Electric Machine Transient Tracking for Voltage Sag Protection

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing electrical machine monitoring systems fail to detect transient phenomena of short duration and irregular occurrence, which can lead to voltage drops damaging electronic devices by causing high transient currents, especially in three-phase full-wave rectifiers, due to the inability to differentiate between harmless and harmful electrical transients.

Innovation Solution

A tracker system equipped with sensors for measuring environmental parameters and voltage, an electrical transient detector that processes voltage samples to detect, characterize, and validate transient phenomena using difference calculations, high-pass filtering, or wavelet analysis, and sends alerts for potentially dangerous transients.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If filters are used to adjust impedance and handle power disturbances, then the electrical machine is protected from disturbances, but the cost and volume of the machine increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprotection from power disturbancesVSAvoidcost and volume
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces physical impedance-adjusting filters with an electronic monitoring and tracking system that detects transient phenomena and predicts voltage sags. This substitution eliminates the need for bulky passive filter components while maintaining protection capability through early warning and adaptive control.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The tracker performs preliminary detection and characterization of transient phenomena before they develop into harmful voltage sags. By identifying transients early and predicting their evolution, the system enables preventive action rather than requiring heavy-duty protective filters for all possible disturbance scenarios.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If safety procedures with 15 ms threshold are used to shut down the device, then the device is protected from damage, but transient disturbances shorter than this threshold cannot be detected

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprotection from damageVSAvoiddetection capability for short duration transients
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The tracker continuously monitors voltage waveforms and detects transient phenomena with duration much shorter than the 15 ms safety threshold. By performing preliminary detection of these brief transients and tracking their evolution, the system can predict impending voltage sags before they occur, enabling early protective action without needing to wait for the standard threshold to be reached.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements continuous feedback monitoring of voltage transients, analyzing their characteristics and predicting their evolution. This feedback mechanism allows the tracker to identify patterns in short-duration transients that precede harmful voltage sags, enabling the system to trigger protection before the 15 ms threshold is reached.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Reliability

If the voltage on the DC bus follows the voltage drop during a phase voltage sag, then the electronic device can be damaged by high transient current, but the disturbance duration is too short for standard safety procedures to activate

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprotection from transient current damageVSAvoidresponse time for protection activation
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The tracker performs preliminary detection of transient phenomena and predicts their evolution into harmful voltage sags that would cause high transient currents. By identifying the precursors to dangerous conditions before they fully develop, the system enables early protective action to prevent the DC bus voltage from following the drop, thus avoiding diode damage without waiting for standard safety procedures to activate.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system takes preliminary anti-action by detecting and predicting harmful transient patterns before they cause damage. The tracker identifies transient characteristics that indicate an impending voltage sag would create dangerous inrush currents, and triggers protective measures in advance to prevent the harmful effect from occurring, rather than reacting after damage has been done.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #9Preliminary anti-action

Data Source

PatentEP3035069B1Tracker for electric machine
Publication Date: 2023.11.01 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC IND SAS
  • EP3035069B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3035069B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3035069B1 patent drawingFigure 5

AI summary

Tracker for an electric machine, characterized in that it comprises: - Means (10) for measuring the supply voltage, - Means (11) for detecting electrical transients according to the measurements carried out, - Means (11) for characterizing detected electrical transient, - Means (11) for validating electrical transient, according to predetermined criteria, in order to identify whether an electrical transient affects the electrical machine.