System and Method for Providing Voltage Regulation in a Power Distribution Network

• US 20100191389A1
• Filed: 01/29/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: S&C Electric Company
• Original Assignee: S&C Electric Company
• Inventors: Deaver, Brian J. SR., Barnes, Melvin L. JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,301,314 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/298
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/12 for adjusting voltage in ac networks by changing a characteristic of the network load

Abstract

A system, device and method for regulating the voltage at a customer premises that is supplied power via a first medium voltage power line is provided. In one embodiment, the method of using a computer system comprises determining medium voltage (MV) data comprising data of the voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line at a plurality of times, storing the MV data for each of the plurality of times in a memory, determining current data comprising data of a current supplied to the medium voltage power line at the plurality of times, storing the current data at each of the plurality of times in memory in association with the voltage data of the same time. In addition, the method includes receiving low voltage data comprising data of a voltage measurement of a low voltage power line conductor at the customer premises at a plurality of times, storing at least some of the low voltage data in memory in association with MV data that corresponds to the voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line during the voltage measurement of the low voltage power line conductor, and determining a supply voltage to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line based on the current data stored in memory, MV data stored in memory, and the low voltage data stored in memory.

Claims

1. A method of using a computer system to regulate a low voltage at a customer premises supplied power via a first medium voltage power line, comprising:

storing in a memory a plurality of data sets, each data set comprises a supply voltage data, a supply current data, and data of a measured low voltage;

wherein the supply voltage data of each data set comprises data of a voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line;

wherein the supply current data of each data set comprises data of a current supplied to the first medium voltage power line concurrently with the supply voltage of the data set;

wherein the data of a measured low voltage of each data set comprises data of a measurement of a voltage of a low voltage power line conductor receiving power from the first medium voltage power line when receiving the supply voltage and the supply current;

accessing one or more of the plurality of data sets to determine a voltage to supply to the first medium voltage power line; and

outputting data of the determined voltage to supply to the first medium voltage power line.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a present supply current that comprises one from the group of;

a current presently being supplied to the first medium voltage power line and a current to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line; and

wherein said accessing comprises retrieving data of a supply voltage from the memory based on a supply current that satisfies a similarity threshold with the present supply current.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a present supply current that comprises one from the group of;

a current presently being supplied to the first medium voltage power line and a current to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line;

wherein said accessing comprises;

retrieving a first supply voltage and a second supply voltage from memory; and

interpolating between the first supply voltage and the second supply voltage to determine an interpolated voltage.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising supplying the interpolated voltage to the medium voltage power line.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

storing the interpolated voltage and the present supply current in memory in a first data set; and

receiving first data of the measured low voltage comprising data of a measurement of a voltage of the low voltage power line conductor when the first medium voltage power line is provided the interpolated voltage and the present supply current; and

storing the first data of the measured low voltage in the memory as part of the first data set.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein said interpolating comprises interpolating between the first supply voltage and the second supply voltage based on a first measured low voltage forming a first data set with the first supply voltage and a second measured low voltage forming a second data set with the second supply voltage.

7. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

determining data of a new supply current comprising a current supplied to the first medium voltage power line while the interpolated voltage is supplied to the first medium voltage power line;

storing data of the interpolated voltage and the new supply current in the memory in a first data set; and

receiving first data of the measured low voltage comprising data of a measurement of a voltage of the low voltage power line conductor when the first medium voltage power line is provided the interpolated voltage and the new supply current; and

storing the first data of the measured low voltage in the memory as part of the first data set.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting a voltage instruction to a control a voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line by a substation.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said accessing comprises:

selecting from memory data of one or more supply voltages that each form part of a data set in which a supply current of the data set satisfies a similarity threshold with a present supply current; and

determining a present supply voltage based on data of the low voltage measurement of the data set of the one or more supply voltages.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a present supply current that comprises one from the group of;

a current presently being supplied to the first medium voltage power line and a current to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line; and

wherein said accessing comprises retrieving data of a supply voltage of a data set from the memory based on (a) a supply current that satisfies a similarity threshold with the present supply current and (b) data of a measured low voltage that satisfies a similarity threshold with a target low voltage.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said accessing comprises using configuration data, a supply voltage data, a supply current data, and data of a measured low voltage to determine a voltage to supply to the first medium voltage power line.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the configuration data comprises configuration data of a capacitor bank connected to the first medium voltage power line.

