Digital sensor apparatus and system for protection, control, and management of electricity distribution systems

A system for monitoring electricity in an electric circuit, wherein the electric circuit carries periodic three phase electric current and wherein the electric circuit comprises three separate conductors each of which carries a separate phase of the three phase electric current, the system comprising:

• three digital sensors, each one of which is associated with a separate one of said three separate conductors of said electric circuit,
• each of said three digital sensors, comprising:
• a current sensing portion coupled to a respective conductor of said electric circuit and responsive thereto, said current sensing portion providing an analog output representative of a parameter sensed in the conductor of the electric circuit;
• an analog to digital converter responsive to the analog output from said current sensing portion, said analog to digital converter providing a digital data output representative of said sensed parameter;
• and
• a digital port coupled to said analog to digital converter to receive said digital data output therefrom, and wherein said digital port transmits said digital data output therefrom;
• and
• a node processor that receives the digital data outputs from the digital ports of the three digital sensors and operative to compute power parameters therefrom in real time.

A system for measuring power parameters in an installation comprising a plurality of circuits, wherein each of said plurality of circuits carries periodic three phase electric current and wherein each of the plurality of electric circuits comprises three separate conductors, each of which carries a separate phase of said three phase electric current for its respective circuit, said system comprising for each circuit in said installation:

• three digital sensors, each one of which is associated with a separate one of said three separate conductors of its respective electric circuit, each of said three digital sensors comprising:
• a current sensing portion coupled to a respective conductor of the respective electric circuit and responsive thereto, said current sensing portion providing an analog output representative of a parameter sensed in the conductor of the respective electric circuit;
• and
• an analog to digital converter responsive to the analog output from said current sensing portion, and wherein said analog to digital converter provides a digital data output representative of said sensed parameter;
• and
• a digital port coupled to said analog to digital converter to receive the digital data output therefrom and to transmit said digital data output therefrom;
• and wherein said system further comprises:
• at least one node processor that receives the digital data output from the digital port of each of the three digital sensors associated with at least one of the plurality of electric circuits in the installation and that is operative to compute power parameters of the at least one electric circuit in real time.

A digital sensor apparatus for use with an electric circuit that carries periodic three phase electric current, the digital sensor apparatus comprising:

• a voltage sensing portion coupled to said electric circuit and responsive thereto, said voltage sensing portion providing an analog output representative of a voltage parameter in at least one phase of the three phase electric current carried in said electric circuit;
• an analog to digital converter responsive to the analog output from said voltage sensing portion, and providing a digital data output samples representative thereof;
• and
• a phasor computing processor coupled to receive the digital data samples from said analog to digital converter and operative to provide a digital data output representative of a phasor of the one phase of the electric circuit.

A sensor apparatus for an electric circuit that carries 3-phase AC, the sensor apparatus comprising:

• a current sensing portion associated with one phase conductor of said electric circuit and responsive thereto, said current sensing portion providing an analog output representative of current in said one phase conductor of the electric circuit;
• an analog to digital converter responsive to the analog output from said current sensing portion, and providing a digital output signal representative of the current in said one phase conductor of the electric circuit;
• and
• a network-compatible port coupled to receive the digital output signal from said analog to digital converter and to transmit digital data onto a digital data network representative of said digital output signal.

A current sensor comprising:

• a current sensing portion responsive to current in a single phase conductor of an electric circuit and providing an analog output signal corresponding thereto;
• an analog to digital converter coupled to receive said analog output signal and to generate a digital signal corresponding thereto;
• and
• a network-compatible port coupled to said analog to digital converter to receive said digital signal and to transmit said digital signal onto a network in real time.

An electric sensor for a single phase conductor of an electric circuit, wherein the electric sensor comprises:

• a sensing portion responsive to one of current and voltage in the single phase conductor and providing an analog output signal corresponding thereto;
• a synchronizing circuit providing a local synchronizing signal;
• and
• an analog to digital converter coupled to receive said analog output signal and said synchronizing signal and to generate a digital signal corresponding to said analog output signal sampled in accordance with said synchronizing signal.

A phasor sensor comprising:

• a current sensing portion responsive to current in a single phase conductor of an electric circuit and providing an analog output signal corresponding thereto;
• an analog to digital converter coupled to receive said analog output signal and to generate a digital signal corresponding thereto;
• a processor that receives the digital signal from said analog to digital converter, computes a current phasor representative thereof, and generates a digital data output representative of said phasor data;
• and
• a network-compatible port coupled to said processor to receive said digital data output and to transmit said digital data output onto a network.

A monitoring system for an electricity distribution system wherein said electricity distribution system has a plurality of circuits and wherein each of said circuits distributes electricity in three phase conductors, said monitoring system comprising:

• a plurality of sensor apparatuses, wherein each of said sensor apparatuses is associated with one of said phase conductors in each of said circuits, each of said plurality of sensor apparatuses comprising:
• a digital sampling portion providing a digital output signal representative of the electricity in the phase conductor with which said digital sensor apparatus is associated;
• and
• a network compatible port coupled to said digital sampling portion to receive said digital output signal therefrom and to transmit a network-compatible digital signal;
• and
• a data network interconnecting said plurality of sensor apparatus providing digital data transfer therebetween.

