Background

The WebTransmitter has been developed to copy data from the WEB seamlessly into a control system as a 4-20mA signal. Once in the control system, the data can be either merely displayed on the Human Machine Interface (HMI) or used in logic as a Process Variable (PV).

Originally, this system was developed to provide the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) System Marginal Price (SMP) to facility operators due to the high volatility of the electricity price. Additionally, the Natural Gas Exchange (NGX) AECO price was also provided so that the operator would be able to compare the operating costs of the two common energy sources, electricity and gas. Note that the end user has to have an account with NGX in order to obtain the gas price.

The original systems included a pc computer with custom software and an ethernet enabled logic solver. With advancements in ethernet enabled Single Board Computers (SBCs), a simple but powerful system has been developed to do this with a single device - the WebTransmitter!

Features

The WebTransmitter has the following features:

  • Input power can vary from 15Vdc to 30Vdc
  • Two (2) isolated 4-20mA loops
  • One set of 5A 30V dry contacts that, by default, close each time the Internet is queried to monitor the health of the system
  • Remote reset capablity
  • External LCD display to provide status information
  • WEB configurabile settings
These features make the WebTransmitter a powerful tool to monitor energy prices and provide information so that one can optimize the facility for cost effective operations.

Links

Included is a short list of related sites that relate to the WebTransmitter:

 

Version History

Version 1.D - June 22, 2011
  • Add feature to write status info to WebTransmitter DB.
Version 1.C - June 9, 2011
  • Update to ensure that System Update time is correct.
Version 1.B - June 6, 2011
  • Ensure that the system clock is updated with each http request.
Version 1.A - June 5, 2011
  • Complete rewrite using new http client libraries.