# US 11,309,699 B2 · Control system for and method of fault location, isolation and supply restoration > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,309,699 B2 - Document ID: US11309699B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/761,466 - Filed: 2018-10-17 - Published: 2020-09-17 - Granted: 2022-04-19 - Earliest claimed: 2017-11-08 - Assignees: Electricity North West Property Limited - Applicants: Electricity North West Property Limited - Inventors: Steve Cox - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11309699B2 ## CPC - H02H 3/033: with several disconnections in a preferential order, {e.g. following priority of the users, load repartition}(H02H3/06 takes precedence) - H02H 3/063: {Details concerning the co-operation of many similar arrangements, e.g. in a network (sectionalised protection H02H7/26)} - H02H 7/28: for meshed systems - H02J 3/0073: by providing alternative feeding paths when the main path fails - H02J 3/0012: characterised by the contingency detection means in AC networks, e.g. using phasor measurement units [PMU], synchrophasors or contingency analysis - H02J 13/12: Monitoring network conditions, e.g. electrical magnitudes or operational status - H02J 13/333: the equipment forming part of substations - H02J 13/36: specially adapted for protection systems - Y02B 70/30: Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level - Y02B 70/3225: Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving - Y02E 60/00: Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation - Y04S 10/20: using protection elements, arrangements or systems - Y04S 10/30: State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge - Y04S 10/52: Outage or fault management, e.g. fault detection or location - Y04S 20/221: General power management systems - Y04S 20/222: Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving - H02H: EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS (indicating or signalling undesired working conditions G01R, e.g. G01R31/00, G08B; locating faults along lines G01R31/08; emergency protective devices H01H) - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - Y02B: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION - Y04S: SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS ## Abstract A control system for and a method of fault isolation and electrical power restoration on an electrical network are provided and comprise: a plurality of electrical power supply facilities connectable to a region of a network, the region comprising a plurality of segments, and each segment being connectable to one or more neighbouring segments by a respective switching device; and the method including the steps of: detecting a fault condition within the region; operating the plurality of switching devices connecting the segments within the region so as to disconnect those segments from one another; performing a reconnection routine for each of a plurality of reconnection zones, being run concurrently. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of fault isolation and electrical power restoration on an electrical network of the type comprising: a plurality of electrical power supply facilities connectable to a region of a network to provide electrical power to that region of the network, the region comprising a plurality of segments, and each segment being connectable to one or more neighbouring segments by a respective switching device operable to connect and disconnect electrical power transmission between the segments; and the method including the steps of: detecting a fault condition within the region; performing a reconnection routine for each of a plurality of reconnection zones, each reconnection zone comprising a distinct plurality of adjoining segments within the region and each comprising a segment that is connectable to one of the electrical power supply facilities so that each reconnection zone is associated with a different one of the electrical power supply facilities, the reconnection routines for each of the reconnection zones being run concurrently, and each including the steps a to d of: a) selecting from the set of all unpowered segments within the reconnection zone a single unpowered segment that is connectable to a neighbouring powered segment within the reconnection zone, or is connectible to the electrical power supply facility associated with the reconnection zone, b) operating one or more switching devices to connect the selected segment to provide electrical power to that selected segment, c) determining whether a fault has occurred within the reconnection zone, d) if a fault is determined to have occurred at step c, setting a halt status and identifying the selected segment as the segment causing the fault condition, or else repeating steps a to d until all segments within the reconnection zone are electrically connected to the respective electrical power supply facility, or until a halt status is set by another routine; isolating the segment identified as causing the fault condition by operating the switching devices to disconnect that segment from its neighbouring segments; and operating the switching devices to reconnect the segments within the region to an electrical power supply facility, excluding the identified isolated segment. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of operating the plurality of switching devices connecting the segments within the region so as to disconnect those segments from one another prior to performing the reconnection routines. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrical power supply facilities includes a primary electrical power supply facility associated with supplying electricity to the region, and one or more secondary electrical power supply facilities each connectable to the region via a network interconnection switching device. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein each electrical power supply facility is connected to the network via a respective circuit breaker operable to disconnect the electrical power supply facility from the network in response to a fault condition. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of connecting each electrical power supply facility to its respective reconnection zone prior to performing the reconnection routine. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further including the step of identifying a test subset of the segments within the region within which test subset the fault has occurred, wherein each reconnection zone comprises a distinct plurality of adjoining segments within the test subset. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein each electrical power supply facility comprises at least one of: a substation, a power generator and a power storage device. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the electrical network includes a control system comprising a controller in communication with the switching devices so as to operate the switching devices remotely, and wherein operating a switching device comprises using the controller to operate the switching device remotely. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the control system is operable to perform the reconnection routines. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the controller comprises a processing unit comprising one or more processing cores and being operable to execute a plurality of process threads, and wherein the reconnection routines are processed using different process threads. ### Claim 11 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of electrical power supply facilities includes a primary electrical power supply facility associated with supplying electricity to the region, and one or more secondary electrical power supply facilities each connectable to the region via a network interconnection switching device. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein each electrical power supply facility is connected to the network via a respective circuit breaker operable to disconnect the electrical power supply facility from the network in response to a fault condition. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising a step of connecting each electrical power supply facility to its respective reconnection zone prior to performing the reconnection routine. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the electrical network includes a control system comprising a controller in communication with the switching devices so as to operate the switching devices remotely, and wherein operating a switching device comprises using the controller to operate the switching device remotely. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein the control system is operable to perform the reconnection routines; and wherein the controller comprises a processing unit comprising one or more processing cores and being operable to execute a plurality of process threads, and wherein the reconnection routines are processed using different process threads. ### Claim 16 A control system for performing fault isolation and electrical power restoration on an electrical network, of the type comprising: a plurality of electrical power supply facilities connectable to a region of a network to provide electrical power to that region of the network, the region comprising a plurality of segments, and each segment being connectable to one or more neighbouring segments by a respective switching device operable to connect and disconnect electrical power transmission between the segments; and the control system comprising a controller that is communicatively coupled with the switching devices so as to operate the switching devices remotely, the controller having a processing unit comprising one or more processor cores and being operable to execute a plurality of process threads, the controller being configured to: detect a fault condition within the region; execute a plurality of reconnection routines as threads running concurrently on the one or more processor cores, each reconnection routine being associated with a respective reconnection zone comprising a distinct plurality of adjoining segments within the region and each comprising a segment that is connectable to one of the electrical power supply facilities so that each reconnection zone is associated with a different one of the electrical power supply facilities, the reconnection routine including the steps a to d of: a) selecting from the set of all unpowered segments within the reconnection zone a single unpowered segment that is connectable to a neighbouring powered segment within the reconnection zone, or is connectible to the electrical power supply facility associated with the reconnection zone, b) operating one or more switching devices to connect the selected segment to provide electrical power to that selected segment, c) determining whether a fault has occurred within the reconnection zone, d) if a fault is determined to have occurred at step c, setting a halt status and identifying the selected segment as the segment causing the fault condition, or else repeating steps a to d until all segments within the reconnection zone are electrically connected to the respective electrical power supply facility, or until a halt status is set by another one of the concurrent reconnection routines; operating switching devices associated with the segment identified as causing the fault condition to disconnect that segment from its neighbouring segments; and operating the switching devices to reconnect the segments within the region to an electrical power supply facility, other than the switching devices associated with the identified isolated segment. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The control system of claim 16, further including a plurality of communication devices each associated with a respective switching device, configured to receive communications from the controller to cause the switching device to connect or disconnect the electrical power transmission between its associated segments. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The control system of claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to determine the plurality of reconnection zones and to store data representative of the segments included in each reconnection zone. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The control system of claim 17 wherein the plurality of reconnection zones are determined prior to detecting a fault condition within the region. ### Claim 20 A computer program product for a control for performing fault isolation and electrical power restoration on an electrical network of the type including a plurality of electrical power supply facilities connectable to a region of a network to provide electrical power to that region of the network, the region comprising a plurality of segments, and each segment being connectable to one or more neighbouring segments by a respective switching device operable to connect and disconnect electrical power transmission between the segments, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therein, wherein the program code when executed performs operations, the operations comprising: detecting a fault condition within the region; performing a reconnection routine for each of a plurality of reconnection zones, each reconnection zone comprising a distinct plurality of adjoining segments within the region and each comprising a segment that is connectable to one of the electrical power supply facilities so that each reconnection zone is associated with a different one of the electrical power supply facilities, the reconnection routines for each of the reconnection zones being run concurrently, and each including the steps a to d of: a) selecting from the set of all unpowered segments within the reconnection zone a single unpowered segment that is connectable to a neighbouring powered segment within the reconnection zone, or is connectible to the electrical power supply facility associated with the reconnection zone, b) operating one or more switching devices to connect the selected segment to provide electrical power to that selected segment, c) determining whether a fault has occurred within the reconnection zone, d) if a fault is determined to have occurred at step c, setting a halt status and identifying the selected segment as the segment causing the fault condition, or else repeating steps a to d until all segments within the reconnection zone are electrically connected to the respective electrical power supply facility, or until a halt status is set by another routine; isolating the segment identified as causing the fault condition by operating the switching devices to disconnect that segment from its neighbouring segments; and operating the switching devices to reconnect the segments within the region to an electrical power supply facility, excluding the identified isolated segment.