System and method for phase load discovery

A method of monitoring the load on a three-phase power supply that provides power to a plurality of load meters each connected to one of three supply lines of the power distribution system, wherein each of the supply lines carries a different one of the three voltage phases, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting a timing pulse;
• receiving the timing pulse at each of the plurality of load meters;
• determining a time delay at each of the load meters, the time delay being a measured time from the receipt of the timing pulse until a landmark value of the single phase voltage received by the load meter;
• and
• determining the phase of the three-phase power supply each of the load meters is connected to based upon the time delay determined by each of the load meters.

A method of determining which phase of a three-phase power supply each of a plurality of load meters are connected to, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting a wireless timing pulse;
• receiving the timing pulse at each of the plurality of load meters;
• determining a time delay at each of the load meters, the time delay being the measured time from the receipt of the timing pulse until the next zero crossing of the single phase voltage feeding the load meter;
• transmitting the determined time delay to an end server;
• and
• grouping each of the load meters into one of three phases based upon the similarity of the determined time delays received at the end server from each of the load meters.

A system for determining the load on each phase of a three-phase power supply, comprising:

• a plurality of load meters each connected to one phase of the three-phase power supply;
• a wireless transmission device positioned to generate a wireless timing pulse received by each of the plurality of load meters, wherein each of the plurality of load meters is operable to determine a time delay from receipt of the timing pulse until a first zero crossing of the single phase voltage, the load meter further including a transmission device to wirelessly transmit the determined time delay;
• and
• an end server operable to receive the determined time delay from each of the load meters and group each of the load meters into one of the three phases based upon the determined time delay from each meter.