Power cable monitoring device including partial discharge sensors

Abstract

The present invention describes techniques, systems and articles for monitoring electrical equipment of a power grid and predicting possible failure events of such electrical equipment. In one example, a cable accessory is configured to be coupled to a power cable and includes a partial discharge sensor and a communication unit. The partial discharge sensor is configured to detect a partial discharge event and output data indicating the partial discharge event. The communication unit is configured to output event data based at least in part on the partial discharge data.

Description

[0001] This application is a national phase patent application of international patent application PCT / US2019 / 049805 filed on September 5, 2019, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62 / 729,363 filed on September 10, 2018, and the entire text of each of the international patent application and the provisional patent application is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of electrical equipment for use in electric power utilities, including power cables and accessories. Background Art

[0003] The electric power grid includes many components that operate in a variety of different locations and conditions, such as above ground, underground, cold climates, hot climates, etc. When a fault occurs in the power grid, it may be difficult to determine the cause of the fault. For example, the power grid may include hundreds or thousands of discrete components, such as transformers, cables, cable joints, etc., and the fault in the power grid may be caused by a fault in any single component or a collection of components. The root cause of such a fault may include reasons such as human installation error, manufacturing defects, or wear and tear on the component. While replacing electronic components can be expensive, simply finding the fault can also be time-consuming and expensive. If a component fails in use, the costs may include customer operation downtime, liability, safety or regulatory review, in addition to the cost of locating and replacing the faulty component. In addition, the faulty component may pose a safety risk to utility workers, people, homes, buildings, or other infrastructure. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present disclosure provides a technique for detecting partial discharge events in power cables of a power grid. According to aspects of the present disclosure, a cable accessory such as a cable joint body or a cable terminal body includes one or more partial discharge sensors. As used herein, a partial discharge event generally refers to an event in which a discharge only partially bridges a gap between electrodes or conductors of a power cable, an accessory, and an apparatus. A common example occurs when a gas in a void in the insulation of a power cable decomposes under an applied voltage. A partial discharge event within a power cable may, for example, result in accumulation of damage in the insulation of the cable, which may result in a failure. In some examples, the partial discharge sensors described herein detect such partial discharge events and output data indicative of the partial discharge event for reporting, analytical processing, and / or monitoring.

[0005] In various examples, a monitoring system may receive output from sensors described herein and apply one or more models to partial discharge data generated, for example, in real time, by one or more partial discharge sensors to predict failure events of electrical equipment products (e.g., cables, cable accessories, etc.) and / or determine the health state of electrical equipment products, such as predicting the remaining life of electrical equipment products. In some examples, a computing system applies one or more models to partial discharge data and other data (e.g., sensor data, equipment data, installation data, etc.) to determine the health state of electrical equipment products. Examples of such sensors include temperature sensors, partial discharge sensors, smoke sensors, gas sensors, acoustic sensors, etc.

[0006] According to aspects of the present disclosure, the monitoring system may implement one or more machine learning techniques, such as supervised training, to train a model using a set of training examples, wherein each training example includes partial discharge data associated with a known (i.e., previously identified / labeled) corresponding fault event. In addition, in operation, the computing system model may update one or more models based on newly received partial discharge data and event data to provide closed-loop training of the model, thereby, in some examples, achieving a more accurate prediction of the health state of the equipment article when the model is applied to subsequent partial discharge data.

[0007] In this way, as the system receives partial discharge data from partial discharge sensors included in or attached to electrical equipment articles operating in a work environment, the system can more quickly and accurately identify potential fault events that may affect power distribution throughout the power grid or worker and / or civilian safety, etc. By determining the health status of electrical equipment and predicting fault events before they occur, the computing system can proactively and preemptively generate notifications and / or change the operation of the power grid before a fault event occurs.

[0008] In some examples, a cable accessory includes a partial discharge sensor and a communication unit. The partial discharge sensor is configured to detect a partial discharge event and output partial discharge data indicative of the partial discharge event. The communication unit is configured to output event data based at least in part on the partial discharge data.

[0009] In some examples, a method includes receiving, by at least one processor, partial discharge data indicative of one or more partial discharge events from a partial discharge sensor of a cable accessory coupled to a cable. The method also includes outputting, by the at least one processor, event data based at least in part on the partial discharge data indicative of the partial discharge events.

[0010] The details of one or more examples of the disclosure are shown in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example system in which electrical utility equipment, such as power lines, with embedded sensors and communication capabilities are utilized within many operating environments and managed by an electrical equipment management system (EEMS), in accordance with various techniques of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 2 is a diagram showing various techniques according to the present disclosure Figure 1 A block diagram of an electrical equipment management system from an operational perspective is shown.

[0013] Figure 3 is a conceptual diagram of an example cable accessory configured to electrically and physically couple two cables in accordance with various techniques of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example gateway configured to communicate with cable accessories and an EEMS, in accordance with various techniques of this disclosure.

[0015] Figure 5 is an exemplary graphical user interface of an electrical device management system according to the techniques of this disclosure.

[0016] Figure 6 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations performed by one or more computing devices configured to monitor electrical utility equipment, in accordance with various techniques of this disclosure.

[0017] 7A to 7D is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 8 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory for electrically and physically coupling two cables according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Fig. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory for electrically and physically coupling two cables according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory for coupling a cable to a cable terminal lug according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 11A to FIG. 11B is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example cable accessory coupled to an example cable according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Fig.12 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory that couples two cables according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 13A to FIG. 13C is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory for coupling multiple cables according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 14A to FIG. 14C is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Fig.15 is a block diagram illustrating an example partial discharge sensor according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.16 is a graph illustrating an example partial discharge event detected by a monitoring device and associated with a known fault event in accordance with various techniques of the present disclosure.

[0027] Fig.17 Includes illustrations of various techniques according to the present disclosure Fig.16 Additional details of the partial discharge event are plotted in Figure 2.

[0028] It should be understood that the embodiments may be utilized and their structures may be modified without departing from the scope of the invention. The figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Like numbers used in the figures refer to like components. However, it should be understood that the use of numbers to refer to components in a given figure is not intended to limit the components labeled with the same number in another figure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computing system 2 including an electrical equipment management system (EEMS) 6 for monitoring power cables of an electric power grid. As described herein, the EEMS 6 may allow authorized users to manage inspection, maintenance, and replacement of electrical equipment of the grid, and adjust the operation of the grid.

[0030] Generally speaking, the EEMS 6 provides data collection, monitoring, activity logging, data storage, reporting, predictive analysis, and alert generation. For example, the EEMS 6 may include a basic analysis engine and alert system for predicting fault events of electrical equipment products according to various examples described herein. Generally speaking, a fault event may refer to an interruption in power delivery between a power source and a power consumer, for example, caused by degradation or breakage of an electrical equipment product (e.g., a cable connector).

[0031] As further described below, EEMS 6 provides an integrated set of electrical equipment management tools and implements various techniques of the present disclosure. That is, EEMS 6 provides a system for managing electrical equipment (e.g., cables, connectors, transformers, etc.) within one or more physical environments 8, which may be cities, communities, buildings, construction sites, or any physical environment. The techniques of the present disclosure may be implemented within various parts of system 2.

[0032] like Figure 1 As shown in the example of , system 2 represents a computing environment in which computing devices within multiple physical environments 8A, 8B (collectively referred to as environments 8) electronically communicate with EEMS 6 via one or more computer networks 4. Each physical environment 8 represents a physical environment in which one or more power lines 24A-24D (collectively referred to as power lines 24) provide power from a power source (e.g., a power plant) to one or more consumers (e.g., businesses, homes, government facilities, etc.).

[0033] In this example, environment 8A is generally shown with electrical device 20, while environment 8B is shown in expanded form to provide a more detailed example. Figure 1 In the example, multiple electrical equipment products 20 are included, such as one or more power delivery nodes 22A-22N (collectively referred to as power delivery nodes 22), one or more power lines 24, one or more communication hubs 26A-26D (collectively referred to as communication hubs 26) and one or more gateways 28.

[0034] exist Figure 1 In the example of , environment 8B includes a wireless communication hub 26 and / or one or more gateways 28. Generally speaking, the communication hub 26 and the gateway 28 operate as communication devices for relaying communications between the EEMS 6 and the monitoring devices 33 that monitor the corresponding electrical equipment products 20 (e.g., cable accessories 34). The communication hub 26 and the gateway 28 can each be communicatively coupled to the EEMS 6 via wired communication and / or wireless communication. For example, the wireless communication hub 26 and / or the gateway 28 may include a cellular radio component (e.g., GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc.), Radio components, Radio components, low power wide area networks (LPWAN), etc. As another example, the wireless communication hub 26 and / or the gateway 28 may include a wired connection, such as a network interface card (e.g., an Ethernet card), an optical transceiver, or any other type of device that can send and / or receive data. According to some examples, the communication hub 26 and / or the gateway 28 may communicate with other devices using power line communication technology. In other words, in some examples, the gateway 28 may communicate with the monitoring device 33 via the power line 24. In some examples, the wireless communication hub 26 and the gateway 28 are capable of buffering data in the event of a loss of communication with the EEMS 6. In addition, the communication hub 26 and the gateway 28 may be programmed via the EEMS 6 so that local alert rules can be installed and executed without the need to connect to the cloud. Therefore, the communication hub 26 and the gateway 28 can provide a relay of event data streams from the monitoring device 33, and provide a local computing environment for local alerts based on event streams.

[0035] The power delivery node 22 may include one or more input lines for receiving power (e.g., directly from a power source or indirectly via another power delivery node 22) and one or more output lines for distributing power to consumers (e.g., homes, businesses, etc.) directly or indirectly (e.g., via another power delivery node 22). The power delivery node 22 may include a transformer to step up or down the voltage. In some examples, the power delivery node 22A may be a relatively small node, such as an electrical control cabinet, a pole transformer, or a pad transformer, for distributing power to homes within a community. As another example, the power delivery node 22N may be a relatively large node (e.g., a transmission substation) that distributes power to other power delivery nodes (e.g., distribution substations) so that the other power delivery nodes further distribute the power to consumers (e.g., homes, businesses, etc.).

[0036] Power lines 24 can transmit electricity from a power source (e.g., a power plant) to power consumers, such as businesses or homes. Power lines 24 can be underground, underwater, or overhead (e.g., by wooden poles, metal structures, etc.). Power lines 24 can be used to transmit electricity at relatively high voltages (e.g., compared to cables used in homes, which can transmit electricity between about 12 volts and about 240 volts depending on the specific application and geographic area). For example, power lines 24 can transmit electricity higher than about 600 volts (e.g., between about 600 volts and about 1,000 volts). However, it should be understood that power lines 24 can transmit electricity within any voltage and / or frequency range. For example, lines 24 can transmit electricity within different voltage ranges. In some examples, a first type of line 24 can transmit a voltage greater than about 1,000 volts, such as to distribute electricity between residential or small commercial customers and power sources (e.g., power utilities). For another example, a second type of line 24 can transmit a voltage between about 1 kV and about 69 kV, such as to distribute electricity to urban and rural communities. A third type of line 24 may transmit voltages greater than about 69 kV, such as for sub-transmission and transmission of large quantities of electricity and connection to very large consumers.

[0037] The power line 24 includes a cable 32 and one or more cable accessories 34A-34J. Each cable 32 includes a conductor that may be radially surrounded by one or more insulation layers. In some examples, the cable 32 includes a plurality of twisted conductors (e.g., a three-phase or multi-conductor cable). Exemplary cable accessories 34 may include connectors, separable connectors, terminals, connectors, etc. In some examples, the cable accessories 34 may include a cable connector configured to couple (e.g., electrically and physically) two or more cables 32. For example, as shown in FIG. Figure 1 As shown, cable accessory 34A electrically and physically couples cable 32A to cable 32B, cable accessory 34B electrically and physically couples cable 32B to cable 32C, and so on. In some examples, the terminal can be configured to couple (e.g., electrically and physically couple) cable 32 to additional electrical equipment, such as a transformer, switchgear, power substation, business, home, or other structure. For example, Figure 1 As shown, cable accessory 34C electrically and physically couples cable 32C to power delivery node 22A (eg, to a transformer coupled to power delivery node 22A).

[0038] System 2 includes one or more cable monitoring devices 33A-33L (collectively referred to as monitoring devices 33) configured to monitor one or more conditions of electrical equipment products 20. For example, monitoring device 33 may be configured to monitor the condition of power delivery node 22, cable 32, cable accessories 34, or other types of electrical equipment 20. Monitoring device 33 may be configured to be attached or otherwise coupled to cable 32 and / or cable accessories 34. In some examples, monitoring device 33 may be integrated into another device, such as cable accessories 34, or may be a separate (e.g., independent) device. Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 2 , cable accessories 34A, 34B, 34C, 34D, 34E, 34F, 34G, 34H and 34I respectively include monitoring devices 33A, 33B, 33C, 33D, 33E, 33F, 33G, 33H and 33I, while monitoring device 33J is an independent monitoring device for monitoring power line 24D. Figure 1 In the example, cable accessory 34K does not include a monitoring device.

[0039] The monitoring device 33 includes a sensor that generates sensor data indicating the operating characteristics of one or more cables 32 and / or cable accessories 34 or the condition of the electrical device. The sensors of the monitoring device 33 may include temperature sensors (e.g., located inside and / or outside the cable accessories), partial discharge sensors, voltage and / or current sensors, etc. In some examples, the monitoring device 33A includes one or more temperature sensors. For example, the monitoring device 33A may include an internal temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature inside the cable 32 or cable accessories 34 and / or an external temperature monitor for monitoring the temperature on the outside or surface of the cable 32 or cable accessories 34. Exemplary details of the monitoring device are described in U.S. patent application 62 / 729,325 (Attorney Docket No. 1004-951USP1), entitled “ELECTRICAL POWER CABLE MONITORING DEVICE USING LOW SIDE ELECTRODE AND EARTH GROUND SEPARATION,” filed on September 10, 2018, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Additional exemplary details of the monitoring device and electrical equipment management system are described in U.S. patent application 62 / 729,367 (Agent Docket No. 1004-950USP1), filed on September 10, 2018, entitled "ELECTRICAL POWERCABLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM HAVING ANALYTICS ENGINE WITH INTEGRATED MONITORING, ALERTING, AND PRE-FAULT EVENT PREDICTION," which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0040] The monitoring device 33 may include a partial discharge sensor for detecting a partial discharge event (e.g., within the cable accessory 34A). As used herein, a partial discharge event refers to a current discharge that only partially bridges a gap between electrodes of a cable (e.g., this may be caused by a gas discharge in a void of the cable). The monitoring device 33 may include a voltage and / or current sensor configured to measure the phase and / or magnitude of a voltage or current in the cable 32 or cable accessory 34.

[0041] The monitoring devices 33 each include a power source or receive power from a power source. For example, the monitoring device 33A may include a battery. As another example, the monitoring device 33A may be coupled to a solar cell, a wind turbine, or other renewable or non-renewable power source. Exemplary details of the monitoring device 33 with a protective housing are described in U.S. patent application 62 / 729,320 (Agent Docket No. 1004-953USP1), entitled "SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR CABLE AND CABLE ACCESSORY CONDITION MONITORING DEVICES" filed on September 10, 2018, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0042] In some examples, monitoring device 33A may include a power acquisition device configured to acquire power from power line 24A. For example, the power acquisition device of monitoring device 33A may receive power via power carried by power line 24A, via a magnetic field generated by power line 24A, or via heat within power line 24A, cable accessories 34A, or other devices that generate heat when coupled to power line 24A.

[0043] Generally, the monitoring device 33 may be communicatively coupled to the EEMS 6. In some examples, the monitoring device 33 may include a transceiver for communicating with the EEMS 6 (e.g., via the network 4). In some examples, the monitoring device 33 communicates with the EEMS 6 via the communication hub 26 and / or the gateway 28. For example, the monitoring device 33 may output data to the gateway 28 and / or the communication hub 26 via power line communication. For another example, the monitoring device 33 may include a wireless communication device such as The monitoring device 33 may transmit event data indicating a health state or condition of the cable 32, the cable accessories 34. The event data may include data indicating sensor data generated by a sensor of the electrical device 20, device data of the electrical device 20, analysis data, or a combination thereof. For example, the data indicating the sensor data may include at least a portion of the sensor data generated by one or more sensors of the monitoring device 33A, a summary of the sensor data, a conclusion or result of an analysis performed on the sensor data, or a combination thereof. Device data (also referred to as equipment data) may include identification data (e.g., a unique identifier corresponding to a particular electrical equipment article 20), device type (e.g., transformer, connector, terminal connector, etc.), event timestamp, location data (e.g., GPS coordinates of a particular electrical equipment article 20), manufacturing data (e.g., manufacturer, batch number, serial number, date of manufacture, etc.), installation data (e.g., installation date, identity of the installer or installation team), customer data (e.g., data identifying the number and / or type of customers served by the line, the address served by the line, etc.), distribution data (e.g., line type, such as extra-high voltage, high voltage, medium voltage, etc.), or a combination thereof. In some examples, event data includes analytical data, such as data indicating whether the electrical device is predicted to fail (e.g., whether a failure event is predicted to occur), the predicted or estimated remaining life of the electrical device, a confidence interval for the prediction, etc. In some examples, the monitoring device 33 may receive data from the EEMS 6, the communication hub 26, the gateway 28, and / or the cable accessories 34. For example, the EEMS 6 may transmit a request for sensor data, firmware updates, or other data to the monitoring device 33.

[0044] In some examples, monitoring device 33 includes a device configured to communicate with the user via a wireless network (e.g., For example, Figure 1 As shown, monitoring devices 33A and 33B may be communicatively coupled to wireless communication hubs 26A and 26B, respectively. In this way, monitoring devices 33A and 33B may communicate with EEMS 6 via wireless communication hubs 26A, 26B. In some examples, monitoring devices 33A-33C may communicate with EEMS 6 via gateway 28. For example, monitoring device 33A may transmit data to monitoring device 33B, and monitoring device 33B may transmit data to monitoring device 33C (e.g., some or all of the monitoring devices 33 may form a mesh network). Monitoring device 33C may transmit data from monitoring devices 33A-33C to gateway 28, which may forward data from monitoring devices 33A-33C to EEMS 6.

[0045] The monitoring device 33 may include a wired transceiver. For example, the monitoring device 33 may be configured to communicate with the cable accessories 34, the communication hub 26, the gateway 28, and / or the EEMS 6 via power line communications or with each other over copper or fiber optic communication lines. In other words, in some examples, the monitoring device 33 may include a transceiver configured to communicate over the power line 24. In this way, the power line 24 can transmit power from the power source to the power consumer, as well as transmit data between the EEMS 6 and the monitoring device 33. For additional details on the monitoring device 33, refer to Figure 3 Give a description.

