Data retrieval and billing procedures for wind farms and device with machine-to-machine sensor data transaction with data marketplace

Abstract

A data retrieval and billing method between at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31), wherein at least one of the devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) is arranged in a wind farm (20-1, 20-2) or a wind turbine (10), comprising: Identifying, by one of the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31), at a data marketplace, before an M2M connection is established between the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31), on which device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) the data to be retrieved is available; Determining the device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) that performed the identification at the data marketplace as one of the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) Establishing machine-to-machine communication between the at least two devices via a communication network; Providing a digital billing procedure with respect to the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31); Exchanging data between the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31); Billing of the transmitted data via the digital billing process.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELDThe invention relates to a method and a device for automatically billing data transmitted between two subscribers. In particular, the invention relates to the billing of data which, for example, are collected from sensors installed on or in wind turbines or wind farms and transmitted to other wind turbines, data processing installations in wind farms or other devices which require these data for operation or for evaluation, since they do not themselves reserve the corresponding devices and sensors.TECHNICAL BACKGROUNDIt is known that wind turbines or wind farms have to gather many data for operating the installations, since a reasonable and safe operating sequence would not be possible without these data. One example is wind speed measurement data used to control pitch or, in the event that wind speed becomes too high, shut down the rotor or plant to protect the plant from damage.Data from a plurality of sensors are collected on the installations. These sensor data have hitherto been used and deleted or not used further for simple, local applications. In order to implement specific application on wind power installations (e.g. ice detection, condition monitoring,... ), for example dedicated sensors will be installed. Typically, each wind turbine (WKA) has its own complete set of sensors.From the Wikipedia article "IOTA (Cryptocurrency)" of 30 April 2018, https: / / de.wikipedia.org / w / index.php?title=IOTA_(Kryptow%C3%A4hrung)&oldid=17702700 6, a data retrieval and accounting method between several devices is known.Sensors and their operation can be costly. Furthermore, a failure of the sensor system of a wind turbine can lead to the failure of the wind turbine, which leads to losses in yield.It is therefore desirable to improve wind turbines and wind farms such that costs can be reduced and / or yield losses are reduced.SUMMARYEmbodiments of the present disclosure provide a data acquisition and accounting method between at least two devices, wherein at least one of the devices is arranged in a wind farm or a wind turbine, comprising according to claim 1, and a device which can carry out this method, according to claim 12.According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a data retrieval and accounting method is provided between at least two devices, wherein at least one of the devices is arranged in a wind farm or a wind turbine. The method includes establishing machine-to-machine communication between the at least two devices over a communication network. The method further includes providing a digital accounting method with respect to the at least two devices, exchanging data between the at least two devices, and billing the transmitted data via the digital accounting method.According to another embodiment, there is provided an apparatus configured to perform a method according to claims 1 to 11.List of FiguresEmbodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and explained in more detail in the following description. In the drawings, there are shown: FIG. 1 shows a wind turbine with exemplary devices for embodiments of the method; FIG. 2 shows exemplary embodiments of the method; FIG. 3 shows further embodiments of the method; and FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating various embodiments.DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTSHereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail. The drawings are provided to illustrate one or more examples of embodiments. In the drawings, like reference numerals designate the same or similar features of the respective embodiments.Embodiments of the present invention make it possible to reduce the sensor system on or on wind power installations or to increase the available information in the case of existing sensor systems. If, for example, a plurality of WKAs are combined in a wind farm, the distribution of the wind flow over the region of the wind farm (WP) can be very largely homogeneous. A sensor for all machines of the park may be sufficient as a source of information.Sensors, sensor data collection interfaces or evaluation units in wind turbines, wind farms, data collection devices, weather stations or other devices that collect data that are useful for operating wind farms and wind turbines can be designed according to embodiments present here in such a way that they are suitable for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. The first side of this communication can represent the sensors, sensor data collection interfaces or evaluation units. On the