Method and apparatus for determining line sag in a conductor span
AssigneeQuanta Associates, L.P.
InventorBenjamin James Harvey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for calculating line sag in a span of a conductor is provided. The method includes using a portable smart device having one or more accelerometers and running a line sag application on the processing device. The line sag application enables acceleration data of return waves generated on the conductor to be collected using the smart device and to be plotted as a function of time for display on the smart device. The method further includes placement of time markers on the plotted data displayed on the smart device to determine elapsed time and calculating line sag using the elapsed time.
Claims18
A method for accurately calculating line sag in a suspended power line using a smart device which is operatively coupled to the power line and has at least an accelerometer, an interactive interface, a processor, and a memory, the method comprising:
- using the smart device, recording acceleration and timings of a subset of a plurality of return waves generated in the power line due to a mechanical wave induced on the power line, wherein a first return wave of the subset has a first number of harmonics and wherein a subsequent second return wave of the subset has a second number of harmonics, and wherein the first number of harmonics is equal to the second number of harmonics;
- using the recorded acceleration and timings, generating a graphical waveform representation of the subset of the plurality of return waves;
- using the interactive interface, displaying the graphical waveform representation including the harmonics of at least the first return wave and the second return wave;
- using the interactive interface, selecting a harmonic of the first return wave and placing a start marker on a displayed inflection of the selected harmonic of the first return wave;
- using the interactive interface, selecting a harmonic of the second return wave, wherein the selected harmonic of the second return wave corresponds to the selected harmonic of the first wave, and placing a stop marker on a corresponding inflection of the corresponding selected harmonic of the second return wave;
- and
- using the placement of the start marker and the stop marker for accurately calculating the line sag.
A portable, modular smart system for accurately calculating line sag in a suspended power line, the system comprising:
- at least one waveform generation component that, in operation, performs the following steps:
- records acceleration and timings of a subset of a plurality of return waves generated in the power line due to a mechanical wave induced on the power line, and
- generates a graphical waveform representation of the subset of the plurality of return waves using the recorded acceleration and timings, wherein a first return wave of the subset has a first number of harmonics and wherein a subsequent second return wave of the subset has a second number of harmonics, and wherein the first number of harmonics is equal to the second number of harmonics;
- and
- an interactive interface facilitating:
- display of the graphical waveform representation including the harmonics of at least the first return wave and second return wave,
- selection of a harmonic of the first return wave and placement of a start marker on a displayed inflection of the selected harmonic of the first return wave, and
- selection of a harmonic of the second return wave, wherein the selected harmonic of the second return wave corresponds to the selected harmonic of the first wave, and placement of a stop marker on a corresponding inflection of the corresponding selected harmonic of the second return wave;
- and
- wherein the placement of the start marker and the stop marker is used for accurately calculating the line sag.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.