Steam distribution and energy delivery optimization using wireless sensors

Conference · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2011

OSTI ID:1015704

Olama, Mohammed M ^[1]; Allgood, Glenn O ^[1]; Kuruganti, Phani Teja ^[1]; Sukumar, Sreenivas R ^[1]; Djouadi, Seddik M ^[1]; Lake, Joe E ^[1]

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1. ORNL

The Extreme Measurement Communications Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) explores the deployment of a wireless sensor system with a real-time measurement-based energy efficiency optimization framework in the ORNL campus. With particular focus on the 12-mile long steam distribution network in our campus, we propose an integrated system-level approach to optimize the energy delivery within the steam distribution system. We address the goal of achieving significant energy-saving in steam lines by monitoring and acting on leaking steam valves/traps. Our approach leverages an integrated wireless sensor and real-time monitoring capabilities. We make assessments on the real-time status of the distribution system by mounting acoustic sensors on the steam pipes/traps/valves and observe the state measurements of these sensors. Our assessments are based on analysis of the wireless sensor measurements. We describe Fourier-spectrum based algorithms that interpret acoustic vibration sensor data to characterize flows and classify the steam system status. We are able to present the sensor readings, steam flow, steam trap status and the assessed alerts as an interactive overlay within a web-based Google Earth geographic platform that enables decision makers to take remedial action. We believe our demonstration serves as an instantiation of a platform that extends implementation to include newer modalities to manage water flow, sewage and energy consumption.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: ORNL other overhead
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1015704
• Resource Relation: Conference: 2011 SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing, Orlando, FL, USA, 20110425, 20110429
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACOUSTICS
ALGORITHMS
COMMUNICATIONS
DISTRIBUTION
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
IMPLEMENTATION
MONITORING
OPTIMIZATION
ORNL
REMEDIAL ACTION
SENSORS
SEWAGE
STEAM
STEAM LINES
STEAM SYSTEMS
STEAM TRAPS
Energy efficiency
steam distribution system
wireless sensor networks
state estimation
steam trap diagnostics
flow rate estimation
spectrogram