Smart technology is transforming the world around us. We see it everywhere we turn, from turning your central heating on using your phone to city planners monitoring the number of passengers on public transport. Smart technology is probably around more than we can imagine – as the quote from Mark Weiser said, “The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.”.
When looking at smart buildings and cities it can be all too easy to take the data you are viewing at face value. But behind the incredible amount of data collected, stored and analysed are an ever increasing network of sensors. These sensors combine to create an Internet of Things (IoT). The sensors range from simple generic types including temperature and humidity, to specialised sensors such as those that monitor air pollution, to those that are designed for a specific industry or environmental threat such as snow level sensors or tap water contaminant monitoring.
Monitoring power consumption and efficiency has long been a key concern when building smart cities and buildings. Power monitoring sensors have been developed over decades and in many cases devices and systems will make power consumption information available via inbuilt IoT sensors. But what about legacy equipment without smart features or monitoring individual devices as opposed to overall consumption? Up until now this hasn’t been possible to achieve without system downtime & power cable modifications. PowerZook, the new sensor designed by Jacarta, looks to solve this problem. The sensor clamps around standard 3-core 16/32A power cables and, following a brief calibration process, reports power consumption figures via SNMP. There is no need to power down equipment or isolate live cables and physical installation can be completed in less than 5 minutes.
PowerZook helps users to:
- Monitor power consumption
- Analyse system efficiency
- Identify potential overload conditions
- Identify under or over-utilised systems
- Identify unusual power usage patterns
- Identify equipment or power failure
The true test of the success of any smart city or building is ultimately the benefits derived from the data. But through the constant development of the sensors that power them it is now easier than ever to gather accurate and reliable data quickly and easily.
Read more about PowerZook HERE
