IOT News

Industry Background

Driven by the dual imperatives of digital transformation in education and the development of green campuses,energy management at universities has become a critical priority for supporting teaching and research, reducing operational costs, and achieving low-carbon, sustainable development. University campuses are densely populated and feature complex energy-use scenarios across a wide variety of building types—including lecture halls, laboratories, libraries, dormitories, and canteens. The energy infrastructure typically spans electricity, water supply, heating, air conditioning, and lighting systems, making comprehensive management challenging. The National Education System Implementation Plan for Green and Low-Carbon Development explicitly calls for the establishment of campus-wide energy consumption monitoring systems, enabling real-time tracking, precise analysis, and the creation of holistic energy management frameworks.

Pain Points

1.  Data Collection Bottlenecks: University campuses cover vast areas with diverse building functions, resulting in multiple energy types and massive data volumes. Manual meter reading is labour-intensive and slow, making it impossible to detect leaks, spills, or anomalous consumption in a timely manner. An automated approach to energy meter data collection is urgently needed.
2.  Equipment Monitoring Gaps: Energy supply systems include large-scale electromechanical equipment such as chillers, pump sets, cooling towers, and gas-fired boilers. These currently rely on on-site manual supervision, so faults and abnormalities are often not identified quickly, affecting both user comfort and system efficiency. Online monitoring and centralised management of this equipment are essential.
3.  Data Silos and Limited Analytics: Significant information silos exist across different systems, and there is a lack of effective statistical analysis tools for energy consumption and equipment data. Management teams struggle to gain a holistic view of the campus energy landscape, which hinders evidence-based decision-making for energy-saving retrofits and load allocation. The full value of the collected data remains largely untapped.

Solution

WideIOT addresses these challenges by deploying industrial IoT gateways that seamlessly integrate with energy supply system PLCs (covering heat pumps, boilers, chillers, distribution networks, etc.) and utility meters (for water, electricity, gas, and heat). These gateways collect real-time operating parameters and energy data, which is then transmitted to the campus energy management platform via 5G, 4G, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet. This enables visual monitoring, intelligent alerting, remote control, and in-depth data analytics, driving the digital upgrade and refinement of energy management while continually improving overall efficiency.

Key Functionalities

1.  Comprehensive Data Acquisition: The industrial gateways are equipped with multiple communication interfaces and protocol parsing capabilities, enabling full connectivity with PLCs and various energy meters. They collect real-time parameters including flow rates, electricity consumption, pressure, temperature, voltage, current, power, and equipment operational status.

2.  Automated Alerting: Customisable alarm rules can be configured to trigger instant notifications via WeChat, SMS, or email when anomalies are detected, allowing for rapid identification of equipment faults and energy waste, and enabling prompt corrective action.

3.  Equipment Monitoring Dashboard: A centralised visual dashboard provides real-time oversight of heat pumps, boilers, chillers, distribution networks, and other critical assets. It displays status, alarms, maintenance schedules, and consumption trends, helping operators fine-tune operational strategies.

4.  Energy Consumption Analytics: Energy usage—covering water, electricity, gas, and heat—can be tallied by type, zone, and time period. Visualised reports make it easy to pinpoint high-consumption areas and identify energy-saving opportunities, while providing both overall and per-unit consumption metrics.

5.  Remote Control and Management: Authorised personnel can send control commands to remote PLCs, enabling start/stop and on/off switching of air conditioners, pumps, valves, and other equipment. This improves emergency response capabilities and ensures operational safety and supply reliability.

6.  Data-Driven Decision Support: By correlating equipment status with consumption reports, the system uates equipment efficiency, energy costs, and the effectiveness of conservation measures. This provides a solid analytical foundation for strategic decisions, ultimately reducing costs and improving overall performance.