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US 11,079,417 B2Granted
Detection of electric power diversion
AssigneeItron, Inc.
InventorRobert Sonderegger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques for detecting electrical meter bypass theft are described herein. In one example, a time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes associated with electrical consumption measured at a meter are obtained. The time series may track associated voltage and current changes at short intervals (e.g., 5-minutes). The voltage and current changes may indicate a slight voltage change when an appliance is turned on or off. An analysis (e.g., a regression analysis) may be performed on the voltage-changes against the current-changes. Using the correlation from the analysis, it may be determined if the meter was bypassed.
Claims19
A method, comprising:
- obtaining time-stamped voltage and current measurement data measured by an electrical meter;
- obtaining a time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes based on the time-stamped voltage and current measurement data, wherein:
- the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes are determined based on time-stamped voltage and current measurement data measured by the electrical meter;
- the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes comprises a plurality of data points resulting from a plurality of load changes measured by the electrical meter;
- and
- the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes comprises change-data indicating current changes and voltage changes resulting from appliances that are turned on or off;
- performing a regression analysis of the voltage-changes against the current-changes;
- and
- outputting an indication of whether the electrical meter was bypassed.
6 more elements
A meter, comprising:
- a processor;
- a memory, in communication with the processor;
- a metrology unit, in communication with the processor, to provide time-stamped voltage measurements and time-stamped current measurements over time;
- a time-series generator, defined in the memory and executed by the processor, to generate a time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes based at least in part on the time-stamped voltage measurements and the time-stamped current measurements over time, wherein the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes comprises a plurality of data points resulting from a plurality of load changes measured by the metrology unit, and wherein the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes comprises change-data indicating current changes and voltage changes resulting from appliances that are turned on or off;
- an analyzer, defined in the memory and executed by the processor, to perform an analysis on voltage-change data against current-change data, and to perform actions comprising:
- performing a regression analysis of the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes;
- comparing output of the regression analysis to a regression analysis of at least one meter connected to a same transformer as the meter;
- and
- outputting, based at least in part on the comparing, an indication of whether the meter was bypassed.
6 more elements
An electrical meter, comprising:
- one or more processors;
- a metrology unit in communication with the one or more processors;
- memory, in communication with the one or more processors, the memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electrical meter to perform acts comprising:
- measuring voltage and current at the metrology unit;
- creating time-stamped voltage and current measurement data using data output from the metrology unit;
- creating a time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes based on the time-stamped voltage and current measurement data measured by the metrology unit, wherein the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes comprise a plurality of data points, and wherein the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes comprises change-data indicating current changes and voltage changes resulting from appliances that are turned on or off;
- performing a regression analysis of the time-series of voltage-changes and current-changes;
- determining if the electrical meter was bypassed based at least in part on the regression analysis;
- and
- outputting an indication of whether the electrical meter was bypassed.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.