Modular thermal monitoring system
Systems and methods for thermal monitoring of electrical panels and cabinets. The system comprises sensor nodes and rigid links. The nodes may be modular and configured to connect to one another through the rigid links. The rigid links may be of a predefined length and the physical layout of the nodes may be determined by mapping each node to a coordinate location based on the length of the rigid link and the position and orientation of the starting and ending ports on the nodes being connected. This allows for the generation of coverage maps of the sensors and layouts to be generated without prior knowledge of the node placement.
1 . A system for monitoring an electrical panel, the system comprising:
one or more links, wherein each link comprises a first connector end and a second connector end;
a master node, wherein the master node comprises:
a non-contact temperature sensor configured to capture temperature data; and
one or more master connection ports; and
one or more slave nodes, wherein each slave node comprises:
a non-contact temperature sensor configured to capture temperature data; and
one or more slave connection ports;
wherein the master node is configured to connect to and communicate with a first level group of nodes, wherein the first level group of nodes comprises one or more of the one or more slave nodes;
wherein each of the first level group are connected to one or more secondary children nodes, wherein the secondary children nodes comprise one or more slave nodes;
wherein a controller device, in communication with a server over a network connection, is configured to:
determine a position for each slave node relative to a position of the master node;
generate a physical layout map of the one or more slave nodes and the master node;
receive, from the master node, aggregated temperature data, wherein the aggregated temperature data comprises temperature data from each of the one or more slave nodes and temperature data from the master node;
map the received aggregated temperature data to the physical layout map;
analyze the received aggregated temperature data; and
overlay, onto the physical layout map, results of said analysis.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the links are rigid links.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein each node of the first level group is connected through a slave connection port to a master connection port of the master node by a rigid link, and wherein the first connector end of the rigid link is attached to the master connection port and the second connector end of the rigid link is attached to the slave connection port;
and wherein each secondary child node is connected through a slave connection port on the secondary child node to a slave connection port of the first level group node by a rigid link, and wherein the first connector end of the rigid link is attached to the slave connection port of the first level group node and the second connector end of the rigid link is attached to the slave connection port of the secondary child node.
4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the controller device is further configured to receive, from the master node, one or more parameters for each rigid link, wherein the one or more parameters comprise length of the rigid link and information corresponding to orientation and position of the connections made by the first connector end and second connector end of the rigid link.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein determining the position of for each slave node comprises:
identifying a target slave node;
identifying one or more rigid links between the target slave node and the master node; and
calculating a coordinate position of the target slave node based on the one or more parameters of each identified rigid link.
6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the position of the target slave node is updated based on a position of a parent node being updated.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the position of each slave node comprises:
capturing an image of the master node and one or more slave nodes;
identifying, in said captured image, the master node and each slave node;
calculating a coordinate position for the master node and for each slave node; and
mapping the position of the master node and each slave node to the physical layout map.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the analysis of the aggregated temperature data is used to generate a current heatmap corresponding to maximum temperatures.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the system is configured to compare the current heatmap against an alarm heatmap, wherein the alarm heatmap is based on temperatures indicative of irregular operation of a component, and generate a notification or alarm based on said comparison.
10 . The system of claim 5 , wherein there exists only a single path from each slave node to the master node.
11 . The system of claim 5 , wherein one or more of the slave nodes are connected to the master node through two or more paths.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein one of the two or more paths is a primary path and the remaining paths are redundant paths, and wherein communication is performed over said primary path.
13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the master node is configured to identify a failure of the primary path and switch to using a redundant path.
14 . A method for thermal monitoring of an electrical panel, wherein the method comprises:
installing a modular monitoring device, wherein installing comprises:
attaching, to an inside surface of a door of the electric panel, a master node and one or more slave nodes wherein the master node comprises:
a non-contact temperature sensor configured to capture temperature data; and
one or more master connection ports; and
wherein each slave node comprises:
a non-contact temperature sensor configured to capture temperature data; and
one or more slave connection ports; and
connecting one or more links to the master node and each of the one or more slave nodes, wherein each link comprises a first connector end and a second connector end; and
wherein the master node is configured to connect to and communicate with a first level group of nodes, wherein the first level group of nodes comprises one or more of the one or more slave nodes;
wherein each of the first level group are connected to one or more secondary children nodes, wherein the secondary children nodes comprise one or more slave nodes;
wherein a controller device, in communication with a server over a network connection, is configured to:
determine a position for each slave node relative to a position of the master node;
generate a physical layout map of the one or more slave nodes and the master node;
receive, from the master node, aggregated temperature data, wherein the aggregated temperature data comprises temperature data from each of the one or more slave nodes and temperature data from the master node;
map the received aggregated temperature data to the physical layout map;
analyze the received aggregated temperature data; and
overlay, onto the physical layout map, results of said analysis.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein one or more of the links are rigid links.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein each node of the first level group is connected through a slave connection port to a master connection port of the master node by a rigid link, and wherein the first connector end of the rigid link is attached to the master connection port and the second connector end of the rigid link is attached to the slave connection port;
and wherein each secondary child node is connected through a slave connection port on the secondary child node to a slave connection port of the first level group node by a rigid link, and wherein the first connector end of the rigid link is attached to the slave connection port of the first level group node and the second connector end of the rigid link is attached to the slave connection port of the secondary child node.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the controller device is further configured to receive, from the master node, one or more parameters for each rigid link, wherein the one or more parameters comprise length of the rigid link and information corresponding to orientation and position of the connections made by the first connector end and second connector end of the rigid link.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein determining the position of each slave node comprises:
identifying a target slave node;
identifying one or more rigid links between the target slave node and the master node; and
calculating a coordinate position of the target slave node based on the one or more parameters of each identified rigid link.
19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein determining the position of each slave node comprises:
capturing an image of the master node and one or more slave nodes;
identifying, in said captured image, the master node and each slave node;
calculating a coordinate position for the master node and for each slave node; and
mapping the position of the master node and each slave node to the physical layout map.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the analysis of the aggregated temperature data is used to generate a current heatmap corresponding to maximum temperatures and wherein the system is configured to compare the current heatmap against an alarm heatmap, wherein the alarm heatmap is based on temperatures indicative of irregular operation of a component, and generate a notification or alarm based on said comparison.