A system for monitoring electricity in an electric circuit, wherein the electric circuit carries periodic three phase electric current and wherein the electric circuit comprises three separate conductors each of which carries a separate phase of the three phase electric current, the system comprising:

• three digital sensors, each one of which is associated with a separate one of said three separate conductors of said electric circuit,
• wherein each of said three digital sensors comprises:
• a sensing portion coupled to a respective conductor one of said three conductors of the electric circuit and responsive thereto, said sensing portion providing an analog output representative of a parameter of electricity sensed in the conductor of the electric circuit;
• an analog to digital converter responsive to the analog output from said sensing portion and wherein said analo to digital converter provides a digital data output representative of said sensed parameter;
• and
• a phasor computing processor coupled to receive the digital data from said analog to digital converter and operative to provide a digital data output representative of a phasor of the one phase of the electric circuit;
• and
• a node processor that receives the digital data outputs representative of the phasors from the three digital sensors and wherein said node processor further comprises a circuit-level phasor computing program operative to compute a phasor representative of the electricity of the electric circuit.

A system for measuring electrical power parameters in an electric circuit that carries periodic three phase electric current wherein said electric circuit comprises separate conductors each of which carries a separate phase of said periodic three phase electric current, the system comprising:

• a plurality of digital sensors each comprising:
• a sensor for sensing said electrical parameters in one of said separate conductors and generating an analog signal;
• an analog to digital converter for converting the analog signal to digital data representative of said electrical parameters in said one of said separate conductors;
• and
• a communication network coupled to said analog to digital converter for transmitting a signal in the form of the digital data;
• a processor node remote from said plurality of digital sensors comprising:
• a communication port coupled to the communication network for receiving the digital data from said plurality of digital sensors;
• and
• a computation device coupled to said communication port and operative to receive said digital data from said plurality of digital sensors and compute power parameters that are functions of said digital data.

A digital sensor apparatus for use with an electric circuit that carries periodic three phase electric current, wherein the electric circuit comprises three conductors each of which carries a separate one of the three phases, the digital sensor apparatus comprising:

• a voltage sensing portion coupled to at least one of said three conductors in said electric circuit and responsive thereto, said voltage sensing portion providing an analog output representative of a voltage parameter in at least one phase of the three phase electric current carried in said electric circuit;
• an analog to digital converter responsive to the analog output from said voltage sensing portion, and providing digital data output samples representative thereof;
• and
• a communications port coupled to said analog to digital converter to receive said digital data output therefrom, and wherein said digital port is operative to transmit a signal in the form of said digital data to a processor remote from said digital sensor over a communications network.

An electric sensor for a single phase conductor of an electric circuit, wherein the electric sensor comprises:

• a sensing portion responsive to one of current and voltage in the single phase conductor and providing an analog output signal corresponding thereto;
• a synchronizing circuit providing a local synchronizing signal;
• and
• an analog to digital converter coupled to receive said analog output signal and said synchronizing signal and to generate a digital signal representing said analog output signal sampled in accordance with said synchronizing signal,
• a communications port coupled to said analog to digital converter to receive said digital signal output therefrom, and wherein said digital port is operative to transmit a signal in the form of said digital signal to a processor remote from said digital sensor over a communications network.

A sensor apparatus for an electric circuit that carries 3-phase AC, the sensor apparatus comprising:

• a current sensing portion associated with one phase conductor of said electric circuit and responsive thereto, said current sensing portion providing an analog output representative of current in said one phase conductor of the electric circuit;
• an analog to digital converter responsive to the analog output from said current sensing portion, and providing a digital output signal representative of the current in said one phase conductor of the electric circuit;
• and
• a communications port coupled to receive the digital output signal from said analog to digital converter and to transmit a signal in the form of said digital data representative of said digital output to a remote processor via a digital data network.

A current sensor comprising:

• a current sensing portion responsive to current in a single phase conductor of an electric circuit and providing an analog output signal corresponding thereto;
• an analog to digital converter coupled to receive said analog output signal and to generate a digital signal corresponding thereto;
• and
• a network-compatible port coupled to said analog to digital converter to receive said digital signal and to transmit a signal in the form of said digital signal onto a network in real time to a remote processor.

A digital sensor comprising:

• a sensing portion responsive to one of current and voltage in a single phase conductor of an electric circuit and providing an analog output signal corresponding thereto;
• an analog to digital converter coupled to receive said analog output signal and to generate a first digital signal representative of one of said current and voltage;
• a processor that receives the first digital signal from said analog to digital converter, computes a phasor representative thereof, and generates a second digital data output signal representative of said phasor data;
• and
• a communications port coupled to said processor to receive at least one of said first and second digital signals and to transmit data in the form of at least one of said first and second digital signals onto a network to a remote processor.