Determining electric grid endpoint phase connectivity
AssigneeSilver Spring Networks, Inc.
InventorsRaj Vaswani, Jana van Greunen, Alexander Gostrer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The service phase of the electrical connection to a customer endpoint device located within a power distribution system is determined by various techniques. At the feeder level, the system may be programmed to induce momentary power interruptions, thereby causing missed zero crossings at the customer endpoint devices. The pattern of these interruptions is a controlled one, designed specifically to avoid causing noticeable disruption even to sensitive devices, but to be unusual enough that it is statistically unlikely to be naturally occurring. The monitoring of the zero crossing information is used to determine the phase of the service line to the customer endpoint devices.
Claims9
A method of determining a service phase of an endpoint device in a power distribution system, the method comprising:
- sending a message to a point in the power distribution system requesting a temporary power interruption on a plurality of power distribution phases of a feeder line to customer sites;
- receiving a report from each of a plurality of endpoint devices at respective customer sites indicating that the power interruption that was requested was detected by each of said plurality of endpoint devices;
- and
- based on the received reports, mapping at least one endpoint device that reported the detection of the power interruption to the respective phase on which the power interruption was created, thus identifying which of the plurality of phases of the feeder line said endpoint device is serviced by.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.