System and method for remote commissioning of variable frequency drive

Abstract

As attached

Description

Field of inventionThe present invention, in general relates to remote commissioning and operation of controller drives installed in electric plants. More particularly, the present invention relates to remote configuration and commissioning of Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) for systems with or without Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The invention also finds its utility where motor-driven systems incorporating drives are required to be configured, and commissioned remotely in a server controlled environment.Background of the inventionElectrical facilities such as data centers require a massive amount of energy and it is found in studies that a substantial amount of this goes to cooling systems. Therefore it is no surprise that operatives are constantly looking for ways to lower their facility's Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) by leveraging cooling efficiency practices. One of these ways, which is more particularly effective is integrating variable frequency drive (VFD) into the cooling systems. A variable frequency drive (VFD) is a type of motor controller that drives an electric motor by varying the frequency and voltage of its power supply.Even though the VFD controls the frequency and voltage of power supplied to the motor, it is often referred to this as speed control, since the result is an adjustment of motor speed. Some of the many reasons to adjust the motor speed includes, improving the working environment lower noise levels, for example from fans and pumps; reducing mechanical stress on machines to extend their lifetime, saving peak consumption to avoid peak-demand prices and reduce the motor size required.Prior to VFDs, a significant amount of energy was wasted by running cooling fans and pumps at full speed while adding restrictions to the flow they produce. With VFDs, energy consumption can be reduced by minimizing the need for these restrictions can be accomplished by controlling the speed of the motors using only as much energy as is required to produce the required flow at any time. Subsequently, VFDs are used by various industries across the world, due to its technology that reduces the massive energy requirement, and a very substantial number of facilities have already adopted and invested in VFDs.Most common uses of VFD are for control of fans, pumps and compressors, and these applications account for close to three fourth of all drives operating globally VFD controls the speed of the electric motors in the cooling system by spending only adequate energy to provide the right amount of airflow in said facilities. By installing VDF, the following conditions can be take care of in an automated way: controlling the motor starting current; reducing variation of ac voltage, lowering power demand, controlling speed and acceleration of motors, limit the torque of the motor. The VFD also has the capacity to control ramp-down of the motor during its stopping. In addition, advanced VFDs integrate networking and diagnostic capabilities to better control performance and increase productivity of the facility.Depending upon the requirement of the plant or facility, the VFD's default settings is required to be updated for particular application and requires precise and dynamic motor control on a real-time basis or from time to time. Typically, there are numerous settings of parameters for adjusting the operability of the VFD that needs to be fed to it. The file contain such information presented in a particular manner that can be read by the corresponding VFD, are often referred as configuration file. Some of the mentioned parameters include: Volts-per- Hertz (V / f) control, Self-sensing vector control and Closed-loop vector control. In the existing method of configuration, VFDs cannot be remotely configured, commissioned or replaced efficiently without having first to implement programmable logic controllers (PLCs) incurring heavy cost, which is very much undesirable especially for a facility in a small industry.Often enough, pre-commissioned and running VDF gets faulty after a certain period of time from the time the plant or facility and its components are up and running. Conventional method comes with the problem of longer downtime as the engineers cannot readily transfer the VFD configuration to the faulty VFD. Additionally it is found that, due to certain requirement, only a part of configuration of VFD is required to the updated to resolve the requirement.However, there are no known system or method of partial remote configuration of a targeted VFD with a user's electronic devices such as smartphones, resulting in an unnecessary prolonged time to set up drive configuration for the whole plant. Further, in a relatively smallscale industry, it is almost always necessary to have their PLC for running for any replacement issue of non-functioning or faulty VFDs. In such cases, VFDs cannot be configured for the whole plant at a time without using the PLC along with costly software to configure drive and further hire a trained personnel to handle said software properly.With a view therefore to overcome the technical problems associated with conventional, the inventors felt the need to develop a novel system for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs and method thereof. The present invention proposes to configure the settings in multiple VFDs in a plant from a remote location by sending complete, as well as partial configuration files to the VFDs over a secured network by an authorized personnel by his user device such as laptop, mobile, tablet etc. Further, the present invention allows configuration data of said VFDs along with their unique ID can be store and non-functioning VFD from plant premise can be