Intelligent electronic device having audible and visual interface

• US 9,322,669 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2013
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EI Electronics LLC (Hubbell, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Electro Industries/Gaugetech
• Inventors: Kagan, Erran
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rao, Sheela S
• Application Number:
  US13/892,695
• Publication Number:
  US 20130314246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,079 Days
• Field of Search: 700/22, 700/32, 700/80, 700/83, 700/108, 700/276, 700/286, 700291-293, 702 58- 62, 340/646, 341/155
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/027 Alarm generation, e.g. communication protocol; Forms of alarm
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/52 Outage or fault management, e.g. fault detection or location
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

An intelligent electronic device having an audible and visual interface for providing audible and visual instructions to a user in an event of an alarm or trouble indication in the electrical power system. The intelligent electronic device includes at least one sensor configured for measuring at least one power parameter of an electrical circuit and generating at least one analog signal indicative of the at least one power parameter; at least one analog to digital converter for receiving the at least one analog signal and converting the at least one analog signal to at least one digital signal; a processor configured for receiving the at least one digital signal and detecting at least one event occurring in the electrical circuit; and an interface configured for providing instructions associated to the at least one detected event. The instructions may be in the form of text, audio and/or video.

Claims

1. An intelligent electronic device for monitoring power usage of an electrical circuit, the intelligent electronic device comprising:

at least one sensor coupled to an electrical circuit associated with a usage point, the electrical circuit coupled to a power distribution network that distributes power to multiple usage points, the at least one sensor configured to measure at least one power parameter of the electrical circuit and generate at least one analog signal indicative of the at least one power parameter;

at least one analog to digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor, the at least one analog to digital converter configured to receive the at least one analog signal and convert the at least one analog signal to at least one digital signal indicative of the at least one power parameter;

a memory for storing at least one digital file, each of the at least one digital file being associated with a respective event that may occur in the electrical circuit and including a graphic indication of the respective event, wherein each event is at least one of an alarm condition and a trouble condition;

a processor configured to receive the at least one digital signal indicative of the at least one power parameter and detect, based on the at least one power parameter, if at least one first event occurs in the electrical circuit, the processor further configured to retrieve, from the memory, the at least one digital file associated with the detected at least one first event when the at least one first event occurs; and

a display device coupled to the processor and disposed on the intelligent electronic device, the display device configured to receive from the processor the retrieved at least one digital file and play the retrieved at least one digital file to provide the graphic indication of the detected at least one first event.

2. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the display device is further configured to provide text instructions on how to rectify the detected at least one first event.

3. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 2, wherein the text instructions are an operating manual associated with the intelligent electronic device.

4. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 2, wherein the text instructions are a checklist for troubleshooting the detected at least one first event.

5. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 2, wherein the text instructions are a flowchart for troubleshooting the detected at least one first event.

6. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the memory is further configured to store at least one instructional audio file on how to rectify at least one event that may occur in the electrical circuit, each of the at least one instructional audio file being associated with a respective event and including spoken instructions on how to rectify the respective event, and further comprising an audio output device coupled to the processor and disposed on the intelligent electronic device, the audio output device configured to receive from the processor the retrieved at least one instructional audio file and play the retrieved at least one instructional audio file to provide spoken instructions, at the intelligent electronic device, on how to rectify the detected at least one first event, the spoken instructions being provided to a user of the intelligent electronic device.

7. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 6, further comprising an audio input device disposed on the intelligent electronic device configured to record spoken instructions on how to rectify at least one event that may occur in the electrical circuit.

8. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the memory is further configured to store at least one instructional video file on how to rectify at least one event that may occur in the electrical circuit, each of the at least one instructional video file being associated with a respective event, the display device being further configured to receive from the processor a retrieved at least one instructional video file and play the at least one instructional video file, causing the display device to provide video instructions on how to rectify the detected at least one first event.

9. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the detected at least one first event is an alarm condition.

10. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the memory is removable.

11. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, further comprising a communication device configured to retrieve at least one second digital file from a remote server over a network and store the at least one second digital file in the memory.

12. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 11, wherein the communication device communicates via Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Internet Protocol Security Protocol (IPSec), Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Protocol.

13. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, further comprising a communication device configured to conduct voice communications to a remote location.

14. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 13, wherein the communication device communicates via GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) data protocol or a 3G protocol.

15. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, further comprising a communication device configured to retrieve the at least one digital file associated with the respective event from a remote server upon detection of the respective at least one first event.

16. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 15, wherein upon detecting the at least one first event, the communication device retrieves updated operating instructions from the remote server.

17. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor, the at least one analog to digital converter, the memory, the processor and the display device are configured in a socket-type meter form.

18. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor, the at least one analog to digital converter, the memory, the processor and the display device are configured in a panel mounted meter form.

19. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor, the at least one analog to digital converter, the memory, the processor and the display device are configured in a switchboard meter form.

20. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor, the at least one analog to digital converter, the memory, the processor and the display device are configured in a A-base front wired meter form.

21. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor, the at least one analog to digital converter, the memory, the processor and the display device are configured in a circuit breaker mounted meter form.

22. A protective relay for monitoring an electrical circuit, the protective relay comprising:

at least one sensor coupled to an electrical circuit associated with a usage point, the electrical circuit coupled to a power distribution network that distributes power to multiple usage points, the at least one sensor configured to monitor at least one parameter of the electrical circuit and generate at least one analog signal indicative of the at least one parameter;

at least one analog to digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor, the at least one analog to digital converter configured to receive the at least one analog signal and convert the at least one analog signal to at least one digital signal indicative of the at least one parameter;

a memory for storing at least one digital file, each of the at least one digital file being associated with a respective event that may occur in the electrical circuit and including a graphic indication of the respective event, wherein each event is at least one of an alarm condition and a trouble condition;

a processor configured to receive the at least one digital signal indicative of the at least one parameter, the processor further configured to detect whether or not at least one first event occurs in the electrical circuit based on the at least one parameter, the processor further configured to retrieve, from the memory, the at least one digital file associated with the detected at least one first event when the processor detects that at least one first event occurs; and

a display device coupled to the processor and disposed on the protective relay, the display device configured to receive from the processor the retrieved at least one digital file and play the retrieved at least one digital file to provide the graphic indication of the detected at least one first event.

23. The protective relay as in claim 22, wherein the display device is a liquid crystal display.

24. The protective relay as in claim 22, wherein the display device is a touch screen.

25. The protective relay as in claim 22, wherein the memory is removable.

26. The protective relay as in claim 25, wherein the memory is at least one of a compact flash card, a memory stick, smartmedia card, multimediacard (MMC) and a secure digital (SD) card.

27. The protective relay as in claim 22, further comprising a communication device configured to communicate data to at least one computing device.

28. The protective relay as in claim 27, wherein the communication device communicates via GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) data protocol or a 3G protocol.

29. The protective relay as in claim 27, wherein the communication device communicates via a USB port.

30. The protective relay as in claim 22, wherein the memory is further configured to store at least one audio file associated with a respective event that may occur in the electrical circuit, and further comprising an audio output device coupled to the processor, the audio output device configured to receive from the processor a retrieved at least one audio file and play the retrieved at least one audio at the intelligent electronic device.