Design of an Embedded System for Real-Time Monitoring of Diesel Generator Parameters in Hospitals in Jos, Plateau State

This project designs an embedded system for real-time monitoring of diesel generator operational parameters in hospital facilities in Jos, Plateau State, North Central Nigeria. Hospitals in Jos depend on diesel generators for essential services including operating theatres, intensive care units, and medical imaging equipment due to highly unreliable grid power supply. Undetected generator faults such as low oil pressure, overheating, and fuel exhaustion can cause sudden generator failure, which in hospital settings can have life-threatening consequences. The monitoring system integrates pressure transducers for oil and coolant pressure, a thermocouple for exhaust temperature, a fuel level ultrasonic sensor, a current transformer for load measurement, and a tachometer for engine speed measurement. An STM32F103 microcontroller acquires all sensor data at one-second intervals and displays readings on a touchscreen HMI panel mounted at the generator control station. Critical parameter thresholds are user-configurable. When any parameter exceeds its warning threshold, an audible alert and a visual indicator are activated. Critical fault conditions trigger an automatic engine shutdown relay to prevent equipment damage. All events are logged with timestamps to an SD card for maintenance records. A GSM module sends SMS alerts to the hospital facilities engineer and biomedical department head when warning or shutdown events occur. The prototype was evaluated on a 60kVA generator at a private hospital in Jos over three weeks, successfully detecting two low-oil-level conditions before they reached shutdown threshold. Keywords: generator monitoring, embedded system, hospital power, fault detection, Plateau State.