Power protection and remediation

• US 9,916,000 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2015
• Issued: 03/13/2018
• 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:
  US14/942,427
• Publication Number:
  US 20170139466A1
• Time in Patent Office: 848 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 electrical loads;

receiving by a data processing apparatus and during a reporting time period, 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 the electrical load; and

a time at which the power characteristics were detected;

determining, by the data processing apparatus, from the reporting data and for each electrical load to which a power management device is coupled, a sensitivity profile for the electrical load that characterizes the ability of the electrical load to maintain a healthy state in the event of input power to the electrical load deviating from a nominal specification, the determining comprising;

determining, for each of a plurality of power characteristics, each at 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 experiencing 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 and a set of power characteristics at corresponding times for the transitions, the corresponding times for each transition including corresponding times before the transition and corresponding times after the transition;

determining, for each transition from a healthy state to a malfunction state, whether the power characteristics in the set of power characteristics are indicative of a cause of the transition; and

determining the sensitivity profile based on the power characteristics that are indicative of causes of the transitions; and

generating, by the data processing apparatus, for each power management device of two or more power management devices, a load-specific protection specification for the power management device based on the sensitivity profile of the electrical load that is coupled to the power management device, wherein the load-specific protection specification is different from a load-specific protection specification for another power management device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein for each electrical load the load-specific protection specification is optimized according to an optimization constraint for the electrical load.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by data communication, the load-specific protection specifications to the respective power management devices.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at each of a plurality of power management devices, a load-specific protection specification that is specific to the electrical load coupled to the power management device;

at each of the plurality of power management devices;

monitoring the input power at the electrical load; and

determining whether the input power is experiencing an input power disturbance that requires, pursuant to the load specific protection specification of the power management device, a protection action for the electrical load;

wherein for a particular input power disturbance at least one power management device determines that an electrical load requires a protection action and at least one other power management device determines that an electrical load does not require a protection action.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating, for each power management device of two or more power management devices, the load-specific protection specification for the power management device based on the sensitivity profile and that is optimized according to an optimization constraint comprises generating the load-specific protection specification that species the electrical load be isolated when a deviation of a power characteristic of the input power is greater than a power characteristic of the input power that has been determined to a cause of a transition from a healthy state to a malfunction state.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the power characteristics describe one or more voltage and current conditions for the electrical load.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the power characteristics describe one or more environmental conditions for the electrical load.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the environmental conditions describe one or more of temperature and humidity for the electrical load.

9. 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 electrical loads;

receiving by a data processing apparatus and during a reporting time period, 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 the electrical load; and

a time at which the power characteristics were detected;

determining, by the data processing apparatus, from the reporting data and for each electrical load to which a power management device is coupled, a sensitivity profile for the electrical load that characterizes the ability of the electrical load to maintain a healthy state in the event of input power to the electrical load deviating from a nominal specification, the determining comprising;

determining, for each of a plurality of power characteristics, each at 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 experiencing 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 and a set of power characteristics at corresponding times for the transitions, the corresponding times for each transition including corresponding times before the transition and corresponding times after the transition;

determining, for each transition from a healthy state to a malfunction state, whether the power characteristics in the set of power characteristics are indicative of a cause of the transition; and

determining the sensitivity profile based on the power characteristics that are indicative of causes of the transitions; and

generating, by the data processing apparatus, for each power management device of two or more power management devices, a load-specific protection specification for the power management device based on the sensitivity profile of the electrical load that is coupled to the power management device, wherein the load-specific protection specification is different from a load-specific protection specification for anther power management device.

10. 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 electrical loads;

receiving by a data processing apparatus and during a reporting time period, 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 the electrical load; and

a time at which the power characteristics were detected;

determining, by the data processing apparatus, from the reporting data and for each electrical load to which a power management device is coupled, a sensitivity profile for the electrical load that characterizes the ability of the electrical load to maintain a healthy state in the event of input power to the electrical load deviating from a nominal specification, the determining comprising;

determining, for each of a plurality of power characteristics, each at 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 experiencing 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 and a set of power characteristics at corresponding times for the transitions, the corresponding times for each transition including corresponding times before the transition and corresponding times after the transition;

determining, for each transition from a healthy state to a malfunction state, whether the power characteristics in the set of power characteristics are indicative of a cause of the transition; and

determining the sensitivity profile based on the power characteristics that are indicative of causes of the transitions; and

generating, by the data processing apparatus, for each power management device of two or more power management devices, a load-specific protection specification for the power management device based on the sensitivity profile of the electrical load that is coupled to the power management device, wherein the load-specific protection specification is different from a load-specific protection specification for anther power management device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein for each electrical load the load-specific protection specification is optimized according to an optimization constraint for the electrical load.

12. The system of claim 10, the operations further comprising providing, by data communication, the load-specific protection specifications to the respective power management devices.

13. The system of claim 10, the operation further comprising:

receiving, at each of a plurality of power management devices, a load-specific protection specification that is specific to the electrical load coupled to the power management device;

at each of the plurality of power management devices;

monitoring the input power at the electrical load; and

determining whether the input power is experiencing an input power disturbance that requires, pursuant to the load specific protection specification of the power management device, a protection action for the electrical load;

wherein for a particular input power disturbance at least one power management device determines that an electrical load requires a protection action and at least one other power management device determines that an electrical load does not require a protection action.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein generating, for each power management device of two or more power management devices, the load-specific protection specification for the power management device based on the sensitivity profile and that is optimized according to an optimization constraint comprises generating the load-specific protection specification that results in an increase in time that the operational load is operating in a healthy state.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein generating, for each power management device of two or more power management devices, the load-specific protection specification for the power management device based on the sensitivity profile and that is optimized according to an optimization constraint comprises generating the load-specific protection specification that results in a decrease in protection actions in response to the input power deviating from the nominal specification to power characteristics that are not determined to be a cause of a transition from a healthy state to a malfunction state.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the power characteristics describe one or more voltage and current conditions for the electrical load.