Remote Supervision of Power Plants

Abstract

One of the most critical pieces of equipment in any telecommunication operation is the power plant. However, it has, in recent years, been one of the most neglected. At the same time, current economic pressures are further limiting the manpower available to monitor and maintairr this equipment. Operating companies may have numerous unmanned locations that are visited only once or twice a month and with only two or three remote alarms reserved for the power plant. With the advent of microprocessors and the ever declining costs of digital hardware, we now have the opportunity to add "intelligence" to these power plants at a justifiable expense. Alarms can be selectively annunciated rather than ganged; voltages and currents can be displayed in engineering units; rectifiers can be controlled for efficiency and reliability. All of this and more can be remotely supervised at any central location through either a "dumb" or "intelligent" terminal. The information can be displayed in any alphanumeric format familiar to the user. The intelligent system can be programmed to perform load studies, monitoring the duration of highs and lows and when they occur. It can be programmed to perform given control algorithms depending on the operating parameters of the power plant or of any equipment at the site. Examples of this could be rectifier switching, HVAC control or peak demand control to minimize utility expenses while maintaining the proper environment. The capabilities of such a system are numerous and limited only by the engineer's imagination and economic justification.