[0046] One or more electrical equipment articles 20 may be configured to perform analysis locally. In some examples, the monitoring device 33A may analyze sensor data generated by sensors of the monitoring device 33A to determine the health state of the cable accessory 34A. The monitoring device 33A may determine the health state of the cable accessory 34A by determining whether the cable accessory 34A is predicted to fail (e.g., experience a failure event) within a threshold amount of time, determining an estimated remaining life, etc. The monitoring device 33A may output analysis data based on the analysis results. For example, the analysis data may include data indicating the health state of the cable accessory 34A. The monitoring device 33A may output event data including analysis data to the EEMS 6 (e.g., via the communication hub 26A, via the monitoring device 33B and the communication hub 26B, and / or via the communication hubs 26B, 26C, and the gateway 28).

[0047] System 2 includes computing devices 16 through which users 18A-18N (collectively, users 18) can interact with EEMS 6 via network 4. For purposes of example, end-user computing devices 16 may be laptops, desktop computers, mobile devices such as tablets, smart phones, and the like.

[0048] The user 18 interacts with the EEMS 6 to control and actively manage many aspects of the electrical equipment 20, such as accessing and viewing event logs, analysis, and reports. For example, the user 18 can review event data collected and stored by the EEMS 6. In addition, the user 18 can interact with the EEMS 6 to perform asset tracking and schedule maintenance or replacement for various pieces of electrical equipment 20 (e.g., monitoring devices 33, cables 32, and / or cable accessories 34). The EEMS 6 can allow the user 18 to create and complete digital checklists with respect to maintenance and / or replacement procedures and synchronize any results of these procedures from the computing device 16 to the EEMS 6.

[0049] In addition, as described herein, the EEMS 6 integrates an event processing platform that is configured to process hundreds, thousands, or even millions of concurrent event streams from monitoring devices 33 that monitor corresponding electrical equipment products 20 (e.g., cable accessories 34). The underlying analytics engine of the EEMS 6 applies historical data and models to the inbound streams to compute assertions, such as anomalies or predicted fault event occurrences identified based on data from sensors of the electrical equipment 20. In addition, the EEMS 6 provides real-time alerts and reports to notify the user 18 of any predicted events, anomalies, trends, etc.

[0050] The analysis engine of the EEMS 6 may, in some examples, apply analysis to identify relationships or correlations between sensor data, environmental conditions, geographic regions, or other factors, and analyze the impact on a fault event. In some examples, the EEMS 6 may determine the health status of one or more cable accessories 34 or other electrical devices. For example, the EEMS 6 may determine conditions that lead to a fault event or predict a fault event based on data collected across a population of electrical devices 20.

[0051] In some examples, the EEMS 6 can determine whether the electrical equipment article 20 should be repaired or replaced, prioritize maintenance (e.g., repair or replacement) procedures, create work orders, assign individuals or teams to perform maintenance procedures, etc. According to some examples, the EEMS 6 can recommend rewiring the power or automatically rewire the power based on the analysis results.

[0052] EEMS 6 may process data for one or more entities, such as electric utilities. For example, EEMS 6 may receive event data from electrical equipment of a single electric utility, and may provide analysis and reporting for the single electric utility. As another example, EEMS 6 may receive event data from multiple electric utilities, and provide analysis and reporting for each of the electric utilities. By receiving data from multiple electric utilities, EEMS 6 may provide more robust predictive capabilities, for example, by training a machine learning model with a larger data set than each electric utility that utilizes a separate EEMS 6.

[0053] In this way, the EEMS 6 integrates a comprehensive tool for managing the electrical devices 20 through the underlying analysis engine and communication system to provide data collection, monitoring, activity logging, reporting, and alert generation. In addition, the EEMS 6 provides a communication system between the various elements of the system 2 that is operated and utilized by these elements. The user 18 can access the EEMS 6 to view the results of any analysis performed by the EEMS 6 on the data collected from the monitoring device 33. In some examples, the EEMS 6 can present a web-based interface via a web server (e.g., an HTTP server), or a client application can be deployed for the computing device 16 used by the user 18.

[0054] In some examples, the EEMS 6 may provide a database query engine for directly querying the EEMS 6 to view the collected event (e.g., sensor) data and any results of the analysis engine, such as through dashboards, alert notifications, reports, etc. That is, a user 18 or software executing on a computing device 16 may submit a query to the EEMS 6 and receive data corresponding to the query for presentation in the form of one or more reports or dashboards. Such dashboards may provide various insights about the system 2, such as baseline ("normal") operation across the environment 8, identification of any abnormal environments and / or electrical devices 20, identification of any geographic areas within the environment 2 where abnormal activity (e.g., failure events) has occurred or is predicted to occur, etc.

[0055] As described in detail below, the EEMS 6 can simplify workflow for individuals responsible for monitoring physical or environmental electrical devices 20. That is, the techniques of the present disclosure can enable proactive electrical device management and allow organizations to take preventive or corrective action with respect to specific pieces of electrical equipment.

[0056] As one example, the underlying analytics engine of the EEMS 6 may be configured to compute and present metrics for electrical devices within a given environment 8 or across multiple environments to an organization. For example, the EEMS 6 may be configured to collect data and provide aggregated failure metrics and predictive failure analysis across one or more environments 8. In addition, the user 18 may set a baseline for any failure event to occur, and the EEMS 6 may track actual failure events relative to the baseline.

[0057] As another example, if certain combinations of conditions exist, the EEMS 6 can further trigger an alert, for example, to expedite inspection or repair of one or more electrical equipment articles 20, such as one of the cable accessories 34. In this way, the EEMS 6 can identify individual electrical equipment articles 20 that are predicted to fail, and prompt the user 18 to inspect and / or replace the article before the electrical equipment article fails.

[0058] Although the EEMS 6 is described as including an analysis engine, in some examples, the communication unit 26, the gateway 28, and / or the monitoring device 33 may perform some or all of the functions of the EEMS 6. For example, the monitoring device 33A may analyze sensor data generated by sensors of one or more monitoring devices 33 (e.g., from the monitoring device 33A itself, other monitoring devices, or a combination thereof). The monitoring device 33 may output (e.g., via the communication unit 26) a conclusion, assertion, or result of the analysis to the EEMS 6. Similarly, the gateway 28 may receive data from multiple monitoring devices 33, analyze the data, and send messages to the EEMS 6 and / or one or more monitoring devices 33.

[0059] In this way, the EEMS can monitor event data from the monitoring device to determine the health status of the electrical equipment product and / or predict whether the electrical equipment product will fail. By determining the health status or predicting whether the electrical equipment product will fail, the EEMS can enable the power utility to more effectively determine the location where the failure has occurred or is likely to fail, and manage or prioritize the repair or replacement of the electrical equipment, which can prevent or reduce failure events in the power grid.

[0060] Figure 2 is a block diagram that provides an operational perspective of an EEMS 6 that, when hosted as a cloud-based platform, is capable of supporting multiple different environments 8 each having multiple electrical equipment articles 20. Figure 2 In the example of FIG. 5 , the components of EEMS 6 are arranged according to multiple logical layers that implement the technology of the present disclosure. Each layer can be implemented by one or more modules including hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0061] exist Figure 2 In the embodiment, the monitoring device 33 (directly or through the communication hub 26 and / or the gateway 28) and the computing device 60 operate as a client 63, which communicates with the EEMS 6 via the interface layer 64. The computing device 60 typically executes a client software application, such as a desktop application, a mobile application, and a web application. The computing device 60 may represent Figure 1 Any computing device in computing device 16. Examples of computing device 60 may include, but are not limited to, portable or mobile computing devices (e.g., smart phones, wearable computing devices, tablet computers), laptop computers, desktop computers, smart TV platforms, servers, and the like.

[0062] As further described in this disclosure, the monitoring device 33 communicates with the EEMS 6 (directly or via the communication hub 26 and / or gateway 28) to provide data streams collected from embedded sensors and other monitoring circuits, and to receive alerts, configuration data, and other communications from the EEMS 6. For example, FIG. Fig.15 The partial discharge sensor may output event data, the output event data including data indicating partial discharge data generated by the partial discharge sensor. The data indicating partial discharge data may include the data from FIG. 7 to FIG. Fig.15 All or a portion of the partial discharge data generated by the partial discharge sensor, a summary of the partial discharge data, analysis data (e.g., data indicating a conclusion or result of an analysis performed on the partial discharge data), or a combination thereof. The event data may include information for use in the embodiments of FIG. 7 to FIG. Fig.15 Device data of a cable attachment of a partial discharge sensor of the EEMS 6. The device data may include identification data, device type data, event timestamps, location data, installation data, manufacturing data, consumer data, power distribution data, etc. The client application executed on the computing device 60 may communicate with the EEMS 6 to send and receive data retrieved, stored, generated and / or otherwise processed by services 68A-68H (collectively referred to as services 68). For example, the client application may request and edit event data, which includes analytical data stored at and / or managed by the EEMS 6. In some examples, the client application may request and display aggregated event data that summarizes or otherwise aggregates numerous individual instances of fault events and corresponding data collected from the monitoring device 33 and / or generated by the EEMS 6. The client application may interact with the EEMS 6 to query analytical data about past and predicted fault events. In some examples, the client application may output (e.g., display) data received from the EEMS 6 to visualize such data to a user of the client 63. As further illustrated and described below, the EEMS 6 may provide data to a client application, which outputs the data for display in a user interface.

[0063] The client application executed on the computing device 60 may be implemented for different platforms, but includes similar or identical functionality. For example, the client application may be a desktop application compiled to run on a desktop operating system, or may be a mobile application compiled to run on a mobile operating system. As another example, the client application may be a web application, such as a web browser that displays a web page received from the EEMS 6. In the example of a web application, the EEMS 6 may receive a request from a web application (e.g., a web browser), process the request, and send one or more responses back to the web application. In this way, the collection of web pages, the web application processed by the client, and the server-side processing performed by the EEMS 6 together provide functionality for executing the technology of the present disclosure. In this way, the client application uses various services of the EEMS 6 according to the technology of the present disclosure, and these applications may operate within a variety of different computing environments (e.g., embedded circuits or processors of a monitoring device, desktop operating systems, mobile operating systems, or web browsers, to name just a few examples).

[0064] like Figure 2 As shown, the EEMS 6 includes an interface layer 64, which represents an application programming interface (API) or a set of protocol interfaces presented and supported by the EEMS 6. The interface layer 64 initially receives a message from any one of the clients 63 for further processing at the EEMS 6. Therefore, the interface layer 64 may provide one or more interfaces available to the client application executing on the client 63. In some examples, the interface may be an application programming interface (API) accessed through a network. The interface layer 64 may be implemented with one or more web servers. One or more web servers may receive incoming requests, process and / or forward data from the request to the service 68, and provide one or more responses to the client application that initially sent the request based on the data received from the service 68. In some examples, the one or more web servers that implement the interface layer 64 may include a runtime environment to deploy program logic that provides the one or more interfaces. As further described below, each service may provide a set of one or more interfaces that can be accessed via the interface layer 64.

[0065] In some examples, the interface layer 64 may provide a representative state transfer (RESTful) interface that uses HTTP methods to interact with services and manipulate the resources of the EEMS 6. In such examples, the service 68 may generate a JavaScript ObjectNotation (JSON) message that the interface layer 64 sends back to the client application that submitted the initial request. In some examples, the interface layer 64 provides a web service that uses a simple object access protocol (SOAP) to handle requests from client applications. In other examples, the interface layer 64 may use a remote procedure call (RPC) to handle requests from the client 63. Upon receiving a request from a client application to use one or more services 68, the interface layer 64 sends data to the application layer 66 that includes the service 68.

[0066] The data layer 72 of the EEMS 6 represents a data repository that uses one or more data repositories 74 to provide persistence for data in the EEMS 6. A data repository can generally be any data structure or software that stores and / or manages data. Examples of data repositories include, but are not limited to, relational databases, multidimensional databases, maps, and hash tables, to name a few. The data layer 72 can be implemented using relational database management system (RDBMS) software to manage data in the data repository 74. The RDBMS software can manage one or more data repositories 74, which can be accessed using structured query language (SQL). The data in one or more databases can be stored, retrieved, and modified using RDBMS software. In some examples, the data layer 72 can be implemented using an object database management system (ODBMS), an online analytical processing (OLAP) database, or other suitable data management system.

[0067] The electrical device data 74A of the data repository 74 may include data corresponding to a plurality of electrical device articles, such as the cable accessories 34. In some examples, the electrical device data 74A may include device or equipment data, manufacturing data, installation data, customer data, power distribution data, etc. For example, for each cable accessory in the cable accessories 34, the electrical device data 74A may include data identifying a manufacturing date, an installation date, a location (e.g., GPS coordinates, a street address, etc.), an entity that installed the cable accessory, a unique identifier (e.g., a serial number), a type of cable accessory, etc. For example, in the case of Figure 1Before engaging the cables 32A and 32B with the cable accessory 34A, the installer may scan (e.g., using one of the computing devices 16, such as a mobile phone) a barcode on the cable accessory 34A, which includes device data representing a unique identifier, a manufacturing date, etc., and may upload the device data to the EEMS 6. In some cases, the mobile device may append data such as the current date and GPS coordinates as the installation date to the device data, and may send the device data to the EEMS 6 so that the EEMS 6 may store the device data for the cable accessory 34A in the electrical equipment data 74A.

[0068] like Figure 2 As shown, the EEMS 6 also includes an application layer 66, which represents a collection of services 68 for implementing most of the basic operations of the EEMS 6. The application layer 66 receives data included in the requests received from the client devices 63, and further processes the data according to one or more of the services 68 called by these requests. The application layer 66 can be implemented as one or more discrete software services executed on one or more application servers (e.g., physical or virtual machines). That is, the application server provides an operating environment for executing the services 68. In some examples, the functions of the functional interface layer 64 and the application layer 66 as described above can be implemented at the same server.

[0069] As an example, the application layer 66 may include one or more separate software services 68 (e.g., processes) that communicate with each other (e.g., via a logical service bus 70). The service bus 70 generally represents a logical interconnection or a set of interfaces that allow different services to send messages to other services, such as through a publish / subscribe communication model. For example, each of the services 68 may subscribe to a specific type of message based on a standard set for the corresponding service. When a service publishes a message of a specific type on the service bus 70, other services that subscribe to that type of message will receive the message. In this way, each of the services 68 can communicate data with each other. As another example, the services 68 can communicate in a point-to-point manner using sockets or other communication mechanisms.

[0070] like Figure 2As shown, each of the services 68 is implemented in a modular form within the EEMS 6. Although shown as a separate module for each service, in some examples, the functionality of two or more services may be combined into a single module or component. Each of the services 68 may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. In addition, the services 68 may be implemented as independent devices, separate virtual machines or containers, processes, threads, or software instructions typically for execution on one or more physical processors. In some examples, one or more of the services 68 may each provide one or more interfaces exposed through the interface layer 64. Therefore, a client application of the computing device 60 may call one or more interfaces of one or more of the services 68 to perform the techniques of the present disclosure.

[0071] According to the techniques of the present disclosure, service 68 may include an event processing platform including an event endpoint front end 68A, an event selector 68B, and an event processor 68C. Event endpoint front end 68A operates as a front end interface for receiving communications and sending communications to monitoring device 33 (e.g., directly or via communication hub 26 and / or gateway 28). In other words, event endpoint front end 68A operates as a front end interface deployed on Figure 1 The event endpoint front end 68A operates as a front-line interface of a monitoring device 33 within the environment 8. In some cases, the event endpoint front end 68A may be implemented as a plurality of tasks or jobs derived to receive individual inbound communications of an event stream 69 carrying data sensed and captured by sensors of the monitoring device 33 from a monitoring device 33 (e.g., integrated within a cable accessory 34). For example, when receiving an event stream 69, the event endpoint front end 68A may derive tasks to quickly enqueue inbound communications (referred to as an event) and close communication sessions, thereby providing high-speed processing and scalability. Each incoming communication may, for example, carry recently captured data representing sensed conditions, motion, temperature, operation, or other data (commonly referred to as events). Communications exchanged between the event endpoint front end 68A and the cable accessory 34 may be real-time or pseudo-real-time, depending on communication latency and continuity.

[0072] The event selector 68B operates on the event stream 69 received from the monitoring device 33, the communication hub 26, and / or the gateway 28 via the front end 68A and determines the priority associated with the incoming events based on rules or classifications. Based on the priority, the event selector 68B queues the events for subsequent processing by the event processor 68C or the high priority (HP) event processor 68D. Additional computing resources and objects may be dedicated to the HP event processor 68D to ensure response to critical events, such as actual failures or predicted impending failures of the cable accessories 34. In response to processing high priority events, the HP event processor 68D may immediately call the notification service 68E to generate an alert, instruction, warning, or other similar message for output to the monitoring device 33 or the user 18 of the computing device 60. Events that are not classified as high priority are consumed and processed by the event processor 68C.

[0073] Generally, the event processor 68C or the high priority (HP) event processor 68D operates on the incoming event stream to update the event data 74B in the data repository 74. Generally, the event data 74B includes information indicating sensor data obtained from the monitoring device 33 (e.g., integrated with the cable accessory 34), Figure 1 Device data, analysis data, or a combination thereof of the electrical device 20 of the monitoring device 33. For example, in some cases, the event data 74B may include an entire data sample stream obtained from the sensors of the monitoring device 33. In other cases, the event data 74B may include a subset of such data, for example, associated with a particular time period. As another example, the event data 74B may include analysis data indicating the results of the sensor data analysis performed by one or more of the monitoring device 33, the communication hub 26, and / or the gateway 28. Examples of event data stored in the event data 74B include data indicating sensor data generated by one or more sensors, such as data indicating the sensor data generated by the sensors of Figures 7 to 8. Fig.15 The data indicating the partial discharge data generated by the partial discharge sensor may include the data from FIG7 to FIG7. Fig.15 All or a portion of the partial discharge data generated by the partial discharge sensor, a summary of the partial discharge data, analysis data (e.g., data indicating a conclusion or result of an analysis performed on the partial discharge data), or a combination thereof. The event data may include information for use in the embodiments of FIG. 7 to FIG. Fig.15 The device data of the cable accessories of the partial discharge sensor of the present invention may include identification data, device type data, event timestamp, location data, installation data, manufacturing data, customer data, distribution data, etc.

[0074] Event handlers 68C, 68D may create, read, update, and delete event data stored in event data 74B. Event data may be stored in corresponding database records as a structure of name / value pairs including data, such as a data table specified in a row / column format. For example, the name of a column may be "Attachment ID" and the value may be a column corresponding to an attachment ID. Figure 1 The event record may include data such as, but not limited to, a device identification, a data collection timestamp, and data indicating one or more sensed parameters.

[0075] The event selector 68B can direct the incoming event stream to the stream analysis service 68F, which is configured to perform deep processing of the incoming event stream to perform real-time analysis. The stream analysis service 68F can be configured, for example, to process multiple streams of the event data 74B in real time when the event data 74B is received, and compare the multiple streams of the event data with the historical data and the model 74C. In this way, the stream analysis service 68F can be configured to detect anomalies, transform the incoming event data value, or trigger an alert when predicting a possible failure event (e.g., a failure of the electrical equipment product 20). The historical data and model 74C may include, for example, one or more trained models configured to predict whether a failure event will occur, the expected remaining life of one or more electrical equipment products 20, and / or prioritize the maintenance of the electrical equipment product (e.g., repair or replacement). In addition, the stream analysis service 68F can generate outputs to be transmitted to the cable accessories 34 (e.g., via the notification service 68E) or the computing device 60 (e.g., via the notification service 68G or the record management and reporting service 68G).

[0076] In this way, the analysis service 68F processes the inbound event streams (which may be hundreds or thousands of event streams) from the monitoring devices 33 within the environment 8 to apply historical data and models 74C to calculate assertions, such as identified anomalies or predicted occurrences of impending failure events, based on the conditions sensed by the sensors of the monitoring devices 33. The stream analysis service 68F can publish the assertions to the notification service 68F and / or record management via the service bus 70 for output to any of the clients 63.

[0077] In this manner, the analysis service 68F may be configured as an active electrical equipment management system that predicts failure events (e.g., failures that may be imminent or that may occur within a threshold amount of time) and provides real-time alerts and reports. Additionally, the analysis service 68F may be a decision support system that provides technology for processing an inbound stream of event data to generate assertions in the form of statistics, conclusions, and / or recommendations for electrical equipment 20 for facilities, workers, and other remote users. For example, the analysis service 68F may apply historical data and models 74C to determine the probability of failure of one or more electrical equipment articles 20 (e.g., cable accessories 34), prioritize repair and / or replacement of electrical equipment articles, and the like. Thus, the analysis service 68F may maintain or otherwise use one or more models that provide risk metrics to predict failure events.

[0078] In some examples, the analysis service 68F may generate a user interface based on the processed data stored by the EEMS 6 to provide actionable data to any of the clients 63. For example, the analysis service 68F may generate dashboards, warning notifications, reports, etc. for output at any of the clients 63. Such data may provide various insights into baseline ("normal") operation across the environment 8 or electrical devices 20 (e.g., cable accessories 34), identification of any abnormal characteristics of the electrical devices 20 that may cause at least a portion of the electrical grid within the environment 8 to fail, and the like.

[0079] As described above, according to aspects of the present disclosure, the EEMS 6 may apply analysis to predict the likelihood of a fault event. Although other techniques may be used, in one exemplary implementation, the analysis service 68F utilizes machine learning when operating on the event stream in order to perform real-time analysis. That is, the analysis service 68F may include executable code generated by applying machine learning to training event stream data and known fault events to detect patterns. The executable code may take the form of software instructions or a set of rules, and is generally referred to as a model, which may then be applied to the event stream 69 to detect similar patterns and predict upcoming events. For example, the analysis service 68F may determine the condition or health state (e.g., the predicted remaining life) of a corresponding equipment product 20 (e.g., a cable accessory 34A), or predict whether / when a corresponding electrical equipment product 20 will experience a fault event. That is, the EEMS 6 may determine the likelihood or probability of a fault event based on applying historical data and the model 74C to event data received from the electrical device 20. For example, EEMS 6 may apply historical data and models 74C to event data from monitoring devices 33 to compute assertions, such as predicted occurrences of abnormal or impending fault events, based on sensor data, environmental conditions, and / or other event data corresponding to electrical equipment 20 monitored by monitoring devices 33 .

[0080] The EEMS 6 may apply analysis to identify relationships or correlations between sensed data from sensors of the monitoring devices 33 that monitor the electrical devices 20, environmental conditions of the environment in which the electrical devices 20 are located, the geographic region in which the electrical devices 20 are located, the types of electrical devices 20, the manufacturers and / or installers of the electrical devices, and the like. The EEMS 6 may determine conditions that may cause or predict an abnormally high occurrence of failure events in a certain environment or geographic region based on data collected across a population of electrical devices 20. The EEMS 6 may generate alert data based on analysis of the event data and transmit the alert data to the computing device 16 and / or the monitoring device 33. Thus, according to aspects of the present disclosure, the EEMS 6 may determine event data for the monitoring device 33, generate status indications, determine performance analysis, and / or perform anticipatory / preemptive actions (e.g., schedule maintenance or replacement) based on the likelihood of a failure event.

[0081] In some examples, the analysis service 68F may generate separate models for different environments, geographic regions, types of electrical equipment, or a combination thereof. The analysis service 68F may update the model based on event data received from the monitoring device 33. For example, the analysis service 68F may update the model for a specific geographic region, a specific type of electrical equipment, a specific environment, or a combination thereof based on event data received from the monitoring device 33. Alternatively or in addition, the analysis service 68F may transmit all or part of the generated code and / or machine learning model to the monitoring device 33, the communication hub 26, and / or the gateway 28 for execution thereon to provide local alerts in near real time.

[0082] Exemplary machine learning techniques that can be used to generate model 74C may include various learning methods such as supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and semi-supervised learning. Exemplary types of algorithms include Bayesian algorithms, clustering algorithms, decision tree algorithms, regularization algorithms, regression algorithms, instance-based algorithms, artificial neural network algorithms, deep learning algorithms, dimensionality reduction algorithms, etc. Various examples of specific algorithms include Bayesian linear regression, boosted decision tree regression and neural network regression, back propagation neural network, Apriori algorithm, K-means clustering, k-nearest neighbor (kNN), learning vector quantization (LVQ), self-organizing map (SOM), local weighted learning (LWL), ridge regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), elastic network and least angle regression (LARS), principal component analysis (PCA) and principal component regression (PCR).

[0083] The EEMS 6 may initially train the model 74C based on a training set of event data and, in some examples, based on data corresponding to a fault event. As a further exemplary description, the EEMS 6 may select a training set that includes a set of training instances, each of which includes an association between event data and a fault event. For each training instance in the training set, the EEMS 6 may modify one or more models 74C based on specific event data and specific fault events in the training instance, thereby changing the likelihood of a specific fault event predicted by the model in response to subsequent event data applied to the model 74C. In some examples, the training instances may be based on real-time or periodic data generated when the EEMS 6 manages data of one or more electrical equipment products and / or working environments. Therefore, one or more training instances in the set of training instances may be generated by using one or more electrical equipment products 20 after the EEMS 6 performs operations related to detecting or predicting fault events of the electrical equipment products 20.

[0084] By training the model based on the training set, the analysis service 68F can apply the model to the event data and generate a higher probability or score for a fault event corresponding to a training feature set that is more similar to the specific feature set. In the same manner, the analysis service 68F can apply the model to the event data and generate a lower probability or score for a fault event corresponding to a training feature set that is less similar to the specific feature set. Thus, the analysis service 68F can train one or more models 74C, receive event data from one or more monitoring devices 33 that monitor the corresponding electrical equipment article 20, and output one or more probabilities or scores indicating the likelihood of a fault event based on the received event data vector.

[0085] In some examples, the analysis service 68F may train one or more models 74C based on sensor data generated by sensors of the monitoring device 33. For example, the analysis service 68F may determine based on the training data that temperature predicts an impending failure. For example, arcing, partial discharge, increased connector resistance, tracking, and other processes may cause temperature increases, leading to a fault event. As another example, the analysis service 68F may determine based on the training data that acoustic emissions (e.g., arcing, partial discharge, and gas release) are associated with a fault event. As another example, the analysis service 68F may determine that electromagnetic emissions (e.g., generated by partial discharge and arcing) and / or current and / or voltage on the line may also provide an indication of a fault event. As another example, the analysis service 68F may determine based on the training data that temperature alone does not indicate a fault unless the damage progresses to a near complete failure (e.g., because the high temperature may be caused by high current). In contrast, the analysis service 68F determines based on the training data that the expected life and failure of the electrical device 20 are based at least in part on the line current of the cable 32 and the temperature of the cable accessories 34. In some examples, analysis service 68F may determine, based on DC measurements (e.g., by a power acquisition coil, an inductive communication coil, or a separate inductive coil of cable accessory 34), a relationship between a line current of cable 32 and a temperature of cable accessory 34. For another example, analysis service 68F may determine, based on training data, that a difference between a temperature of a cable (e.g., cable 32A) and a temperature of a corresponding cable accessory (e.g., accessory 34A) to which the cable is directly coupled indicates damage to cable accessory 34A, a lifespan of cable accessory 34A, and / or whether or when cable accessory 34A is predicted to experience a failure event.

[0086] In some examples, the analysis service 68F trains one or more models 74C based on fault events of electrical equipment products 20 and / or working environments with similar characteristics (e.g., the same type). In some examples, "same type" may refer to identical but separate instances of electrical equipment products. In other examples, "same type" may not refer to identical electrical equipment instances. For example, although not identical, the same type may refer to electrical equipment products in the same level or category of electrical equipment, electrical equipment of the same model, or one or more shared functions or physical characteristics of the same group, etc. Similarly, the same type of environment may refer to an instance of an identical but separate working environment type. In other examples, although not identical, the same type may refer to an environment in the same level or category of environment, such as "underground cable", "underwater cable", a specific state in the United States, climate, etc.

[0087] In some examples, analysis service 68F may predict a failure event based at least in part on applying model 74C to event data 69, such as sensor data generated by monitoring device 33 monitoring electrical equipment article 20. For example, analysis service 68F may apply one or more models 74C to sensor data indicating temperature, acoustic emissions, electromagnetic emissions, current, voltage, or any combination thereof to determine a state of health (e.g., a predicted remaining life) of electrical equipment 20 and / or predict a failure event of electrical equipment 20. In some examples, analysis service 68F may train model 74C based on data from multiple sensors, and may apply one or more models 74C to sensor data from multiple different sensors to more accurately predict the state of health of a given electrical equipment article and whether or when an electrical equipment article 20 will fail.

[0088] The analysis service 68F may apply one or more models 74C to the sensor data and other event data to determine the health state of the electrical equipment product 20 and / or whether or when the electrical equipment product will fail. In some examples, the analysis service 68F may apply one or more models 74C to the sensor data and device data to predict the health state and / or failure events. For example, the analysis service 68F may predict whether the cable accessory 34A will fail based on the sensor data and the type of cable accessory 34A. For example, the analysis service 68F may determine that a first type of cable accessory (e.g., a joint performed via "heat shrink") has a different failure mode than a second type of cable accessory (e.g., a joint performed via "cold shrink"). As another example, the analysis service 68F may determine that a cable accessory 34 installed by one installer or in one geographic location has a different failure mode than a cable accessory 34 installed by a different installer or geographic location.

[0089] According to aspects of the present disclosure, the EEMS 6 can schedule maintenance (e.g., repair or replacement) operations for the electrical device 20 based on the event data. For example, the analysis service 68F can predict the remaining life of the cable accessory 34A, determine that the predicted remaining life of the cable accessory 34A is less than a threshold life, and schedule a replacement operation for the cable accessory 34A based on such data. For another example, the analysis service 68F can rank the maintenance operations for multiple electrical equipment products, for example, based on the predicted remaining life, the confidence of the prediction, the importance of various electrical equipment products (e.g., the number of customers served by each product), etc. In some examples, the analysis service 68F can automatically order replacement electrical equipment 20 based on one or more models 74C.

[0090] Additionally or alternatively, according to aspects of the present disclosure, event data from the monitoring device 33 may be used to determine alerts and / or actively control the operation of the electrical device 20. For example, the EEMS 6 may respond to an event along a particular line (e.g., Figure 1 24A) to predict an impending failure of an electrical device and reconfigure or reroute the power to pass through another wire (e.g., Figure 1 24B) transmits power. As another example, analysis service 68F may output a notification (e.g., to computing device 16) in response to determining a health state or predicting a failure event of electrical device 20. For example, analysis service 68F may output a notification to one or more computing devices 16 via notification service 68E.

[0091] Likewise, EEMS 6 can determine the above-described performance characteristics and / or generate alert data based on applying the event data to model 74C. However, while these determinations are described with respect to EEMS 6, as described in greater detail herein, one or more other computing devices such as cable accessories 34, communication hub 26, and / or gateway 28 can be configured to perform all or a subset of such functions.

[0092] The record management and reporting service 68G processes and responds to messages and queries received from the computing device 60 via the interface layer 64. For example, the record management and reporting service 68G may receive a request for event data related to individual electrical equipment products 20, groups of electrical equipment products (e.g., product types), geographic areas of the environment 8, or the entire environment 8 from a client computing device. In response, the record management and reporting service 68G accesses the event data based on the request. When retrieving the event data, the record management and reporting service 68G constructs an output response to the client application that initially requested the data. In some examples, the data may be included in a document, such as an HTML document, or the data may be encoded in JSON format or presented by a dashboard application executed on the requesting client computing device. For example, as further described in the present disclosure, an exemplary user interface including event data is depicted in the accompanying drawings.

[0093] As an additional example, the records management and reporting service 68G may receive requests for discovery, analysis, and correlation of event data (e.g., event data of one or more monitoring devices 33 monitoring corresponding electrical equipment articles 20). For example, the records management and reporting service 68G may receive a query request for event data 74B from a client application within a historical time frame, such as a user may view event data over a period of time and / or a computing device may analyze event data over a period of time.

[0094] In an exemplary implementation, the service 68 may also include a security service 68H that authenticates and authorizes users and requests using the EEMS 6. Specifically, the security service 68H may receive authentication requests from client applications and / or other services 68 to access data in the data layer 72 and / or perform processing in the application layer 66. The authentication request may include credentials such as a username and password. The security service 68H may query the security data 74E to determine whether the username and password combination is valid. The security data 74E may include security data in the form of authorization credentials, policies, and any other data used to control access to the EEMS 6. As described above, the security data 74E may include authorization credentials, such as a combination of a valid username and password for an authorized user of the EEMS 6. Other credentials may include a device identifier or device profile that allows access to the EEMS 6.

[0095] The security service 68H may provide auditing and logging functionality for operations performed at the EEMS 6. For example, the security service 68H may record operations performed by the service 68 and / or data entered by the service 68 in the data layer 72. The security service 68H may store audit data such as recorded operations, accessed data, and rule processing results in audit data 74D. In some examples, in response to satisfying one or more rules, the security service 68H may generate events. The security service 68H may store data indicating these events in audit data 74D.

[0096] In general, although certain techniques or functions described herein are performed by certain components (e.g., EEMS 6 or monitoring device 33), it should be understood that the technology of the present disclosure is not limited in this manner. That is, certain techniques described herein may be performed by one or more of the components of the described system. For example, in some cases, the monitoring device 33 may have a relatively limited set of sensors and / or processing capabilities. In such cases, the gateway 28 and / or EEMS 6 may be responsible for processing most or all of the event data, determining the possibility of a fault event, etc. In other examples, the monitoring device 33, the communication hub 26, and / or the gateway 28 may have additional sensors, additional processing capabilities, and / or additional memory, thereby allowing such devices to perform additional technologies. The determination of which components are responsible for executing the technology may be based on, for example, processing costs, financial costs, power consumption, etc.

[0097] Figure 3 3 is a conceptual diagram of a cable accessory 340 configured to electrically and physically couple two cables 350A and 350B (collectively, cables 350) according to various techniques of the present disclosure. Cable accessory 340 can electrically and physically couple cable 350A and cable 350B. Cable accessory 340 can be Figure 1An example of a cable accessory 34, and cables 350A, 350B may be Figure 1 Example of cable 350.

[0098] exist Figure 3 In the example of , cable 350A includes multiple concentric (e.g., cylindrical) layers, such as center conductor 352, conductor shield 354, insulator 356, insulator shield 358, protective member 360 (also referred to as sheath 360) and jacket 362. However, in some examples, cable 350 may include more or fewer layers. Cable 350B may include similar multiple layers. It should be understood that the layers of cable 350 are not necessarily drawn to scale. Cable 350 may be configured for AC and / or DC power transmission.

[0099] The cable 350 may transmit voltages of 11 kV, 33 kV, 66 kV, 360 kV, and the like. In some cases, the cable 350 that transmits power between a power source and a substation may transmit a voltage of 360 kV or greater, which may be considered a "transmission-grade voltage". In some examples, the cable 350 transmits a voltage between 33 kV and 360 kV, such as 66 kV or 33 kV, which may be considered a "sub-transmission-grade voltage", and may provide power from the power source to an end user or customer (e.g., a customer utilizing a relatively large amount of power). As another example, the cable 350 that transmits power between a distribution substation and a distribution transformer may transmit a voltage less than 33 kV, which may be considered a "distribution-grade voltage". The cable 350 may also transmit power between a distribution substation or a distribution transformer (e.g., a pad transformer or a pole transformer) and an end user or consumer (e.g., a home and business), and may transmit a voltage between 360 volts and 240 volts, at which voltage the cable 350 may be referred to as a "secondary distribution line".

[0100] The center conductor 352 comprises a conductive material, such as copper or aluminum. In some examples, the center conductor 352 includes a single solid conductor or a plurality of stranded conductors. The diameter or thickness of the center conductor 352 is based on the current that the cable 350 is designed to transmit or conduct. In other words, the cross-section of the center conductor 352 is based on the current that the cable 350 is designed to transmit. For example, the center conductor 352 can be configured to transmit a current of 1,000 amperes or more.

[0101] Conductor shield 354 may include a semiconductive polymer, such as a carbon black loaded polymer. The semiconductive polymer may have a bulk resistivity in the range of about 5 Ω-cm to about 100 Ω-cm. Conductor shield 354 may be physically and electrically coupled to center conductor 352. Figure 3In the example of FIG. 3 , the conductor shield 354 is disposed between the center conductor 352 and the insulator 356 . The conductor shield 354 can provide a continuous conductive surface around the outside of the center conductor 352 , which can reduce or eliminate sparks that might otherwise be formed by the center conductor 352 .

[0102] In some examples, insulation 356 includes polyethylene, such as cross-linked polyethylene (which may be abbreviated as PEX, XPE, or XLPE) or ethylene propylene rubber (which may be abbreviated as EPR). The diameter or thickness of insulation 356 is based on the voltage that cable 350 is designed to transmit or conduct.

[0103] The insulating shield 358 may comprise a semiconductive polymer similar to the conductive shield 354. Figure 3 In some examples, the insulating shield 358 is disposed between the insulating member 356 and the protective member 360. The insulating shield 358 can be coupled to the insulating member 356. In some examples, the insulating shield 358 is electrically coupled to the protective member 360.

[0104] The shield 360 may include a conductive material, such as a metal foil or film or a wire. In some examples, the shield 360 may be referred to as a "ground conductor."

[0105] like Figure 3 As shown, jacket 362 (also referred to as a "sheath") is the outer layer of cable 350. Jacket 362 may be a plastic or rubber polymer, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE), or ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM).

[0106] The cable 350 may include additional layers, such as swellable or water blocking materials placed within the conductor strands (eg, strand fillers) or between various layers within the cable 350 .

[0107] According to aspects of the present disclosure, the cable accessory 340 includes a monitoring device 300 configured to monitor the health of the cable accessory 340, the cable, and / or an electrical device (e.g., a device near the accessory 340). The monitoring device 300 may be Figure 1 In some examples, the monitoring device 300 includes at least one processor 302, a communication unit 304, a power supply 306, one or more sensors 308, and a storage device 310. Figure 3 One example of a cable accessory 340 is shown. Many other examples of cable accessories 340 may be used in other instances and may include a subset of the components included in the exemplary cable accessory 340, or may include Figure 3 Additional components not shown in the exemplary cable accessory 340 in FIG.

