DRC Compact controls energy monitoring system
The DRC Compact from DH electronics is a cost-effective and powerful solution for connecting sensors, IoT modules and smart devices to the cloud. With its variety of interfaces, robust design and easy expandability, the DRC Compact can be the perfect solution as an edge device between the sensor/actuator world and the cloud. The trade fair demo consists of several components that together form a energy monitoring system. The DRC Compact is the central control unit in this setup. The DRC Compact communicates with the individual components in this setup via various interfaces:
The extension modules from DH electronics are an easy way to add interfaces to an IoT gateway, for example. As a stand-alone version, the modules can be easily connected later via USB. As an integrated version, the modules can be installed directly in an IoT gateway from DH electronics. Various interfaces are already available as expansion modules (LON, RS485, EnOcean, LTE, ...). All collected data and measured values are transferred from the DRC Compact to a cloud via Ethernet. Instead of a PV module, a power source is used in the trade fair demo. This is necessary because a PV module cannot provide satisfactory performance at the trade fair. The battery in this system is charged via the power supply unit and stores the energy generated. The charge controller, which is connected to the DRC Com-pact via RS232, monitors and controls the charging process of the battery.A refrigerator serves as an electronic load, which is supplied by the battery. The refrigerator itself contains an EnOcean temperature sensor that can be read out by the DRC Compact via the EnOcean extension. The data collected on the charging and discharging currents, the battery status, the power consumption and the temperature in the refrigerator are displayed on a graphical user interface. A history of charging and discharging cycles can be easily analyzed. Users can access the DRC Compact and the measurement data via the cloud from any device with a web browser.