replaced with a functioning VFD.Summary of the inventionAccordingly the present invention provides a method for remote commissioning of plurality of variable frequency drives (VFDs) in a plant premise, wherein said method comprises the steps of:- registering said plurality of VFDs and plurality of users in a device management center by means of a user device, wherein one of said users is an administrative user with administrative privileges and rest of users are registered user, said registering comprises the steps of:- registering said plurality of VFDs in a network of a web server with their respective unique IDs by said administrative user;- registering said rest of the users with access privileges based on predefined criteria by said administrative user;- authenticating said registered users with respect to their said access privileges upon receipt of at least one configuration file generated by one of said registered users, by means of said device management center, said authenticating comprises the steps of:- sending said configuration file for said VFDs by one of said registered users containing said unique ID as an identifier; and- validating identity and access privileges of said registered user based on said predefined criteria by means of said device management center;- configuring and validating said configuration file containing configuration data, by means of said web server; and- transferring said configuration file to a correspondingly identified VFD for remotely commissioning of said identified VFD, by means of said web server, said transferring comprises the steps of:- validating and identifying said VFD on said configuration file by means of said web server;- identifying said VFD registered in said network by means of said web server;- matching said VFD identified on said configuration file with said VFD identified on said network by means of said web server; and- transferring said configuration file to said correspondingly identified VFD by means of said web server.According to one embodiment of the invention, said configuring and validating said configuration file comprises the steps of:- parsing said configuration data by means of said web server;- reading each section of said configuration file by means of said web server; and- validating each of said section by means of said web server.According to one embodiment of the invention, said configuration file is a complete or partial configuration file comprising:- a header section;- an identification section containing said identifier of at least one of said VFDs;- a VFD configuration section containing said configuration data for said VFD, and- a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) section.According to one embodiment of the invention, said the plant premise comprises a human machine interface (HMI), a local server and a programmable logic controller (PLC) that are connected to said VFDs via an I / O interface. According to one embodiment of the invention, said method comprises the step of storing configuration data of said VFDs along with their unique ID in said device management center by means of said local server in said plant premise, said storing comprises the step of:- backing up working configuration data in respect of each of said VFD from said local server of the plant premise to said device management center;- transferring said configuration data to said web server by means of said local server; and- storing said configuration data tagged with each of said VFDs with their respective unique ID as an identifier.According to one embodiment of the invention, said method comprises the step of replacement of non-functioning VFD from said plant premise with a functioning VFD, said replacement comprises the steps of:- removing a non-functioning VFD from said network of said local server;- plugging-in and thereupon configuring said functioning VFD with a matching device name of that of said non-functioning VFD pre-stored as a key in said network of said web server;- restarting said functioning VFD;- matching of said device names of said functioning VFD with said non-functioning VFD and thereupon enabling the existing configuration data of said nonfunctioning VFD to said functioning VFD by means of said device management center.According to one embodiment of the invention, said unique ID assigned to each of said VFDs relates to an email ID with a predefined domain name in said web server.According to one embodiment of the invention, following the registration of said VFDs and said users in said network, said user can login into said device management center with said domain name and view the available VFD in said network of said web server.According to one embodiment of the invention, storing said configuration data comprises the step of storing a device name of each of said VFDs in the web server as a key to identify said VFD by said device name.According to one embodiment of the invention, said users log-in and thereupon send configuration file to said web server through internet from their respective user devices having said web browser or application.According to one embodiment of the invention, said device management center comprises:- a database operably connected with said web server in real time for storing the information pertaining to the users and said VFDs; and- a device sync service coupled between said database and said local server of said plant premise.According to one embodiment of the invention, said device sync service is configured to read said database to check if any request of modification for said VFD, through said configuration file and update the same to said local server in said plant premise.The present invention further proposes a system for remote commissioning of plurality of variable frequency drives (VFDs) in a plant premise, wherein said system comprises:- a device management