Integration of residential alarm systems into electric power supplies of vital consumers

This paper presents the incorporation of a residential alarm system into a low cost industrial integrated security system able to secure and control electric supply installations used to power vital industrial consumers such as hospitals, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), safety lighting, security locks of gates and doors or, why not, police precincts and fire departments. The proposed adapted alarm system is designed to exceed the functions of a basic residential security system. The new feature of this modified alarm system consists in its capability to monitor and report the electric faults occurring in the power grid of vital consumers to a cell phone or tablet. Their electric power supply drawn from independent sources of electricity connected to the national power system in distinctive points or from dedicated emergency electric sources (dedicated power generators). The presented alarm system consists of the following components: system simulation platform of the functioning of the automatic transfer switch, residential alarm panel and keypad, communication module. The electric power supply of the vital consumers implies an automatic transfer switch (ATS) that, upon the disconnection resulted due to a defect, switches the vital consumers´ connection to another power source. The automatic transfer switch may be rapid or on a preset timer. When the ATS is triggered in the rapid response mode, as a result of a fault in the electric network, the transfer is performed only if the main source has been disconnected and the electric power reserve has the minimum value of the permissible operating voltage. The timed ATS transfer is performed when the main source voltage level drops below a certain preset value called threshold voltage.