Apparatus, system and method of monitoring joints and switch conditions in an electrical network

A method of monitoring joint and switch conditions in an automatic transfer switch (ATS), comprising:

• providing an ATS structured to switch between a first power source and a second power source to supply continuous power to a load, the ATS comprising:
• (i) a power switching mechanism including a switch structured to couple the load to one of the first power source and the second power source;
• (ii) a plurality of sensors including a voltage sensor coupled to a joint on first power source side, a voltage sensor coupled to a joint on second power source side, a voltage sensor coupled to a joint on load side, and a current sensor structured to sense current flowing through the switch;
• and (iii) a controller coupled to the power switching device and the plurality of sensors and structured to control operation of the ATS, the controller comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing a fault identifier configured to detect and identify a fault within the ATS and estimate severity of the fault via:
• obtaining root-mean-square (RMS) values including input voltage from a connected power source, output voltage to the load, and the current flowing through the switch;
• obtaining delta voltage between the input voltage and the output voltage;
• and
• obtaining a power loss and a contact resistance over the switch, wherein the power loss is obtained by multiplying the delta voltage with the current flowing through the switch and the contact resistance is obtained by dividing the delta voltage by the current flowing through the switch.

An energy monitoring system comprising:

• a plurality of power sources including a first power source and a second power source;
• a load;
• and
• an automatic transfer switch (ATS) structured to connect the load to one of the first power source and the second power source, switch between the first power source and the second power source based at least in part on a power outage or a user command, and supply continuous power to the load, the automatic transfer switch comprising:
• a power switching mechanism including a switch structured to couple the load to one of the first power source and the second power source;
• a plurality of sensors including a voltage sensor coupled to a joint on first power source side, a voltage sensor coupled to a joint on second power source side, a voltage sensor coupled to a joint on load side, and a current sensor structured to sense current flowing through the switch;
• and
• a controller coupled to the power switching mechanism and the plurality of sensors and structured to control operation of the ATS, the controller comprising a processor and a memory, the memory storing a fault identifier configured to detect and identify a fault within the ATS and estimate severity of the fault via:
• obtaining root-mean-square (RMS) values including input voltage from a connected power source, output voltage to the load, and the current flowing through the switch;
• obtaining delta voltage between the input voltage and the output voltage;
• and
• obtaining a power loss and a contact resistance over the switch, the power loss obtained by multiplying the delta voltage with the current flowing through the switch and the contact resistance obtained by dividing the delta voltage by the current flowing through the switch.