Systems and methods for detecting electric arcs in electrical instruments

Abstract

An electrical instrument includes a housing with a receptacle interface operatively connectable to a facility. The instrument also includes a sensor configured to sense characteristics of the electrical instrument. The instrument further includes a controller having an electronic processor and a memory. The electronic processor is configured to receive signals indicative of electrical characteristics from the sensor, determine the presence of a hot receptacle based on the signals, and output an alarm based on the determination of the presence of a hot receptacle.

Description

[0001] Related applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 985,964, filed March 6, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The examples involve electrical instruments. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Electrical meters can be installed at facilities served by an electricity utility (e.g., homes, businesses, etc.) to measure the amount of electricity consumed by said facility. The electrical meters are electrically coupled to the facility via a socket or electrical outlet. Poor socket connections can cause arcing. Currently, electrical metering services are performed according to a schedule to check and correct poor socket connections. However, such methods can result in prolonged periods of presence and / or missed faulty socket connections.

[0005] Therefore, one embodiment provides an electrical instrument including a housing having a receptacle interface operatively connectable to a facility. The instrument also includes a sensor configured to sense characteristics of the electrical instrument. The instrument further includes a controller having an electronic processor and a memory. The electronic processor is configured to receive signals indicative of electrical characteristics from the sensor, determine the presence of a hot receptacle based on the signals, and output an alarm based on the determination of the presence of a hot receptacle.

[0006] Another embodiment provides a method for detecting a hot socket in an electrical instrument. The method includes sensing characteristics of the electrical instrument via a sensor and receiving a signal indicating the electrical characteristics via a controller having an electronic processor. The method also includes determining the presence of a hot socket via the controller and based on the signal, and outputting an alarm via the controller based on determining the presence of a hot socket.

[0007] Other aspects of this disclosure will become apparent from consideration of the detailed description and accompanying drawings. Attached Figure Description

[0008] Figure 1 This is a perspective view showing an electrical instrument according to some embodiments.

[0009] Figure 2 This illustrates some embodiments. Figure 1 A block diagram of electrical instruments.

[0010] Figure 3 This illustrates some embodiments. Figure 1 A flowchart of the process of electrical instrumentation. Detailed Implementation

[0011] Before explaining any embodiment in detail, it should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to its application to the details of the component construction and arrangement set forth in the following description or shown in the following drawings. Other embodiments are possible with respect to this disclosure, and it can be practiced or performed in various ways.

[0012] Figure 1 A utility meter 100 according to some embodiments is illustrated. The utility meter 100 can be configured to measure utility consumption (e.g., electricity consumption) by a user (e.g., a residential user or a commercial user). The utility meter 100 may include a housing 105 and a display 110. The housing 105 may include various electrical and electronic components of the utility meter 100, such as, but not limited to, input terminals 115 (…). Figure 2 ) and output terminal 120 ( Figure 2 Input 115 can be configured to receive power from a utility, while output 120 can be configured to output power for user consumption. Display 110 can be configured to output information to the user. Display 110 can be any suitable display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) touchscreen or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen.

[0013] Figure 2 This is a block diagram illustrating a utility meter 100 according to some embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, the utility meter 100 also includes a control system 200, which includes a controller 205. In some embodiments, the control system 200 is wholly or partially implemented on a printed circuit board within the housing 105.

[0014] Controller 205 may have multiple electrical and electronic components that provide power, operational control, and protection to the components. For example, but not limited to, electronic processor 210 and memory 215. Electronic processor 210 retrieves and provides information (e.g., from memory 215) and processes the information by executing one or more software instructions or modules, which can be stored, for example, in a random access memory (“RAM”) area of ​​memory 215, a read-only memory (“ROM”) of memory 215, or another non-transitory computer-readable medium (not shown). The software may include firmware, one or more applications, program data, filters, rules, one or more program modules, and other executable instructions. Memory 215 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and includes program storage areas and data storage areas. As described herein, program storage areas and data storage areas may include combinations of different types of memory. Electronic processor 210 is configured to retrieve and execute, among other things, software related to the control processes and methods described herein from memory 215.

[0015] The controller 205 can be electrically and / or communicatively connected to various modules and / or components of the utility meter 100. For example, the controller 205 can be electrically and / or communicatively coupled to the input / output (I / O) interface 220 and one or more sensors 225.

