System for monitoring smart utilities
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Solution Overview
Problem
Technicians and building owners face difficulties in identifying the location of various equipment such as chiller controllers, elevators, fire, and security equipment within buildings for maintenance and inventory purposes.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising smart utilities and a personal smart device that communicates over various telecommunication networks to transmit self-identifying information and activate identifying beacons, allowing for the aggregation and forwarding of location data to a building management system, using protocols like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Zigbee for easy device location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If technicians manually track equipment locations, then inventory management is maintained, but time consumption and labor costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables equipment to automatically report its own location data through embedded identification modules that communicate with portable devices. The equipment self-identifies its location without requiring manual intervention, thereby improving productivity while reducing time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
Location identification data is collected and stored in advance in a centralized database before maintenance activities begin. This preliminary action allows technicians to quickly retrieve equipment locations without spending time searching, thus improving productivity and reducing time loss.
2Ease of repair
If equipment locations are not systematically tracked, then storage space is utilized, but maintenance efficiency decreases due to difficulty in locating devices
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously collects location information from equipment and provides feedback to the centralized database. This feedback mechanism ensures that location information is always current and readily available, improving ease of repair while preventing information loss.
Solution Approach 2:
A portable device acts as an intermediary between the equipment and the centralized database. It retrieves location information from equipment and transmits it to the database, facilitating easy access to location data for maintenance purposes while preserving information integrity.
3Measurement precision
If detailed location tracking systems are implemented, then equipment identification improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking system is segmented into independent modular components: identification modules embedded in equipment, portable devices for data collection, and a centralized database for storage. This segmentation achieves precise location identification while keeping each component relatively simple and manageable.
4Productivity
If manual inventory management is used, then system simplicity is maintained, but productivity and accuracy of equipment location tracking decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements partial automation by using portable devices that technicians manually operate to collect location data, which is then automatically transmitted to the database. This partial automation approach improves productivity and accuracy without requiring fully automated complex systems.
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a system including one or more smart utilities, and a personal smart device configured to: communicate with the one or more smart utilities over one or more networks, instruct the one or more smart utilities to return self-identifying information, and instruct one or more of the one or more smart utilities, individually or as a subgroup, to activate an identifying beacon.