center comprising a web server; and- plurality of user devices operably connected to said device management center for setting up and registering said plurality of VFDs and plurality of users, one of said users being an administrative user with administrative privileges and rest of users being registered user,wherein said user devices are configured to:- register said plurality of VFDs in a network of said web server within said device management center, with their unique ID by said administrative user; and- register rest of the users in said network of said device management center with access privileges based on predefined criteria by said administrative user;wherein said device management center is configured to:- receive at least one configuration file generated by one of said users, for said VFDs containing said unique ID as an identifier; and- validate identity and access privileges of said registered users based on said predefined criteria; andwherein said web server is configured to:- validate and identify said VFD from said identifier on said configuration file;- identify said VFD registered in said network;- match said VFD identified on said configuration file with said VFD identified on said network; and- transfer of said configuration file to a correspondingly identified VFD for remotely commissioning said identified VFD.Brief description of drawingsFor better understanding, an illustrative embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will however be appreciated that the embodiment exemplified in the drawings are merely illustrative and not limitative to the scope of the invention, because it is quite possible, indeed often desirable, to introduce a number of variations in the embodiment that have been shown in the drawings. In the accompanying drawings:Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the sending operation of remote configuration from a user premise to a plant premise through device management center according to one embodiment of the invention.Figure 2 is another schematic block diagram illustrating receiving process of remote configuration from a plant premise to a user premise through device management center according to one embodiment of the invention.Figures 3(a) and 3(b) is an exemplary representation of the devices and drives assigned to carry out the remote configuration and commissioning process of the VFDs.Figure 4 illustrates is a flow chart diagram of the complete process of remote configuration and commissioning process of the VFDs, according to one embodiment of the invention.Figure 5 is a flow chart diagram illustrating the initial setup and registration steps of the complete process of remote configuration and commissioning process of the VFDs, according to one embodiment of the invention.Figure 6 is a flow chart diagram illustrating the user authentication steps of the complete process of remote configuration and commissioning process of the VFDs, according to one embodiment of the invention.Figure 7 is a flow chart diagram illustrating the steps pertaining to validation of VFD configuration file in the complete process of remote configuration and commissioning process of the VFDs, according to one embodiment of the invention.Figure 8 is a flow chart diagram illustrating the steps pertaining to discovery of VFDs and transfer of configuration file in the complete process of remote configuration and commissioning process of the VFDs, according to one embodiment of the invention.Figure 9 is a schematic and exemplary representation of the configuration file according to one embodiment of the invention.Figure 10 is a flow chart diagram illustrating the steps pertaining to store back-up of configuration file from the VFDs, according to one embodiment of the invention.Figure 11 is a flow chart diagram illustrating the steps pertaining to replacement of a non-functioning or lost VFDs, according to one embodiment of the invention.Detailed description of the inventionIn the following, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough description of the preferred embodiment. Those skilled in the art will recognize and appreciate that, despite of the detailed nature of the exemplary embodiments provided here; changes and modifications may be applied to said embodiments without limiting or departing from the generally intended scope. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a schematic diagram that shows an example of the presently invented system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of variable frequency drives (VFDs) (102-1, 102-2, 102-3). The system (100), along with it many components, is configured to carry out a process of remote commissioning of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102- 3), as illustrated by a flow chart of figure 4. This system (100) and method remote commissioning may be employed in any reasonably suitable environment, such as in a section of a data center which may employ various motors (142) that ate operably connecter with said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3). However, it should be understood that the system (100) and method disclosed herein may be implemented in other environments and the example of data center are generally denotes a premise, referred hereinafter as plant premise (104), where one or more components such as said motor (142) capable of optimizing the heat generation therein, may be situated.The process comprises four primary steps S1, S2, S3 and S4, where each of said steps comprises sub-steps illustrated in figures 5 to 8 with the help of flow charts. This process of remote commissioning is further utilized in storing (S5) configuration data of said VFDs (102- 1, 102-2, 102-3) along with their unique ID (118) and furthermore replacement (S6) of nonfunctioning VFD from said plant premise (104) with a functioning VFD, illustrated in figures 10 and 11 respectively. The description of the system (100) carrying out the method is an exemplary embodiment which is described below for the purpose of clarity of working of the invention. Another system encompassing the invented system (100), or combination of systems can also be employed to carry out the process of remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3).With reference to figures 1 to 3(b), the system (100) comprises a device management center (110) that aids in communication between the plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in the plant premise (104) and users (106) who operates said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3). Specifically, the communication is established between the VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) and the user's devices (134-1,134-2,134-3) such as a computer, table, or smart device are situated in a user premise (108). According to one embodiment of the invention, as depicted in figure 3(a), the device management center (110) is implemented in such a way that it can be referred as a cloud based server providing its services to said devices used by the users (106). The users (106) generally use a web browser (112) or an application (112) in their respective devices (134-1,134-2,134-3) to establish the communication to the cloud server. The communication link between multiple of user devices (134-1,134-2,134-3) and the device management center (110) in established over a network, such as local network, a wide network, or one or more of the computer devices that, in figure 3(a) is generally referred as the Internet (136).The device management center (110) comprises a web server (114), a database (138) and a device sync service (140). The web server (114) directly communicates with the user devices (134-1,134-2,134-3), and thereupon relay them to said database (138) to be stored and processed. The database (138) is further operably coupled with said device sync service (140) such that inputs received and stored in said database (138) are fed into said device sync service (140). The device sync service (140) is configured to read the database (138) and analyze if any configuration data is modified by the user (106). The device sync service (140) directly communicates with the components plant premise (104), specifically to a local server (128) of said plant premise (104). Thus the communication link is established between the user premise (108) and the plant premise (104), and any modification detected by said device sync service (140) would be updated to the plant premise (104).In the web server (114) of the device management center (110), one of said user (106) with his user device (134-1,134-2,134-3) is required to log-in with predefined administrative privileges. The user with the administrative privileges may be the head operator of the plant having information of the roles of the rest of the users working in said plant premise (104). Upon login, said user registers each of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) into the web server (114) of the device management center (110), tagging each of them with a unique ID (118) of their own, if not already done. The web server (114) being connected with the database (138), transfers all the tagging and identification data to be stored to the database (138). The administrative user is allowed to view and access of the information pertaining to the VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102- 3).The rest of the users (106-1) are then registered and thereupon validated by said administrative user in said web server (114). Rest of the users (106-1), hereinafter referred as registered users (106-1), have restrictive access to the device management center (110), according to predefined conditions based on their role in the plant. The administrative user stores a conditional matching of the registration ID of the users and the VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in the database (138) and unless data matches, any input sent to the web server (114) by said user is discarded. In further embodiments, said administrative user may allow multiple users (106) to access single VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) resulting a collaborative input from said users (106). The system (100) may also allow the registered users (106-1) to ask for access to a certain VFD from the administrative user, based on their change of roles or requirement of a moment.The unique ID (118) assigned to each of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), shown in figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings relates to an email ID (118) with a predefined domain name in said web server (114). Furthermore, said administrative user can also device name for each of the VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), such as device1, device2, etc. With this convenient way, said unique IDs contains the device name as well as the domain name as the email ID such as, device1@domain.com, device2@domain.com, etc. In some other alternative way, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Identifier (URI) can also be implemented while keeping the rest of the process intact.The inputs from the users (106), as described in the specification is that of configuration inputs for the VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), presented in a compact form of configuration file (116). In the present embodiment as depicted in figure 9, the configuration file (116) comprises a header section (120), an identification section (122), a VFD configuration section (124), and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) section (126). When said configuration file (116) is received by the device management center (110), said web server (114) then parses and reads each of said sections of said