Page 34 - North American Clean Energy March April 2015

solar energy

he new UC-8112-LX platform
from Moxa is designed for
embedded data acquisition
applications

Breaking Communication Barriers

For effective solar monitoring

By Daniel Liu

PERFORMANCE MONITORING has long been an important topic of solar energy build-up. because the dataloggers and RTUs won’t support an open programming environment to
Designing a monitoring system, however, can be challenging. Until recently, it involved build drivers. his is important and required to properly communicate with equipment,
integrating recording equipment from other industries that didn’t necessarily relate to such as the solar inverters or the weather-base stations.
the issues faced by renewable energy projects.
As a result, system engineers have to rely on the datalogger and RTU providers to build a

Most monitoring system providers, for instance, use traditional remote terminal driver, which can be unstable and expensive.
units (RTUs) or dataloggers for I/O data acquisition. hese dataloggers and RTUs are,
typically, designed for speciic applications (such as for the water/wastewater or the The new monitoring solution
power industries) where they have their own standards.
As an alternate solution to drivers, an increasing number of solar energy monitoring

Most of the industry-speciic RTUs and dataloggers support special protocols, builders are starting to opt for ARM-based computing platforms for their dataloggers
including DNP 3.0, Modbus, and other automation-based Fieldbus protocols. Generally, and RTUs. ARM-based platforms are based on a reduced instruction set of computing
these products come with those protocols out of the box, which make them easy to be architecture. hey are not only cheaper, but also more lexible.
used in that particular market.

However, when it comes to solar monitoring, there are many solar energy equipment For instance, ARM-based computing platforms:
manufacturers. And, every single one of them might use diferent protocols to talk to • Typically come with open-source Linux OS, renowned for its bountiful-free coding
their logger devices. his makes it extremely diicult for solar monitoring engineers
resources on the Linux communities that make it extremely easy to code and develop user
applications;

• Tend to be more cost efective when
MAGERACK SOLAR MOUNTING SYSTEM
compared to traditional dataloggers and
RTU;
$4.50 L-foot and Flashing
• More easily expand network interfaces,
especially Wi-Fi and cellular; and
Patented unique design • Ofer more central processing unit
Absolute waterproofing (CPU) power compared to the RTUs and

Easiest to install dataloggers.
Lowest cost
When choosing an ARM-based platform
for solar monitoring, there are a few key
$11.40 Tile Hook
GreenFasten
TM
points that deserve special attention.
Ideally, these devices should come with:
Strongest tile hook
• An expansion slot that’s available for
Only 0.25” deflection at 452 lb uplift force
diferent wireless interfaces (most of
Height adjustable
Optional flashing
the wireless cards now use Mini PCIe as
Double flashing to meet building code and the standard interface);
roof manufacturer warranty
• he most up-to-date Linux OS, ideally
$0.12/w Debian ARM because of its openness
Mounting System
and ease of use;
UL 2703 Listed, Fire Class ‘A’
• An industrial rating. Note: many ARM-
based CPU boards are readily available
Built-in integrated bonding
in the market at a low price, but aren’t
No WEEB needed
As low as $0.12 per watt industrial-rated—which can result
Including L-foot and flashing
Solar roof mounts for all roof types
in shorter product life cycles that
Strong and reliable
aren’t likely to survive the high and
Up to 8 feet rail span
low luctuating temperatures of solar
www.ecofastensolar.com
510-656-6661 [email protected] applications;
www.magerack.com
• Ready-to-use protocol sample codes to
MAGERACK

34 nacleanenergy.com
MARCH/APRIL 2015