SPIE SAG GmbH is a service provider in the area of high-voltage power distribution, such as the planning, construction, commissioning and maintenance of power plants and transformer stations. As these are central elements in the critical infrastructure of the energy industry, owners are legally obliged to ensure the continuous operation of these facilities.
With its Industry 4.0 solution, SPIE supports energy suppliers in fulfilling this obligation. This visually monitors substations 24/7, processes the images obtained into measurement data and documents all the information required. Algorithms for reading sensors, image recognition software and digital twins predict potential malfunctions, which allows targeted maintenance and thus prevents plant failures.
The algorithms developed by SPIE make it possible to first calculate the optimal position for the cameras to be installed in a digital twin (2D or 3D). Once the system has been set up, algorithms from image processing determine the use cases in which maintenance can be improved. The objects and parameters (limit values, confidence intervals, etc.) that the system is to monitor or evaluate are defined, e.g., counters, critical components, lawns, plants or access points to the site.
The installed camera periodically records these monitoring points, which in the pilot system of the solution are more than 3,000 physical points. It can cover distances of +150 meters and work not only in daylight, but also with thermal and night vision images. Another special feature is that the camera system only records the predefined points and hides everything else. If maintenance personnel are on site, the cameras are automatically deactivated.
In surveillance mode, the system detects intruders such as wild animals and thieves as well as smoke. In these cases, it automatically triggers an alarm and sends push notifications to the responsible personnel. In the event of significant faults such as a fire, the alarm-triggering event is also transmitted directly with a live view.
Based on the system functionalities, a wide variety of plants can be “informed” about all essential control factors (temperature, humidity, vibrations, damage/wear) in one step, without having to install, network and operate individual IoT solutions for these requirements. In addition, the operational running and “needs” of the plant can now be visualized with the collected data. The maintenance team can access this information via a dashboard.