configuration file (116) and thereupon validates them. The identification section (122) contains the identifier of at least one of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in form of its unique ID (118), device name or both. When the information provided in said identification section (122) is present in the network of web server (114) of said device management center (110), and said user (106) is privileged to access said VFDs (102-1, 102- 2, 102-3) based on his role, only then said web server (114) reads the VFD configuration section (124). Otherwise the configuration file (116) gets discarded.In cases when both the user (106) and the identification section (122) both gets validated, then the VFD configuration section (124) is processed and transferred to said plant premise (104) towards commissioning of the identified VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3). The VFD configuration section (124) an contain both complete as well as partial configuration data, on a case to case basis. The information provided in the VFD configuration section (124) of the configuration file (116) includes, but not limited to include simple text style, markup and / or scripting code, such as Hype1iext Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and JavaScript. The CRC section (126) serves the general purpose of running a predefined error-detecting code to detect accidental changes to digital data in the configuration file (116). A command calculates the CRC value for the configuration file (116) and stores the calculated CRC value in said header section (120) of the configuration file (116). This process of calculation is repeated and, in the event the check values do not match, corrective action can be taken against data corruption. The header section (120) also carries information about the vendor identification and version of the configuration file (116).As discussed above, the device management center (110), more specifically the device sync service (140) establishes the data transfer path from the user premise (108) to the plant premise (104). The plant premise (104) comprises a local server (128) connected with said plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) via an I / O interface (137) to relay signal inputs from users (106). The I / O interface (137), according to the particular embodiment as schematically shown in figure 3(b) is an Ethernet Switch (137), which without any limitation can be replaced with other types of network interface that may be either wired or wireless medium that is capable of transmitting data, such as a local area network (LAN), an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. When the device sync service (140) detects any modification in configuration data for any VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3), same is updated on the local server (128) in the plant premise (104).The VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), are connected to the motors (142) though power cables, and determines the speed to the motor (142) by varying the frequency and amplitude of current drawn from the power source, based on the configuration data received. The plant premise (104) may further comprise programmable logic controller (PLC) (132) and human machine interface (HMI) (130), both being coupled to said Ethernet Switch (137). The PLC (132) and HMI (130) work in conjunction with each other, in a conventional manner. The PLC (132) has to give set point for VFD to control the motor speed, which can be achieved either automatically from the programming embedded in said PLC (132) or by the operator action from the HMI (130). As the inputs from users (106) coming through said device sync service (140) is fed to the local server (128), the system (100) works fine with or without said PLC (132).With reference to figure 2 of the accompanying drawings, present system (100) is configured to store working configuration data from said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) along with their unique IDs (118) and device names. The configuration data is stored in the database (138) of said device management center (110) by means of said local server (128) in the plant premise (104). The configuration data tagged with the unique IDs (118) and device names of respective VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), may then be transferred or copied to the web server (114) so that users (106), upon logging in can access said information.The system (100) is further configured to carrying out a hassle free and fast replacement of non-functioning VFD from said plant premise (104) with a functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3). When the non-functioning VFD is removed from the plant premise (104), the user (106) logs into the web server (114) and renames the new and functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) with the existing name of the old non-functioning VFD. The device management center (110) then matches the devices names and searches for the existing working configuration data tagged with same device name. Thereupon, said configuration data is transmitted to the new VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) by means of said device management center (110).Figures 4 to 8 illustrates the steps of the associated with method of remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) with flow charts. As mentioned, the method primarily comprises steps of S1: initial setup and registration of said plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) and users (106) in the device management center (110); S2: authentication of said users (106) with respect to their said access privileges upon receipt of at least one configuration file (116); S3: configuration and validation of said configuration file (116) containing configuration data; and S4: transfer of