Description:TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention, in general relates to a method for transmitting all ESP ash hoppers load from field to remote systems using multiple Wi-Fi based IoT transceivers to monitor live ash load and control the actuators for emptying the ash from hoppers.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention.
[0003] Measuring and monitoring the loads on power plant structures is very critical to prevent overloading and thereby subsequent damages. With today’s emphasis on product reliability and energy efficiency, designs must not only be lighter and stronger, but also proactively alert in case of overload. In coal fired thermal power plants, Flue gas that is generated as a result of combustion is passed through super heaters, reheaters, economizers, air preheaters, ESP and finally, the chimney.
[0004] The fly ash carried away with flue gas is removed when it passes through ESP before reaching the chimney. Fly ash, which is removed by ESP will be collected in a number of hoppers below the ESPs. To prevent over-filling of collected Fly-ash from these hoppers, de-ashing is performed after a fixed time interval. But this process results in high power consumption as many a times the de-ashing operation takes place after the pre-fixed interval though the hopper is not filled completely with Fly-ash.
[0005] Further, an automatic level detection system using load cells, is developed which detects level of fly-ash in the ESP hoppers and start the emptying process only when the pre-set maximum level is reached. In this mechanism, load cells monitor the weight of the ash and generate alarm when the weight reaches a pre-set maximum level to start the emptying process to prevent over-filling and subsequent catastrophic, if ignored. A load cell usually consists of four strain gauges (Full Bridge) connected in a Wheatstone bridge configuration.
[0006] Load cells with one strain gauge (Quarter Bridge) or two strain gauges (half bridge) can also be configured. In the current application, full bridge configured with two strain gauges in the axial direction and the other two strain gauges in transverse direction. The two 2-Element 90° ‘tee’ rosette type Strain gauges with a gauge factor of 2.05±0.5% were used in the current application. The load cell schematic with four strain gauges (A, B, C and D) i.e, The Four strain gauges are configured in Wheatstone bridge, the input voltage to Wheatstone bridge is supplied through two terminals (P+ and P-) and the output voltage is measured across the other pair of terminals (S+ and S-). When load is applied on resistive load cell, mechanical strain will be developed. As a result, two of the strain gauges are in compression, whereas the other two are in tension. The resistance of four strain gauges’ changes because of this compression and expansion. This change in resistance leads to a change in output voltage which is being measured as output voltage across two terminals of Wheatstone bridge. The measured output voltage will be given to load monitoring system through cables.
[0007] A cited prior art US6,275,682B1 illustrates a radio frequency (RF) signal transmitting device adapted to transmit signals between a computer and a plurality of Wireless peripheral equipment. The RF signal transmitting device includes a plurality of RF signal transmitters and an RF signal receiver. The RF signal transmitters are electrically connected to the plurality of Wireless peripheral equipment, respectively, and each is provided for modulating an output signal therefrom into an RF signal with a specific carrier frequency and transmitting the RF signal. The RF signal receiver is electrically connected to the computer for synchronously receiving the RF signals from the RF signal transmitters and converting each of the RF signals to an operating signal to operate the compute.
[0008] In power plant, this cable is routed through various zones to remote location or control room. In this process, noise is induced into the signal which leads to faulty output. The limitations of this cabling systems restraining its usage to shorter distances. This calls for the development of IoT based load monitoring system of entire ESP system through Wi-Fi based wireless transmission, which will be discussed in this invention.

OBJECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0009] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfy, are listed hereinbelow.
[0010] It is a general object of the present disclosure is to propose a method for transmitting ESP ash hoppers load data from field to a remote location for live monitoring.
[0011] It is another object of the present disclosure is to control actuators based on pre-set load limits to evacuate ash hoppers using IoT technology.
[0012] These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of the present invention is illustrated.
SUMMARY
[0013] This summary is provided to explain about the overall functioning of IoT based load monitoring system.
[0014] In an embodiment, the present disclosure relates to an IoT based load monitoring system for monitoring, reporting and controlling the ash hoppers load from remote systems by transmitting the data to WAN gateway as described in Figure 1 to Figure 10. In accordance with a broad aspect of the invention, a load monitoring system is provided having multiple load sensors to record live ash load that is accumulated in ash hoppers, and/or actuators to be controlled remotely based on ash levels in ash hoppers, ultimately through a computer on the Internet. These load cell sensors output is connected to amplifiers, which amplify the voltage output and interfaced with Wi-Fi based IoT transceiver modules. So, these load cell sensors and/or actuators are interfaced with wireless transceivers that transmit and/or receive data to and from the Internet.
[0015] In an aspect, the wireless transceivers on receiver section receives the information and stores the data base into database server through WAN.
[0016] In an aspect, once the data is available over WAN, N number users can access data from anywhere in the world through internet.
[0017] Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.
[0018] It is to be understood that the aspects and embodiments of the disclosure described above may be used in any combination with each other. Several of the aspects and embodiments may be combined to form a further embodiment of the disclosure.
[0019] The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] 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:
[0021] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional method of transmitting load cell signal from field to remote location.
[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of Integration of load cell sensor with IoT transceiver module at transmitting section.
[0023] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of Integration of load cell sensor and actuator with IoT transceiver module.
[0024] FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of WAN connectivity with IoT transceiver module at receiver section.
[0025] FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of IoT based remote load monitoring system and controlling of actuators for one ESP ash hopper.
[0026] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of IoT based remote load monitoring system and controlling actuators for complete ESP ash hopper system.
[0027] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic of proposed IoT based remote load monitoring system.
[0028] 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.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0029] The detailed description of various exemplary embodiments of the disclosure is described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments are described herein in such details as to clearly communicate the disclosure. However, the amount of details provided herein is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments; on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
[0030] It is also to be understood that various arrangements may be devised that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the present disclosure, as well as specific examples, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.
[0031] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a",” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.
[0032] It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two figures shown in succession may, in fact, be executed concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
[0033] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
[0034] The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. Figure 1 shows the conventional method of transmitting load cell 2 signal from field to remote location 3.
[0035] While referring to Figure 2, illustrates a preferred embodiment of an Integration of load cell sensor with IoT transceiver module at transmitting section. According to the present invention, the load cell 2 output voltage corresponding to the accumulated load in ash hopper 1 will be in millivolts (mV) which cannot be transmitted effectively. Hence, load cell output is connected to amplifier 4 which amplifies the load cell output voltage from mV to Volts (V). The amplified voltage is given to the ADC to convert the analog voltage into a set of digital signals i.e., in terms of data bits without which data cannot be transmitted by wireless methodology. The objective of an ADC is to determine the output signal word corresponding to an analog signal. Now we are using 24-bit ADC. It is a 24-bit converter with 5V as input power supply. ADC needs a clock to operate. The time taken to convert the analog to digital value depends on the clock source. An external clock can be given to ADC by providing resistor and capacitor. Digital output from ADC is connected to IoT transceiver module 5 at transmitter section. Load data of ESP ash hoppers after digitization is interfaced to micro controller 7 through data interface 6. Further, data received on micro controller is transmitted using IoT transceivers 8 to local gateway through transmitting antenna 9.
[0036] While referring to Figure 3, illustrates a block diagram of integration of load cell sensor 2 and actuator 10 with IoT transceiver module 5. According to the present invention, load data obtained from load cell is monitored and controlling of actuators 10 through IoT transceiver module 5. A program has been embedded in micro controller 7 to control the actuators based on ash load levels in hoppers. Accordingly, following actions based on the various severity levels of weight accumulated in the ESP hoppers:
Load level-1- Controlling of the Actuators to evacuate the ash hoppers
Load level-2- Generating the Overload warning.
Load level-3-Alarm and trip annunciations
[0037] Once the load levels reach to level 1, micro controller automatically switch ON the actuators to emptying ash from ash hoppers into silo 11, to avoid ash hopper failures.
[0038] While referring to Figure 4, illustrates a block diagram of WAN connectivity 19 with IoT transceiver module 20 at receiver section. The components of local gateway connection are a receiving antenna 12, transceiver 13, a CPU 15, a memory card 14 and a network card 16 or modem 17 to connect to WAN connectivity using TCP/IP protocol 18. Transceiver 13 at receiving section receives load information consistently and store the data in memory card 14. A programming code on identifying and operating multiple IoT transmitter modules at a time is configured in memory card for controlling the operation of CPU 15 to evaluate an incoming data to decide on actions to be taken. CPU 15 also carry-out the various functions that are controlled by local gateway. The local gate way is communicated/interfaced to WAN connectivity 19 through many communication methods i.e., network card 16 and modem 17 etc., using TCP/IP protocol 18. Network card will allow to communicate across local area network to network server and server to WAN.
[0039] While referring to Figure 5, illustrates a block diagram of IoT based remote load monitoring system and controlling of actuators 10 for one ESP ash hopper 1. It is illustrated in this figure that, load monitored by load cell 2 is amplified using amplifier 4 and data interfaced 6 with micro controller 7 to control the actuator 10 based on load levels to emptying ash hopper 1 into silo 11. Data monitored by IoT load cell is then transmitted by using IoT transceiver modules 8 to remote systems.
[0040] Transmitted load data is received by IoT transceivers 13 at receiving section and communicated to WAN 19 network using network card 16 by TCP/IP protocol 18. Load data base 21 received in remote systems from WAN network is stored in data base server 20 through WAN. Once the data is available over WAN 19, one can access data from anywhere in the world through internet i.e., control room PC 22, user 1, user 2 and so on up to user N. The stored data will be analyzed and gives the appropriate control commands for controlling efficient functioning of overall system by generating warning/alarm/trip annunciation when the load reaches a pre-set maximum level. Since data can be accessed from anywhere in the world, the monitoring and controlling of ash loads can be done easily by “N” number users 24 at a time from all remote systems 23.
[0041] While referring to Figure 6, illustrates a block diagram of IoT based remote load monitoring system and controlling actuators for complete ESP system. It is illustrated in this invention that, monitoring and controlling of complete ESP ash handling system which will have multiple ash hoppers i.e., 1, 2 and so on up to N 25, 26, 27 from remote system. Multiple load cells i.e., load cells from1 to 4, 5 to 8 and so on up to (N-4) to N 28, 29, 30 are used to monitor multiple ESP ash hoppers i.e., hoppers from 1 to 4, 5 to 8 and so on up to (N-4) to N 25, 26, 27 respectively. Output from first four load cells i.e., 1 to 4 (28) are given to one four channel amplifier 1 (31). In same way, remaining load cells i.e., from 5 to 8 (29) and (N-4) to N (30) are connected to four channel amplifiers from 2 (32) and so on up to M (33) respectively. Further, amplified voltage from m number of amplifiers i.e., 1 (31), 2 (32) and so on up to M (33) are interfaced with Wi-Fi based IoT transceiver modules i.e., 1 (34), 2 (35) and so on up to M (36) respectively. Data monitored by N number of load cells are transmitted from M number of IoT transceivers using Wi-Fi.
[0042] The transmitted data is received through IoT transceivers 37 at receiving section. IoT transceivers at receiving section collects the data from all load cells and stores the data 21 based on individual IP address in data base server 20. Once the data is available over WAN 19, one can access data from anywhere in the world through internet for all ash hoppers load data. Data can be monitored from any application interface which can access through internet. In this innovation, data is monitored from control room 22 through internet and also given access to “N” number 24 users at a time. The stored data will be analyzed and gives the appropriate control commands from control room PC 22 based on level of ash in hoppers. Actuators i.e., 1 to 4 (38), 5 to 8 (39) and so up to (N-4) to N (40) will be Controlled to evacuate ash from hoppers to respected silos i.e., 1 to 4 (41), 5 to 8 (42) and so up to (N-4) to N (43); once ash level reaches to pre-set limit. Further, system generates warning/alarm/trip annunciations when load level goes beyond their operable limits.