opposite side, there may be a demand machine. Data may be directly measured quantities (wind speed, accelerations, temperatures, strains, etc.) or calculated quantities (blade load, ice mass, input power, etc.).Sensor systems and their operation are sometimes costly and it may thus be advantageous if data retrieval or data transmission to a user who is interested in these data is associated with financial damage to the operator of the sensor. This can thus be damaged for the operation or acquisition and maintenance of the sensor.It is therefore desirable to make data collected from devices, for example sensors, databases, data collection interfaces or data evaluation units, which are of interest to a large number of users available to this large number of users and to make these data available in an abolatable manner, so that the operator of the devices is damaged for the operation of these devices.Data arising on wind turbines are transmitted directly between the device and the requesting machine via a peer-to-peer network. The payment for this service also takes place peer-to-peer.The terms peer-to-peer and machine-to-machine communication are known and are therefore state of the art. The principles and significance of these will be considered known and disclosed in the form in which they are needed to function this invention, although individual modes of operation are shown for convenience of explanation.In a first preferred embodiment, a method of data retrieval and accounting between at least two devices is disclosed. At least one of the devices can be arranged in a wind farm or a wind power installation, as can be seen in FIG. 1. This means that a device can record a connection to another device which has or can acquire and provide relevant data, but does not necessarily have to be arranged in the same wind power installation or in the same wind farm. The wind turbine 10 in FIG. 1 has an antenna 15 for this purpose, with which data from sensors can be transmitted or received.A peer-to-peer or machine-to-machine communication is established between the at least two devices via a communication network. The machine-to-machine communication may be established within the peer-to-peer connection. The communication network may be wireless or wired and may conform to a variety of known protocols. For example, WLAN technology, Bluetooth technology, ZigBee or other wireless transmission paths can be used in a wireless connection. Wired communication paths include, for example, Ethernet connections or DSL connections. Other communication networks may also be used.In addition, a digital accounting method is provided with respect to the at least two devices and an exchange of data is carried out between the at least two devices. The billing of the transmitted data from the data exchange is effected via the digital billing method.The mentioned devices can be sensors, sensor data collection interfaces or evaluation units. In general, therefore, devices that can provide data relevant to wind turbines or wind farms. These sensors, sensor data collection interfaces or evaluation units are suitable for M2M (machine-to-machine) communication.This means that these devices or sensors, sensor data collection interfaces or also evaluation units, can have their own intelligence in the form of built-in computer power, and also their own communication interface, which enables them to record a connection with another device.The establishment of a connection to another device can be initiated independently by the respective device, for example by querying specific conditions or parameters. Alternatively or additionally, the establishment of a connection can also be initiated by explicit external request. This may be a manual request by a human operator, but also a request via a signal transmitted from another device.The sensors, sensor data collection interfaces or evaluation units represent a first side of this communication. Requesting machines, such as a wind turbine, that request weather conditions from a meteorological station are located on the other side of the communication.On the wind turbine 10 according to FIG. 1, a plurality of devices are arranged by way of example, which can carry out the method. Device 11 can be, for example, a wind speed meter, devices 12, 13 and 14 can be sensors which record measurement data of a wide variety of parameters, for example of a rotor of a transmission or of a generator on the wind turbine. Within a wind farm, for example, this wind speed sensor 11 can serve to provide surrounding wind turbines with information about the current wind speed in a limited area. The information can be passed on to other installations via antenna 15. Forwarding of data is not limited to the surrounding environment, as will be shown in the further explanations.According to a further preferred embodiment, the digital accounting method is a decentralized, cryptographic accounting method.According to a further, preferred embodiment, the digital accounting method can be a tangent or blockchain method.In general, both the blockchain and the tangent method use the distributed ledger, which is explained below.Cryptographic accounting methods have become well known since the advent of digital currency such as Bitcoin. Bitcoin, as an example of a cryptographic accounting method, operates on the principle of a "blockchain".A blockchain is a continuously extensible list of data sets, called blocks, which are linked to one another by means of cryptographic methods. Each block typically contains a cryptographically secure "hash", i.e. a scatter value of the preceding block, a time stamp and transaction data.The term blockchain is used more generally for a concept with which a book keeping system can be managed in a decentralized manner and a consensus about the correct state of the book keeping is nevertheless achieved even if many participants are involved in the book keeping. This concept is also referred to as distributed ledger technology. "ledger" means, among other things, "account" or "business book.".In other words, a ledger is, in principle, a distributed, remote database that allows members of a network to collectively read and write access thereto.According to a further preferred embodiment, the digital accounting method used during the data retrieval and accounting method can thus be quite generally a method using distributed ledger technology. This means all methods that can maintain a "distributed account", i.e. a "distributed ledger".This means that a device can be linked to its own electronic account, via which all transactions which have to do with the sensor or the device can be detected.The assignment of such an account to a device is in principle unambiguous and can be realized via specific properties or a generated, non-forged test digit or another electronically generated and assigned unambiguous feature of a device / sensor. Thus, a clear association is ensured among a plurality of such devices / sensors.Sensors / devices with these properties belong to the so-called Internet of Things (IOT= Internet of things).In the case of the tangent method, in contrast to the blockchain technology, the necessary cryptographic calculations are carried out directly within the network and no longer, as in the blockchain outside the network, via so-called "reducers".The term "mining" originates from mining and means "mining". In this process, the above-mentioned "block" (data record) of a blockchain is generated and "laid", that is to say encrypted. The "mine" must solve a mathematical task on their computers, the one first of all being accepted as the "mine". For its operation, this is given a honing device in the form of cryptocurrency.The data can be transmitted via the peer-to-peer network by M2M. The peer-to-peer (P2P) communication means "communication under same.". With respect to a computer network, this means that in a (pure) peer-to-peer network, all subscribers are equally authorized and both take on services and can make them available. With a search function, peers in the network can identify those peers that are responsible for a particular object identifier. A device would therefore represent a member or subscriber of a peer-to-peer networkThe data to be exchanged can be transmitted by the blockchain, tangent or distributed ledger technology mentioned. The actual measurement data flow can be effected both via blockchain or tangent technology and outside. A transmission of the measurement data outside the technology of the cryptographic accounting method is advantageous when the amount of the transmitted data is very large. For this purpose, the devices / sensors involved can set up an additional connection to a corresponding protocol, as is known, for example, for data transmission via the Internet.According to a further preferred embodiment, each of the at least two devices can have a digital wallet via the digital billing method in order to enable billing between the connected devices. This embodiment in particular advantageously uses the properties of the Internet of things and the machine-to-machine communication. In this case, the communication between the two devices / sensors can then preferably take place automatically with one another. This also applies to the data transmission and its accounting. In other words, due to the possibility that a digital koto is assigned to each device, the entire process, namely request, accounting and data transmission, can be carried out fully automatically.According to a further embodiment, at least one of the two devices can also be linked to a billing account of a financial institution. For example, any private owner of a device / sensor that provides relevant data for a wind turbine may thus also engage with a requesting device via a conventional account. As a result, an alternative payment method can be provided to owners of the sensor, sensor data collection interface or evaluation units.According to a further embodiment, a first of the at least two devices can be a sensor or an evaluation unit or a data collection interface. According to a further embodiment, a second of the at least two devices can be a sensor, an evaluation unit or a data collection interface.This ensures that devices of the different categories can communicate with one another. A sensor can thus communicate with a sensor, a sensor can communicate with an evaluation unit, or a sensor can communicate with a data collection interface. Likewise, a data collection interface can make a request to an arbitrary sensor or an evaluation unit and receive data from this. Any combination between devices / sensors requesting data and offering data may be possible.According to a further embodiment, the data recorded by one of the at least two devices can be relevant with respect to the operation of a wind turbine or a wind farm. Likewise, according to a further embodiment, the data can be from the group: meteorological data, operating data of the wind turbine or data with respect to the supplied power network.Weather data is meteorological data that may be relevant to the operation of the wind farm or wind turbine. These include, for example, data such as: wind speed, external temperature, air humidity. From these values, for example, indications on ice buildup on the rotor blades can be detected in advance, and predictively, rotor blade heaters can be activated in order to counteract ice buildup.Data for the wind speed can in turn be used to identify whether a wind power plant should be shut down, for example because of too high a wind speed. If this data is collected from stations that are further away, a forecast can thereby be made for the next time and thus the operation of the installation can be