said configuration file (116) to a correspondingly identified VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) for commissioning of said identified VFD (102-1, 102- 2, 102-3).With reference to figure 5, at step S1.1, the process begins with logging in of one of said users (106) to said device management center (110) with administrative privileges by means of said web browser (112) in the administrative user's device (134-1,134-2,134-3). Next, at step S1.2, said plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) are registered in a network of the web server (114) within said device management center (110) with their unique ID (118) by said user with administrative privileges. At step S1.3, the administrative user registers rest of the users in said network of said web server (114), as registered users (106-1) with access privileges based on their corresponding roles.With reference to figure 6, after step S1.3 is completed, at step S2.1, one of said users (106) sends of a configuration file (116) for said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) containing a unique ID (118) corresponding to the VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) that works as an identifier. Then at step S2.2, the device management center (110) validates the identity and access privileges of said users (106) based on his corresponding role with respect to whether he is allowed to update the configuration of said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3). Further at step S2.3, the web server (114) in said device management center (110) parse said configuration file (116) received from the user (106).With reference to figure 7, parsing said continues in the initial phase of step S3, which is denoted with step S3.1. Next, at step S3.2, said web serves goes on reading each section of said configuration file (116), and thereupon each section of said sections are validated at step S3.3.With reference to figure 8, the final step of transfer of said configuration file (116) to a correspondingly identified VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) for commissioning of said identified VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) begins at step S4.1 with validation and identification of said VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) from said identifier ID (118) on said configuration file (116) by means of said web server (114). Next, at step 4.2, the web server (114) carries out the identification of said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) from its unique ID (118) registered in said network of said webserver which can also be the database (138) of the device management center (110). At step 4.3, the web server (114) further matches said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) identified on said configuration file (116) with said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) identified on said network. Finally, at step S4.4, the web server (114) transfers said configuration file (116) to the correspondingly identified VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) through said device sync service (140).The process can be utilized in storing (S5) configuration data of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102- 3) along with their unique ID (118) in said device management center (110) by means of the local server (128) in said plant premise (104). The process of storing starts with step 5.1, backing up working configuration data in respect of each of said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) through said local server (128) at said device management center (110). At step 5.2, said configuration data is transferred to said web server (114) by means of said local server (128). Finally, at step 5.3, said configuration data is stored in said web server (114) or said database (138) tagged with each of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) with their respective unique ID (118) as an identifier.The process is further utilized in replacement (S6) of non-functioning VFD from said plant premise (104) with a functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in the plant premise (104). At the beginning step of S6.1, removal of a non-functioning VFD from said network of said local server (128) in the plant premise (104) is carried out. Next, at step 6.2, the functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) is plugged in said local server (128) and thereupon it is configured with a matching device name of that of said non-functioning VFD pre-stored as a key in said network of said web server (114). At step 6.3, the functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) is restarted. At step 6.4, first said device names of said functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) with said non-functioning VFD are matched, and finally the existing configuration data of said non-functioning VFD to said functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) by means of said device management center (110).As already mentioned, the foregoing description is illustrative of the invention and not limitative to its scope, because it will be apparent to persons skilled in the art to devise other alternative embodiments without departing from the broad ambit of the disclosures made herein.Part-List:System 100Variable frequency drives (VFDs) 102-1, 102-2, 102-3Plant premise 104Users 106, 106-1User premise 108Device management center 110Web browser / application 112Web server 114Configuration file 116Unique ID (of VFD) 118Header section 120Identification section 122VFD configuration section 124cyclic redundancy check (CRC) section 126Local server 128Human machine interface (HMI) 130Programmable logic controller (PLC) 132User devices 134-1, 134-2, 134-3Internet 136I / O interface / Ethernet Switch 137Database 138Device sync service 140Motor 142

