Energy and Industrial IoT

Smart Metering / Smart Grid

Applications of Energy and Industrial IoT
IoT solutions can benefit businesses, increasing efficiency and enabling:
Reduce the human cost of gathering readings
  • Many areas, especially rural locations, relied on a combination of historical usage and manual meter reading to collect data; this was both resource-intensive and not always accurate.
  • Automated solutions allow for real-time or daily collection of usage, reducing clerical efforts. Service technicians no longer are required to visit homes to collect data.
  • It also has enabled many utilities to let users see their daily usage, which often emphasizes more optimized usage
Reduce the theft of power/water through more real-time information
  • Traditionally, it has been difficult for utilities to detect the theft of power through their standard equipment.
  • Smart Grids' automation enables utilities to understand and improve the energy usage (compared to the power being billed), allowing them to detect a possible theft sooner.
Smart meters enable real-time or scheduled communication with meters in the field.
This allows for utilities to gather information which enables them to:
  • Customized billing plans (such as billing per-use, time of day billing and more)
  • In many jurisdictions, there is no difference in the amount billed at different times of the day/week to the users; this is because the utilities cannot record usage based on the time of day or day of the week used.
  • This means that there is little motivation for users to reduce their usage during peak periods, often causing overloading of the power grid.
  • Smart metering/grid solutions allow utilities the flexibility to bill users based on the time of usage. This means that they can encourage users to move non-essential usage to off-peak hours, saving them money and reducing the demand on the power grid.
Hardware For Smart Metering / Smart Grid
You can use wifi or cellular modules within the meter to relay time of day billing to a collection point. The sensor can timestamp the data coming through for customized billing plans and other uses for real-time data.
Routes and gateways can be collection points for real-time data collection / continuous data collection. Analysis of this data is critical to uncovering hidden profitability for the utilities. Further, utilities can also manage devices and allow changes from a remote location. It is configured remotely through cellular technology.
 
Antennas can be used for data connection to the internet or cellular/wifi network, making it possible for remote locations to have access to connectivity.
Industrial IoT Products for Smart Metering
To develop these applications for your business, you need hardware, software or computing platform and in most cases, custom solutions. Reach out to one of the sales staff to start developing your solution with us.
We carry all the top brands in IoT Routers, Modules and Antennas.
To browse click the links below:
Pipeline / Well Monitoring
Pipelines and wells move commodities that are valuable but usually are labour intensive. Regular monitoring of these delivery systems is difficult and often complicated by their remote location.
IoT Monitoring solutions help companies by:
Providing real-time and historical data about the flow of the commodity
  • One of the issues with pipelines is often the remoteness of the location. It has meant that readings are taken infrequently. This allowed leaks and other problems to go unnoticed for an extended period of time.
  • IoT solutions allow for real-time access to data regarding the flow of the commodity. Operators can use this intelligence to run analytics, resulting in less downtime and product loss.
Provide warnings as to possible threats, including earthquakes, changes in weather patterns or vandalism.
  • Sensor-based IoT solutions allow companies to detect possible threats. This may include an earthquake, a disastrous storm or even the risk of vandalism.
  • While the solution cannot prevent these things, the early warning allows the company to take action, reducing its impact - can shut valves and stop flow,
  • Remote control solutions using IoT-based technology allow companies to remotely close valves, re-route traffic and more from many miles away.
Hardware for Pipeline and Well Monitoring
 
The tracking device or sensor is sometimes combined with the hardware to communicate the data over the cellular network. In this case, a cellular module is built into the all-in-one device and is in charge of communicating the data.
Routers and gateways help to monitor the telemetry of pipelines and wells remotely.
Antennas are used for connectivity for the use of IoT applications with sensors.
Industrial IoT Products for Pipeline / Well Monitoring
To browse top brands in IoT modules, routers, gateways and antennas, click the links below.
Construction sites require rigorous monitoring, to keep control of assets and equipment, and security. IoT solutions help make them safer and more productive by:
Keeping track of the use and location of essential machines, equipment, and tools
  • Construction have a large amount of people and equipment, and it can be easy to lose track of something; even a large piece of machinery.
  • IoT solutions use technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS to keep track of essential items. You can always know where they are and be notified if someone attempts to take them off-site without permission.
Alerting to unwanted access on the site
  • It is a safety issue to keep the construction site restricted to authorized personnel, it is wise for site to alert for unwanted access
  • IoT solutions use a combination of technologies like sonar, infrared and motion sensing to alert unwanted access, especially after hours.
Ensuring the on-time arrival of crucial equipment and materials
  • Construction sites are big business, and any downtime is costly. Many tasks/roles depend on the on-time delivery of critical items, such as pouring concrete.
  • GPS solutions ensure that things arrive where and when they are supposed to.
Providing a reliable and secure connection to critical resources and suppliers
  • When one thinks of a construction site, you may not think of an Internet connection as a required tool. However, like any business, construction sites rely on the Internet for many aspects of their work.
  • From sending/receiving blueprints to placing orders for supplies to sending in time records: a live, secure and quick Internet connection is not an option; it is a must.
  • Cellular-based solutions are portable and can be set up in minute are not vunderlable to accidents like a mistaken line cut.
Monitoring for potential issues, such as temperature/humidity
- Construction sites can be dangerous; sensors are helping to reduce it dramatically.
- They alert to issues that may affect your workers (such as extreme heat/cold and humidity) equipment movement and high wind levels and earthquakes
Cellular Routers, Gateways, or Modems
Cellular routers or Cellular modems are often used to transmit data from sensors through the cellular network to a cloud database. Generally, low-speed, low bandwidth routers including LTE-M/NB IoT routers are well suited to this application. All of Novotech's manufacturer partners carry full lines of LTE-M routers.
Sensors can monitor for various issues, like humidity or motion, on a work site.
Industrial IoT Products for the Construction Industry
To develop these applications for you business, you need hardware, software and in most cases, custom solutions. Reach out to one of the sales staff to start developing your solution with us.
We carry all the top brands in IoT Modules.

Want more? Below are some other applications of IoT that Novotech supports.

IoT in Enterprise (retail, digital signage, network failover, in-building coverage, mobile computing)

IoT in Public Safety (fire, ambulance, police)

IoT in Transportation and Automobile (mass transit, mobile asset tracking, fleet management)