Power quality transducer for use with supervisory control systems
First Claim
1. An apparatus for sensing a disturbance in an electric power signal and for forming a signal representative of the disturbance, the apparatus comprising:
- a. means for sensing a first signal;
b. means for detecting coupled to the means for sensing for detecting a disturbance in the first signal;
c. means for forming coupled to the means for detecting for forming a second signal having an amplitude representative of a first parameter of the disturbance wherein the second signal remains representative of the first parameter for a predetermined period after a disturbance is detected; and
d. means for remotely sampling the second signal during the predetermined period.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting power quality or disturbance events, such as voltage swells, sags or impulses, in power signals at remote locations of a power distribution system and for conveying information relating to the power disturbances to a central location. Voltage and/or current signals in electric power lines are monitored and converted to low level analog signals. The low level signals are processed by analog processing circuits or are digitally sampled and processed by digital processing circuits to detect power disturbances. Each power disturbance is characterized according to multiple parameters. The characterization information is encoded into a single signal. This is done by assigning a subset of a range of possible values of the signal to represent a parameter and then assigning a value within each subset of the range to represent another parameter. A sampling system located at the central location periodically samples the encoded signal at each remote location to collect information relating to power disturbances occurring throughout the power distribution system. Because sampling occurs only periodically, the encoded signal maintains its value for an amount of time after a power disturbance is detected that is long enough to ensure that it will be sampled. Then, the encoded signal returns to the level representative of an absence of a power disturbance until the next power disturbance occurs.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. An apparatus for sensing a disturbance in an electric power signal and for forming a signal representative of the disturbance, the apparatus comprising:
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a. means for sensing a first signal; b. means for detecting coupled to the means for sensing for detecting a disturbance in the first signal; c. means for forming coupled to the means for detecting for forming a second signal having an amplitude representative of a first parameter of the disturbance wherein the second signal remains representative of the first parameter for a predetermined period after a disturbance is detected; and d. means for remotely sampling the second signal during the predetermined period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An apparatus for sensing a disturbance in an electric power signal and for forming a signal representative of the disturbance, the apparatus comprising:
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a. means for sensing a first signal; b. means for detecting coupled to the means for sensing for detecting a disturbance in the first signal; and c. means for forming coupled to the means for detecting for forming a second signal having an amplitude representative of a first parameter of the disturbance and representative of a second parameter of the disturbance. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for sensing a disturbance in an electric power signal and for forming a signal representative of the disturbance, the apparatus comprising:
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a. means for sensing a first signal; b. means for detecting coupled to the means for sensing for detecting a disturbance in the first signal; and c. means for forming coupled to the means for detecting for forming a second signal representative of a parameter of the disturbance wherein the second signal remains representative of the parameter of the disturbance for predetermined period and becomes representative of an absence of a disturbance after the predetermined period. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for collecting data representative of disturbances in an electric power signal comprising the steps of:
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a. sensing an electric power signal; b. detecting a disturbance in the electric power signal; c. characterizing the disturbance according to a first parameter of the disturbance and according to a second parameter of the disturbance; d. generating an encoded signal having an amplitude that is representative of the first parameter and representative of the second parameter. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus for measuring and recording electric power parameters, the apparatus comprising:
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a. a receiving circuit coupled to receive electric power signals from an electric power line; b. a first converting circuit coupled to the receiving circuit for converting the electric power signals to low level analog signals; c. a second converting circuit coupled to the first converting circuit for converting the low level analog signals into a first series of digital values; d. an analyzing circuit coupled to the second converting circuit for analyzing the first series of digital values for determining whether a power disturbance has occurred and, if a power disturbance has occurred, determining a first parameter and a second parameter of the power disturbance and forming an encoded signal wherein the encoded signal is representative of the first parameter and the second parameter and, if no power disturbance has occurred, the encoded signal is representative of the absence of an occurrence of a power disturbance; and e. a sensing circuit for periodically sensing the encoded signal. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification