Monitoring system of thermo-solar plant based on touch-screen interface manageable locally by PC and remotely by Android-based mobile devices

This paper describes a programmable electronic unit for controlling the environmental parameters and managing the electrical functions of a civil/industrial thermo-solar plant. The control unit acquires data from analog sensors, processes these information and commands external actuation devices with dedicated relay outputs, allowing the optimization of plant performances in order to maximize efficiency and energy saving. The designed electronic system has a touch-screen display for graphical interface with users, which makes device programming and managing operations easier. In addition to, the system is accessible via PC terminal on site by means of serial cable with RS232 standard and from Android-based mobile devices connected to internet network for remote monitoring, since the designed control unit is connected to a modem/router device with an RS485/Ethernet adapter.