[0016] I / O interface 220 can be configured to receive input and / or provide output to one or more external devices. For example, I / O interface 220 can acquire and provide information and signals to external devices (e.g., via one or more wired and / or wireless connections). External devices may include, but are not limited to, one or more servers, external computers, smartphones, and / or tablets. In some embodiments, I / O interface 220 is or includes an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) module and / or a Network Interface Controller (NIC).

[0017] One or more sensors 225 may be configured to sense one or more characteristics of instrument 100. In some embodiments, one or more sensors 225 are configured to sense one or more electrical characteristics. In such embodiments, one or more electrical characteristics may include voltage, current, power, and / or temperature. In other embodiments, one or more sensors 225 are configured to sense acoustic information of instrument 100. In yet another embodiment, one or more sensors 225 are configured to sense environmental characteristics of instrument 100 (e.g., ozone). In still another embodiment, one or more sensors 225 are configured to sense radio frequency information.

[0018] In one embodiment of normal operation, meter 100 is configured to detect / determine the presence of a hot socket (e.g., a hot socket at input 115 and / or output 120). In some embodiments, one or more sensors 225 sense characteristics of meter 100. In such embodiments, controller 205 receives a signal indicating the sensed characteristic and determines the presence of a hot socket based on that signal. In some embodiments, controller 205 outputs an alarm based on determining the presence of a hot socket.

[0019] Figure 3 This is a flowchart of process 300 according to some embodiments. It should be understood that the order of the steps disclosed in process 300 may vary. Furthermore, additional steps may be added to the sequence, and not all steps may be necessary. In some embodiments, process 300 is performed by control system 200 and / or controller 205.

[0020] The characteristics of the sensing electrical meter 100 are detected (block 305). The presence of a hot outlet is determined based on the detected characteristics (block 310). In some embodiments, the presence of a hot outlet is determined by comparing the detected characteristics with a predetermined threshold. In such embodiments, the presence of a hot outlet may be further determined based on the detected characteristics exceeding the predetermined threshold for a predetermined time period. If it is determined that no hot outlet exists, process 300 loops back to block 305. If a hot outlet is determined to exist, an alarm is output (block 310). In some embodiments, the alarm is output to the user and / or utility company. In some embodiments, in addition to or instead of outputting an alarm, the meter 100 may cut off power when the presence of a hot outlet is determined.

[0021] In some embodiments, determining the presence of a hot socket includes determining the presence of an arcing condition. In one embodiment, one or more sensors 225 sense electrical characteristics (e.g., voltage, current, power, and / or temperature) so that meter 100 determines the presence of a hot socket. In some embodiments, the electrical characteristics may be load current and / or line current. In such embodiments, the root mean square (RMS) value of one or more cycles of the current may be calculated. The calculated RMS value may then be compared with a predetermined threshold to determine the presence of an arcing condition and / or a hot socket.

[0022] In some embodiments, meter 100 is configured to identify false alarms, such as, but not limited to, those caused by surge conditions and / or steady-state conditions. A surge condition may be an indication of the presence of a normal operating load. A surge condition may exist when the current changes relatively large from an initial non-conductive state, followed by an exponential decrease in current over multiple cycles. Although the electrical characteristics sensed during a surge condition may exceed a predetermined threshold, an arcing condition and / or a hot socket may not be present. Therefore, meter 100 may be configured to identify surge conditions and exclude the presence of arcing conditions and / or hot sockets.

[0023] A steady-state condition can be an indication of the presence of a normal operating load. A steady-state condition may exist when there is a relatively small variation in current over multiple cycles (e.g., within + / - 0.5 Arm) and / or the relative change in the correlation coefficient calculated between adjacent cycles falls within the acceptable range for each of the multiple cycles (e.g., 15). Although the electrical characteristics sensed during a steady-state condition may exceed a predetermined threshold, an arcing condition and / or a hot socket may not be present. Therefore, meter 100 can be configured to identify steady-state conditions and exclude the presence of arcing conditions and / or hot sockets.

[0024] In some embodiments, one or more sensors 225 are acoustic sensors. In such embodiments, one or more sensors 225 are configured to sense acoustic levels inside and / or outside the housing 105. Acoustic levels exceeding a predetermined threshold can indicate the presence of a thermal socket (and / or an arcing condition).

[0025] In some embodiments, one or more sensors 225 are environmental sensors. In such embodiments, one or more sensors 225 may be ozone sensors configured to sense ozone levels inside and / or outside the housing 105. Ozone levels exceeding a predetermined threshold may indicate the presence of a hot socket (and / or the presence of an electric arc condition).

[0026] In some embodiments, instrument 100 (including control system 200 and / or I / O interface 220) is configured to communicate with one or more external devices using one or more radio frequency channels (or bands). In such embodiments, control system 200 may be configured to monitor radio frequency noise (e.g., by monitoring background noise at predetermined intervals (e.g., every five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, etc.)).

[0027] The control system 200 can also be configured to determine the presence of a thermal outlet based on monitored background noise (e.g., by monitoring an increase in background noise). In some embodiments, the control system 200 monitors background noise and determines the presence of a thermal outlet when monitoring noise with an amplitude and / or frequency within a predetermined range that is above a predetermined threshold.

[0028] In some embodiments, the control system 200 may receive sensed characteristics from two or more sensors 225 to determine the presence of a hot socket. In such embodiments, the control system 200 may determine the presence of a hot socket based on two or more sensed characteristics (e.g., from two or more different sensors 225) along with one or more algorithms. In some embodiments, the algorithm uses decision trees, lookup tables, and / or a weighted system that weights characteristics according to importance. Such embodiments can be used to prevent false alarms in hot socket detection.

[0029] Among other things, embodiments also provide utility instruments with arc detection capabilities. Various features and advantages of this application are set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. An electrical instrument, comprising: The housing includes a receptacle interface operatively connectable to the facility; A sensor configured to sense the electrical characteristics of the electrical instrument; as well as The controller has an electronic processor and a memory, the electronic processor being configured to: Receive signals indicating the electrical characteristics from the sensor. The presence of a hot socket is determined based on the signal, wherein the presence of the hot socket is based on the electrical characteristics being higher than a predetermined threshold within a predetermined time period. Based on the signal, it is determined whether the determination of the presence of the hot socket is a false alarm, wherein the false alarm is based on at least one of a combination of surge conditions and steady-state conditions, and An alarm is output based on the determination that the presence of the hot socket is not a false alarm.

2. The electrical instrument according to claim 1, wherein, The sensed characteristics are selected from at least one of the group consisting of electrical characteristics, radio frequency characteristics, ozone characteristics, and acoustic characteristics.

3. The electrical instrument according to claim 2, wherein, The electrical characteristic is selected from at least one of the group consisting of voltage, current and temperature.

4. The electrical instrument according to claim 2, wherein, The radio frequency referred to is radio frequency noise.

5. The electrical instrument according to claim 1, wherein, The controller is also configured to: The presence of an electric arc is determined based on the signal.

6. The electrical instrument according to claim 5, wherein, The controller is also configured to: The presence of a series arc condition is determined based on the signal.

7. The electrical instrument according to claim 5, wherein, The controller is also configured to: The presence of a parallel arc condition is determined based on the signal.

8. The electrical instrument according to claim 1, wherein, The alarm is received by the server.

9. The electrical instrument according to claim 8, wherein, The server is configured to receive a second alarm from a second electrical instrument located at a second facility.

10. A method for detecting a thermal socket in an electrical instrument, the method comprising: The electrical characteristics of the electrical instrument are sensed via a sensor; The electrical characteristics are received via a controller having an electronic processor; The presence of a hot socket is determined via the controller and based on the signal, wherein the presence of the hot socket is based on the electrical characteristics being higher than a predetermined threshold for a predetermined time period; The controller determines, based on the signal, whether the determination of the presence of the hot socket is a false alarm, wherein the false alarm is based on at least one of a combination of surge conditions and steady-state conditions, and Based on the confirmation that the presence of the hot socket is not a false alarm, an alarm is output via the controller.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, The sensed characteristics are selected from at least one of the group consisting of electrical characteristics, radio frequency characteristics, ozone characteristics, and acoustic characteristics.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The electrical characteristic is selected from at least one of the group consisting of voltage, current and temperature.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The radio frequency referred to is radio frequency noise.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein, The controller is also configured to: The presence of an electric arc is determined based on the signal.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein, The controller is also configured to: The presence of a series arc condition is determined based on the signal.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein, The controller is also configured to: The presence of a parallel arc condition is determined based on the signal.

17. The method according to claim 10, wherein, The alarm is received by the server.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein, The server is configured to receive a second alarm from a second electrical instrument located at a second facility.

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