Remote Monitoring and Control of the Elevator Simulator Module using Internet of Things

Abstract

The concept Internet of Things is developing in exponential manner. With the new technologies available and hardware compatibility, IoT solutions promise extraordinary potential. PLC is having several advantages such as simple structure, high reliability and ease of maintenance; hence it has been widely used for elevator applications. The objective of implementing IoT system to elevator simulator module is to improve predictive maintenance, remote diagnostics and troubleshooting. This work aims to build an IoT system for PLC operated elevator simulator module to achieve goal of real time monitoring and control without disturbing original functionality of the module. The system is to be developed on four floored elevator simulator module. Currently, PLC on system is not IoT enabled, so an attempt is made to implement IoT on same system without replacement of current PLC. Add-on system is used which includes digital I/O signal box and soft PLC of Automation Studio software supporting OPC DA, which will enable IoT compatibility of the system. OPC protocol is used to transfer the data from PLC to OPC server. Then from OPC server, same data is sent to the cloud for analysis. Finally, performance results of the number of door opening cycles on the elevator simulator module have been satisfactorily performed.