# US 2017/0255244 A1 · Systems and methods for operating a virtual power environment > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2017/0255244 A1 - Document ID: US20170255244A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/060,956 - Filed: 2016-03-04 - Published: 2017-09-07 - Earliest claimed: 2016-03-04 - Assignees: Schneider Electric USA, Inc. - Applicants: Schneider Electric USA, Inc. - Inventors: Stuart Neilson - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20170255244A1 ## CPC - G06F 1/28: Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision - H02J 3/003: {Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand} - G06F 3/0619: {in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors} - G06F 3/0653: {Monitoring storage devices or systems} - G06F 3/0664: {at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system} - G06F 3/0683: {Plurality of storage devices} - G06F 11/3457: {Performance evaluation by simulation} - H02J 2103/30: Simulating, planning, modelling, reliability check or computer assisted design [CAD] of electric power networks - Y02E 60/00: Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation - Y04S 10/50: Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications - Y04S 40/20: Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - 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 computer system for hosting a virtual power system environment includes a plurality of virtual devices, wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual devices is configured to simulate the function of at least one physical device in a power system, a virtual device manager configured to perform at least one operation on the plurality of virtual devices, a virtual power monitor configured to control a function of the plurality of virtual devices, a simulation engine configured to simulate a performance of the plurality of virtual devices according to conditions detected on the power system, and a configuration generator configured to generate a configuration for a physical power monitor according to a configuration of the virtual power monitor. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer system for hosting a virtual power system environment comprising: a plurality of virtual devices, wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual devices is configured to simulate the function of at least one physical device in a power system; a virtual device manager configured to perform at least one operation on the plurality of virtual devices; a virtual power monitor configured to monitor and control a function of the plurality of virtual devices; a simulation engine configured to simulate a performance of the plurality of virtual devices according to conditions detected on the power system; and a configuration generator configured to generate a configuration for a physical power monitor according to a configuration of the virtual power monitor. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one physical device in the power system is a metering device, and the at least one virtual device is configured to simulate the at least one metering device on the power system. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one operation is selected from the group consisting of an add operation, a modify operation, and a delete operation. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The system according to claim 3, wherein the at least one operation comprises an operation to modify a firmware component of one of the plurality of virtual devices. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein a second at least one of the plurality of virtual devices represents at least one physical device not in the power system. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, the virtual device manager further comprising a web-based user interface configured to receive an instruction to perform the at least one operation. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual device manager is further configured, responsive to detecting a change to at least one physical device in the power system, to effect the change on at least one of the plurality of virtual devices. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual power monitor is further configured to selectively control a function of the power system. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual device manager is implemented as software as a service (SaaS). ### Claim 10 A method for operating a virtual power system environment comprising acts of: creating, in a virtual environment, at least one virtual device having a first characteristic and configured to simulate a performance of at least one physical device in a power system; modifying the first characteristic to be a second characteristic; simulating a performance of the virtual environment according to actual conditions detected on the power system and the at least one virtual device having the second characteristic; and creating a configuration for the at least one physical device, the configuration including the second characteristic. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the first characteristic is a first value for a configuration setting for the at least one device, and the second characteristic is a second value for the configuration setting. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the first characteristic is a first version of firmware for at least one physical device corresponding to the at least one virtual device, and wherein the second characteristic is a second version of firmware. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, wherein the first characteristic indicates that the at least one virtual device is active, and the second characteristic indicates that the at least one virtual device is inactive. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, further comprising creating, in the virtual environment, a second at least one virtual device not corresponding to a physical device in the power system. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, further comprising: monitoring the at least one physical device in the power system; detecting a modification to at least one physical device, the at least one physical device corresponding to a first virtual device; modifying the first virtual device according to the modification to the at least one physical device. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method according to claim 15, wherein detecting the modification to the at least one physical device comprises detecting that the at least one physical device has been deactivated, and wherein modifying the first virtual device according to the modification to the at least one physical device comprises deactivating the first virtual device. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, further comprising generating a configuration for the virtual power monitor. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method according to claim 17, further comprising validating the configuration for the virtual power monitor by determining that the configuration is suitable for use as a configuration for a physical power monitor in the power system. ### Claim 19 (depends on 10) The method according to claim 10, further comprising: storing the first characteristic and the second characteristic; and responsive to a determination that the at least one physical device having the second characteristic has performed undesirably, creating a second configuration for the at least one physical device, the second configuration including the first characteristic.