Understanding your Power Monitoring System
Power monitoring systems can be broken down into five layers of a pyramid. Each layer is essential, depending on the others to perform correctly from the bottom to the top.
Firstly, Metering Devices lie at the pyramid’s base, physically installed at the electrical equipment to capture data.
Communication subsequently moves through the devices to power monitoring systems.
Consequently, the Software and Server rest in the middle of the pyramid, carefully analyzing the data collected, as they are the heart of a system.
Screens then act as the interface between power monitoring systems and the user.
Finally, at the top of the pyramid, we find Reports. For instance, if all the layers below perform as desired, power monitoring systems can provide detailed reports configured automatically or upon request.
5 Reasons to Upgrade your Power Monitoring Systems
1. The Hardware is at the End of Life
The physical components of power monitoring systems are the metering devices and application/database servers. These are electronic devices and have limitations to their useful life. For example, typically a server has a 3-year lifecycle. Additionally, metering devices, on average, have a 10-year lifecycle. Replacing this hardware is essential to maintain system performance.
2 . System Software at the End of Life
The manufacturer updates and replaces the application and database software in conjunction with the system software. After that, support for older versions of the software which provides the updates becomes obsolete and no longer supported by the manufacturer.
3. IT Compliance/ Cybersecurity Requirements Updated to Satisfy Requirements
The natural progression of software applications leads to new defenses against cybersecurity flaws. Software that is no longer supported does not get the updates required to maintain a high protection level from malware or hackers. Corporate IT policies enforce the rules that allow software applications onto the network.
4. New Features are Added to Devices and Application Software
Additionally, as the application software and the device hardware/firmware improve with new technology, the power monitoring system features improve as well. Moreover, access through web applications and mobile applications become available for all user groups.
5. New Functionality Added
For Example:
- Support and device drivers for new metering devices
- Web-based controls for resetting values and changing device configuration settings
- Web-based device management tools
- New alarming and notification tools
- Recent reports for billing and measurement aggregation
- New alarm analysis tools
Don’t Fall Behind
In conclusion, keeping up to date on the latest power monitoring application software and the metering devices that collect this data is the best way to ensure that the facility you are monitoring is capturing, displaying, notifying, and reporting all the desired information to all stakeholders in the facility.
Brian Curnutt, Service Manager APT