Patent US10338017 Energy Financial Settlements

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Patent US10338017

Issued 2019-07-02

Electric Grid High Impedance Condition Detection

Techniques for detecting high impedance conditions in an electrical grid are described herein. In one example, impedance is calculated for each of a plurality of locations within the electrical grid, such as at electrical meters. The impedances may be calculated as a change in voltage divided by a change in current, such as between sequential voltage/current measurements. Statistics may be maintained, including the calculated impedances. In three examples, statistics may be used to identify growth in impedance over multiple days, to identify growth in impedance over multiple hours, and to identify a meter for which impedance is higher than impedance for other meters attached to a single transformer. In a further example, instances of impedance over a threshold value may be identified, from among the maintained statistics. The instances of high impedance may be reported for reasons including cost and safety.

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3 Independent Claims

1. A method of configuring a plurality of meters that are measuring power provided by a transformer, to determine a voltage of a secondary of the transformer, wherein the transformer does not have a voltage meter, the method comprising: under control of one or more processors configured with executable instructions: making a plurality of voltage and current measurements at each of the plurality of meters associated with the transformer; calculating impedance values of each of the plurality of meters associated with the transformer to obtain calculated impedance values, wherein the calculated impedance values are based at least in part on measurements made at each of the plurality of meters; utilizing the calculated impedance values for each of the plurality of meters, and at least some of the plurality of voltage and current measurements, to calculate, for each respective meter, a transformer secondary voltage; averaging the calculated transformer secondary voltages of the respective meters to calculate an averaged transformer secondary voltage value; while power is provided to each of the plurality of meters, detecting at least one of: an instance of the transformer secondary voltage value, calculated by averaging voltages of the plurality of meters, below a first threshold value; or an instance of a change, between sequential updates of calculated transformer secondary voltage, that is greater than a second threshold value; and reporting the detected instance.
8. A circuit card adapted for use in a meter, the circuit card comprising: a processor; memory in communication with the processor; data, based on voltage and current measurements, maintained in the memory; and an analytics application, operable by the processor and defined at least in part in the memory, to input the data and to perform actions comprising: calculating impedance values at the meter to obtain calculated impedance values, wherein the calculated impedance values are based at least in part on the data, and wherein the calculated impedance values are based on measurements made at a plurality of different times and measurements indicating a plurality of different load conditions, wherein the calculated impedance values are based at least in part on measurements made at the meter; utilizing at least some of the calculated impedance values to calculate a secondary voltage value of a transformer to which the meter is connected; and while power is provided to the meter, detecting at least one of: instances of the secondary voltage values of the transformer below a first threshold value; or instances of change between sequential updates of calculated transformer secondary voltage values is greater than a second threshold value; and reporting the detected instances.
16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising: receiving a plurality of measured voltage and current values from a plurality of metrology devices of a plurality of meters, respectively; calculating impedance values of each of the plurality of meters based on the plurality of measured voltage and current values to obtain calculated impedance values, wherein the calculated impedance values are based at least in part on measurements made at the plurality of meters; utilizing the calculated impedance values for each of the plurality of meters, and at least some of the plurality of measured voltage and current values, to calculate, for each respective meter, a transformer secondary voltage value of a transformer; averaging the calculated transformer secondary voltage values of the respective meters to calculate an averaged transformer secondary voltage value; and while power is provided to the plurality of meters, detecting at least one of: instances of the averaged transformer secondary voltage values below a first threshold value; or instances of a change between sequential updates of calculated transformer secondary voltage values is greater than a second threshold value; and reporting the detected instances.