Development of a web-based remote load supervision and control system

Abstract

The ability to remotely acquire information and even to control appliances/devices at fingertips over the Internet is becoming desirable to the general public as well as professionals. In this paper, a web-based remote electric load supervision and control (WBRELSAC) system with automatic meter reading and demand control via programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is presented. For both utilities and industrial/commercial customers, the electric load supervision and control (ELSAC) system is a critical function to their load management. However, most high voltage customers do not have enough capital to build a regular-scale supervisory control and data acquisition system as the one for utilities. Therefore, we adopt the industrial-widely-used PLCs in WBRELSAC. In order to make a non-web-based PLC become web-controllable, we develop a graphical-control interface and utilize Internet techniques to implement our system. Based on the performance test conducted under the Laboratory environment, the proposed WBRELSAC architecture is cost-effective and suitable for industrial applications.