages and currents are under the predetermined threshold limit. If the answer to the step 816 is YES, then the method continues to step 818, adding all the instantaneous values to the data frame. If the answer to the step 816 is NO, then the method continues to step 820, preparing the data frame with the error mentioning as the phase value is overloaded along with all the instantaneous values. At step 818 and 820, the method continues to step 822, determining whether the earthing continuity is proper. If the answer to the step 822 is YES, then the method continues to step 824, preparing the data frame as the earthing continuity is proper. If the answer to the step 822 is NO, then the method continues to step 826, preparing the data frame as the earthing continuity is improper. At step 824 and 826, the method continues to step 828, sending the complete data frame to the cloud server via the network. Performing the analysis at centralized monitoring system and delivering the emergency alerts to the end user device of the concerned authorities, at step 830.

[0042] Referring to FIG. 9 is a block diagram 900 illustrating the details of a digital processing system in which various aspects of the present disclosure are operative by execution of appropriate software instructions. The Digital processing system 900 may correspond to the centralized monitoring system 108 and the end user device 116 (or any other system in which the various features disclosed above can be implemented).

[0043] Digital processing system 900 may contain one or more processors such as a central processing unit (CPU) 910, random access memory (RAM) 920, secondary memory 927, graphics controller 960, display unit 970, network interface 980, and input interface 990. All the components except display unit 970 may communicate with each other over communication path 950, which may contain several buses as is well known in the relevant arts. The components of Figure 9 are described below in further detail.

[0044] CPU 910 may execute instructions stored in RAM 920 to provide several features of the present disclosure. CPU 910 may contain multiple processing units, with each processing unit potentially being designed for a specific task. Alternatively, CPU 910 may contain only a single general-purpose processing unit.

[0045] RAM 920 may receive instructions from secondary memory 930 using communication path 950. RAM 920 is shown currently containing software instructions, such as those used in threads and stacks, constituting shared environment 925 and/or user programs 926. Shared environment 925 includes operating systems, device drivers, virtual machines, etc., which provide a (common) run time environment for execution of user programs 926.

[0046] Graphics controller 960 generates display signals (e.g., in RGB format) to display unit 970 based on data/instructions received from CPU 910. Display unit 970 contains a display screen to display the images defined by the display signals. Input interface 990 may correspond to a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., touch-pad, mouse) and may be used to provide inputs. Network interface 980 provides connectivity to a network (e.g., using Internet Protocol), and may be used to communicate with other systems (such as those shown in Figure 1) connected to the network 110.

[0047] Secondary memory 930 may contain hard drive 935, flash memory 936, and removable storage drive 937. Secondary memory 930 may store the data software instructions (e.g., for performing the actions noted above with respect to the Figures), which enable digital processing system 900 to provide several features in accordance with the present disclosure.

[0048] Some or all of the data and instructions may be provided on removable storage unit 940, and the data and instructions may be read and provided by removable storage drive 937 to CPU 910. Floppy drive, magnetic tape drive, CD-ROM drive, DVD Drive, Flash memory, removable memory chip (PCMCIA Card, EEPROM) are examples of such removable storage drive 937.

[0049] Removable storage unit 940 may be implemented using medium and storage format compatible with removable storage drive 937 such that removable storage drive 937 can read the data and instructions. Thus, removable storage unit 940 includes a computer readable (storage) medium having stored therein computer software and/or data. However, the computer (or machine, in general) readable medium can be in other forms (e.g., non-removable, random access, etc.).

[0050] In this document, the term "computer program product" is used to generally refer to removable storage unit 940 or hard disk installed in hard drive 935. These computer program products are means for providing software to digital processing system 900. CPU 910 may retrieve the software instructions, and execute the instructions to provide various features of the present disclosure described above.

[0051] The term “storage media/medium” as used herein refers to any non-transitory media that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine to operate in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprise non-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical disks, magnetic disks, or solid-state drives, such as storage memory 930. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as RAM 920. Common forms of storage media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solid-state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge.

[0052] Storage media is distinct from but may be used in conjunction with transmission media. Transmission media participates in transferring information between storage media. For example, transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus (communication path) 950. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

[0053] Referring to FIG. 10 is a block diagram 1000 depicting the processing device 104 shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments. The block diagram 1000 depicts a processing device 104, an arm cortex-m3 processor 1002, a flash memory 1004, a static random access memory 1006, low- speed Advance Peripheral Bus (APB2) 1008a, high-speed Advance Peripheral Bus (APB2) 1008b, advanced High-performance Bus 1008c-1008d, analog to digital convertors 1010a-1010b, advanced control timer 1012a, general purpose timer 1012b-1012d, independent watchdog integrated circuits 1014a-1014b, serial peripheral interfaces 1016a-1016b, universal synchronous and asynchronous receiver and transmitter 1018a-1018c, universal serial bus 1020, a controller area network 1022, a cyclic redundancy calculation unit 1024, a nested vectored interrupt controller 1026, an external interrupt/event controller 1028, general purpose input/output 1030a-1030e, phase-locked loop clock 1032a, an external oscillator 1032b, power supply 1034, a voltage regulator 1036, a direct memory access controller 1038, the real-time clock 1040a, backup registers 1040b, temperature sensor 1042.