optimized.Data, in turn, which are generated, for example, by corresponding sensors of the power supplier, into the network of which the generated wind energy is fed, can be used to correspondingly regulate a power output of the wind power turbine or of the rotors. Data relating to the power supply system makes it possible to ensure continuous and reliable power supply. Data from the network operator, for example not only from the immediate vicinity of the wind farm, can be used to improve the power output of the rotors of individual installations or of a wind farm.The data that is acquired is not necessarily located within the wind farm in which requesting machines are located, and data from more remote sensors or data collection interfaces or evaluation units may also be used to generate a forecast for the operation of a wind turbine or wind farm. This shows an advantage of embodiments of the present invention. For prediction, not only or predominantly dedicated sensors are used, but also sensors in locations at a relatively remote location can be used. Costs can be saved. Thus, any external operator machine-to-machine (M2M) capable data acquisition devices, such as sensors, can, in principle, provide an unlimited number of interested requesting machines with data that they require to operate.Wind power installations 10 in the wind farm 20- 1, as can be seen in FIG. 2, receive, for example, data from a weather station 21 set up outside the wind farm 20- 1 or from a data collection interface 22, which can likewise also be arranged outside the wind farm 20- 1. As can be seen, another wind farm 20- 2 can likewise access the data of both devices / sensors 21, 22.According to a further embodiment, the at least two devices can each comprise a device requesting data and a device providing these data.In some applications, communication, i.e., data transmission and its billing, will take place between two devices. One is the requesting device which has recognized the need to require data of another device for its operation. The other device is the sensor, the evaluation unit or the data collection interface which has been identified as being able to supply these corresponding data. However, the communication is not limited to a connection between two devices.Alternatively, a plurality of devices can also request corresponding data for one and the same sensor, evaluation unit or data collection interface simultaneously or almost simultaneously.According to a further embodiment, one of the at least two devices can identify at a data market location on which device data to be called is available. The data market place may be constructed so that it can provide information about all possible available data sources to requesting devices / sensors. Such a data market place can be known to several or to each device or sensor requesting data or offering data.For example, a data market place can be a PC or a server that can be reached via a particular Internet address. This can be, in particular, a non-public Internet address which is known only to subscribers or participating devices which have relevant data for the operation of wind turbines or wind farms.Such a data market place in the form of a PC or server, i.e. generally a data processing device, can thus be arranged in any desired location. It can therefore also be located in a wind farm or arranged in a wind power installation.Devices or sensors logged onto a market place can be registered at the data market place, for example, via an identifier, for example, an unique identifier. By means of this unique identifier, each individual device can be unambiguously identified by another device where it is located or what type of data the respective device can acquire or transmit.The data market place does not necessarily have to store, manage or pass the data of the devices or sensors registered on it, but preferably the data market place is suitable for communicating to a requesting device or sensor another suitable sensor or device which can deliver the desired data.The data market place may likewise be suitable for temporarily storing data of the devices / sensors known to it at least temporarily or for a specific time window.If one of the at least two devices requests a data market location to identify which device is sending which data, this advantageously occurs before a P2P and / or M2M connection is established between the at least two devices.This prevents two devices from connecting in order to determine after a connection has been established that the desired data are not present on the requested device. The device that has performed the request or the identification at the data market location identifies itself as one of the at least two devices.Requesting machines / devices can be, for example, from the following groups: machines within the same wind turbine or the same wind farm (computers with applications such as ice detection or condition monitoring) machines outside the wind turbine or the wind farm (e.g. computers of a meteorological service, computers with applications for power trading, etc.).In Fig. 3 there is shown a data market location which, in this example, knows the wind sensor 11 on a wind turbine, a weather station 21, a data collection interface 22 and a data evaluation unit 31.According to another embodiment, an apparatus may be configured to perform a method for data fetching and accounting as set forth above. For this purpose, the device can be arranged in a wind farm, on a wind power plant or at another location, such as a weather station, for example.The device can ideally have a data processing device with a CPU, read-only / random-access memory and its own communication device. The data processing device enables the device to establish an Internet connection or a peer-to-peer connection and / or a machine-to-machine communication via the communication