POWER MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT WITH REMOTE ACCESS

• US 20120221161A1
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronic Systems Protection Incorporated (Ametek Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Electronic Systems Protection Incorporated (Ametek Incorporated)
• Inventors: Billingsley, Richard J., Dawley, Robert A., Benton, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 10,090,662 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/16547 voltage or current in AC supplies switching for protection H02H; circuits for emergency power supply H02J9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/16576 comparing DC or AC voltage with one threshold G01R19/16514, G01R19/16519, G01R19/16528, G01R19/16533 and G01R19/1659 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 9/541 Contacts shunted by semiconductor devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 9/56 for ensuring operation of the switch at a predetermined point in the ac cycle
• CPC Class Codes: H02H 3/006 Calibration or setting of parameters

Abstract

A supply voltage monitor includes a switch circuit that enables coupling of an AC power supply to a load. A control circuit switches the switch circuit from a non-conductive state to a conductive state, and vice-versa, based upon a state of a state machine implemented by the control circuit, and further reports anomalies in process variables, such as voltage and current levels, temperature, etc., based on the state of the state machine. The transition criteria that is met to compel a transition in state is selectable by a user by way of a user interface. The transition criteria may correspond to different power levels that define a range over which the power is considered nominal and a range over which the power is considered to be an anomaly. The transition criteria additionally define what type of anomalies are reported without a change in the conductivity of the switch circuit.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one power monitor comprising;

a set of input terminals at which to receive input power and a set of output terminals at which to provide output power;

a switch circuit electrically interposed between the input and output terminals and compelled into a conductive state and a non-conductive state in accordance with a signal provided thereto; and

a control circuit to transition between a plurality of states responsive to levels of deviation from a nominal level in a process variable and to provide the signal to the switch circuit in accordance with signal levels thereof assigned to the respective states;

an access device communicatively coupled to the power monitor to provide action criteria data thereto that define state transition boundaries at levels of the process variables corresponding to the amounts of deviation; and

a communication module in the power monitor and a communication module in the access device between which a communication channel is formed over which the action criteria data are transmitted.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuit generates data indicative of an anomaly event when the controller is in one of the states, the anomaly event data being transmitted over the communication channel to the access device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the access device includes:

a user interface to display the anomaly event data and to accept from a user the action criteria data.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further comprising:

a database to store identification data of the power monitor; and

a registration control in the user interface by which the power monitor is registered in the database by storing of a record therein that includes the identification data.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the user interface includes a selection control by which the record is retrieved from the database and the identification data therein is utilized to activate the communication channel between the power monitor and the access device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein action criteria define levels of deviation from a nominal power level in the input power.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the level of deviation from the nominal power level is determined from a measurement of input voltage.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the user interface includes a user control by which a power level value for a state transition boundary, the crossing of which compels an action other than providing the signal to the switch circuit is included in the action criteria data, the action being indicated to the access device upon the crossing of the state transition boundary.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the action compelled by the crossing of the state transition boundary excludes altering the signal in a manner by which the switch is compelled into the non-conductive state.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the action is reporting the deviation from the nominal power level to the access device.

11. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising:

a plurality of the power monitors, wherein the selection control on the user interface compels the retrieval of the record corresponding to one of the power monitors selected thereby and the identification data therein is utilized to activate the communication channel between the selected power monitor and the access device.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the record in the database for each of the power monitors includes a set of the action criteria data for the corresponding power monitor.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the user interface includes a configuration control by which the action criteria data for the power monitors are independently established.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the database includes a log associated with each of the records to record data indicative of the deviation of the process variable from the nominal level for each of the corresponding power monitors.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the user interface includes a report control by which the log data are displayed for each of the power monitors.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the user interface displays the log data for more than one selected power monitors simultaneously.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the process variable is voltage and further comprising additional process variables including any of power monitor ambient temperature, load current draw and energy consumption, each of the additional process variables causing the control circuit to transition between the states responsive to levels of deviation from a nominal level thereof.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of power monitors, each comprising;

a set of input terminals at which to receive input power and a set of output terminals at which to provide output power;

a switch circuit electrically interposed between the input and output terminals and compelled into a conductive state and a non-conductive state in accordance with a signal provided thereto; and

a processor to provide the signal to the switch circuit in accordance with a state of a state machine executed thereon, the state machine transitioning between a plurality of the states responsive to a power anomaly in the input power;

an access device communicatively coupled to the power monitor to provide action criteria data thereto from which boundaries defining the power anomalousness are established; and

a communication module at the access device and at each of the power monitors through which a communication channel is constructed between the access device and at least one of the power monitors.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor transitions through the states that include at least one state that compels generation of the signal and at least another state that reports the power anomaly without compelling a change in the switch state to the non-conductive state.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the access device includes:

a user interface to accept the action criteria data from a user, the user interface including a user control by which one of the power monitors is selected from the plurality of power monitors to provide the action criteria data to the selected power monitor.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising:

a database;

a user control on the user interface by which a user account is created under which identification data for respective power monitors is stored in the database.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising:

a server communicatively coupled to the power monitors through a communication network, the server controlling access to the identification data in the database through the user account.

23. The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising:

a database, wherein access to the database is controlled by the access device.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the communication channel is formed in accordance with the Internet Protocol/Transport Control Protocol communication suite.

25. A method comprising:

receiving action criteria data by a power monitor through a communication channel;

configuring a state machine from the action criteria data;

determining whether an anomaly is present in a process variable of the power monitor;

compelling a state transition in the state machine in accordance with the presence of the anomaly; and

selectively providing the input power to a load in accordance with the state of the state machine.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

accepting the action criteria data from a user through a user control on the power monitor; and

transmitting the accepted action criteria data to the power monitor over the communication channel.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

associating a plurality of the power monitors with the user through a record stored in a database;

establishing a plurality of the communication channels between the access device and respective power monitors; and

receiving report data from each of the power monitors at the access device, the report data including data indicative of anomalies in the process variable at each of the power monitors.

28. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

establishing input voltage of the power monitor as the process variable.

29. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

establishing voltage as the process variable and any power monitor ambient temperature, load current draw and energy consumption as additional process variables, each of the additional process variables causing the control circuit to transition between the states responsive to levels of deviation from a nominal level thereof, wherein compelling the state transition includes compelling the state transition in the state machine in accordance with the presence of the anomaly in the additional process variables.