Power protection and remediation

• US 9,886,082 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2016
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: I-EWM Acquisation, LLC
• Original Assignee: I-EWM Acquisation, LLC
• Inventors: Grimes, Benjamin, Luciani, Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Collins, Gary
• Application Number:
  US15/149,845
• Publication Number:
  US 20170139457A1
• Time in Patent Office: 638 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/305 in the event of power-supply fluctuations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus for collect historical power consumption data and power consumption statistics for one or more locations and devices at the location to generate historical power consumption and health data (“historical data”). The historical data are used to develop and provide multiple different protection and monitoring functions. The system may be deployed within a single customer location, e.g., within a building or a plant, and local analytics are developed at the location. Alternatively, the system may be distributed among several locations for a particular customer or multiple different customers and include cloud-based analytics in addition to, or instead of, local analytics.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method implemented in a data processing apparatus, the method comprising:

for a power customer location that receives power from a power source, the power customer location including a plurality of local distribution branches and wherein each local distribution branch includes a plurality of electrical loads;

receiving reporting data from each of a plurality of power management devices, each power management device coupled to a respective one of the electrical loads and providing power management for the electrical load;

wherein for each power management device the reporting data includes;

power characteristics as detected at an electrical load on the distribution branch; and

a time at which the power characteristics were detected;

determining, from the reporting data, a historical power environment profile for the customer location that describes historical power characteristics for each of the electrical loads on the distribution branches, comprising;

determining, for each electrical load;

determining, for a plurality of corresponding times, an operational state of the electrical load at the corresponding time, wherein the operational states include a healthy state during which the electrical load is not experience a malfunction and a malfunction state during which the electrical load is experiencing a malfunction;

determining, from the operational states at the corresponding times, transitions from a healthy state to a malfunction state;

determining, for each transition from a healthy state to a malfunction state, respective sets of power characteristics at the corresponding times for the transitions, each respective set of power characteristics being for a different electrical load;

determining, based on the historical power environment profile, a combination of electrical loads that results in at least a first electrical load operating in a healthy state inducing power-related malfunctions in at least a second electrical load, comprising;

comparing the respective sets of power characteristics at the corresponding times for the transitions to each other; and

determining that power characteristics for the at least one electrical load of a first type while the at least one electrical load is operating in a healthy state have a positive correlation with transitions from a healthy state to a malfunction state for at least one electrical load of a second type that is different from the first type; and

generating, in response to the determination, an alert that describes the combination of electrical loads.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining a combination of electrical loads comprises determining a combination of electrical loads of two or more different types on a distribution branch that result in at least the one of the electrical loads of the first type and operating in the healthy state on the distribution branch inducing power-related malfunctions in the at least one electrical load of the second type that is different from the first type on the distribution branch.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining, based on the historical power environment profile, a combination of electrical loads of two or more different types that result in at least one of the electrical loads of a first type and operating in a healthy state inducing power-related malfunctions in at least one electrical load of a second type that is different from the first type comprises:

comparing the respective sets of power characteristics at the corresponding times for the transitions to each other; and

determining that power characteristics for the at least one electrical load of the first type have a positive correlation with transitions from a healthy state to a malfunction state for the at least one electrical load of the second type.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the power characteristics describe one or more voltage and current conditions for the electrical load.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the power characteristics describe one or more environmental conditions for the electrical load.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the environmental conditions describe one or more of temperature and humidity for the electrical load.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by a data processing apparatus and that upon such execution cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

for a power customer location that receives power from a power source, the power customer location including a plurality of local distribution branches and wherein each local distribution branch includes a plurality of electrical loads;

receiving reporting data from each of a plurality of power management devices, each power management device coupled to a respective one of the electrical loads and providing power management for the electrical load;

wherein for each power management device the reporting data includes;

power characteristics as detected at an electrical load on the distribution branch; and

a time at which the power characteristics were detected;

determining, from the reporting data, a historical power environment profile for the customer location that describes historical power characteristics for each of the electrical loads on the distribution branches, comprising;

determining, for each electrical load;

determining, for a plurality of corresponding times, an operational state of the electrical load at the corresponding time, wherein the operational states include a healthy state during which the electrical load is not experience a malfunction and a malfunction state during which the electrical load is experiencing a malfunction;

determining, from the operational states at the corresponding times, transitions from a healthy state to a malfunction state;

determining, for each transition from a healthy state to a malfunction state, respective sets of power characteristics at the corresponding times for the transitions, each respective set of power characteristics being for a different electrical load;

determining, based on the historical power environment profile, a combination of electrical loads that results in at least a first electrical load operating in a healthy state inducing power-related malfunctions in at least a second electrical load, comprising;

comparing the respective sets of power characteristics at the corresponding times for the transitions to each other; and

determining that power characteristics for the at least one electrical load of a first type while the at least one electrical load is operating in a healthy state have a positive correlation with transitions from a healthy state to a malfunction state for at least one electrical load of a second type that is different from the first type; and

generating, in response to the determination, an alert that describes the combination of electrical loads.

8. A system, comprising:

a data processing apparatus; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by the data processing apparatus and that upon such execution cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising;

for a power customer location that receives power from a power source, the power customer location including a plurality of local distribution branches and wherein each local distribution branch includes a plurality of electrical loads;

receiving reporting data from each of a plurality of power management devices, each power management device coupled to a respective one of the electrical loads and providing power management for the electrical load;

wherein for each power management device the reporting data includes;

power characteristics as detected at an electrical load on the distribution branch; and

a time at which the power characteristics were detected;

determining, from the reporting data, a historical power environment profile for the customer location that describes historical power characteristics for each of the electrical loads on the distribution branches, comprising;

determining, for each electrical load;

determining, for a plurality of corresponding times, an operational state of the electrical load at the corresponding time, wherein the operational states include a healthy state during which the electrical load is not experience a malfunction and a malfunction state during which the electrical load is experiencing a malfunction;

determining, from the operational states at the corresponding times, transitions from a healthy state to a malfunction state;

determining, for each transition from a healthy state to a malfunction state, respective sets of power characteristics at the corresponding times for the transitions, each respective set of power characteristics being for a different electrical load;

determining, based on the historical power environment profile, a combination of electrical loads that results in at least a first electrical load operating in a healthy state inducing power-related malfunctions in at least a second electrical load, comprising;

comparing the respective sets of power characteristics at the corresponding times for the transitions to each other; and

determining that power characteristics for the at least one electrical load of a first type while the at least one electrical load is operating in a healthy state have a positive correlation with transitions from a healthy state to a malfunction state for at least one electrical load of a second type that is different from the first type; and

generating, in response to the determination, an alert that describes the combination of electrical loads.