[0054] The processing device 104 may be used in a wide range of applications such as motor drives, application control, medical and handheld equipment, PC and gaming peripherals, GPS platforms, industrial applications, PLCs, inverters, printers, scanners, alarm systems, video intercoms, HVACs, and so forth. The ARM Cortex-M3 processor 1002 may be the latest generation of ARM processors for embedded systems and may be developed to provide a low-cost platform that meets the needs implementation of processing device 104 with a reduced pin count and low-power consumption, while delivering outstanding computational performance and an advanced system response to interrupts. The ARM Cortex-M3 processor 1002 may features exceptional code-efficiency, delivering the high-performance expected from an ARM core in the memory size usually associated with 8- and 16-bit devices. The ARM Cortex-M3 processor 1002 may be operated at a 72 MHz frequency. The flash memory 1004 and the SRAM 1006 are may be the high speed embedded memories. The flash memory 1004 may have 128 Kbytes of flash memory and the Static Random Access Memory 1006 may have 20 Kbytes of memory for embedding the programs and data. The Static Random Access Memory 1006 may read/write at CPU clock speed with 0 wait states. The extensive range of enhanced inputs, outputs and peripherals connected to the low- speed Advance Peripheral Bus (APB2) 1008a, and the high-speed Advance Peripheral Bus (APB2) 1008b.

[0055] The analog-to-digital converters 1010a-1010b are embedded into the processing device 104 and each analog-to-digital converters 1010a-1010b shares up to 16 external channels, performing conversions in single shot or scan modes. In scan mode, automatic conversion is performed on a selected group of analog inputs. Additional logic functions embedded in the analog-to-digital converters 1010a-1010b interface allows simultaneous sample and hold, Interleaved sample and hold, and Single shunt. The analog-to-digital converters 1010a-1010b can be served by the direct memory access controller 1038. The advanced-control timer (TIM1) 1012a can be seen as a three-phase PWM multiplexed on 6 channels. It has complementary PWM outputs with programmable inserted dead-times. It can also be seen as a complete general-purpose timer. The four independent channels can be used for Input capture, Output compare, PWM generation (edge- or center-aligned modes), and One-pulse mode output. If configured as a general-purpose 16-bit timer, it has the same features as the TIMx timer. If configured as the 16-bit PWM generator, it has full modulation capability (0-100%). In debug mode, the advanced-control timer 1012a can be frozen and the PWM outputs disabled to turn off any power switch driven by these outputs. Many features are shared with those of the general-purpose timers 1012b-1012d which have the same architecture. The advanced-control timer 1012a can therefore work together with the general purpose timer’s 1012b-1012d via the Timer Link feature for synchronization or event chaining. The general-purpose timers 1012b-1012d are based on a 16-bit auto-reload up/down counter, a 16-bit prescaler and feature 4 independent channels each for input capture/output compare, PWM or one-pulse mode output. This gives up to 12 input captures/output compares/PWMs on the largest packages. The general-purpose timer’s 1012b-1012d can work together with the advanced-control timer via the Timer Link feature for synchronization or event chaining. Their counter can be frozen in debug mode. Any of the general-purpose timer’s 1012b-1012d can be used to generate PWM outputs. They all have independent DMA request generation. The general-purpose timer’s 1012b-1012d are capable of handling quadrature (incremental) encoder signals and the digital outputs from 1 to 3 hall-effect sensors. The independent watchdog 1013a is based on a 12-bit down counter and 8-bit prescaler. The independent watchdog 1013a is clocked from an independent 40 kHz internal RC and as it operates independently of the main clock, it can operate in Stop and Standby modes. The independent watchdog 1013a can be used either as a watchdog to reset the device when a problem occurs, or as a free-running timer for application timeout management. The independent watchdog 1013a is a hardware- or software-configurable through the option bytes. The counter can be frozen in debug mode. The window watchdog 1013b is based on a 7-bit down counter that can be set as free-running. The window watchdog 1013b can be used as a watchdog to reset the device when a problem occurs. The window watchdog 1013b is clocked from the main clock. The window watchdog 1013b has an early warning interrupt capability and the counter can be frozen in debug mode. The temperature sensor 1042 has to generate a voltage that varies linearly with temperature. The conversion range is between 2 V < VDDA < 3.6 V. The advanced control timer 1012a and general purpose timer 1012b-1012d may include a pulse width modulation timer and 16-bit timers. Below table compares the features of the advanced-control and general-purpose timers.

[0056] The integrated circuits 1014a-1014b can operate in multimaster and slave modes. They can support standard and fast modes. The integrated circuits 1014a-1014b can support dual slave addressing (7-bit only) and both 7/10-bit addressing in master mode. A hardware CRC generation/verification is embedded. The integrated circuits 1014a-1014b can be served by direct memory access controller 1038. The serial peripheral interfaces 1016a-1016b are able to communicate up to 18 Mbits/s in slave and master modes in fullduplex and simplex communication modes. The 3-bit prescaler gives 8 master mode frequencies and the frame is configurable to 8 bits or 16 bits. The hardware CRC generation/verification supports basic SD Card/MMC modes. The serial peripheral interfaces 1016a-1016b can be served by the direct memory access controller 1038. The universal synchronous and asynchronous receiver and transmitter 1018a is able to communicate at speeds of up to 4.5 Mbit/s. The universal synchronous and asynchronous receiver and transmitter 1018b-1018c interfaces communicate at up to 2.25 Mbit/s. the universal synchronous and asynchronous receiver and transmitter 1018a-1018c provide hardware management of the CTS and RTS signals, IrDA SIR ENDEC support, are ISO 7816 compliant and have LIN Master/Slave capability. The universal serial bus 1020 implements a full-speed (12 Mbit/s) function interface. The universal serial bus 1020 has software-configurable endpoint setting and suspend/resume support. The dedicated 48 MHz clock is generated from the internal main PLL (the clock source must use a HSE crystal oscillator). The controller area network 1022 is compatible with specifications 2.0A and B (active) with a bit rate up to 1 Mbit/s. The controller area network 1022 can receive and transmit standard frames with 11-bit identifiers as well as extended frames with 29-bit identifiers. The controller area network 1022 has three transmit mailboxes, two receive FIFOs with 3 stages and 14 scalable filter banks. The integrated circuits 1014a-1014b, serial peripheral interfaces 1016a-1016b, universal synchronous and asynchronous receiver and transmitter 1018a-1018c, universal serial bus 1020, the controller area network 1022 are may be operated at 2.0 to 3.6 V of power supply and may be available in both the –40 to +85 °C temperature range and the –40 to +105 °C extended temperature range. The cyclic redundancy calculation unit 1023 may help to compute a signature of the software during runtime, to be compared with a reference signature generated at link time and stored at a given memory location. The cyclic redundancy calculation unit 1024 may be used to get a cyclic redundancy check code from a 32-bit data word and a fixed generator polynomial. Among other applications, CRC-based techniques are may be used to verify data transmission or storage integrity. The Nested vectored interrupt controller 1026 may be able to handle up to 43 makeable interrupt channels (not including the 16 interrupt lines of Cortex- M3) and 16 priority levels. The Nested vectored interrupt controller 1026 may provide flexible interrupt management features with minimal interrupt latency. The external interrupt/event controller 1028 may consists of 19 edge detector lines used to generate interrupt/event requests. Each line may be configured independently to select the trigger event (rising edge, falling edge, both) and can be masked independently. A pending register maintains the status of the interrupt requests. The external interrupt/event controller 1028 may detect an external line with a pulse width shorter than the Internal Advance Peripheral Bus 1008b clock period. The general Purpose Input/output pins 1030a-1030e can be configured by software as output (push-pull or open-drain), as input (with or without pull-up or pull-down) or as peripheral alternate function. Most of the general Purpose Input/output pins 1030a-1030e are shared with digital or analog alternate functions. The general Purpose Input/output pins 1030a-1030e are high current capable. The general Purpose Input/output pins 1030a-1030e can be locked if needed following a specific sequence in order to avoid spurious writing to the input/output registers. The Inputs/Outputs on APB2 1018b with up to 18 MHz toggling speed. The general purpose Input/output pins 1030a-1030e may be connected to the 16 external interrupt lines. An external oscillator 1032b may be selected, in which case it is monitored for failure. If failure is detected, the system automatically switches back to the internal RC oscillator. A software interrupt is generated if enabled. Similarly, full interrupt management of the phase-locked loop clock 1032a entry is available when necessary (for example on failure of an indirectly used external crystal, resonator or oscillator). Several prescalers may allow the configuration of the advanced high performance bus 1008c-1008d frequency, the high-speed Advance Peripheral Bus (APB2) 1008b and the low-speed APB (APB1) 1008a domains. The maximum frequency of the advanced high performance bus 1008c-1008d and the high-speed Advanced Peripheral Bus 1008a is 72 MHz and the maximum allowed frequency of the low-speed Advanced Peripheral Bus domain is 36 MHz. The power supply 1034 is an integrated power-on reset (POR)/power-down reset (PDR) circuitry. It is always active, and ensures proper operation starting from/down to 2 V. The device remains in reset mode when VDD is below a specified threshold, VPOR/PDR, without the need for an external reset circuit. The device features an embedded programmable voltage detector (PVD) that monitors the VDD/VDDA power supply and compares it to the VPVD threshold. An interrupt can be generated when VDD/VDDA drops below the VPVD threshold and/or when VDD/VDDA is higher than the VPVD threshold. The interrupt service routine can then generate a warning message and/or put the MCU into a safe state. The PVD is enabled by software. For example, VDD = 2.0 to 3.6 V: external power supply for input/output and the internal regulator. Provided externally through VDD pins. VSSA, VDDA = 2.0 to 3.6 V: external analog power supplies for ADC, reset blocks, RCs and PLL (minimum voltage to be applied to VDDA is 2.4 V when the ADC is used). VDDA and VSSA must be connected to VDD and VSS, respectively. VBAT = 1.8 to 3.6 V: power supply for RTC, external clock 32 kHz oscillator and backup registers (through power switch) when VDD is not present. The voltage regulator 1036 has three operation modes: main (MR), low-power (LPR) and power down. MR is used in the nominal regulation mode (Run), LPR is used in the Stop mode, Power down is used in Standby mode: the regulator output is in high impedance: the kernel circuitry is powered down, inducing zero consumption (but the contents of the registers and SRAM are lost) this regulator is always enabled after reset. It is disabled in Standby mode, providing high impedance output. The direct memory access controller 1038 is able to manage memory-to-memory, peripheral-to-memory and memory-to-peripheral transfers. The direct memory access controller 1038 is a seven channel general-purpose DMA and it supports circular buffer management avoiding the generation of interrupts when the controller reaches the end of the buffer. Each channel is connected to dedicated hardware DMA requests, with support for software trigger on each channel. Configuration is made by software and transfer sizes between source and destination are independent. The Direct memory access controller 1038 can be used with the main peripherals: SPI, I2C, USART, general-purpose and advanced-control timers TIMx and ADC.

