Design and Validation of an IoT System for an Experimental Laboratory Microgrid

Authors

Keywords:

Distributed Generation, Internet of Things, Laboratories, Microgrids, Test Systems

Abstract

In the energy transition context, electrical microgrids facilitate the integration of renewable generation into the electrical grid, improving the electrical system's reliability and accelerating its decarbonization. However, to promote the technological advancement of these grids, it is necessary to develop tools to validate new technologies and solutions, such as using the Internet of Things (IoT) for their operation and control. This work presents the design, implementation, and validation of an IoT system for an experimental laboratory microgrid developed at Universidad Industrial de Santander. The main design phases of the IoT system are described, beginning with the definition of requirements and extending through the component selection. Validation tests are proposed to verify the functionalities of the IoT system. The results demonstrate that the IoT system successfully enables the transmission and reception of data from external users and servers. The reported experience and the proposed validation tests are relevant for researchers interested in implementing IoT-based stages in existing or future laboratory microgrids.

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Author Biographies

Juan M. Rey, Universidad Industrial de Santander

Juan M. Rey was born in Bucaramanga, Colombia in 1989. He received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and a Specialization Diploma in University Teaching from the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), Bucaramanga, Colombia, in 2012 and 2016, respectively. In 2019, he received a Ph.D. degree in Electronics Engineering from the Technical University of Catalonia, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain. In 2022, he was honored by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as a Green Talent. Since 2013, he has been affiliated with the Electrical, Electronic, and Telecommunications Engineering School (E3T), Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia, where he is currently an Assistant Professor. His research interests include power electronics, the design and control of electrical microgrids, and the use of IoT for industrial applications.

Jonathan Gómez, Universidad Industrial de Santander

Jonathan Gómez received the B.Sc. degree in Electronics Engineer from Universidad Industrial de
Santander, Colombia, in 2021. He was finishing a Master’s in Telecommunications Engineering at the
same university. Unfortunately, Jonathan died before submitting this manuscript, which was part of his
master’s thesis. This paper is a tribute to his memory.

Natalia Duarte, DAUTOM

Natalia M. Duarte Muñoz is an industrial designer with over 15 years of experience in industrial business management. She has a specialization diploma in Senior Management from Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia. She is the co-founder and Business Director of Dautom, an Industry 4.0 integration and digital transformation consulting firm, where she works as a strategist in digital transformation for manufacturing and energy industries, product owner, and UI/UX IIoT architectures in enterprise-class solutions. Her research interests are industry business and scalable solutions to empower regional companies through digital transformation.

Iván Hernández, DAUTOM

Iván D. Hernández R. was born in Colombia in 1981. He received a B.Sc. degree in electronic engineering from Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia, in 2006, and a specialization diploma in industrial automation from Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Colombia, in 2016. For the last two decades, he has worked as an Industry 4.0 integrator and Digital Systems Architect, integrating SCADA, MES, IIoT, and data cloud platforms for industrial solutions. He is currently the director of engineering and lead architect at Dautom, a company he co-founded. His research areas include IIoT, UNS, Data Cloud, and scalable industrial control systems.

Maria A. Mantilla, Universidad Industrial de Santander

María Alejandra Mantilla Villalobos is an Electronics Engineer and a Magister in Electronics Engineering.
She received the PhD degree in Engineering from the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS) in Colombia. Currently, she is a professor at the School of Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunications
Engineering at UIS, and a researcher at the Electric Power Systems Research Group - GISEL. She also serves as an associate editor for IET Power Electronics. Her research areas are power electronics, photovoltaic systems, control systems, power quality, active power filtering, electronics prototypes, and electrical
microgrids.

Oscar Quiroga, Universidad Industrial de Santander

Oscar Arnulfo Quiroga Quiroga is an Electrical Engineer from the Universidad Industrial de Santander
(2004), Master in Industrial and Automatic Computing (2010) and PhD in Technology (2012) from the  University of Girona Spain. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS). His research areas include power quality, faults in electrical systems, and electric mobility.

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Published

2024-12-16

How to Cite

Rey, J. M., Gómez, J., Duarte, N., Hernández, I., Mantilla, M. A., & Quiroga, O. (2024). Design and Validation of an IoT System for an Experimental Laboratory Microgrid. IEEE Latin America Transactions, 23(1), 25–35. Retrieved from https://latamt.ieeer9.org/index.php/transactions/article/view/9281

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (2025): Ordinary Issue

Section

Computing

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