device. As intended in the IOT, i.e. the "Internet of Things" (Internet of Things), the device can establish a connection to another device autonomously, i.e. without excitation from the outside.The device may be requested to obtain new data by an external operation. Thus, for example, when a fault in the supply network, a network fault, a device which is correspondingly responsible for this area, can retrieve data from the supplier / network operator which is responsible for the corresponding supply area. Data can be of particular interest to a wind turbine or wind farm operator in order to be able to go back to the power supply network as quickly as possible with the installations.According to a further embodiment, the device may be adapted to send information about the type of data it collects and its location to a data market place, wherein the data market place has information about the location and the type of data of devices communicating therewith and is additionally adapted to make them available to other devices. Generally speaking, a data market place may be any server suitable for storing the data from various sensors and devices. The data market place may be located anywhere. It can be a computer or server in a wind farm, or a computer or a server in a wind turbine. A computer or server that functions as a data market place can be located at any location outside a wind farm installation or a WKA. The data market place should be accessible from any point via communication means.It should be pointed out at this point that the aspects and embodiments described herein can be combined with one another appropriately, and that individual aspects can be omitted where it is expedient and possible within the scope of the expert's action. Modifications and additions to the aspects described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims

A method of retrieving and accounting data between at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31), wherein at least one of the devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) is located in a wind farm (20-1, 20-2) or a wind turbine (10), comprising: identifying, by one of the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) at a data market location, before establishing an M2M connection between the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) on which device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) the data to be retrieved is available; Determining the device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) that has performed the identification at the data market place as one of the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) establishing machine-to-machine communication between the at least two devices via a communication network; providing a digital accounting method with respect to the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31); exchanging data between the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31); accounting for the transmitted data via the digital accounting method.The method of claim 1, wherein the digital accounting method is a decentralized cryptographic accounting method.The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the digital accounting method is a distributed ledger method.The method of claim 3, wherein the digital accounting method is a tangent or blockchain method.The method of any preceding claim, wherein each of the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) has a digital wallet via the digital billing method to enable billing between the associated devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31).The method according to claim 5, wherein at least one of the two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) is linked to a billing account of a financial institution and the billing of the retrieved data is additionally performed via the account of the financial institution.The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a first of the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) is a sensor (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21), an evaluation unit (31) or a data collection interface (22).The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a second of the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) is a sensor (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21), an evaluation unit (31) or a data collection interface (22).The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the data were respectively acquired from one of the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) and are relevant with respect to the operation of a wind turbine (10) or a wind farm (20-1, 20-2).The method according to claim 9, wherein the data is from the group: meteorological data, wind turbine (10) operating data or data regarding the powered electrical grid.The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the at least two devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) each comprise a device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) requesting data and a device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) providing these data.An apparatus (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) in a wind farm (20-1, 20-2) or in a wind turbine (10) configured to perform a method according to claims 1 to 11.The device (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) according to claim 12, which is adapted to send information about the type of data it has collected and its location to a data market place, wherein the data market place has information about the location and the type of data of devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31) communicating with it and is additionally adapted to make it available to devices (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 31).

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