[0108] The cable accessory 340 includes one or more power sources 306 to provide power to the components shown in the cable accessory 340. In some examples, the power source 306 includes a main power source for providing power and an auxiliary backup power source for providing power when the main power source is unavailable (e.g., fails or otherwise does not provide power). In some examples, the power source 306 includes a battery, such as a lithium-ion battery. As another example, the power source 306 may include a power acquisition device or circuit configured to obtain power from an external source. The power source 306 may include a power acquisition circuit configured to obtain power from the cable 350. For example, when current flows through the cable 302, the cable 302 generates a magnetic field. The power source 306 may include a circuit that generates current based on the magnetic field, so that the current generated by the power source 306 can provide power to the monitoring device 300. In some examples, the power source 306 may include a piezoelectric power acquisition device, a thermoelectric power acquisition device, a photovoltaic acquisition device, or any other power acquisition device.

[0109] One or more processors 302 may implement functionality and / or execute instructions within cable accessory 340. For example, processor 302 may receive and execute instructions stored by storage device 310. These instructions executed by processor 302 may cause cable accessory 340 to store and / or modify information within storage device 310 during program execution. Processor 302 may execute instructions of component analysis engine 318 to perform one or more operations in accordance with the techniques of this disclosure. That is, analysis engine 318 may be operated by processor 302 to perform the various functions described herein.

[0110] One or more communication units 304 of cable accessory 340 can communicate with external devices by transmitting and / or receiving data. For example, cable accessory 340 can use communication unit 304 to transmit and / or receive radio signals over a radio network, such as a cellular radio network. Examples of communication unit 304 include a network interface card (e.g., an Ethernet card), an optical transceiver, a radio frequency transceiver, a GPS receiver, or any other type of device that can send and / or receive information. Other examples of communication unit 304 may include GPS, Cellular (e.g., 3G, 4G), LPWAN, and Radio component. As another example, the communication unit 304 may communicate with an external device by transmitting and / or receiving data via wired communication.

[0111] The communication unit 304 may be configured to send and receive data via the cable 350 using power line communication (PLC) technology. The communication unit 304 may implement power line communication via narrowband frequencies (e.g., approximately 500 kHz or less) or wideband frequencies (e.g., approximately 1 MHz or more). Rather than utilizing inductive coupling (which may be expensive, cumbersome, and challenging to install), the communication unit 304 may include capacitive coupling circuitry to inject data into the cable 350 and extract data from the cable.

[0112] The monitoring device 300 includes one or more sensors 308 configured to generate sensor data indicating one or more conditions of the cable accessory 340. Examples of the sensor 308 include a temperature sensor (e.g., located inside and / or outside the cable accessory), a partial discharge sensor, a voltage and / or current sensor, etc. The sensor 308 may be attached on, inside, or near the cable accessory 340. In some examples, the sensor 308 includes one or more temperature sensors, such as an internal temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature inside the cable accessory 340 and / or an external temperature monitor for monitoring the temperature on the outside or surface of the cable accessory 340. The sensor 308 may include a partial discharge sensor for detecting partial discharge within the cable accessory 340. As another example, the sensor 308 may include a voltage and / or current sensor configured to measure the phase and / or magnitude of a voltage or current in the cable accessory 340.

[0113] One or more storage devices 310 can store information for processing by processor 302. In some examples, storage device 310 is a temporary memory, which means that the primary purpose of storage device 310 is not long-term storage. Storage device 310 can be configured for short-term storage of information as volatile memory, and therefore does not retain stored content when deactivated. Examples of volatile memory include random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), and other forms of volatile memory known in the art.

[0114] In some examples, storage device 310 may also include one or more computer-readable storage media. Storage device 310 may be configured to store a larger amount of information than volatile memory. Storage device 310 may also be configured to perform long-term storage of information as non-volatile storage space and retain information after activation / deactivation cycles. Examples of non-volatile memory include flash memory or electrically programmable memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable memory (EEPROM). Storage device 830 may store program instructions and / or data associated with components such as analysis engine 318.

[0115] exist Figure 3In the example of FIG. 3 , storage device 310 includes electrical device data repository 312, event data repository 314, model repository 316, and analysis engine 318. Data repository 312, 314, and 316 may include relational databases, multidimensional databases, maps, and hash tables, or any data structure that stores data. In some examples, electrical device data repository 312 may be similar to Figure 2 The electrical device data repository 74A may be similar to the electrical device data repository 74A and may contain data similar to the electrical device data repository. Similarly, the event data repository 314 may be similar to the electrical device data repository 74A. Figure 2 The event data 74B described above may include data similar to the event data.

[0116] According to aspects of the present disclosure, the analysis engine 318 may be operated by the one or more processors 302 to perform one or more actions based on the sensor data generated by the sensor 308. The analysis engine 318 may be similar to Figure 2 The stream analysis engine 68F may include all or a subset of the functionality of the stream analysis engine.

[0117] In some examples, the analysis engine 318 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 340 based at least in part on sensor data generated by one or more of the sensors 308. For example, the analysis engine 318 may apply one or more rules (e.g., stored in the model repository 316) to the sensor data generated by one or more of the sensors 308 to determine the health state of the cable accessory 340. The rules may be pre-programmed or learned, for example, via machine learning. According to some examples, the model data storage device 316 contains rules that are trained based at least in part on event data and known fault events collected from multiple cable accessories 34. In such examples, the analysis engine 318 may train one or more models in the model repository 316 based on the event data in the event data repository 314. For another example, the monitoring device 300 may obtain information from Figure 1 and Figure 2 The EESR 6 receives data representing one or more models and may store the models in a model repository 316 .

[0118] The analysis engine 318 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 340 by predicting whether the cable accessory 340 will experience a fault event within a predetermined amount of time based at least in part on the rules and the sensor data. For example, the analysis engine 318 may predict whether the cable accessory 340 will fail within a predetermined amount of time by applying one or more models in the model repository 316 to the sensor data. As an example, the analysis engine 318 may apply the models in the model repository 316 to the sensor data stored in the event data repository 314. For example, the analysis engine 318 may receive temperature data indicating a temperature within the cable accessory 340 from a temperature sensor and apply the models in the model repository 316 to the temperature data. The analysis engine 318 may determine that the temperature is within a normal temperature range based on the temperature data and the models in the model repository 316, so that the analysis engine 318 may determine that the health state of the cable accessory 340 is nominal or normal. As another example, the analysis engine 318 may apply the models in the model repository 316 to the temperature data from the temperature sensor 308 and the current data from the current sensor 308. For example, temperature alone may not indicate a failure of the cable accessory 340 because temperature may increase as current increases. However, temperature and current may indicate a potential cable accessory failure, for example, if the measured temperature is relatively high even when the cable 350 is carrying a relatively small current. Therefore, in some examples, the analysis engine 308 may apply a model in the model repository 316 to the temperature data and the current data to determine the health status of the cable accessory 340.

[0119] In some examples, analysis engine 318 applies models in model repository 316 to event data repository 314 and other data, such as data within electrical device data repository 312. For example, analysis engine 318 can apply one or more models in model repository 316 to temperature data for cable accessories 340 stored in event data repository 314 and data indicating the type of cable accessories 340 stored in electrical device data repository 312 to predict whether cable accessories 340 will experience a fault event (e.g., fail to conduct power) within a predetermined amount of time.

[0120] The analysis engine 318 can perform various actions based on the health status of the cable accessory 340. For example, the analysis engine 318 can output a notification (e.g., to the EEMS 6) containing data indicating the health status of the cable accessory 340. For example, the notification can indicate that the cable accessory 340 is operating normally. As another example, the analysis engine 318 can output a notification indicating that the cable accessory 340 is predicted to fail within a predetermined amount of time or indicating the time at which the cable accessory 340 is predicted to fail.

[0121] Figure 4is a block diagram illustrating an example gateway 28 configured to communicate with a cable accessory 34A and an EEMS 6 in accordance with various techniques of the present disclosure. Figure 4 Only one specific example of a gateway 28 is shown. Many other examples of gateway 28 may be used in other instances and may include Figure 4 A subset of the components shown and / or may include Figure 4 Additional components not shown.

[0122] like Figure 4 As shown, the gateway 28 includes one or more processors 402, one or more communication units 404, one or more power supplies 406, and one or more storage devices 410. The processor 402, the communication unit 404, the power supply 406, and the storage component 410 may be similar to Figure 3 304, power supply 306 and storage component 310 of the embodiment of the present invention, and include functions similar to them. Therefore, for the sake of brevity, the description of the processor 402, the communication unit 404, the power supply 406 and the storage component 410 is omitted.

[0123] The gateway 28 may receive event data from a plurality of cable accessories 34 of one or more lines 24. The event data received by the gateway 28 may include data indicating sensor data generated by sensors of corresponding monitoring devices (e.g., monitoring cable accessories), such as all or part of the sensor data, a summary of the sensor data, and / or analysis results based on the sensor data. The gateway 28 may store all or a subset of the event data in the event data repository 414. In some examples, the gateway 28 may receive a notification from one or more cable accessories indicating the health status of the corresponding cable accessories 34.

[0124] The gateway 28 may act as an intermediary between the monitoring device 33 and the EEMS 6. For example, the gateway 28 may receive a notification from the monitoring device 33 and may send the notification to the EEMS 6. As another example, the gateway 28 may receive data from the EEMS 6. For example, the gateway 28 may receive a firmware update from the EEMS 6 and may send the firmware update from the EEMS 6 to the monitoring device 33. In some cases, the gateway 28 may receive (e.g., from the EEMS 6, the monitoring device 33, or both) device data, installation data, manufacturing data, etc. of a plurality of cable accessories 34, and may store the device data in the electrical device data repository 412.

[0125] In some examples, the analysis engine 418 determines the health status of the corresponding one or more electrical equipment products 20 (e.g., cable accessories 34) based at least in part on the event data in the event data repository 414. The analysis engine 418 may apply one or more rules to the event data to determine the health status of the corresponding cable accessories in the cable accessories 34. The rules may be pre-programmed or learned. The rules may be stored in the model repository 416. In some examples, the analysis engine 418 may train one or more machine learning models based on the event data and known fault events in the event data repository 414, and may store the trained models with the model repository 416. For another example, the gateway 28 may receive the rules from the monitoring device 33 or the EEMS 6.

[0126] The analysis engine 418 can apply rules to the event data to determine the health status of one or more electrical equipment articles 20, such as the cable accessories 34. For example, the analysis engine 418 can determine the health status of the cable accessory 34A by predicting whether the cable accessory 34A will fail within a predetermined amount of time or predicting the remaining life of the cable accessory 34A.

[0127] Gateway 28 may output data to EEMS 6. In some examples, gateway 28 sends all or a portion of the event data from monitoring device 33 to EEMS 6. As another example, gateway 28 may send a notification (e.g., generated by monitoring device 33 and / or gateway 28) to EEMS 6. For example, gateway 28 may output a notification indicating that the remaining life of a particular electrical equipment item (e.g., cable accessory 34A) is less than a threshold amount of time or indicating that a particular electrical equipment item is predicted to fail.

[0128] Figure 5 According to the technology disclosed in this invention Figure 1 An exemplary graphical user interface on the computing device 16 of the electrical equipment management system 2 in FIG. Figure 5 References Figure 1 and Figure 2 The electrical equipment management system 6 is described.

[0129] EEMS 6 may output a graphical user interface 500 representing an environment, such as environment 8B, that includes a plurality of electrical equipment articles. Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 5 , the electrical equipment item shown by the graphical user interface 500 is described as a cable accessory, however the graphical user interface 500 may also represent different types of electrical equipment. Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 5 , the graphical user interface 500 includes graphical elements (e.g., icons, symbols, text, or other graphical elements) for each of the plurality of cable accessories within the environment. For example, the graphical user interface 500 includes graphical icons 534A-534C, each of which represents a Figure 1 The corresponding cable accessories in the cable accessories 34.

[0130] The graphical user interface 500 may output data indicating the health status of the corresponding cable accessories. For example, the graphical user interface 500 may include a legend 502 having different graphical elements representing different health levels. Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 5 , graphical elements 534A and 534B indicate that the health status of the cable accessory represented by the respective graphical elements 534A, 534B is “normal”. A normal health status may indicate that the respective cable accessory is not predicted to fail within a threshold amount of time or is operating within typical operating parameters (e.g., within an expected temperature range, experiencing a typical amount of partial discharge events, etc.). Figure 5 As shown in the example of FIG. 5 , graphic element 534C indicates a cable accessory (e.g., Figure 1 In some examples, the graphical element 534C may indicate that the cable accessory 34C is predicted to fail within a threshold amount of time.

[0131] In some examples, graphical user interface 500 may include additional data, such as a map indicating the location of one or more cable accessories. For example, graphical user interface 500 may include graphical elements 536A-536C indicating a plurality of customers (e.g., households) served by the cable accessories.

[0132] The graphical user interface 500 may enable a user 18 of a computing device 16 to select a graphical element to receive additional information for the graphical element. For example, one or more computing devices 18 may output the graphical user interface 500 and may receive user input selecting a graphical element 534C. In response to receiving data indicating a user-selected graphical element 534C, the EEMS 6 may output additional information for the corresponding cable accessory to the computing device 18, such as data indicating an installation date, location, type of cable accessory, number of customers served by the cable accessory, and the like. In addition, the EEMS 6 also enables a user 16 of a computing device 18 to schedule maintenance or replacement of a cable accessory 34C, order parts, rewire power, or otherwise adjust the operation of a power grid, and the like.

[0133] Figure 6 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations performed by one or more computing devices configured to monitor electrical utility equipment, in accordance with various techniques of this disclosure. Figure 6 refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2 The system described.

[0134] One or more computing devices, such as a computing device of the EEMS 6 and / or a processor of the gateway 28, the hub 26, or the monitoring device 33, may obtain a first set of event data, referred to as training event data, from a plurality of cable accessories 34 (600). For example, before deploying a model for use within the EEMS 6 and / or other devices, such as the gateway 28, the hub 26, or the monitoring device 33, the training event data may be obtained for use in training one or more learning models. The training data may, for example, include known (i.e., previously identified, also referred to as "marked") fault events and associated sensory data. For another example, a monitoring device 33A monitoring a cable accessory 34A may receive event data from sensors of a corresponding monitoring device 33 of a cable accessory 34 within the monitoring environment 8B to train and improve the model in real time. In some cases, the sensors of the corresponding monitoring device 33 include temperature sensors, voltage sensors, partial discharge sensors, and the like. According to some examples, each of the monitoring devices 33 may output the training event data to the gateway 28, the EEMS 6, or both. Training event data may include data indicative of sensor data (e.g., all or a subset of sensor data, analysis results based on sensor data, a summary of sensor data, etc.), equipment data, manufacturing data, installation data, consumer data, power distribution data, or a combination thereof.

[0135] In response to receiving the training event data, one or more computing devices may train a model based at least in part on the event data from the cable accessory 34 (602). For example, the monitoring device 33, the gateway 28, and / or the EEMS 6 may utilize machine learning techniques to train a model that receives the training event data as input and outputs a predicted health state of one or more electrical equipment articles 20 such as the cable 350, the cable accessory 34, or the power delivery node 22. The one or more computing devices may train the one or more models using supervised learning, unsupervised learning, or semi-supervised learning. According to some examples, the one or more computing devices may train the one or more models based on known fault events. For example, the EEMS 6 may apply a plurality of training event data corresponding to known fault events to generate one or more models for predicting future fault events of a particular cable accessory when the EEMS 6 subsequently receives event data for the particular cable accessory. In some examples, the EEMS 6 may output the one or more models to the one or more cable accessories 34 or the gateway 28. As another example, the monitoring device 33 and / or the gateway 28 may train the model and may output the model to other monitoring devices, the gateway 28, or the EEMS 6.

[0136] After training one or more models, in some examples, one or more computing devices may receive a second set of event data, referred to as operational event data, from a particular monitoring device, such as monitoring device 33A that monitors cable accessory 34A (604). For example, monitoring device 33A may receive operational event data, including sensor data from sensors of monitoring device 33A. As another example, monitoring device 33A may output the operational event data to another monitoring device, gateway 28, and / or EEMS 6. Examples of event data include data indicating sensor data generated by one or more sensors, such as data indicating sensor data generated by sensors of FIG. 7 to FIG. Fig.15 The data indicating the partial discharge data generated by the partial discharge sensor of the electrical equipment may include all or a portion of the sensor data (e.g., the partial discharge data), a summary of the sensor data, analysis data (e.g., data indicating a conclusion or result of an analysis performed on the sensor data), or a combination thereof. The event data may include electrical equipment articles (including those of FIGS. 7 to 8). Fig.15 The device data may include identification data, device type data, event timestamps, location data, installation data, manufacturing data, consumer data, power distribution data, etc.

[0137] The one or more computing devices determine a health state of the cable accessory 34A based at least in part on the operational event data (606). In some examples, the monitoring device 33A, 33B, or 33C, the gateway 28, the EEMS 6, or a combination thereof may apply one or more models to the operational event data from the monitoring device 33A to determine the health state of the cable accessory 34A. For example, the monitoring device 33A may determine the health state of the cable accessory 34A locally, or the EEMS 6 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 34.

[0138] In response to determining the health status of the cable accessory 34A, one or more computing devices perform at least one action (608). In some examples, the monitoring device 33A performs the action by outputting a notification indicating the health status of the cable accessory 34A to the EEMS 6. For example, the notification may include data indicating that the cable accessory 34A is predicted to fail within a predetermined amount of time. Similarly, the gateway 28 and / or the EEMS 6 may output a notification indicating the health status of the cable accessory 34A. As another example, the EEMS 6 may perform the action by outputting data corresponding to a graphical user interface indicating the health status of the cable accessory 34A to one of the computing devices 18, so that one of the computing devices 18 may display the graphical user interface. As another example, the EEMS 6 schedules maintenance or replacement of the cable accessory 34A.

[0139] 7A to 7D is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure. 7A to 7DA plan view through the center of a cable accessory 700 including a monitoring device 720 is shown. The monitoring device 700 may be Figure 1 Example of cable accessories 34. FIG. 7A to FIG. 7B In the example of the present invention, the cable accessory 700 includes a monitoring device 720 and a plurality of generally concentric layers, such as a connector 702, an insulator 704, a low-side electrode 706, a separator 708, and a ground conductor 710. In some examples, the insulator 704, the low-side electrode 706, and the separator 708 can be collectively referred to as a connector body 705, and can generally be coaxial with each other. It should be understood that the layers of the cable accessory 700 are not necessarily drawn to scale. The cable accessory 700 may include fewer layers or additional layers not shown here.

[0140] The connector 702, which may also be referred to as a high-side electrode, may include a cylindrical body having a surface at a first end of the cylindrical body and a surface at a second end of the cylindrical body, the second end being opposite the first end. The cylindrical body may include an outer surface connecting the first end and the second end of the cylindrical body. Each end of the cylindrical body may be configured to receive a corresponding cable (e.g., Figure 1 For example, the first end and the second end of the connector 702 may each include a hole 703 configured to receive a cable (e.g., Figure 3 The center conductor 352 of the cable 350, or Figure 3 702). Aperture 703 may extend the entire length of connector 702 such that connector 702 includes a single aperture 703 or hollow area that traverses from a surface at a first end of connector 702 to a surface at a second end of connector 702. In this way, an installer coupling two cables together may insert a first cable into aperture 703 at a first end of connector 702 and insert a second cable into aperture 703 at a second end of connector 702 to electrically couple the two cables.

[0141] In some examples, the connector 702 comprises a conductive material, such as steel or aluminum. The diameter or thickness of the connector 702 can be based on the current that the cable accessory 700 is designed to transmit or conduct and / or the specifications of the cable 350 that the cable accessory 700 is configured to couple or connect. The connector 702 can couple two or more cables 350 to conduct power between an electric utility and one or more consumers. In such examples, the connector 702 can conduct power at a line voltage, which can be referred to as a mains voltage. In other words, the voltage transmitted by the connector 702 can be equal to the voltage transmitted by the electric utility or a portion of the voltage transmitted by the electric utility (e.g., regulated up or down by one or more power transmission nodes located between the electric utility and the cable accessory 700).

[0142] Insulator 704 may include a cylindrical tube made of an insulating material such as an elastomeric rubber (e.g., ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)). In some examples, the diameter or thickness of insulator 704 is based on the voltage that cable accessory 700 and / or cable 350 is designed to transmit or conduct.

[0143] In some examples, the low side electrode 706 comprises a semi-conductive material, such as a carbon-filled polymer (e.g., a cross-linked polyethylene or ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) material) that matches the polymer used in the main cable insulation. In some examples, the low side electrode 706 can be a conductive film deposited on the outer surface of the insulator 704. The low side electrode 706 may include an electrically floating surface. In other words, in some examples, the low side electrode 706 may be electrically isolated from the connector 702 and the ground conductor 710. In other words, the low side electrode 706 may be at a different potential than the connector 702 and the ground conductor 710. For example, an AC voltage in the connector 702 generates an electric field that will generate an AC voltage in the low side electrode 706.

[0144] exist Fig. 7A In the example of FIG. 7 , the low-side electrode 706 includes a single region including a semiconductive material. Figure 7B , Figure 7C and Fig.7D As shown, the low-side electrode 706 may include different regions, such as a low-resistance region 711 and a high-resistance region 712A. Figure 7B In the example of , the low-side electrode 706 includes at least one low resistance region 711 and multiple high resistance regions 712A, 712B. The low resistance region 711 contains a semiconductive or conductive material, such as a metal (e.g., copper, aluminum) contact, spring, sheet, foil, or mesh. The high resistance region 712 may contain a material such as cross-linked polyethylene or an EPR material. For example, the high resistance region 712 may contain a semiconductive polymer (e.g., a polymer loaded with conductive particles), an intrinsically conductive polymer, or a very thin conductive layer (e.g., a metal, graphite, or other thin conductor). The semiconductive polymer may contain conductive particles (such as carbon black) in a polymer matrix (such as silicone, EPDM, polyethylene, EVA copolymer, etc.). As shown in FIG. FIG. 7A to FIG. 7B As shown, high resistance region 712 can be electrically coupled to ground layer 710 via electrical connection 719. For example, high resistance region 712A can be electrically coupled to ground layer 710 via electrical connection 719A, and high resistance region 712B can be electrically coupled to ground layer 710 via electrical connection 719B. However, because high resistance region 712 has a relatively high resistance compared to other regions of low side electrode 706, current generated by partial discharge event 730 can flow through monitoring device 720 to ground layer 710. In some examples, electrical connection 719A can be a physical connection between high resistance region 712A and ground layer 710.

[0145] The ground conductor 710, which may also be referred to as a conductor at the ground 710, may include a conductive material, such as copper or aluminum. In some examples, the ground conductor 710 may include a wire mesh disposed on the exterior of the cable accessory 700. During installation of the cable accessory 700 (e.g., when coupling two cables together), the ground conductor 710 may be electrically coupled to the cable accessory 700. Figure 3 360 degree protection.

[0146] According to the technology of the present disclosure, the cable accessory 700 includes a separator 708, also referred to as a high impedance separator 708, disposed between the low side electrode 706 and the ground conductor 710. The separator 708 may include an insulating material or a relatively high resistance material that is not a perfect insulator. The separator 708 may electrically isolate the low side electrode 706 and the ground conductor 710. As described in more detail below, separating the low side electrode 706 and the ground conductor 706 may enable the monitoring device 720 to determine the health status of the cable accessory 700 (e.g., via sensors that monitor different layers to detect partial discharge events or monitor different temperatures, voltages and / or currents in the low side electrode 706 and the ground conductor 710), obtain power from the cable 350, communicate with other computing devices (e.g., EEMS 6) via power line communication, or a combination thereof. For example, by separating the low side electrode 706 and the ground conductor 710 via the separator 708, current can flow from the low side electrode 706 through the monitoring device 720 to the ground conductor 710, compared to cables and cable accessories in which the low side electrode 706 and the ground conductor 710 are directly coupled and short-circuit any device coupled to the low side electrode 706.

[0147] Cable accessory 700 includes monitoring device 720. Monitoring device 720 may be Figure 3 700 . The monitoring device 720 is electrically coupled to the low side electrode 706 and the ground conductor 710. In some examples, the monitoring device 720 is physically disposed between the low side electrode 706 and the ground conductor 710. However, in some examples, the monitoring device 720 may be located elsewhere, such as outside the cable accessory 700. The monitoring device 720 may be electrically coupled to the ground conductor 710 via electrical connection 718A and electrically coupled to the low side electrode 706 or the low resistance region 711 of the low side electrode 706 via electrical connection 718B.

[0148] like Fig. 7AAs shown, in some examples, the monitoring device 720 may include one or more processors 722 and one or more storage devices 730. In the example of FIG. 7 , the storage device 730 includes an electrical device data repository 732, an event data repository 734, a model repository 736, and an analysis engine 738. The data repositories 312, 314, and 316 may include a relational database, a multidimensional database, a map, and a hash table, or any data structure for storing data. In some examples, the electrical device data repository 732, the event data repository 734, the model repository 736, and the analysis engine 738 may be similar to Figure 3 The electrical equipment data repository 312, event data repository 314, model repository 316, and analysis engine 318 of the monitoring device 300 of the present disclosure. The processor 722 can receive and execute instructions stored by the storage device 730. These instructions executed by the processor 722 can cause the cable accessory 700 to store and / or modify information in the storage device 730 during program execution. The processor 722 can execute the instructions of the component analysis engine 738 to perform one or more operations according to the techniques of the present disclosure. That is, the analysis engine 738 can be operated by one or more processors 722 to perform various functions described herein.

[0149] like Fig. 7A As shown, the monitoring device 720 includes one or more devices or circuits 723 that can be selectively coupled (e.g., electrically coupled) to the low-side electrode 7. The device 723 may include one or more communication units 724, a power harvester device 726, one or more sensors 728, or a combination thereof. Figure 7B and Figure 7C In the example of FIG. 7 , for the sake of clarity, the communication unit 723, the power acquisition device 726, the processor 722 and the storage device 730 are omitted, but may be Fig. 7A The components are shown as included. Sensors 728 may include temperature sensors (e.g., located inside and / or outside the cable accessory), partial discharge sensors, voltage and / or current sensors, etc. Sensors 728 may be attached to, inside, or near cable accessory 700. Power harvester device 726 may harvest power from the transmission line to power one or more devices 723 of cable accessory 700, such as communication unit 724 or processor 722. In some examples, power harvester 726 may harvest power from the transmission line (e.g., Figure 1 The transmission line 24A) can be used to capacitively obtain power to provide current to the monitoring device 720. In some examples, the communication unit 724 can use power line communication technology to communicate with the monitoring device 720. Figure 1 The transmission line 24 sends and receives data.

[0150] In some examples, multiple devices 723 can utilize the low side electrode 706. For example, the devices 723 can utilize the low side electrode 726 by dividing the time each device 723 is coupled to the low side electrode 706, by sampling at different frequencies simultaneously, or a combination thereof. Table 1 shows exemplary frequencies that can be used for various functions of the devices 723.

[0151] Function Frequency range Power acquisition 50 / 60Hz Voltage phase and magnitude measurements 50 / 60Hz Power Line Communication 10kHz-500kHz Partial discharge detection 1kHz to 1GHz

[0152] Table 1

[0153] In some examples, one or more of the devices 723 may be continuously coupled to the low-side electrode 706. In other words, in some examples, at least one of the devices 723 utilizes the low-side electrode 706, so that the low-side electrode 706 may have a 100% duty cycle. However, in some examples, a lower duty cycle may also be used (e.g., timely sharing, at any given time, no device 723 may be operating or utilizing the low-side electrode 706).

[0154] By utilizing the low-side electrode 706, the cable accessory 700 may include a monitoring device 720 that includes multiple devices (e.g., partial discharge sensors 740 and communication units 724) to share the low-side electrode 706, which may reduce the complexity and cost of the cable accessory 700. In this way, the monitoring device 720 may be relatively easy to install, and a relatively effective, low-cost, and simple device for monitoring the cable accessory 700 and communicating with the EEMS 6 may be provided.

[0155] According to the techniques of the present disclosure, the sensors 728 include one or more partial discharge sensors 740. Generally speaking, the partial discharge sensors 740 are configured to detect partial discharges of cables and cable accessories such as Figure 1 7 . As described above, a partial discharge event refers to an event that only partially bridges the gap between electrodes or conductors, such as a gas discharge in the gap. In some cases, a partial discharge event is initiated at an air-containing void within a material or at an interface between various structures, such as partial discharge event 730 of FIG. 7 . Since air has a relatively low dielectric constant, the air in the void concentrates the electric field, so that a discharge can result when the electric field exceeds the breakdown strength of the air.

[0156] Partial discharge events can cause degradation, resulting in the insulation of cables (e.g. Figure 3The failure may be caused by a failure of the insulation layer 356 of the cable 350, the insulator 704 of the cable accessory 700, or an interface breakdown at the interface between the insulation layer 356 of the cable 350 and the insulator 704 of the cable accessory 700 (which may be referred to as internal tracking). For example, the dielectric material may degrade during repeated partial discharge events, which may ultimately lead to a failure event in the cable and / or cable accessories. In other words, the cable and cable accessories may experience a failure event due to cumulative damage caused by many small partial discharge events. For example, repeated partial discharge events may lead to cumulative dielectric degradation, which develops through mechanisms generally adopted by increased local conductivity of the dielectric surface, increased surface roughness, formation of pits, initiation and extension of electrical dendrites, and finally final breakdown of the remaining dielectric (e.g., the electric field exceeds the dielectric breakdown of the remaining material in the cable or cable accessories).

[0157] In some cases, the duration of the partial discharge event 730 may be very short, for example, one nanosecond. The partial discharge event 730 may output current pulses over a wide frequency range, and the current pulses may transfer charge from a magnitude of less than 1 pC to a magnitude of several nC. The partial discharge event 730 may cause current to flow from the low-side electrode 706 through one or more partial discharge sensors 740 of the monitoring device 720 to the ground conductor 710.

[0158] As the current generated by the partial discharge event 730 flows from the low side electrode 706 to the ground conductor 710, the partial discharge sensor 740 detects the current. For example, the partial discharge sensor 740 may be electrically coupled to the ground conductor 710 via electrical connection 718A and electrically coupled to the low side electrode 706 via electrical connection 718B. In response to detecting the current, the partial discharge sensor 740 may output partial discharge data indicative of the partial discharge event 730. For example, the partial discharge data may include data indicating that a partial discharge event was detected, a phase of the partial discharge current, a magnitude of the partial discharge current, or a combination thereof.

[0159] In response to receiving partial discharge data generated by one or more partial discharge sensors 740, analysis engine 738 may store event data including the partial discharge data to event data repository 734. In some examples, the event data includes data corresponding to the partial discharge event, such as a date and / or time of the partial discharge event, an identifier of a partial discharge sensor corresponding to the partial discharge sensor 740 that generated the partial discharge data, etc. For example, analysis engine 738 may receive partial discharge data from multiple discharge sensors 740 and may store event data for each of the partial discharge sensors 740 to memory.

[0160] The analysis engine 738 can determine the health state of the cable accessory 700 based at least in part on the partial discharge data. The analysis engine 738 can determine the health state of the cable accessory 700 by applying one or more rules. The rules can be pre-programmed or learned, for example, via machine learning.

[0161] In some examples, one or more models 736 may be trained based at least in part on event data, including partial discharge event data. For example, analysis engine 738 may train model 736 based on known fault events, types of cable accessories, volume of partial discharge events, time between individual partial discharge events or between bursts of partial discharge events, etc. For example, analysis engine 738 may determine that time between individual partial discharge events is not indicative of a health state of a cable accessory, but may determine that time between bursts of partial discharge events and types of cable accessories are indicative of a health state of the cable accessory.

[0162] In some examples, the analysis engine 738 determines the health state of the cable accessory 700 based at least in part on the amount of partial discharge events. For example, the analysis engine 738 may determine the amount of discharge events within a period of time (e.g., within a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, etc. since the installation of the cable accessory 700). In some cases, the analysis engine 738 determines the amount of discharge events by querying the event data repository 734. The analysis engine 738 may apply one or more rules to the amount of discharge events to determine the health state of the cable accessory 700. For example, the analysis engine 738 may assign a health score to the cable accessory 700 based on applying the rules to the amount of partial discharge events. For example, the analysis engine 738 may assign a health score (e.g., using a scale of 0 to 100) that indicates the likelihood of a failure of the cable accessory 700 based on the amount of discharge events (e.g., a higher score indicates a poorer health state or a higher likelihood of failure). As another example, the analysis engine 738 can determine the health state of the cable accessory based on the magnitude and / or frequency of one or more partial discharge events, the amount of time between partial discharge events (e.g., the interval between bursts of discharge events), the phase relationship to the main carrier voltage, etc. For example, the analysis engine 738 can apply one or more of the models 736 to the event data 734, such as the type of cable accessory, the installation date, the magnitude of the discharge events, the time between bursts of partial discharge events, etc., to determine the health state of the cable accessory 700.

[0163] The analysis engine 738 can determine the health status of the cable accessory 700 by predicting whether the cable accessory 700 will experience a failure event within a predetermined amount of time. In some examples, the analysis engine 738 can determine a health score corresponding to the cable accessory 700 and predict whether the cable accessory 700 will fail within a predetermined amount of time based on the health score. As another example, the analysis engine 738 can predict whether the cable accessory 700 will fail within a predetermined amount of time based on one or more of the models 736. For example, the analysis engine 738 can apply one of the models 736 to at least some of the event data in the event data 734 and output data indicating whether or when the cable accessory 700 is predicted to fail. In other words, the input to one or more of the models 736 can include at least some of the event data corresponding to partial discharge events detected by the partial discharge sensor 740 of the cable accessory 700 and / or partial discharge events detected by other cable accessories.

[0164] In some examples, the analysis engine 738 may determine the location of the partial discharge event based on partial discharge data from multiple partial discharge sensors 740. The analysis engine 738 may receive partial discharge data from multiple partial discharge sensors 740 of a single cable accessory 700 or from multiple discharge sensors 740 of different cable accessories. For example, the current generated by the partial discharge event 730 may travel on the power transmission line through multiple cable accessories, so that the multiple cable accessories 700 may detect the partial discharge 730 via corresponding partial discharge sensors and output event data including time stamp data and partial discharge data generated by the corresponding partial discharge sensors. The analysis engine 318 may determine the origin or location of the partial discharge event based at least in part on the time stamp in the event data. In some examples, the analysis engine 318 may determine the geographic location of the partial discharge event by determining which cable accessory of the multiple cable accessories the partial discharge event occurred closest to. For example, in response to determining that the time stamp data indicates that the cable accessory 700 first detected the partial discharge event 730, the analysis engine 738 may determine that the geographic location of the partial discharge event 730 is close to the geographic location of the cable accessory 700.

[0165] As another example, the analysis engine 738 can determine whether the partial discharge event 730 occurred within the cable accessory 700, near an interface between the cable accessory 700 and another device (e.g., near a connection between the cable accessory 700 and a cable, or near a connection between the cable accessory 700 and a termination device), or outside the cable accessory 700. The cable accessory 700 can include multiple partial discharge detectors 740, and the location of the partial discharge event 730 can be determined based on corresponding timestamp data generated by corresponding partial discharge sensors 740 of a single cable accessory 700 in a manner similar to that described above for partial discharge sensors of different cable accessories.

[0166] The analysis engine 738 may determine the health of the cable accessory 700 based at least in part on the location of the partial discharge event 730. For example, in response to determining that the event 730 occurred outside the cable accessory 700, the analysis engine 730 may ignore the partial discharge event 730. In other words, the analysis engine 738 may determine that the external partial discharge event is noise that is unlikely to cause the cable accessory 700 or a portion of the cable to fail. As another example, the analysis model 738 may determine the relationship between the location of the partial discharge event and the failure mode. The failure mode may include thermal runaway, dielectric degradation of the cable insulation, dielectric degradation of the insulation in the cable accessory 700, interface breakdown (also known as "internal tracking") at the connection between the cable accessory 700 and other devices such as cables or terminal devices. For example, the analysis model 738 may (e.g., when training the model 736) determine the relationship between the failure mode (e.g., the cable accessory failure mode) and the amount and location of the partial discharge event. For example, the analytical model 738 may determine that a failure mode (e.g., interface breakdown) is associated with a particular threshold amount of discharge events near the interface, and that a different failure mode (e.g., dielectric breakdown of the cable accessory) is associated with different threshold amounts of discharge events within the cable accessory.

[0167] In addition, the analysis engine 738 can predict the health state or condition of the cable accessory 700 based on the amount and location of the partial discharge events. For example, by applying one or more models 736 to the partial discharge data indicating the amount and location of the partial discharge events of the cable accessory 700, the analysis engine 738 can predict whether the cable accessory 700 will fail within a predetermined amount of time or determine the probability of a failure event of one or more corresponding failure modes. For another example, the analysis engine can apply one or more models 736 to the partial discharge data (e.g., the amount and location of the discharge events) to predict the remaining life of the cable accessory 700.

[0168] The analysis engine 738 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 700 based on sensor data generated by sensors other than partial discharge sensors (e.g., sensors of the monitoring device 720 and / or other devices). In some examples, the monitoring device 720 includes one or more voltage sensors, and the analysis engine 738 determines the health state of the cable accessory 700 based on voltage data generated by the voltage sensors. Voltage spikes, also known as voltage transients, can cause premature failure of the cable accessory or cable. The analysis engine 738 may determine whether the voltage data indicates that a voltage spike (e.g., a voltage that is approximately a normal level of the applied voltage, such as due to a switching spike or an electrical storm) has occurred, and may determine the health state of the cable accessory 700 based on determining whether the voltage spike has occurred. For example, the analysis engine 738 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 700 based on a plurality of voltage peaks. For example, the analysis engine 738 may determine that the health state of the cable accessory 700 decreases linearly or exponentially as the amount of the voltage spike increases.

[0169] As another example, the analysis engine 738 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 700 based on temperature, the location of the cable accessory 700, the presence of moisture, and the like. In some examples, the cable accessory 700 may be buried in soil in a location with hot and dry weather. In such examples, the dry soil may have different thermal properties, for example, cold dry soil may conduct heat away from the cable accessory 700, or hot dry soil may insulate heat and keep heat close to the cable accessory 700. Thus, according to some examples, the analysis engine 738 may determine the risk of thermal failure based on temperature and / or humidity. For example, the cable accessory 700 may include a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, and / or a water presence sensor, and may determine the health state of the cable accessory 700 based on data generated by such sensors. For example, the analysis engine 738 may determine that the risk of thermal failure is high in response to determining that the soil has low conductivity, low heat capacity, or is at higher temperatures at certain times of the year. According to some examples, in addition to or alternatively to the data generated by the temperature sensor and the humidity sensor / water sensor, the analysis engine may determine the health state of the cable accessory 700 based on weather history and / or forecasts.

[0170] According to some examples, the analysis engine 738 determines the state of health of the cable accessory 700 based on the partial discharge data and other data. For example, the analysis engine 738 can determine the state of health of the cable accessory 700 based on the partial discharge data and the voltage data. For example, the analysis engine 738 can determine that the state of health of the cable accessory 700 has degraded in response to detecting a voltage spike and a partial discharge event within a threshold amount of time of each other. In other words, in some examples, when the time between the voltage spike and the partial discharge event is less than or equal to the threshold amount of time, this can increase the risk of failure of the insulation of the cable accessory 700, such that the analysis engine 738 can determine that the state of health of the cable accessory 700 has degraded.

[0171] In some examples, the magnitude of the partial discharge signal at the defect (in pico-coulombs or other units) can depend on the applied voltage (e.g., the voltage in the center conductor or connector) and the defect size. When a partial discharge event is detected, the analysis engine 738 can classify the severity of the defect based on the applied voltage.

[0172] The analysis engine 738 can determine the health of the cable accessory 700 based on the voltage on the power line and therefore the voltage at the connector 702. In some examples, the voltage can affect the structure formed and the rate of development of damage. For example, "electrical trees" in the insulation of the cable accessory 700 or the cable may have a more characteristic "bush-like" structure at higher voltages and a "tree-like" structure at lower voltages, and the types of electrical trees may propagate differently. In other words, different voltages can cause the insulation to break down in different ways, so that the analysis engine 738 can determine the health of the cable accessory 700 and / or the cable based on voltage data generated by one or more voltage sensors of the monitoring device 720.

[0173] According to some examples, analysis engine 738 can determine the health status of electrical devices other than cable accessory 700. For example, analysis engine 738 can determine a partial discharge event that occurred external to cable accessory 700. Analysis engine 738 can receive event data from other monitoring devices indicating a partial discharge event that occurred external to the other monitoring devices, and analysis engine 738 can determine that the other monitoring devices detected the same partial discharge event (e.g., based on the timing of the partial discharge event). In such examples, analysis engine 738 can determine that a cable between cable accessory 700 and another cable accessory experienced a partial discharge event, and can determine the health status of the cable based on partial discharge data from multiple monitoring devices.

[0174] The analysis engine 738 can perform one or more actions in response to determining the health status of the cable accessory 700 or other electrical equipment product. According to one example, the analysis engine 738 can output a notification (e.g., to Figure 1The EEMS 6 of the cable accessory 700 is used to perform an action, the notification including data corresponding to a partial discharge event occurring within the cable accessory 700, at an interface between the cable accessory 700 and another device (e.g., a cable or a terminal device), outside the cable accessory 700, or a combination thereof. In some examples, the analysis engine 738 outputs a notification indicating the health status of the cable accessory 700. For example, the data indicating the health status of the cable accessory includes all or a portion of the event data generated by the partial discharge sensor 740, a summary of the data, an analysis result based on the partial discharge data, or a combination thereof. The analysis result may include a health score, data indicating whether the cable accessory 700 is predicted to fail within a predetermined amount of time, data indicating the predicted remaining life of the cable accessory 700, etc.

[0175] According to some examples, the analysis engine 738 can perform an action by outputting an alert. For example, the alert can indicate that the cable accessory 700 should be inspected, repaired, or replaced. In some examples, the analysis engine 738 can schedule an inspection, repair (also referred to as maintenance), or replacement of the cable accessory 700.

[0176] In this way, the cable accessory 700 may include a partial discharge sensor to detect a partial discharge event. Relative to other cable accessories, the cable accessories of the present disclosure may be relatively compact, consume less power, and be relatively low cost. A computing device (e.g., a monitoring device included in the cable accessory or a different computing device different from the monitoring device (e.g., a cloud computing system)) may determine the health state of the cable accessory based at least in part on the partial discharge event. By determining the health state of the cable accessory or a portion of the cable, the computing device may predict a failure event of the cable accessory before the failure occurs and output a notification indicating that the cable accessory is predicted to fail. In addition, the computing device may schedule maintenance or replacement of the cable accessory. In this way, the computing device may prevent or reduce failure events, which may improve safety.

[0177] In general, while certain techniques or functions described herein are performed by the monitoring device 720, it should be understood that the techniques of the present disclosure are not limited in this manner. That is, certain techniques described herein may be performed by one or more of the components of the described system. For example, in some cases, the monitoring device 720 may have relatively limited processing capabilities. In such cases, the gateway 28 and / or the EEMS 6 may be responsible for most or all of processing event data, determining the likelihood of a fault event, and the like. For example, the monitoring device 720 may monitor one or more conditions of a power cable and / or cable accessories, and may output event data indicating a partial discharge event (e.g., partial discharge data, a summary of partial discharge data, etc.) to another device. For example, the monitoring device 720 may output event data (e.g., raw partial discharge data, analysis results such as the location of a partial discharge event) to Figure 1 to Figure 2 EEMS 6 of the monitoring device 720. EEMS 6 or another computing device may determine the health status of the power cable and / or the cable accessories based at least in part on the event data. In such examples, the EEMS may determine the health status of the power cable and / or the cable accessories using any of the techniques described with reference to the analysis engine 738 of the monitoring device 720. Similarly, the analysis engine 738 may include Figure 3 The function of the monitoring device 300.

[0178] Although described in the context of cable accessories 700, monitoring device 720 can be coupled anywhere along the power line to detect partial discharge events. In other words, monitoring device 720 can monitor the condition of the cable and is not necessarily coupled to or included in a cable accessory such as a cable joint or terminal. In this way, the monitoring device can determine the health of the cable or other electrical equipment article.

[0179] Figure 8 832A to cable 832B. 7A to 7C 832A to 832B (collectively, cables 832) may be reference Figure 3 An example of a cable 350 is depicted. It should be understood that the layers of cable 832 and the layers of cable accessory 800 are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0180] exist Figure 8 In the example of FIG. 1 , cable 832 includes multiple concentric layers, such as cable center conductor 852, cable insulation 856, cable insulation shield 858, cable guard 860 (also referred to as sheath 860), and cable jacket 862. However, in some examples, cable 832 may include more or fewer layers. Cable 832B may include similar multiple layers. Cable center conductor 852, cable insulation 856, cable insulation shield 858, cable guard 860, and cable jacket 862 may correspond to Figure 3 The center conductor 352, the insulating member 356, the insulating shielding member 358, the protective member 360 and the jacket 362 are shown in FIG. 3, so that for the sake of brevity, the description of the corresponding layers is omitted here.

[0181] like Figure 8As shown, in some examples, the cable accessory 800 includes a monitoring device 820 and a plurality of generally concentric layers, such as a connector 802, an insulator 804, a low-side electrode 806, a separator 808, a ground conductor 810, and a jacket 812. The cable accessory 800 may include additional or fewer layers. The connector 802, the insulator 804, the low-side electrode 806, the separator 808, and the ground conductor 810 may correspond to the connector 702, the insulator 704, the low-side electrode 706, the separator 708, and the ground conductor 710 of FIG. 7, respectively, so that for the sake of brevity, the description of the corresponding layers is omitted. The jacket 812 may be a plastic or rubber polymer, such as polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene.

[0182] Insulator 804 can include multiple sub-layers, such as a "high-K" insulator 814 and a tab insulator 816. High-K insulator 814 can include a material having a relatively high dielectric constant compared to the material of tab insulator 816. In some examples, cable accessory 800 includes a tab electrode 809 that concentrically covers connector 802. For example, tab electrode 809 can include a conductive material disposed between connector 802 and insulator 804.

[0183] The cable accessory 800 may include an extruded cable connector body 805 (e.g., a "push-on" connector body). In some cases, the connector body 805 is an integrated unit including the connector electrode 809, the insulator 804, the low-side electrode 806, and the separator 808. In other words, according to some examples, the connector electrode 809, the insulator 804, the low-side electrode 806, and the separator 808 can form a single cohesive structure or device, which can be attached or mounted together with other layers to form the cable accessory 800. The connector body 805 may include an integrated monitoring device 820.

[0184] When installed, cable accessory 800 electrically and physically couples cables 832A and 832B. Figure 8 In the example of FIG. 8 , connector 802 electrically couples center conductors 852 of cables 832A and 832B. Figure 8 As shown, ground conductor 810 electrically couples cable guard 860 of cable 832A with cable guard 860 of cable 832B. Low side electrode 806 can be electrically isolated from connector 802 and ground conductor 810. In other words, during operation, center conductor 852 and connector 802 can be at a high potential (e.g., thousands or hundreds of thousands of volts), the potential of cable guard 860 and ground conductor 810 can be at ground potential, and electrode 806 can float between ground potential and a high voltage potential.

[0185] In operation, monitoring device 820 may include the functionality of monitoring device 720 of FIG. 7. In some examples, monitoring device 820 includes one or more processors, one or more storage devices, one or more sensors, one or more communication units, one or more power acquisition devices, or a combination thereof. Monitoring device 820 is electrically coupled to ground conductor 810 and low-side electrode 806 via electrical connections 818A, 818B, respectively (collectively referred to as electrical connections 818).

[0186] exist Figure 8 In an example of , the monitoring device 820 includes at least one partial discharge sensor 840. The partial discharge sensor 840 can be an example of the partial discharge sensor 740 of FIG. 7. One or more partial discharge sensors 840 can be electrically coupled to the ground conductor 810 and the low-side electrode 806 via electrical connections 818A, 818B, respectively. The partial discharge sensor 840 can be configured to detect a partial discharge event and output partial discharge data indicating the partial discharge event. For example, the partial discharge data can include data indicating that a partial discharge event was detected, a phase of a partial discharge current, a magnitude of a partial discharge current, or a combination thereof.

[0187] The monitoring device 820 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 800 based at least in part on the partial discharge data. In some examples, the monitoring device 820 determines the health state of the cable accessory 800 based on event data (e.g., including partial discharge data), device data, manufacturing data, installation data, or a combination thereof. The monitoring device 820 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 800 by applying one or more models to the event data, for example, to predict whether the cable accessory 800 will fail within a predetermined amount of time. In response to determining the health state of the cable accessory 800, the monitoring device 820 may output data indicating the health state of the cable accessory 800, such as all or a portion of the partial discharge data, a summary of the partial discharge data, analysis results based on the partial discharge data, or a combination thereof. In some examples, the monitoring device 820 uses wired communication technology (e.g., power line communication) and / or wireless communication technology (e.g., LTE, ) Output the data to Figure 1 to Figure 2 According to some examples, the monitoring device 820 may output event data (e.g., including partial discharge data) without determining the health state of the cable accessory 800. For example, the monitoring device 820 may output the event data to the gateway 28 and / or the EEMS 6, and the EEMS 6 and / or the gateway 28 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 800 based on the event data.

[0188] Fig. 9 932A to cable 932B. 7A to 7C 932A to 932B (collectively, cables 932) may be reference Figure 3 An example of a depicted cable 350. It should be understood that the layers of cable 932 and the layers of cable accessory 900 are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0189] exist Fig. 9 In the example of FIG. 1 , cable 932 includes multiple concentric layers, such as cable center conductor 952, cable insulation 956, cable insulation shield 958, cable guard 960 (also referred to as sheath 960), and cable jacket 962. However, in some examples, cable 932 may include more or fewer layers. Cable 932B may include similar multiple layers. Cable center conductor 952, cable insulation 956, cable insulation shield 958, cable guard 960, and cable jacket 962 may correspond to Figure 3 The center conductor 352, the insulating member 356, the insulating shielding member 358, the protective member 360 and the jacket 362 are shown in FIG. 3, so that for the sake of brevity, the description of the corresponding layers is omitted here.

[0190] like Fig. 9 As shown, in some examples, the cable accessory 900 includes a monitoring device 920 and multiple layers (e.g., substantially concentric or substantially coaxial layers), such as a connector 902, an insulator 904, a low-side electrode 906, a separator 908, a ground conductor 910, and a jacket 912. The cable accessory 900 may include additional or fewer layers. The connector 902, the insulator 904, the low-side electrode 906, the separator 908, and the ground conductor 910 may correspond to the connector 702, the insulator 704, the low-side electrode 706, the separator 708, and the ground conductor 710 of Figure 7, respectively, so that for the sake of brevity, the description of the corresponding layers is omitted. The jacket 912 may be a plastic or rubber polymer, such as polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene.

[0191] The cable accessory 900 may include a molded cable connector body 905. In some cases, the connector body 905 is an integrated unit that includes the connector electrode 909, the insulator 904, the low-side electrode 906, and the separator 908 in an integrated unit. In other words, according to some examples, the connector electrode 909, the insulator 904, the low-side electrode 906, and the separator 908 may form a single cohesive structure or device that may be attached or mounted together with other layers to form the cable accessory 900. The connector body 905 may include an integrated monitoring device 920.

[0192] In some examples, the cable accessory 900 includes a contact electrode 909 that concentrically covers the connector 902. For example, the contact electrode 909 can include a conductive material disposed between the connector 902 and the insulator 904.

[0193] When installed, cable accessory 900 electrically and physically couples cables 932A and 932B. Fig. 9 In the example of FIG. 1 , connector 902 electrically couples center conductors 952 of cables 932A and 932B. Fig. 9 As shown, ground conductor 910 electrically couples cable guard 960 of cable 932A with guard 960 of cable 932B. Low side electrode 906 can be electrically isolated from connector 902 and ground conductor 910. In other words, during operation, center conductor 952 and connector 902 can be at a high potential (e.g., thousands or hundreds of thousands of volts), the potential of cable guard 960 and ground conductor 910 can be at ground potential, and electrode 906 can float between ground potential and a high voltage potential.

[0194] In operation, monitoring device 920 may include the functionality of monitoring device 720 of FIG. 7. In some examples, monitoring device 920 includes one or more processors, one or more storage devices, one or more sensors, one or more communication units, one or more power acquisition devices, or a combination thereof. Monitoring device 920 is electrically coupled to ground conductor 910 and low-side electrode 906 via electrical connections 918A, 918B (collectively referred to as electrical connections 918), respectively.

[0195] exist Fig. 9 In an example of , the monitoring device 920 includes at least one partial discharge sensor 940. The partial discharge sensor 940 may be an example of the partial discharge sensor 740 of FIG. 7 . One or more partial discharge sensors 940 may be electrically coupled to the ground conductor 910 and the low-side electrode 906 via electrical connections 918A, 918B, respectively. The partial discharge sensor 940 may be configured to detect a partial discharge event and output partial discharge data indicating the partial discharge event. For example, the partial discharge data may include data indicating that a partial discharge event was detected, a phase of a partial discharge current, a magnitude of a partial discharge current, or a combination thereof.

[0196] The monitoring device 920 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 900 based at least in part on the partial discharge data. In some examples, the monitoring device 920 determines the health state of the cable accessory 900 based on event data (e.g., including partial discharge data), device data, manufacturing data, installation data, or a combination thereof. The monitoring device 920 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 900 by applying one or more models to the event data, for example, to predict whether the cable accessory 900 will fail within a predetermined amount of time. In response to determining the health state of the cable accessory 900, the monitoring device 920 may output data indicating the health state of the cable accessory 900, such as all or a portion of the partial discharge data, a summary of the partial discharge data, analysis results based on the partial discharge data, or a combination thereof. In some examples, the monitoring device 920 uses wired communication technology (e.g., power line communication) and / or wireless communication technology (e.g., LTE, ) Output the data to Figure 1 to Figure 2 According to some examples, the monitoring device 920 may output event data (e.g., including partial discharge data) without determining the health state of the cable accessory 900. For example, the monitoring device 920 may output the event data to the gateway 28 and / or the EEMS 6, and the EEMS 6 and / or the gateway 28 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 900 based on the event data.

[0197] FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory 1000 for coupling a cable 1032 to a cable terminal lug 1080 according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The cable accessory 1000 may be Figure 1 An example of a cable accessory 34F, such as a cable terminal body. Cable 1032 may be a reference Figure 3 An example of a cable 350 is shown. It should be understood that the cable 1032 and the cable accessory 1000 are not necessarily drawn to scale. The cable terminal lugs 1080 may include a conductive material, such as copper or aluminum.

[0198] exist FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C In the example of FIG. 1 , the cable 1032 includes a plurality of concentric layers, such as a cable center conductor 1052, a cable insulation 1056, a cable insulation shield 1058, a cable guard 1060 (also referred to as a sheath 1060), and a cable jacket 1062. However, in some examples, the cable 1032 may include more or fewer layers. The cable center conductor 1052, the cable insulation 1056, the cable insulation shield 1058, the cable guard 1060, and the cable jacket 1062 may correspond to Figure 3 The center conductor 352, the insulating member 356, the insulating shielding member 358, the protective member 360 and the jacket 362 are shown in FIG. 3, so that for the sake of brevity, the description of the corresponding layers is omitted here.

[0199] exist FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C In the example of , cable accessory 1000 includes a monitoring device 1020, which may correspond to monitoring device 720 of FIG. 7 and may include similar components (eg, a processor, a storage device, a communication unit, a sensor, and a power supply) and functionality.

[0200] exist FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C In the example of , the cable accessory 1000 includes multiple layers, such as an insulator 1004 and a jacket 1012. The cable accessory 1000 may include additional or fewer layers. The insulator 1004 may include an insulating material, such as an elastomeric rubber (e.g., ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)). The jacket 1012 may be a plastic or rubber polymer, such as polyvinyl chloride or polyethylene.

[0201] exist Fig. 10A In an example of , the cable accessory 1000 includes a low-side electrode 1006, which can be an example of the low-side electrode 706 of Figure 7. In such an example, the low-side electrode 1006 can be electrically isolated from the cable center connector 1052 and the cable guard 1060 of the cable 1032. In other words, the low-side electrode 1006 can be at a different potential than the cable center connector 1052 (which is at a relatively high line voltage) and the cable guard 1060 (at ground). One or more partial discharge sensors 1040 of the monitoring device 1020 are electrically coupled to the ground conductor 1060 and the low-side electrode 1006 via electrical connections 1018A, 1018B (collectively referred to as electrical connections 1018), respectively.

[0202] exist Fig. 10B In the example of , the cable 1032 includes a low side electrode 1068 (e.g., in addition to or alternatively to the low side electrode 1006 of the cable accessory 1000) and a separator 1068. The low side electrode 1068 can be similar to the low side electrode 706 of FIG. 7. The separator 1066 can electrically isolate the low side electrode 1006 from the cable insulation shield 1058 and the cable guard 1060 of the cable 1032. One or more partial discharge sensors 1040 of the monitoring device 1020 are electrically coupled to the ground conductor 1060 and the low side electrode 1068 via electrical connections 1018A, 1018B, respectively.

[0203] exist Fig. 10CIn an example of the present invention, the cable insulation shield 1058 includes a material having a relatively high resistivity (e.g., compared to the cable insulation shields of some cables). In such an example, the cable insulation shield 1058 can form a low-side electrode. One or more partial discharge sensors 1040 of the monitoring device 1020 can be electrically coupled to the cable insulation shield 1058. By using a material having a relatively high resistivity for the cable insulation shield and electrically coupling the partial discharge sensor 1040 to the cable insulation shield 1058, current generated by a partial discharge event can flow through the partial discharge sensor 1040 to the ground conductor 1060.

[0204] In operation, monitoring device 1020 may include the functionality of monitoring device 720 of Figure 7. In some examples, monitoring device 1020 includes one or more processors, one or more sensors, one or more communication units, one or more power acquisition devices, or a combination thereof. For example, monitoring device 1020 includes one or more partial discharge sensors 1040 configured to generate sensor data indicative of a partial discharge event.

[0205] The monitoring device 1020 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 1000 based at least in part on the partial discharge data. In some examples, the monitoring device 1020 determines the health state of the cable accessory 1000 based on the partial discharge data and other data, such as other event data, device data, manufacturing data, installation data, or a combination thereof. The monitoring device 1020 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 1000 by applying one or more models to the event data, for example, to predict whether the cable accessory 1000 will fail within a predetermined amount of time. In response to determining the health state of the cable accessory 1000, the monitoring device 1020 may output data indicating the health state of the cable accessory 1000, such as all or a portion of the sensor data, a summary of the sensor data, analysis results based on the sensor data, or a combination thereof. In some examples, the monitoring device 1020 uses wired communication technology (e.g., power line communication) and / or wireless communication technology (e.g., LTE, ) Output the data to Figure 1 to Figure 2 According to some examples, monitoring device 1020 can output event data without determining the health status of cable accessory 1000. For example, monitoring device 1020 can output event data to gateway 28 and / or EEMS 6, and EEMS 6 and / or gateway 28 can determine the health status of cable accessory 1000 based on the event data.

[0206] FIG. 11A to FIG. 11B 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory 1100 coupled to an exemplary cable 1132 according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The cable 1132 may be a reference Fig. 9An example of the cable 932 is shown. The cable 1132 may include a center conductor, a cable insulation, a cable insulation guard 1158, and a cable guard 1160. The cable 1132 may include additional or fewer layers. It should be understood that the layers of the cable 1132 are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0207] The cable accessory 1100 includes a monitoring device 1120. Figures 11A to 11B As shown, the monitoring device 1120 includes a plurality of partial discharge sensors 1140A, 1140B (collectively referred to as partial discharge sensors 1140). The monitoring device 1120 may include one or more additional sensors, one or more power acquisition devices, one or more communication units, one or more processors (e.g., including a data repository and an analysis engine), and one or more storage devices, as shown in the monitoring device 720 of FIG. 7 , however, for clarity, the monitoring device 1120 is not shown in FIG. FIG. 11A to FIG. 11B Such parts are omitted.

[0208] exist FIG. 11A to FIG. 11B In the example of FIG. 1 , the cable accessory 1100 includes a connector 1102, an insulator 1104, a low-side electrode 1106, a separator 1108, and a ground conductor 1110. In some examples, the insulator 1104, the low-side electrode 1106, and the separator 1108 can be collectively referred to as a connector body 1105, and can generally be coaxial with each other. It should be understood that the layers of the cable accessory 1100 are not necessarily drawn to scale. The cable accessory 1100 may include fewer layers or additional layers not shown here.

[0209] The partial discharge sensor 1140 may be an example of the partial discharge sensor 740 of FIG. The partial discharge sensor 1140A may be electrically coupled to the ground layer 1110 via an electrical connection 1118A and electrically coupled to the low side electrode 1106 via an electrical connection 1118B. By separating the low side electrode 1106 and the ground conductor 1110 from the insulator 1108 and by electrically coupling the partial discharge sensor 1140A to the low side electrode 1106 and the ground conductor 1110, current generated by a partial discharge event may flow from the low side electrode 1106 through the partial discharge sensor 1140A to the ground conductor 1110. In this way, the current generated by the partial discharge event may flow through the partial discharge sensor 1140A and enable the partial discharge sensor 1140 to detect the partial discharge event.

[0210] exist Fig.11AIn the example of , the partial discharge sensor 1140B can be electrically coupled to the ground layer 1110 via the electrical connection 1118C, and electrically coupled to the insulating shield 1158 of the cable 1132 via the electrical connection 1118D. The insulating shield 1158 can have a relatively high resistance (e.g., compared to the cable guard 1160), so that the insulating shield 1158 can be considered as a low-side electrode. By electrically coupling the partial discharge sensor 1140B to the cable insulating shield 1158 and the ground conductor 1110, the current generated by the partial discharge event can flow from the insulating shield 1158 through the partial discharge sensor 1140B to the ground conductor 1110. In other words, because the insulating shield 1158 has a relatively high resistance or impedance, at least some of the current generated by the partial discharge event can flow through the electrical connection 1118 (e.g., instead of flowing along the insulating shield 1158 to the cable guard 1160), flow through the partial discharge sensor 1140B to the ground conductor 1110.

[0211] like Fig. 11B As shown in the example of , the insulation shield 1158 may include a low resistance element 1159. In some examples, the low resistance element 1159 includes a metal body attached to the exterior of the insulation shield 1158. For example, the low resistance element 1159 may extend around the circumference of the cable insulation shield 1158. Fig. 11B In the example of FIG. 1 , partial discharge sensor 1140B can be electrically coupled to ground plane 1110 via electrical connection 1118C and electrically coupled to low resistance element 1159 via electrical connection 1118D. Low resistance element 1159 can provide a low impedance path to cause or force current generated by a partial discharge event to flow through electrical connection 118C to partial discharge sensor 1140B and ground plane 1110. Insulating shield 1158 can have a relatively high resistance (e.g., compared to cable guard 1160) such that insulating shield 1158 can be considered a low-side electrode.

[0212] The partial discharge sensor 1140 may output event data in response to detecting a partial discharge event. For example, the event data may include partial discharge data indicative of a partial discharge event. The monitoring device 1120 may store the partial discharge data, analyze the partial discharge data, and output the partial discharge data (e.g., to a Figure 1EEMS 6) or a combination thereof. The monitoring device 1120 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 1100 based at least in part on the partial discharge data. In some examples, the monitoring device 1120 determines the health state of the cable accessory 1100 by predicting whether the cable accessory 1100 will fail within a predetermined amount of time based on the partial discharge data, the device data, the manufacturing data, the installation data, or a combination thereof. The monitoring device may output data indicating the health state of the cable accessory 1100, such as all or a portion of the partial discharge data, a summary of the partial discharge data, and / or analysis result data. For example, the monitoring device 1120 may output data indicating whether the cable accessory 1100 is predicted to fail within a predetermined amount of time.

[0213] Fig.12 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory 1200 that couples two cables 1232A to 1232B according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Cables 1232A to 1232B (collectively referred to as cables 1232) may be reference Fig. 9 An example of a depicted cable 932. It should be understood that the layers of cable 1232 and the layers of cable accessory 1200 are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0214] exist Fig.12 1, the cable 1232 includes a plurality of concentric layers, such as a cable center conductor 1252, a cable insulation 1256, a cable insulation shield 1258, a cable guard 1260 (also referred to as a sheath 1260), and a cable jacket 1262. However, in some examples, the cable 1232 may include more or fewer layers. The cable 1232B may include a similar plurality of layers. The cable center conductor 1252, the cable insulation 1256, the cable insulation shield 1258, the cable guard 1260, and the cable jacket 1262 may correspond to Fig. 9 The center conductor 952, cable insulation 956, cable insulation shield 958, cable guard 960 and cable jacket 962 are shown in FIG. 1 , so that for the sake of brevity, the description of the corresponding layers is omitted here.

[0215] The monitoring device 1200 may be Fig. 9 An example of a cable accessory 900 is shown. Fig.12 As shown, the cable accessory 1200 includes a connector 1202, an insulator 1204, a low-side electrode 1206, a separator 1208, a ground conductor 1210, and a sheath 1212, which can be Fig. 9 1 , a connector 902, an insulator 904, a low-side electrode 906, a separator 908, a ground conductor 910, and a jacket 912 of a cable accessory 900, so that descriptions of corresponding layers are omitted for the sake of brevity.

[0216] like Fig.12As shown, the cable accessory 1200 includes a monitoring device 1220. The monitoring device 1220 includes a plurality of partial discharge sensors 1240A to 1240C (collectively referred to as partial discharge sensors 1240). The monitoring device 1220 may include one or more additional sensors, one or more power acquisition devices, one or more communication units, one or more processors (e.g., including a data repository and an analysis engine), and one or more storage devices, as shown in the monitoring device 720 of FIG. 7, however, for clarity, the monitoring device 1220 is not shown in FIG. Fig.12 Such parts are omitted.

[0217] Partial discharge sensor 1240 may be similar to partial discharge sensor 740 of FIG. 7 and include similar functionality thereto. Partial discharge sensor 1240A may be electrically coupled to insulating shield 1258 of cable 1232A via electrical connection 1218A and electrically coupled to ground conductor 1210 via electrical connection 1218B. Similarly, partial discharge sensor 1240B may be electrically coupled to insulating shield 1258 of cable 1232B via electrical connection 1218C and electrically coupled to ground conductor 1210 via electrical connection 1218D. Insulating shield 1258 may have a relatively high resistance (e.g., compared to cable guard 1260) such that insulating shield 1258 may be considered a low-side electrode. By electrically coupling partial discharge sensor 1240A to cable insulation shield 1258 and ground conductor 1210 of cable 1232A, and by electrically coupling partial discharge sensor 1240B to cable insulation shield 1258 and ground conductor 1210 of cable 1232B, current generated by a partial discharge event can flow from respective insulation shields 1258 through partial discharge sensors 1240A, 1240B to ground conductor 1210. In other words, because insulation shield 1258 has a relatively high resistance or impedance, at least some of the current generated by a partial discharge event can flow through electrical connection 1218 (e.g., rather than flowing along insulation shield 1258 to cable guard 1260), through partial discharge sensors 1240A, 1240B to ground conductor 1210.

[0218] The partial discharge sensor 1240C can be electrically coupled to the ground conductor 1210 via the electrical connection 1218F, and electrically coupled to the low side electrode 1206 via the electrical connection 1218F. By separating the low side electrode 1206 and the ground conductor 1210 from the insulator 1208, and by electrically coupling the partial discharge sensor 1240C to the low side electrode 1206 and the ground conductor 1210, current generated by the partial discharge event can flow from the low side electrode 1206 through the partial discharge sensor 1240C to the ground conductor 1210. In this way, the current generated by the partial discharge event can flow through the partial discharge sensor 1240C and enable the partial discharge sensor 1240C to detect the partial discharge event.

[0219] The partial discharge sensor 1240 may output event data in response to detecting a partial discharge event. For example, the event data may include partial discharge data indicative of a partial discharge event. The monitoring device 1220 may store the partial discharge data, analyze the partial discharge data, and output the partial discharge data (e.g., to a Figure 1 EEMS 6) or a combination thereof. The monitoring device 1220 may determine the health state of the cable accessory 1200 based at least in part on the partial discharge data. In some examples, the monitoring device 1220 determines the health state of the cable accessory 1200 by predicting whether the cable accessory 1200 will fail within a predetermined amount of time based on the partial discharge data, the device data, the manufacturing data, the installation data, or a combination thereof. The monitoring device may output data indicating the health state of the cable accessory 1200, such as all or a portion of the partial discharge data, a summary of the partial discharge data, and / or analysis result data. For example, the monitoring device 1220 may output data indicating whether the cable accessory 1200 is predicted to fail within a predetermined amount of time.

[0220] FIG. 13A to FIG. 13C is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example cable accessory 1200 that couples a plurality of cables 1232 according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure. Fig.13A An example of a partial discharge event occurring at location 1230A at the interface of the cable accessory 1200 and the cable 1232B is shown. In other words, location 1230A represents the joint or location where the cable accessory 1200 is coupled to the cable 1232B. Fig. 13B An example of a partial discharge event occurring at location 1230B within the interior of the cable accessory 1200 is shown. Fig. 13C An example of a partial discharge event occurring at location 1230C external to the cable accessory 1200 is shown.

[0221] exist FIG. 13A to FIG. 13CIn each of the figures, partial discharge sensors 1240A-1240C may detect a partial discharge event and may output partial discharge data indicative of the partial discharge event (e.g., to a processor of monitoring device 1220). In some examples, the partial discharge data may include a timestamp corresponding to when the partial discharge event was detected at the partial discharge sensor, a phase of the partial discharge current, a magnitude of the partial discharge current, etc.

[0222] Monitoring device 1220 of cable accessory 1200 may determine the location of a partial discharge event based on partial discharge data from each of partial discharge sensors 1240. In some examples, monitoring device 1220 determines the location of a partial discharge event based on the magnitude of the current. Fig.13A In the example of , in response to determining that the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240B is greater than the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensors 1240A and 1240C, monitoring device 1220 may determine that the partial discharge event occurred closest to partial discharge sensor 1240B. For another example, in response to determining that the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240B is greater than the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240C and the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240C is greater than the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240A, monitoring device 1220 may determine that the partial discharge event occurred at the interface of cable accessory 1220 and cable 1232B.

[0223] For example, Fig. 13B As shown, in response to determining that the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240C is greater than the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240A or 1240B, monitoring device 1220 may determine that the partial discharge event occurred closest to partial discharge sensor 1240B.

[0224] A partial discharge event that occurs external to the cable accessory 1200 may produce no net charge transfer within the cable accessory 1200 and may produce a relatively small amount of current at the interface between the cable accessory 1200 and the cable 1232 (relative to a partial discharge event that occurs within the cable accessory 1200). In other words, when a partial discharge event occurs external to the cable accessory 1200, the partial discharge sensor 1240C may detect approximately little to no current, and the partial discharge sensors 1240A and 1240B may detect approximately equal amounts of current. Fig. 13CIn the example, in response to determining that the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240C is less than (e.g., approximately zero) the magnitude of the current detected by partial discharge sensor 1240A or 1240B and the magnitudes of the current detected by partial discharge sensors 1240A and 1240B are approximately equal, monitoring device 1220 may determine that a partial discharge event occurred outside cable accessory 1200.

[0225] The monitoring device 1220 may determine the probability of a particular failure mode of the cable accessory 1220 or the cable 1232 based on the location of the partial discharge event. For example, in response to determining that the partial discharge event occurred outside the cable accessory 1200, the monitoring device 1220 may increase the risk of a cable failure mode (e.g., dielectric breakdown in the insulation of the cable 1232). For another example, in response to determining that the partial discharge event occurred near the interface of the cable accessory 1200 and the cable 1232B, the monitoring device 1120 may increase the risk of an interface breakdown failure mode. For another example, in response to determining that the partial discharge event occurred inside the cable accessory 1200, the monitoring device 1120 may increase the risk of a cable accessory failure mode (e.g., dielectric breakdown in the insulation of the cable accessory 1200).

[0226] In some examples, monitoring device 1120 determines the location of the partial discharge event based on the timestamp corresponding to the partial discharge event. For example, monitoring device 1120 may determine that partial discharge sensor 1240 that first detects the partial discharge event is closest to the partial discharge event.

[0227] FIG. 14A to FIG. 14C 14 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary cable accessory according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The cable accessory 1400 may include multiple concentric layers. In the example of FIG. 14 , the multiple concentric layers may include a connector 1402, an insulator 1404, a low-side electrode 1406, a separator 1408, and a ground conductor 1410. The insulator 1404, the low-side electrode 1406, and the separator 1408 may form a joint body. The connector 1402, the insulator 1404, the low-side electrode 1406, the separator 1408, and the ground conductor 1410 may be examples of the connector 702, the insulator 704, the low-side electrode 706, the separator 708, and the ground conductor 710 of FIG. 7 , respectively, so that for the sake of brevity, the description of the corresponding layers is omitted here.

[0228] The low-side electrode 1406 may include multiple regions. Fig.14AIn the example of , the low-side electrode 1406 includes a high resistance region 1412 and a plurality of low resistance regions 1411A and 1411B (collectively referred to as high resistance regions 1411), wherein each of the low resistance regions effectively acts as a separate low-side electrode portion 1406A, 1406B that can be monitored separately. The low resistance region 1411 comprises a semiconductive or conductive material, such as a metal (e.g., copper or aluminum). The high resistance region 1412 may comprise a material such as cross-linked polyethylene or an EPR material.

[0229] exist Fig.14A In the example of , the high resistance region 1412 may concentrically surround the insulator 1404 and may be disposed between the insulator 1404 and the low resistance region 1411. In other words, the radius from the central axis of the joint body 1405 to the high resistance region 1412 may be smaller than the radius from the central axis of the joint body 1405 to the low resistance region 1411. In other words, the low resistance region 1411 may be stacked on the high resistance region 1412.

[0230] like Fig. 14B As shown, the perimeters of low resistance region 1411 and high resistance region 1412 may be substantially the same. In other words, the radius from the central axis of connector body 1405 to high resistance region 1412 may be approximately equal to the radius from the central axis of connector body 1405 to low resistance region 1411.

[0231] exist Fig. 14C In the example of , the low side electrode 1406 includes a plurality of low resistance regions 1411 separated by high impedance regions 1413. The high impedance regions 1413 may include dielectric materials. The perimeters of the low resistance regions 1411 and the high impedance regions 1413 may be approximately the same. In other words, the radius from the central axis of the connector body 1405 to the high impedance regions 1413 may be approximately equal to the radius from the central axis of the connector body 1405 to the low resistance regions 1411.

[0232] In some cases, low resistance region 1411 is a circumferential ring. In another case, low resistance region 1411 is a longitudinal strip. In some examples, low resistance region 1411 enhances lateral conduction in a localized area.

[0233] The cable accessory 1400 may include a monitoring device 1420 including a plurality of partial discharge sensors 1440A-1440B (collectively referred to as partial discharge sensors 1440). The monitoring device 1420 may be an example of the monitoring device 720 of FIG. 7 and may include similar functionality, such that a description of the monitoring device 1420 is omitted for brevity. The partial discharge sensor 1440 may be an example of the partial discharge sensor 740, such that a description of the partial discharge sensor 1440 is omitted for brevity.

[0234] In the example of FIG. 14 , each of the partial discharge sensors 1440 is coupled to a different low resistance region in the low resistance region 1411. The partial discharge sensor 1440A is electrically coupled to the ground conductor and one of the low resistance regions 1411A, while the partial discharge sensor 1440B is electrically coupled to the ground conductor 1410 and the low resistance region 1411B. By utilizing the individual low resistance regions 711 in this manner, the monitoring device can determine the spatial distribution of partial discharge events. In some examples, when the low resistance region 1411 is a circumferential ring, the monitoring device can determine the longitudinal location of the partial discharge event. When the low resistance region 1411 includes a longitudinal strip, the monitoring device can determine the location of the partial discharge event around the perimeter. The low resistance region 1411 can be any size or shape and can be positioned in a variety of different arrangements.

[0235] Fig.15 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary partial discharge sensor 1500 according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The partial discharge sensor 1500 may be an example of the partial discharge sensor 740, 840, 940, 1040, 1140, 1240, or 1440 of FIGS. 7 to 14. Fig.15 In the example of FIG. 1 , partial discharge sensor 1500 includes voltage measurement circuit 1504, filter 1506, amplifier 1508, peak detector 1510, comparator 1512, trigger 1514, sampling circuit 1516, detector resetter 1518, pulse amplitude detector 1520, and partial discharge output 1522. Partial discharge sensor 1500 may include fewer components or additional components not shown here.

[0236] The partial discharge sensor 1500 can detect an input signal (e.g., current or voltage) 1502 generated by a partial discharge event. The line measurement circuit 1504 can determine the phase of the baseline frequency of the power transmitted by the transmission line (e.g., transmission line 30) being monitored by the partial discharge sensor 1500. For example, the line measurement circuit 1504 can include a zero crossing detector, which can, for example, detect the time when the line voltage crosses from a negative value to a positive value, thereby setting the time as the point of zero line phase. For another example, the circuit 1504 can detect a minimum point or a maximum point, or a negative transition.

[0237] The filter 1506 may filter the input signal 1502 for signals within a predetermined frequency range (eg, corresponding to frequencies of typical partial discharge events). The amplifier 1508 amplifies the signal output by the filter 1506 .

[0238] Peak detector 1510 detects the peak value of the filtered signal. For example, peak detector 1510 may hold the signal (e.g., via a capacitor) at a peak value. In other words, as the value of the signal increases, the value of the signal held by peak detector 1510 may increase, and when the value of the signal decreases, peak detector 1510 may hold the value of the signal at its peak value or local maximum. Comparator 1512 may compare the local peak value of the signal to a threshold value. When comparator 1512 determines that the peak value of the input signal meets the threshold value, trigger 1514 may cause sampler 1516 to sample the filtered input signal. In other words, comparator 1512 triggers sampling circuit 1516 via trigger 1514. Trigger 1514 or sampling circuit 1516 may capture the time elapsed from the last line zero crossing to the trigger event. This time difference divided by the baseline period (e.g., 20 milliseconds for a 50 Hz line) constitutes the phase value of the partial discharge event. In response to sampling the filtered input signal, the detector reset circuit 1518 may reset the value maintained by the peak detector 1510 .

[0239] The pulse amplitude detector 1520 may determine the amplitude of the sampled signal. In some examples, the pulse amplitude detector 1520 may determine the amplitude of the sampled signal based on a calibration curve.

[0240] The output device 1522 may output partial discharge data indicating the amplitude and / or phase of the sampled signal. For example, the output device 1522 may output the partial discharge data to one or more processors, which may determine the health status of the cable accessory including the partial discharge detector 1500, for example, based at least in part on the partial discharge data generated by the partial discharge sensor 1500.

[0241] Fig.16 is a graph illustrating an example partial discharge event detected by a monitoring device and associated with a known fault event in accordance with various techniques of the present disclosure. Fig.16 References as references Figure 1 to Figure 2 The EEMS 6 and the respective references Figure 1 , Figure 3 7 . For example, the partial discharge sensor 740 of the monitoring device 720 can detect partial discharge events over time. The x-axis of the graph 1600 represents time, and the y-axis of the graph 1600 represents the amount of partial discharge events per unit time (e.g., per hour).

[0242] In some examples, a computing device (e.g., monitoring device 720 or EEMS 6) may train a model indicating the health status of a cable accessory or cable based on the partial discharge data and known fault events plotted in graph 1600 (e.g., Figure 2History and Data Model 74C and / or Fig. 7A 16). Although graph 1600 shows a partial discharge event detected by a single monitoring device for a single fault event, the EEMS 6 or monitoring device 720 may receive event data indicating partial discharge events from multiple monitoring devices 720 each associated with a respective fault event, and may train a model based at least in part on the event data from the multiple monitoring devices. In other words, the EEMS 6 and / or monitoring device 720 (or any other computing device, such as Figure 1 The gateway 28) may train the model based on known fault events associated with the corresponding monitoring devices and event data (eg, including partial discharge data) from the corresponding monitoring devices.

[0243] For example, the EEMS 6 or monitoring device 720 may associate known fault events with signal amplitude, starting voltage, discharge phase angle (e.g., power transmission), frequency content, etc. For another example, the EEMS 6 or monitoring device 720 may associate known fault events based on groups or clusters of partial discharge events, the time between partial discharge events or clusters of partial discharge events, the amount of discharge events per time, the amount of discharge events per phase angle, the minimum or maximum starting voltage, or any other variable. In some cases, the EEMS 6 or monitoring device 720 may determine the actual distribution of events at various corresponding phase angles, determine the normal distribution of events and phase angles, and associate known fault events based on the deviation of the actual distribution from the normal distribution. In addition, the EEMS 6 or monitoring device 720 may associate known fault events with the time-dependent characteristics of the above statistical data.

[0244] Fig.17 Includes illustrations of various techniques according to the present disclosure Fig.16 1700A to 1700C (collectively, graph 1700) have an x-axis representing phase angle, and a y-axis representing the amount of partial discharge events at different phase angles. Graph 1700A shows Fig.16 PD events per phase angle at hour 1 of the data set shown, graph 1700B shows Fig.16 The partial discharge events per phase angle at the 19th hour of the data set shown, and graph 1700C shows Fig.16 Partial discharge events per phase angle at hour 37 of the data set shown.

[0245] As mentioned above Fig.16 As described above, the computing device (e.g., EEMS 6 and / or monitoring device 720) may train a model (e.g., Figure 2 History and Data Model 74C and / or Figure 3 For example, the EEMS 6 may correlate known fault events with the amount and phase angle of partial discharge events over time.

[0246] In the specific description of the preferred embodiment, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments that can practice the present invention. The illustrated embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive of all embodiments according to the present invention. It should be understood that other embodiments may be utilized without departing from the scope of the present invention, and structural or logical changes may be made. Therefore, the following detailed description should not be considered to have a limiting meaning, and the scope of the present invention is limited by the appended claims.

[0247] Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing feature sizes, amounts, and physical properties used in the specification and claims are to be understood in all instances as modified by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the foregoing specification and the appended claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by one skilled in the art utilizing the teachings disclosed herein.

[0248] Unless the content clearly dictates otherwise, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a / kind", "the" and "the" encompass embodiments having plural referents. Unless the content clearly dictates otherwise, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the term "or" is generally employed in its sense including "and / or".

[0249] If spatially relative terms are used herein, including but not limited to "proximal," "distal," "lower," "upper," "below," "below," "above," and "on top," they are used for convenience in describing the spatial relationship of one or more elements relative to another element. In addition to the specific orientations depicted in the drawings and described herein, such spatially relative terms encompass different orientations of the device when in use or operation. For example, if an object depicted in a figure is flipped or inverted, portions previously described as being below or under other elements should now be above or on top of these other elements.

[0250] As used herein, for example, when an element, component or layer is described as forming a "consistent interface" with another element, component or layer, or "on it", "connected to it", "coupled to it", "stacked on it" or "in contact with it", it may be directly on it, directly connected to it, directly coupled to it, directly stacked on it or directly in contact with it, or for example, an intervening element, component or layer may be on a specific element, component or layer, or connected to it, coupled to it or in contact with it. For example, when an element, component or layer is, for example, referred to as "directly on" another element, "directly connected to" another element, "directly coupled to" another element or "directly in contact with" another element, there are no intervening elements, components or layers. The technology of the present disclosure can be implemented in a variety of computer devices, such as servers, laptop computers, desktop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, handheld computers, smart phones, etc. Any component, module or unit is described to emphasize the functional aspects, and does not necessarily need to be implemented by different hardware units. The technology described herein can also be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. Any features described as modules, units, or components may be implemented together in an integrated logic device or may be implemented independently as separate but cooperating logic devices. In some cases, various features may be implemented as an integrated circuit device, such as an integrated circuit chip or chipset. In addition, although a variety of different modules are described throughout this specification, many of which perform unique functions, all functions of all modules may be combined into a single module, or further split into other additional modules. The modules described herein are exemplary only and are described as such for ease of understanding.

[0251] If implemented in software, the technology may be implemented at least in part by a computer-readable medium including the following instructions, which when executed in a processor performs one or more of the methods described above. The computer-readable medium may include a tangible computer-readable storage medium and may form a part of a computer program product, which may include packaging materials. The computer-readable storage medium may include a random access memory (RAM) such as a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash (FLASH) memory, a magnetic or optical data storage medium, etc. The computer-readable storage medium may also include a non-volatile storage device, such as a hard disk, a magnetic tape, a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disc, a holographic data storage medium, or other non-volatile storage devices.

[0252] The term "processor" as used herein may refer to any of the aforementioned structures or any other structure suitable for implementing the technology described herein. In addition, in some aspects, the functions described herein may be provided in a dedicated software module or hardware module configured to perform the technology of the present disclosure. Even if implemented in software, the technology may use hardware such as a processor for executing the software, and a memory for storing the software. In any such case, the computer described herein may define a specific machine capable of performing the specific functions described herein. In addition, the technology may be fully implemented in one or more circuits or logic elements that may also be considered as processors.

[0253] In one or more examples, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes and executed by a hardware-based processing unit. A computer-readable medium may include a computer-readable storage medium, which corresponds to a tangible medium such as a data storage medium, or a communication medium, which includes, for example, any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another according to a communication protocol. In this manner, a computer-readable medium may generally correspond to (1) a non-transient tangible computer-readable storage medium or (2) a communication medium, such as a signal or carrier wave. A data storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by one or more computers or one or more processors to retrieve instructions, codes, and / or data structures for implementing the techniques described in the present disclosure. A computer program product may include a computer-readable medium.

[0254] As an example and not limitation, such computer-readable storage media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, flash memory or any other medium that can be used to store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer. Moreover, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technology such as infrared, radio and microwave are used to transmit instructions from a website, server or other remote source, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL or wireless technology such as infrared, radio and microwave are included in the definition of the medium. However, it should be understood that computer-readable storage media and data storage media do not include connections, carriers, signals or other transient media, but are directed to non-transient tangible storage media. The disks and optical disks used include compact disks (CDs), laser optical disks, optical disks, digital versatile disks (DVDs), floppy disks and blue-ray disks, wherein the disks usually reproduce data magnetically, and the optical disks reproduce data optically by lasers. The above combination should also be included in the scope of computer-readable media.

[0255] Instructions may be executed by one or more processors such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), general purpose microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable logic arrays (FPGAs), or other equivalent integrated or discrete logic circuits. Thus, the term "processor" as used may refer to any of the foregoing structures or any other structure suitable for implementing the described techniques. Furthermore, in some aspects, the described functionality may be provided within dedicated hardware and / or software modules. Moreover, these techniques may be implemented entirely in one or more circuits or logic units.

[0256] The technology of the present disclosure may be implemented in a variety of devices or apparatuses including a wireless handset, an integrated circuit (IC), or a set of ICs (e.g., a chipset). Various components, modules, or units are described in the present disclosure to emphasize the functional aspects of the device configured to perform the disclosed technology, but do not necessarily need to be implemented by different hardware units. Instead, as described above, various unit combinations may be combined in hardware units or provided by a collection of interoperable hardware units including one or more processors as described above, in combination with appropriate software and / or firmware.

[0257] It should be appreciated that, according to examples, certain actions or events in any of the methods described herein may be performed in a different order, may be added, combined, or omitted together (e.g., not all of the actions or events are necessary for the practice of the method). In addition, in some examples, actions or events may be performed simultaneously rather than sequentially, such as by multithreading, interrupt processing, or multiple processors.

[0258] In some examples, computer-readable storage media include non-transitory media. In some examples, the term "non-transitory" indicates that the storage medium is not embodied in a carrier wave or propagating signal. In some examples, non-transitory storage media stores data that can change over time (e.g., in RAM or cache).

Claims

1. A cable accessory, the cable accessory being configured to be coupled to a power cable, the cable accessory comprising: A plurality of concentric layers, the plurality of concentric layers comprising: a first layer configured to concentrically surround a center conductor of the cable and comprising an insulating material; a second layer comprising a conductive material; and a third layer comprising a resistive material configured to resist the flow of electricity between the second layer and a ground conductor external to the third layer, wherein the second layer is disposed between the first layer and the third layer; a partial discharge sensor, one end of the partial discharge sensor being electrically coupled to the second layer, the other end of the partial discharge sensor being electrically coupled to the ground conductor, and the partial discharge sensor being configured as: detecting a partial discharge event occurring in the first layer by detecting a current in the second layer; and outputting partial discharge data indicative of the partial discharge event; and A communication unit is configured to output event data based at least in part on the partial discharge data.

2. The cable accessory of claim 1 , wherein the second layer comprises a plurality of regions, the plurality of regions comprising a first region and a second region, wherein the first region comprises a material having a relatively high electrical resistance compared to a material of the second region, and wherein the partial discharge sensor is electrically coupled to the second region of the second layer.

3. The cable accessory of claim 2, wherein the first region comprises a dielectric.

4. The cable accessory of claim 1 , further comprising at least one processor and a plurality of partial discharge sensors, the plurality of partial discharge sensors including the partial discharge sensor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine a location of the particular partial discharge event based on data indicative of the particular partial discharge event from each of the plurality of partial discharge sensors.

5. The cable accessory of claim 4, wherein the data indicative of the particular partial discharge event comprises a time at which each respective partial discharge sensor of the plurality of partial discharge sensors detected the particular partial discharge event, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the location of the particular partial discharge event based at least in part on the time at which each respective partial discharge sensor of the plurality of partial discharge sensors detected the particular partial discharge event.

6. The cable accessory of claim 4, wherein the data indicative of the particular partial discharge event comprises data indicative of a magnitude of the partial discharge event detected by each respective partial discharge sensor of the plurality of partial discharge sensors, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the location of the particular partial discharge event based at least in part on the magnitude of the partial discharge event detected by each respective partial discharge sensor of the plurality of partial discharge sensors.

7. The cable accessory of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine the location of the specific partial discharge event by determining whether the specific partial discharge event occurs outside the cable accessory, at an interface between the cable accessory and a cable, or inside the cable accessory.

8. The cable accessory of claim 4, wherein the partial discharge sensor is a first partial discharge sensor, wherein the plurality of discharge sensors includes a second partial discharge sensor, and wherein the second partial discharge sensor is configured to be coupled to an insulation shield of a cable and the ground conductor.

9. The cable accessory according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a memory, the memory comprising instructions which, when executed, cause the at least one processor to determine a health state of the cable accessory based at least in part on the data indicative of the partial discharge event; wherein the event data comprises data indicative of the health state of the cable accessory.

10. The cable accessory of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to determine the health state of the cable accessory by predicting whether the cable accessory will fail within a predetermined amount of time, and wherein the data indicative of the health state of the cable accessory includes data indicating whether the cable accessory will fail within the predetermined amount of time.

11. The cable accessory of claim 9, wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to determine the health state of the cable accessory by at least causing the at least one processor to apply a model to the data at least indicative of the partial discharge event to determine the health state of the cable accessory.

12. The cable accessory according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the cable accessory comprises: a cable connector configured to electrically and physically couple a first cable to a second cable, or A cable terminal is configured to couple the cable to circuitry of a power delivery node.

13. The cable accessory according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the communication unit is configured to output the partial discharge data via the cable using power line communication.

14. The cable accessory of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the cable accessory further comprises a power acquisition circuit configured to acquire power from the cable.

15. The cable accessory according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: The current detected in the second layer corresponds to a current discharge event that only partially bridges a gap between the center conductor and the conductive material of the second layer.

16. A method for monitoring a power cable, comprising: detecting, by a partial discharge sensor, one or more partial discharge events occurring in a first layer of a plurality of concentric layers of a cable accessory coupled to a power cable by detecting current in a second layer of the plurality of concentric layers, the second layer being disposed between the first layer and a third layer of the plurality of concentric layers, wherein the first layer concentrically surrounds a center conductor of the cable and comprises an insulating material, wherein the second layer comprises a conductive material, and wherein the third layer comprises a resistive material configured to resist the flow of current between the second layer and a ground conductor external to the third layer; outputting, by the partial discharge sensor to at least one processor, partial discharge data indicative of the one or more partial discharge events; receiving, by the at least one processor, the partial discharge data from the partial discharge sensor; as well as Event data is outputted by the at least one processor based on the partial discharge data indicative of a health state of the cable accessory.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: receiving, by the at least one processor, partial discharge data indicative of a particular partial discharge event from a plurality of partial discharge sensors of the cable accessories, the plurality of partial discharge sensors including the partial discharge sensor; and determining, by the at least one processor, a location of the particular partial discharge event based on the partial discharge data indicative of the particular partial discharge event, Wherein the event data comprises data indicating the location of the particular partial discharge event.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the data indicative of the particular partial discharge event comprises a time at which each respective partial discharge sensor of the plurality of partial discharge sensors detected the particular partial discharge event, and wherein determining the location of the particular partial discharge event comprises determining the location of the particular partial discharge event based at least in part on the time at which each respective partial discharge sensor of the plurality of partial discharge sensors detected the particular partial discharge event.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the data indicative of the particular partial discharge event comprises data indicative of a magnitude of the partial discharge event detected by each respective partial discharge sensor of the plurality of partial discharge sensors, and wherein determining the location of the particular partial discharge event comprises determining the location of the particular partial discharge event based at least in part on the magnitude of the partial discharge event detected by each respective partial discharge sensor of the plurality of partial discharge sensors.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the location of the specific partial discharge event comprises determining whether the specific partial discharge event occurs outside the cable accessory, at an interface between the cable accessory and a cable, or inside the cable accessory.

21. A method according to any one of claims 16-20, wherein determining the health status of the cable accessory includes predicting, by the at least one processor, whether the cable accessory will fail within a predetermined amount of time, and wherein the data indicating the health status of the cable accessory includes data indicating whether the cable accessory will fail within the predetermined amount of time.

22. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, wherein: The current detected in the second layer corresponds to a current discharge event that only partially bridges a gap between the center conductor and the conductive material of the second layer.

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