College of Engineering Unit:
In the world we live in, almost everything needs to be powered by electricity, and our daily lives are very dependent on that power. We need electricity to have light, power our machines that makes our daily jobs easier, and even for heating and cooling to survive in extreme hot and cold weather. All of this power is usually coming from a nearby substation that receives power from a power generating facility, it then steps down that power to lower levels and distributes it to local communities. The process of the power transmission is highly risky and every substation needs to be implemented with safety regulations to consider risks associated with a substation. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the online working environment has been growing rapidly, and at this time, some countries require companies to have remote working environments as an option for employees. In a traditional substation, engineers are always looking for a new tool to control and monitor the operations of the substation without the need to be there in person as the risk for the employees in a substation is very high. A solution, such as designing a system that allows engineers working on the substation to monitor various parameters of the substation through the network, enables better access to multiple parameters and at the same time would be very beneficial and efficient in such operation. It also allows for easy remote control, so that any issues related to the monitored parameters can be dealt with from a distance when they are detected. The system will also provide an alert function for the substation, so that when the substation reaches a preset threshold, employees will be notified and the system will automatically stop the substation to assure the safety of the local communities and the components of the substation and employees there. The objective of the project is to obtain remote control over electrical parameters such as voltage, current, and frequency. This can be achieved by using a GSM communication device to allow users to collect real-time values and the status of the power station through the network. The user can send commands in the form of SMS messages to read the electrical parameters in addition to shutting off/on the substation remotely. The system will also be capable of sending SMS alerts whenever a risk is detected such as the voltage or current exceeding a predefined limit. Using this method rather than an web page to to view the monitored values and control the operation would be more secure for some substations as the GSM module operates based on cellular connection such as 4G connection where a web page would require additional network implementation so that the substation is always connected to an online server. Online options such as a web page would have a larger risk on the attack of hackers where a GSM module would only receive commands and send data to a registered number.
Project Website(s):
Project Communication Piece(s):
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 ece_44x_capstone_project_document.pdf | 32.39 MB |