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Regular inspections of fixed electrical installations, commonly referred to as “annual inspections”, are conducted in both residential and commercial buildings to ensure the safety and proper functioning of power supply systems. However, these inspections necessitate the suspension of power for the entire building, causing significant inconvenience. Residents are unable to use electrical appliances such as air conditioners and lights, and public facilities like elevators and corridor lighting also need to be temporarily shut down. Additionally, users typically only become aware of the system’s operational status during these annual inspections, which may lead to accidents if issues are not detected early.
Three young engineering students from the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) have applied their professional knowledge and technology to revolutionise traditional methods of electrical inspection. By combining Digital Twin technology, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and Building Management Systems (BMS), they created a comprehensive computer model of the building’s electrical system.
This allows for real-time, remote monitoring of the power supply. Users can wear Virtual Reality (VR) glasses to virtually enter the building and remotely inspect and control the power supply. This groundbreaking approach to electrical inspections has earned the project several awards, including seed funding from the Vocational Training Council (VTC) and the Best Intelligent Design Award and Merit Award in the “Smart Repair Solutions” Creative Engineering and Building Design Competition 2022/23 organised by the Urban Renewal Authority and IVE.
The idea for this solution was inspired by a news report about an industrial accident. Currently, electrical engineers need to regularly enter locations where building power supplies are housed for inspection and maintenance. After hearing about an accident where an electrician died from electrocution while repairing a power box in a building’s rooftop machine room, the IVE students sought to improve methods of electrical inspection and monitoring.
Sam Ng, the team leader and IVE Higher Diploma graduate in Electrical Engineering, noted that engineers can easily have accidents like electrocution while inspecting power boxes, especially since these electrical supply installations are usually located in non-public areas. The students hoped to use technology to find new methods that would allow engineers to conduct remote monitoring and inspection, thus reducing the risk of accidents.
Moreover, a major power outage in a city or region significantly disrupts daily life and poses substantial risks to personnel performing repair work under uncertain conditions. Sam mentioned that if potential power failures could be monitored, analysed, and predicted in advance, and early interventions made for repairs, it would help maintain the stability of the power supply and prevent major outages or related accidents.
To address these challenges, Sam and his classmates developed the “Smart Electrical Touch” building power system monitoring platform. Using the IVE (Haking Wong) campus as a test subject, they created a BIM model identical to the campus structure using Digital Twin technology and installed data collection devices in the campus control room. The power data collected by various sensors is transmitted to the Digital Twin model through the internet and Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRa), integrating with the BMS.
This setup allows the building’s structure, electromechanical equipment, energy management, and power data to be displayed in real-time and in 3D within the building model. Users can clearly see the power supply status of any floor or location in the building, identifying potential problems more promptly than during annual inspections, and enabling convenient electrical inspections and tests at any time. When the device analyses the data and predicts possible failures, it issues alerts for necessary inspections and repairs.
Ray Leung, a lecturer in the IVE (Haking Wong) Engineering Department who led the students in this project, stated that the system can monitor, analyse, and predict the building’s power supply status in real time. Engineers can detect power supply anomalies through the system, diagnose and intervene early, and even remotely control power switches to prevent accidents. With VR glasses, engineers can inspect the building as if they were physically there. This approach not only prevents power supply issues or outages but also ensures safety when electricians need to enter control rooms for checks, as they already have an understanding of the system’s problems, thereby reducing accidents.
The system has been trailed at the IVE (Haking Wong) campus for six to nine months with stable results. The innovative combination of Digital Twin, BIM, and BMS concepts earned the team the ITCC Innovation Award & Seed Fund Gold Award from the VTC Enterprise Co-creation Centre (ITCC), with a seed fund of HKD 60,000, as well as the Best Intelligent Design Award and Merit Award in the “Smart Repair Solutions” Creative Engineering and Building Design Competition organised by the Urban Renewal Authority and IVE.
Although the team members are now pursuing bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering at local universities, they are using the seed fund with ITCC’s support to continue improving the system. This includes incorporating artificial intelligence for data analysis and failure prediction, adding variables such as weather and humidity, and implementing power anomaly alert features to enhance system performance. They hope to collaborate with the industry to bring the project to market, addressing challenges faced by the industry and applying the solution not only in Hong Kong but also in other regions.