[0043] While referring to Figure 7, illustrates a schematic of proposed IoT based remote load monitoring system. In this proposed schematic, load cell signal conditioner 4 is used as amplifier to amplify the voltage received from load cell 2. Output from the load cell signal conditioner is given to Wi-Fi ESP-WROOM-32 Wi-Fi module 5 which is IoT transceiver at transmitting end to transmit the output to remote locations. Raspberry pi 20 on the receiving section acts as a IoT transceiver module at receiving section to receive and store the data in data base 21 in data base server 20. Once the data is available in LAN/WAN 19, load can be monitored by N number of users 24 from anywhere in the world.

Claims:We claim:

1. A system to monitor ash hoppers (1) load and control actuators (10) from remote area by using IoT technology comprising:
plurality of load cell sensors (2) with amplifiers (4), to sense the weight accumulated in the ash hoppers (1) and to amplify the output voltage.
IoT transceiver (8) modules at transmitting section, to receive the amplified load cell data and process the data that is to be transmitted to remote system.
IoT transceiver modules (13) at receiving section, to receive the transmitted information and interfaced to a network connectivity (19).
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein transmitting the load cell data using WI-FI enabled IoT transceivers (9), interfaces the amplified data with a micro controller (7), that controls the actuators (10) based on the conditions programmed in micro controller (7) and transfers the multiple load sensors data by IoT transceiver (9).
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the IoT transceiver modules (13) receives the information from transmitter and stores in a local storage (14).
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a programming code in CPU stores the information in memory as per the IP address defined for each individual load cell and also controls the actuators, gives warning and alarm based on pre-set ash levels for all conditions.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the multiple loadcells data received from IoT transceiver modules at receiving section is interfaced with the WAN connectivity (19) with a TCP/IP protocol (18).
6. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the data obtained is stored in data base server (20), and can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
7. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the monitoring can be done by “N” number users (24) at a time.
8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wireless transmission of load cell signal can also transmit the load cell signal data to a longer distance.
9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stored data in database will be monitored, analyzed and deliver appropriate control commands from anywhere for controlling the efficient functioning of overall system by generating warning/alarm/trip annunciation when the load reaches a pre-set maximum level.
10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the multiple ash hoppers load is monitored at a time using IoT technology and also, controlling of actuators from remote system.

Dated this 16th day of September, 2020