Waveform Capture Compression for Power System Event Analysis

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Solution Overview

Problem

Electrical power systems face challenges in optimizing waveform captures, leading to excessive data storage requirements, increased processing time, and bandwidth consumption, while maintaining relevant information for characterization and analysis.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a method to automatically optimize waveform captures by analyzing energy-related waveforms for compressibility, using techniques like downsampling, resampling, and Singular-Value Decomposition, and selecting compression methods based on user-defined parameters and waveform characteristics, to reduce data size without losing important information.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If waveform captures are stored with high sample rates and long durations to maintain data quality for analysis, then measurement precision and reliability are improved, but data storage requirements and processing time increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvewaveform data qualityVSAvoiddata storage requirements
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes redundant information from waveform captures by identifying and eliminating repeated patterns. The system analyzes waveform data to detect repetitive sequences and stores only the unique portions along with metadata describing the repetition patterns, thereby reducing storage requirements while preserving complete information content.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of storing complete waveform data and then analyzing it, the patent inverts the approach by first analyzing the waveform to identify compression opportunities, then storing only the essential compressed representation. This inversion allows the system to maintain data quality for analysis while minimizing storage requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

2Reliability

If complete uncompressed waveform data is stored to ensure all information is available for troubleshooting and analysis, then reliability is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata availability for analysisVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary analysis of waveform captures to identify compression patterns and characteristics before final storage. By pre-processing the data to detect repetition patterns, frequency content, and other compressible features, the system prepares the waveform data for efficient storage and retrieval, reducing processing time during actual analysis operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Measurement precision

If high sample rates are used to capture detailed waveform information for accurate characterization, then measurement precision is improved, but bandwidth consumption and data transmission requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvewaveform capture accuracyVSAvoidbandwidth consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies different quality levels to different portions of waveform data based on their importance and characteristics. Critical waveform features are maintained at high resolution, while redundant or less important portions are compressed more aggressively. This local differentiation allows the system to preserve measurement precision where needed while reducing overall bandwidth consumption.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP4060353B1Systems and methods for optimizing waveform capture compression and characterization
Publication Date: 2024.11.27 SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC USA INC
  • EP4060353B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4060353B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4060353B1 patent drawingFigure 2A

AI summary

A method to automatically optimize waveform captures from an electrical system includes capturing at least one energy-related waveform using at least one Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) in the electrical system. The at least one captured energy-related waveform is analyzed to determine if the at least one captured energy-related waveform is capable of being compressed, while maintaining relevant attributes for characterization, analysis and/or other use. In response to determining the at least one captured energy-related waveform is capable of being compressed, while maintaining relevant attributes for characterization, analysis, and/or use, the at least one captured energy-related waveform may be compressed using at least one compression technique to generate at least one compressed energy-related waveform. One or more actions may be taken based on or using the at least one compressed energy-related waveform.