Read the Whitepaper here

-Ashley

EnerNOC has contracted with a number of companies with gensets, and especially companies with large gensets and large numbers of gensets, for a demand response program (referred to as peak shaving by utilities companies).

The idea is that when power grid capacity is strained – whether by distribution, transmission or generation – EnerNOC contacts the participant company and asks them to start their generators and go offline with their facility. This decreases the demand on the power grid grid.

The savings with participation in this program are huge due to the fact that the utilities companies and public utilities commission don’t have to build as much, or additional, transmission lines nor distribution lines or extra generation.

This is a very interesting project from EnerNOC, and shows yet another use for remote monitoring and control of gensets.

-Lee

Read the Article on the Data Center World Website

-Lee

To download the data map, visit our Support Page. It is the thrid line item under “J1939 Gateway.”

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Caterpillar Marine Engine Video

The development of our SNMP capabilities was originally meant to impact Monico’s ability to monitor in the data center environment. The thousands of PCs in data centers are monitored by a network system. In the past, those data center employees tasked with monitoring the servers had no way to monitor the utilities of the datacenter. These utilities include the vital component of backup power.  With the SNMP capability in the CDL Gateway™, data and information collected from a genset can now be translated and outputted into SNMP and integrated into the data center’s overall monitoring network.

After Monico’s first successful set up of monitoring over an SNMP network in February, we realized that the benefit of this capability stretched farther than just the data center market. In all other industries using industrial engines and gensets for power, those monitoring a company or site’s IT functions have not been able to tie in monitoring of these engines and gensets and vital data was not being collected and used effectively. Now, with a CDL Gateway™, any company’s IT department can collect, use and disseminate that data within the same structure as network management.

All of this lends additional reach and capabilities to our current product line. For more information you can read the included CDL Gateway™ data sheet, download it in PDF format from our Support Page (first line item under the CDL Gateway heading in the left hand column) or simply email sales@monicoinc.com.

-Mark

Lee and I are in Las Vegas this week at AFCOM’s Data Center World Conference. We attended the Keynote Address this morning given by Vivek Kundra, who was the first Chief Information Officer for the United States. He made some great points and observations about efficiency, transparency and data sharing. I am taking a quick break to get this blog in and shoot out some emails. Lee is already attending one of the laundry list of great tutorials, education sessions and product information sessions offered and I am headed back down in just a few minutes.  If you’re here, let us know! We’d love to say hi. (ashley@monicoinc.com; lee@monicoinc.com)

And also, Lee will be presenting tomorrow morning about the process of integrating monitoring into data center topography.

-Ashley

Monico, Inc releases a new product, the Programmable Remote Annunciator, for the annunciation of faults and alarms on industrial engines.

Monico’s new Programmable Remote Annunicator leverages the capabilities of the CDL Gateway™, the only product available that can interpret Caterpillar®’s proprietary engine protocols, and syncs those capabilities with an HMI to create an annunciator panel for Caterpillar® engines and gensets. The Annunciator can also be used with a J1939 Gateway™ or Custom Protocol Converter to provide advanced annunciation on any industrial engine.

The Programmable Remote Annunciator is a 6 inch touch screen specifically programmed to annunciate general events on industrial engines and can be used over Ethernet or Serial networks. The standard product shows events for Common Warnings and Shutdowns.  What makes this annunciator stand apart is the included HMI screen which can also be viewed remotely via a virtual HMI.  The standard product also includes quick reference to basic engine and generator data.  When an event occurs, the associated “General Warning” or “General Shutdown” LED will illuminate.  The user can then view the specific faults leading up to the event.  This, coupled with the basic engine or generator data, provide a powerful solution for quickly determining annunciator needs.

Optional I/O Modules lend to the capability to annunciate any digital input signal and provide an annunciated digital output.  In addition, custom programming can provide a powerful solution for specific customer needs.

“It’s difficult to pass along exactly what this product could do in various situations because of its incredible flexibility. The Programmable Remote Annunciator has almost inexhaustible possibilities,” says Senior Product Development Specialists Bruce Eckley.

This product began development in the Fall of 2011 through work with a Caterpillar® dealer that needed an annunciator product for a customer. Through that process, and additional months of programming and testing, the Programmable Remote Annunciator was shaped to allow industrial engine users to have the benefit of an annunciator panel both on site and remotely.

Visit the Product Page

Screen Shots:

Caterpillar® Online Community Page

Is Your Fuel Supply Ready?

Unfortunately, a general consensus about diesel fuel being “good for life” is a common idea, but this belief is a myth. Many have found this out the hard way, especially in electric power generation. In order to avoid untimely shutdowns, it is imperative that a systematic approach be in place to avoid contaminated fuel.

With today’s fuel injection systems operating at such high pressures, utilizing extremely fine tolerances, the days of poor contamination control are over. Today’s injectors are extremely vulnerable, subject to wear and premature failure as diesel fuel ages and is not maintained properly.

Poor fuel maintenance can also lead to clogging and blockage of fuel filters. This can slow or even stop the flow of fuel, leading to engine starvation, injector damage, poor performance, and ultimately engine shutdown.

Unlike on-highway trucks and off-road machinery that consume fuel relatively quickly, diesel gensets store large amounts of fuel for extended periods. Stored diesel fuel can present symptoms of fuel degradation in as little as six months. In some applications, the genset will see very little use, allowing the fuel to age. This increases the formation of sediments and bacteria in the fuel. In these cases especially, it is critical that this energy source be maintained.

A few things to consider when maintaining the integrity of your diesel fuel supply:

• Have fuel samples been taken from three locations (bottom, middle, top) of tank, and evaluated to properly identify fuel quality?
• Have bacterial and fungal growth inhibitors been added to help combat the effects of fuel being stored for extended periods?
• Does the fuel supply have its own filtration? Does it have the ability to filter down to 0.5 microns under pressure, as well as a fuel/ water seperator to aid in the effort to ensure clean fuel delivery?
• Has there been a thorough inspection of the fuel tank, including interior video inspection, complete equipment inspection (connections, gauges, monitoring devices) as well as identifying non-compliance issues?
• Are proper contamination control precautions being taken when replenishing fuel supply? It is important to ensure that the fuel that is received is from a reputable source, who also takes the proper procautions to ensure quality fuel delivery.

Utilizing these maintenance measures will contribute to the longevity and performace of your investment. A failure due to neglect should not be an option, and is easy to avoid if the proper procedures are put into place.

Article Link

-Lee