System for the monitoring and maintenance of remote autonomously powered lighting installations

摘要

A system of monitoring and/or maintaining remotely located autonomously powered lights, security systems, parking meters, and the like is operable to receive data signals from a number of the devices, and provide a comparison with other similar devices in the same geographic region to detect a default condition of a particular device, and/or assess whether the defect is environmental or particular to the specific device itself. The system includes memory for storing operating parameters and data, and outputs modified control commands to the devices in response to sensed performance, past performance and/or self-learning algorithms. The system operates to provide for the monitoring and/or control of individual device operating parameters on an individual or regional basis, over preset periods.

主权项

1. A maintenance monitoring system for monitoring an operating status of electrical loads and operating parameters of a plurality of autonomously powered discrete devices, said discrete devices being disposed as part of an array located at a first geographic region, the system further including a processing device provided in a second geographic region remote from said first region,
each discrete device comprising at least one associated electrical load, a generator for generating electricity, a battery for storing electricity produced by said generator and providing electric power to said at least one associated electrical load, a device controller for regulating or controlling a flow of electric power from said generator to said battery and from said battery to said at least one associated electrical load, and a data transmission assembly operable to transmit output data representative of operating parameters of battery storage or discharge performance and the at least one associated electrical load, memory for storing said output data of each said discrete device in said array, the processing device being actuabie to:
compile said output data stored in said memory to determine a regional operating profile for said array for average battery storage or discharge performance over a selected period of time,compile said output data stored in said memory to determine device operating profiles for a selected one of said discrete devices for device battery storage or discharge performance over said selected period of time,compare at least one said regional operating profile and at least one of said device operating profiles, andoutput a data signal if the compared at least one of said device operating profiles falls outside a predetermined threshold difference from the at least one said regional operating profile, the output data signal being selected to provide a distinction between operation anomalies resulting from environmental conditions and operation anomalies that result from a hardware failure and being indicative of a potential maintenance requirement for said selected discrete device, and said predetermined threshold difference being adjustable on the basis of one or more of a performance history of the maintenance monitoring system, a seasonal performance history of the array, and/or an operating history of the discrete devices, andwherein said processing device is operable to effect transmission of testing signals to said discrete devices so as to cause said discrete devices to perform voltage tests and/or short circuit tests.