[0057] The real-time clock 1040a and the backup registers 1040b are supplied through a switch that takes power either on VDD supply when present or through the VBAT pin. The backup registers 1040b are ten 16-bit registers used to store 20 bytes of user application data when VDD power is not present. The real-time clock provides 1040a set of continuously running counters which can be used with suitable software to provide a clock calendar function, and provides an alarm interrupt and a periodic interrupt. It is clocked by a 32.768 kHz external crystal, resonator or oscillator, the internal low-power RC oscillator or the high-speed external clock divided by 128. The internal low-power RC has a typical frequency of 40 kHz. The real-time clock 1040a can be calibrated using an external 512 Hz output to compensate for any natural crystal deviation. The real-time clock 1040a features a 32-bit programmable counter for long-term measurement using the Compare register to generate an alarm. A 20-bit prescaler is used for the time base clock and is by default configured to generate a time base of 1 second from a clock at 32.768 kHz. The temperature sensor 1042 is internally connected to the ADC12_IN16 input channel which is used to convert the sensor output voltage into a digital value. The Serial wire Joint Test Action Group debug port (SWJ-DP) 1044 is a combined Joint Test Action Group and serial wire debug port that enables either a serial wire debug or a Joint Test Action Group probe to be connected to the target. The Joint Test Action Group Test Mode Select and test clock pins are shared with serial wire debug and serial wire clock, respectively, and a specific sequence on the Test Mode Select pin is used to switch between Joint Test Action Group –debug pin and serial wire debug pin.

[0058] Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment”, “in an embodiment” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

[0059] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics of the disclosure may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the above description, numerous specific details are provided such as examples of programming, software modules, user selections, network transactions, database queries, database structures, hardware modules, hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the disclosure.

[0060] Although the present disclosure has been described in terms of certain preferred embodiments and illustrations thereof, other embodiments and modifications to preferred embodiments may be possible that are within the principles and spirit of the invention. The above descriptions and figures are therefore to be regarded as illustrative and not restrictive.

[0061] Thus the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and includes both combinations and sub-combinations of the various features described hereinabove as well as variations and modifications thereof, which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description.