Claims

1. A method for remote commissioning of plurality of variable frequency drives (VFDs) (102- 1, 102-2, 102-3) in a plant premise (104), wherein said method comprises the steps of: - registering (S1) said plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) and plurality of users (106) in a device management center (110) by means of a user device (134-1, 134-2, 134-3), wherein one of said users (106) is an administrative user with administrative privileges and rest of users are registered user (106-1), said registering (S1) comprises the steps of: - registering (S1.2) said plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in a network of a web server (114) with their respective unique IDs (118) by said administrative user; - registering (S1.3) said rest of the users with access privileges based on predefined criteria by said administrative user; - authenticating (S2) said registered users (106-1) with respect to their said access privileges upon receipt of at least one configuration file (116) generated by one of said registered users (106-1), by means of said device management center (110), said authenticating (S2) comprises the steps of: - sending (S2.1) said configuration file (116) for said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) by one of said registered users (106-1) containing said unique ID (118) as an identifier; and - validating (S2.2) identity and access privileges of said registered user (106- 1) based on said predefined criteria by means of said device management center (110); - configuring and validating (S3) said configuration file (116) containing configuration data, by means of said web server (114); and - transferring (S4) said configuration file (116) to a correspondingly identified VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) for remotely commissioning of said identified VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), by means of said web server (114), said transferring (S4) comprises the steps of: - validating and identifying (S4.1) said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) on said configuration file (116) by means of said web server (114); - identifying (S4.2) said VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) registered in said network by means of said web server (114); - matching (S4.3) said VFD (102 -1, 102-2 or 102-3) identified on said configuration file (116) with said VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) identified on said network by means of said web server (114); and - transferring (S4.4) said configuration file (116) to said correspondingly identified VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) by means of said web server (114).

2. A method for remote commissioning of plurality of variable frequency drives (VFDs) (102- 1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said configuring and validating (S3) said configuration file (116) comprises the steps of: - parsing (S3.1) said configuration data by means of said web server (114); - reading (S3.2) each section (120,122,124,126) of said configuration file (116) by means of said web server (114); and - validating (S3.3) each of said section (120,122,124,126) by means of said web server (114).

3. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 2, wherein said configuration file (116) is a complete or partial configuration file (116) comprising: - a header section (120); - an identification section (122) containing said identifier of at least one of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3); - a VFD configuration section (124) containing said configuration data for said VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3), and - a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) section (126).

4. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 3, wherein the plant premise (104) comprises a human machine interface (HMI) (130), a local server (128) and a programmable logic controller (PLC) (132) that are connected to said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) via an I / O interface (137).

5. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed any of the claims 1 to 4, wherein said method comprises the step of storing (S5) configuration data of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) along with their unique ID (118) in said device management center (110) by means of said local server (128) in said plant premise (104), said storing (S5) comprises the step of: - backing up (S5.1) working configuration data in respect of each of said VFD (102- 1, 102-2, 102-3) from said local server (128) of the plant premise (104) to said device management center (110); - transferring (S5.2) said configuration data to said web server (114) by means of said local server (128); and - storing (S5.3) said configuration data tagged with each of said VFDs (102-1, 102- 2, 102-3) with their respective unique ID (118) as an identifier.

6. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 5, wherein said method comprises the step of replacement (S6) of non-functioning VFD from said plant premise (104) with a functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), said replacement (S6) comprises the steps of: - removing (S6.1) a non-functioning VFD from said network of said local server (128); - plugging-in (S6.2) and thereupon configuring (S6.2) said functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) with a matching device name of that of said non-functioning VFD pre-stored as a key in said network of said web server (114); - restarting (S6.3) said functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3); - matching (S6.4) of said device names of said functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102- 3) with said non-functioning VFD and thereupon enabling (S6.4) the existing configuration data of said non-functioning VFD to said functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) by means of said device management center (110).

7. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 6, wherein said unique ID (118) assigned to each of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) relates to an email ID (118) with a predefined domain name in said web server (114).

8. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 7, wherein following the registration (S1.2, S1.3) of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) and said users (106) in said network, said users (106) can login (S1.4) into said device management center (110) with said domain name and view the available VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in said network of said web server (114).

9. The method for of remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 8, wherein storing (S5) said configuration data comprises the step of storing a device name of each of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in the web server (114) as a key to identify said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) by said device name.

10. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 9, wherein said users (106) log-in and thereupon send said configuration file (116) to said web server (114) through internet (136) from their respective user devices (134-1,134-2,134-3) having said web browser (112) or application (112).

11. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 10, wherein said device management center (110) comprises: - a database (138) operably connected with said web server (114) in real time for storing the information pertaining to the users (106) and said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) ; and - a device sync service (140) coupled between said database (138) and said local server (128) of said plant premise (104).

12. The method for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in claim 11, wherein said device sync service (140) is configured to read said database (138) to check if any request of modification for said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), through said configuration file (116) and update the same to said local server (128) in said plant premise (104).

13. A system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of variable frequency drives (VFDs) (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in a plant premise (104), wherein said system (100) comprises: - a device management center (110) comprising a web server (114); and - plurality of user devices (134-1,134-2,134-3) operably connected to said device management center (110) for setting up and registering said plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102- 2, 102-3) and plurality of users (106), one of said users (106) being an administrative user with administrative privileges and rest of users being registered user (106-1), wherein said user devices (134-1,134-2,134-3) are configured to: - register said plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in a network of said web server (114) within said device management center (110), with their unique ID (118) by said administrative user; and - register said rest of the users in said network of said device management center (110) with access privileges based on predefined criteria by said administrative user; wherein said device management center (110) is configured to: - receive at least one configuration file (116) generated by one of said registered users (106-1), for said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) containing said unique ID (118) as an identifier; and - validate identity and access privileges of said registered users (106-1) based on said predefined criteria; and wherein said web server (114) is configured to: - validate and identify said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) from said identifier on said configuration file (116); - identify said VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) registered in said network; - match said VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3) identified on said configuration file (116) with said VFD (102-1, 102-2 or102-3) identified on said network; and - transfer of said configuration file (116) to a correspondingly identified VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) for remotely commissioning said identified VFD (102-1, 102-2 or 102-3).

14. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in claim 13, wherein said web server (114) is configured to: - parse said configuration data contained in said configuration file (116), - read each section (120,122,124,126) of said configuration file (116), - validate each of said section (120,122,124,126).

15. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 13 to 14, wherein said configuration file (116) is a complete or partial configuration file (116) comprising: - a header section (120); - an identification section (122) containing said identifier of at least one of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3); - a VFD configuration section (124) containing said configuration data for said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), and - a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) section (126).

16. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 13 to 15, wherein the plant premise (104) comprises human machine interface (HMI) (130), a local server (128) and a programmable logic controller (PLC) (132) that are connected to said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) via an I / O interface (137).

17. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in claim 16, wherein said local server (128) is configured to: - back up working configuration data from said device management center (110) in respect of each of said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3); - transfer s aid configuration data to said web server (114); and - store said configuration data tagged with each of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) with their respective unique ID (118) as an identifier in said device management center (110).

18. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 13 to 17, wherein said device management center (110), in case of replacement of non-functioning VFD from said plant premise (104) with a functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3), is configured to: - match the pre-stored device names of said non-functioning VFD with that of said functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3); and - enable the existing configuration data of said non-functioning VFD to said functioning VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3).

19. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 13 to 18, wherein said unique ID (118) assigned to each of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) relates to an email ID (118) with a predefined domain name in said web server (114).

20. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 13 to 19, wherein following the registration of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) and said users (106) in said network, said users (106) can login into said device management center (110) with said domain name and view the available VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) in said network of server.

21. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 13 to 20, wherein said web server (114) stores a device name of each of said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as a key to identify said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) by said device name.

22. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 13 to 21, wherein said users (106) log-in and thereupon send said configuration file (116) to said web server (114) through internet (136) from their respective user devices (134-1,134-2,134-3) having said web browser (112) or application (112).

23. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in any of the claims 13 to 22, wherein said device management center (110) comprises: - a database (138) operably connected with said web server (114) for storing the information pertaining to the users (106) and said VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3); and - a device sync service (140) coupled between said database (138) and said local server (128) of said plant premise (104).

24. The system (100) for remote commissioning of plurality of VFDs (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) as claimed in claim 23, wherein said device sync service (140) is configured to read said database (138) to check if any request of modification for said VFD (102-1, 102-2, 102-3) through said configuration file (116) and update the same to said local server (128) in said plant premise (104).