| dc.description.abstract | Namanve thermal power plant is a 50 MW generation plant currently being run and maintained by Uganda Electricity Generation Company limited. The generation plant is used as an emergency backup power source for situations when the country experiences deficiencies in the power supply from the main generation plants. The plant has 7 different generating engines, each rated at about 7.285 MW giving us a total plant generational capacity of 50 MW [1]. These generating engines including several other systems function together during the process of energy production. However, there are occurrences in certain units that could lead to a failure in the whole system. For example, the generators are designed using pneumatically operated valves which are operated using compressed air supplied by the air compressor unit. In case the air compressor trips or malfunctions, the generators will not function and therefore there will be no energy output from the plant. The operator at the plant however faces a challenge of a lack of an efficient monitoring system that enables him or her clearly tell the status of the instrument air compressor unit. This project therefore seeks to design and implement a monitoring system for the instrument air compressor unit using Internet of Things technologies.
Internet of Things (IoT) is a major topic of today’s integration of automation in the industrial sector. We have witnessed automated processing, smart systems and robotics being used more frequently in industries. Internet of things simply refers to the interconnection of several physical devices to the internet through sensors to communicate and effectively perform tasks together.
This project aims to exploit the IoT capabilities such as automation, intelligent systems and faster decision making process, better data analysis, communication devices and many more to build a self- monitoring system for the instrument air compressor at Namanve Thermal Power Plant. The end goal of the project is therefore to employ IoT devices that will function together to monitor the current and voltage supply to the air compressor as well as the pressure in the air bottles. The proposed system will be able to detect using algorithms, the unwanted deviations from normal voltage or current operations and quickly notify the operator at the plant about these occurrences. The system will also enable automatic switchovers between the instrument air compressor and the starting air compressor to ensure continuous supply of compressed air to the pneumatic devices such as the fuel lines. Additional capabilities of this project include remote monitoring of the current and voltage supply to the instrument air compressor, cloud based storage of the data collected by the sensors and low energy consumption in performing tasks since it has few moving parts and low energy consuming units/devices.
This project therefore seeks to design and implement a monitoring system for the instrument air compressor unit using IoT technologies. The proposed system will enable the operator monitor the status at the control room. The key parameters that our system will focus on include the voltage and current levels of the compressor unit supply, the status of the phases and the pressure levels of the compressed air storage cylinders. | en_US |
