Switchyard equipment monitoring system and communications network therefor

A switchyard equipment monitoring system, the switchyard equipment including circuit breakers and receiving power and control signals from a remote location via a power line, the system comprising:

• (a) a plurality of monitoring devices, each monitoring device connected to a piece of switchyard equipment, each monitoring device including,
• (i) testing and/or monitoring circuitry for testing and/or monitoring one or more conditions of the piece of switchyard equipment and generating condition data therefrom,
• (ii) a storage device for storing the condition data, and
• (iii) a transmitter adapted to transmit the condition data to the remote location via the power line;
• (b) a communications node at the remote location, the node being connected to the power line;
• and
• (c) a remote host computer connected to the communications node for receiving the condition data transmitted to the remote location and storing the received condition data therein, said remote host computer including,
• (i) a database for storing data received from the plurality of monitoring devices, said data including one or more of the following for each circuit breaker;
• time of fault initiation, if a fault occurs;
• current on each phase when the circuit breaker is operated;
• time of trip/close coil energization;
• time of arc extinction;
• ambient temperature in mechanism cabinet;
• accumulator air pressure;
• and
• gas pressure on compressors;
• and
• (ii) a data analyzer for analyzing the data in the database to determine equipment performance, determine remaining life span of the equipment, or develop predictive maintenance schedules for the equipment.

A monitoring device for switchyard equipment, wherein the switchyard equipment receives power and control signals from a remote location via a power line, the monitoring device comprising:

• (a) testing and/or monitoring circuitry for testing and/or monitoring one or more conditions of the switchyard equipment and generating condition data therefrom, wherein said circuitry accepts a plurality of analog and digital input signals, at least one of the analog input signals being a response signal to an excitation or test signal sent from the monitoring device to the monitored piece of switchyard equipment,
• (b) a storage device for storing the condition data;
• and
• (c) a transmitter adapted to transmit the condition data to a remotely located computer via the power line.

A monitoring device having a test mode for testing a piece of switchyard equipment, wherein the switchyard equipment receives power and control signals from a remote location via a power line, the monitoring device comprising:

• (a) testing and/or monitoring circuitry for testing and/or monitoring one or more conditions of the switchyard equipment and generating condition data therefrom,
• (b) a storage device for storing the condition data;
• (c) a transmitter adapted to transmit the condition data to a remotely located computer via the power line;
• (d) an interface for interfacing the monitoring device with a local computer, the local computer initiating and controlling the testing and receiving the generated test data;
• (e) an excitation voltage generator and output for producing an excitation voltage, said generator adapted for connection to line and load sides of a plural phase circuit breaker;
• and
• (f) a circuit adapted to receive test trip event and test close event data, including breaker mechanism movement data, upon application of the excitation voltage.

A single monitoring device connected to power line for testing a plural phase circuit breaker to obtain breaker response time, the power line being used by switchyard equipment for receiving power and control signals from a remote location, the monitoring device including:

• (a) an excitation voltage generator and output adapted for connection to line and load sides of the plural breaker phases;
• (b) a circuit adapted to receive test trip event and test close event data, including breaker mechanism movement data, upon application of the excitation voltage;
• (c) a transceiver for connection to the power line, the transceiver adapted to communicate via the power line with a computer at the remote location;
• and
• (d) means for requesting previous data related to the circuit breaker which is stored in the remote computer, the transceiver and power line being used to send the request for previous data and receive the previous data therefrom.