Voltage measurement and wireless communication system

• US 10,613,119 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2016
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hubbell, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hubbell, Inc.
• Inventors: Carson, Michael David, Brower, John Edward, Dowdell, Joseph Neuhaus
• Primary Examiner(s): Patidar, Jay
• Application Number:
  US15/738,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20180180648A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,378 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 13/0209 in numerical form
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 13/0218 Circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 15/04 Voltage dividers
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 15/06 having reactive components, e.g. capacitive transformer
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 15/144 Measuring arrangements for voltage not covered by other subgroups of G01R15/14
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 15/26 using modulation of waves other than light, e.g. radio or acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/02 Measuring effective values, i.e. root-mean-square values
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/04 Measuring peak values or amplitude or envelope of ac or of pulses
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/36 using visible light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/84 Measuring functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

A voltage measurement system has a voltage measuring device connected to a device under test by a voltage divider to drop high voltages (e.g., peaking at or above 100 kilovolts) at a measurement point to lower levels for processing by a voltage measurement and wireless printed circuit board. The voltage measuring device communicates raw measurement data wirelessly (e.g., via Bluetooth®) to a remote device such as a mobile phone, laptop or portable meter head having a display and processing device programmed to calculate voltage measurements such has absolute average (ABS AVG), AC root mean square (RMS), +/−peak voltage, and AC or DC coupling. The remote device can wirelessly communicate with multiple voltage measuring devices to capture raw measurement data therefrom for voltage measurement applications with multiple measurement points (e.g., three-phase measurement, and transformer testing).

Claims

1. A system for voltage measurement and wireless communication, the system comprising:

a voltage divider connected to a device under test (DUT) and configured to step down voltage signals from the DUT peaking at least at 100 kilovolts (kV) or above to lower voltages on the order of +/−

100V; and

measuring devices connected to the voltage divider for receiving raw measurement data comprising stepped down voltage signals from the voltage divider, each of the measuring devices comprising a processing device and wireless transceiver, the processing device configured to condition the stepped down voltage signals for wireless transmission via the wireless transceiver as wirelessly transmitted signals; and

a remote device configured for remote operation from the measuring devices and the voltage divider, the remote device comprising a remote processing device, a remote transceiver, a user interface, and a display, the remote processing device configured to

control the remote transceiver to communicate with the transceiver in the measuring device to receive the wirelessly transmitted signals, the received signals comprising the raw measurement data,

store the raw measurement data,

operate the user interface to receive user inputs to select from among a plurality of voltage measurement options,

process at least a selected portion of the raw measurement data to determine the voltage measurement that corresponds to the selected voltage measurement option, and

output the voltage measurement on the display;

wherein the remote device is configured to receive signals from the measuring devices, and each of the measuring devices comprises a visual indicator that is operated to illuminate when that measuring device is paired with the remote device for wireless communication and to discontinue illumination when that measuring device is not paired with the remote device for wireless communication.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transceiver and the remote transceiver are configured to communicate using at least one of ZigBee®

, Bluetooth® and

WiFi.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote device is configured to determine when one or more of the measuring devices is within a designated wireless communication range.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the wirelessly transmitted signals comprise at least an identifier corresponding to the respective one of the measuring devices, the remote device configured to store the raw measurement data in the received signals in a memory device such that it is attributed to the measuring device assigned the identifier.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the wirelessly transmitted signals are associated with a time stamp, one of the plurality of voltage measurement options uses the raw measurement data transmitted from selected ones of the measuring devices, and the remote processing device is configured to determine which raw measurement data corresponds to the selected ones of the measuring devices for at least one of a selected period of time or initiation of a selected voltage measurement using the time stamps and identifiers.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of voltage measurement options is selected from the group consisting of absolute average (ABS AVG), alternating current (AC) root mean square (RMS), peak+voltage, peak−

voltage, frequency, phase angle, AC coupling, and direct current (DC) coupling.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote processing device is configured to determine when at least one of the measuring devices is within range to receive signals therefrom via the remote transceiver, and to display all of the measuring devices determined to be within range.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the user interface is configured to allow a user to select one or more of the displayed measuring devices determined to be within range.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the remote processing device is configured to display at least one of raw measurement data and a voltage measurement for each of the measuring devices on the display.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the visual indicator is a multicolor indicator that is controlled to illuminate a selected color, and the visual indicators of the measuring devices are controlled to illuminate different colors.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the display of the remote device outputs at least one output chosen from an identifier, raw measurement data, and an voltage measurement corresponding to at least one of the measuring devices using its respective one of the different colors.