Harold M. Jarrett, OmniMetrix LLC, Buford, Ga.

Preventing generator failures with remote monitoring

Remote monitoring provides critical information that can help owners and operators prevent generator failures and ensure power system reliability.

Enabling smart service with remote data

Suppose you are a generator service organization, maintaining customers’ equipment scattered across your state. Let’s further suppose you have extensive knowledge of the historical performance of every machine and know the battery voltage, fuel level, and controls condition of each generator, and that information is always current. Armed with that information, a well-trained technician could readily identify the machines that are at risk of operational failures, and prioritize the replacement of weak batteries or call in fuel where needed, to avoid the failure that is certain to happen without his proactive intervention. Smart service implies the intelligent use of information to achieve a better service process, including: Detecting problems early Scheduling service trips efficiently Preventing predictable failures Minimizing customer downtime Historically in the on-site power industry, technicians have gone from site to site to test machines, record conditions, and collect performance data.