13. A method of using a computer to regulate a voltage at a customer premises supplied power via a first medium voltage power line, comprising:

determining medium voltage (MV) data comprising data of the voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line at a plurality of times;

storing the MV data for each of the plurality of times in a memory;

receiving low voltage data comprising data of a low voltage measurement at the customer premises at a plurality of times;

storing at least some of the low voltage data in memory in association with MV data that corresponds to the voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line during the voltage measurement of the low voltage data;

determining a voltage to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line based on the MV data stored in memory and the low voltage data stored in memory; and

outputting the determined voltage.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

determining current data comprising data of a current supplied to the medium voltage power line at the plurality of times; and

storing the current data at each of the plurality of times in memory in association with the MV data of the same time.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said determining a voltage to be supplied comprises determining a voltage to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line based on the MV data stored in memory, the current data stored in memory, and the low voltage data stored in memory.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

determining a present supply current that comprises one from the group of;

a current presently being supplied to the first medium voltage power line and a current to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line; and

wherein said determining a voltage to be supplied comprises retrieving MV data from the memory based on a current data that satisfies a similarity threshold with the present supply current.

17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

determining a present supply current that comprises one from the group of;

a current presently being supplied to the first medium voltage power line and a current to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line; and

wherein said determining a voltage to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line based on the MV data stored in memory, the current data stored in memory, and the low voltage data stored in memory, comprises;

retrieving a first MV data and a second MV data from memory based on their associated current data; and

interpolating between the first MV data and the second MV data to determine an interpolated supply voltage.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising supplying the interpolated supply voltage to the medium voltage power line.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising:

storing the interpolated supply voltage in the memory in association with the present supply current;

receiving first low voltage data comprising data of a measurement of a low voltage at the customer premises when the first medium voltage power line is provided the interpolated supply voltage and the present supply current; and

storing the first low voltage data in the memory in association with data of the present supply current and data of the interpolated supply voltage.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein said interpolating comprises interpolating between the first MV data and the second MV data based on a first low voltage data associated with the first MV data and a second low voltage data associated with the second MV data.

21. The method according to claim 17, further comprising:

determining data of a new supply current comprising a current supplied to the first medium voltage power line while the interpolated supply voltage is supplied to the first medium voltage power line;

storing data of the interpolated supply voltage in the memory storing data of the new supply current in the memory in association with the data of the interpolated supply voltage; and

receiving first low voltage data comprising data of a measurement of the low voltage when the customer premises is provided the interpolated supply voltage and the new supply current; and

storing the first low voltage data in the memory in association with data of the new supply current and data of the interpolated supply voltage.

22. The method according to claim 13, further comprising transmitting a voltage instruction to a control a voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line by a substation.

23. The method according to claim 15, wherein said determining a voltage to be supplied comprises:

selecting from memory one or more MV data, each having an associated current data that satisfies a similarity threshold with a present supply current; and

determining a present supply voltage based on the low voltage data associated with the one or more supply voltages.

24. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

determining a present supply current that comprises one from the group of;

a current presently being supplied to the first medium voltage power line and a current to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line; and

wherein said determining a voltage to be supplied comprises retrieving a voltage data from the memory based on (a) a current data that satisfies a similarity threshold with the present supply current and (b) low voltage data that satisfies a similarity threshold with a target low voltage.

25. A method of using a computer to regulate the voltage at a customer premises supplied power via a first medium voltage power line, comprising:

determining medium voltage (MV) data comprising data of the voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line at a plurality of times;

storing the MV data for each of the plurality of times in a memory;

determining current data comprising data of a current supplied to the medium voltage power line at the plurality of times;

storing the current data at each of the plurality of times in memory in association with the voltage data of the same time;

receiving low voltage data comprising data of a voltage measurement of a low voltage power line conductor at the customer premises at a plurality of times;

storing at least some of the low voltage data in memory in association with MV data that corresponds to the voltage supplied to the first medium voltage power line during the voltage measurement of the low voltage power line conductor; and

determining a supply voltage to be supplied to the first medium voltage power line based on the current data stored in memory, the MV data stored in memory, and the low voltage data stored in memory;

receiving new low voltage data comprising data of a voltage measurement of the low voltage power line conductor at the customer premises taken while the supply voltage is being supplied to the first medium voltage power line; and

storing the new low voltage data in memory in association with data of the supply voltage.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein said storing the new low voltage data comprises storing the new low voltage data in memory in association with data of the supply voltage and in association with data of a current being supplied to the first medium voltage power line during the voltage measurement of the new low voltage data.