Patent Application
20050231039
This invention relates generally to data communications, and more particularly to a system and method for providing full-duplex data communications between an electric power distribution station and a power consumer, via the same power distribution line that provides electric power to the power consumer, at frequencies at or below the frequency of the electric power signal.
As is true with most companies, utility companies are striving to reduce overhead costs, while providing more convenience to customers. For example, electric companies are migrating from costly and time-consuming manual methods of determining the amount of power consumed by customers of the power company. Traditionally, a person periodically came to the customer's home, and requested entry to read the consumer power usage from a power meter. This type of process was costly, slow, and intrusive to their customers. In order to alleviate some of the problems associated with the traditional approach, other approaches have been employed, including wireless and modem transmission of power usage amount.
However, it is often the case that there is information that the power company may want to provide to their customers. While general information, such as the current price of power, price increases, etc. may be made available to customers via mail or telephone, it is again costly, time consuming, and intrusive.
Furthermore, many power companies provide customers with cost discounts if the customer agrees to allow the power company to temporarily adjust or terminate their power consumption for certain “non-essential” power-consuming devices (e.g., air conditioners, water heaters, swimming pool heaters, etc.) during peak operation. This is commonly referred to as “load control” or “load limiting”. This allows the power company to limit the peak power consumption when necessary. Otherwise, the power company may have to purchase more expensive power from alternative sources to meet its peak load demand. A one-way wireless pager technology could be used to service the peak load in this manner. For example, a power company could send a digital message via one-way pager technology to a particular geographic area including a number of customers who have agreed to allow the power company to alter their power during peak power periods. The pager at the destination would receive a digital word indicating that the power should be temporarily terminated. Because the communication would be unilateral, no signal acknowledge would be provided, and there would be no manner, short of a trial-and-error method, to determine whether the customer's power to these appliances was ever suspended. Furthermore, customers could also tamper with the pager systems to avoid having their power temporarily terminated, while continuing to obtain the cost discount.
Therefore, it would be desirable to allow information to be provided from the power company to any one or more of their power consumers, while allowing for receipt acknowledgment and other signals. It would also be desirable to utilize power distribution line to provide such information, in order to avoid new wiring and its associated costs and installation time requirements. Utilizing the existing power distribution line would also minimize customer tampering during load control periods, as tampering with or severing the control line would be tantamount to eliminating their own source of power because the power is transmitted on the same conductor. The use of frequencies having a very long wavelength would also be desirable, to minimize the need for signal repeaters, and to minimize harmonic effects and reduce the overall noise on the power line which can adversely affect electronic devices such as computers.
While the prior art does not provide the aforementioned functionality, the present invention provides a solution to these and other shortcomings of the prior art, and further provides additional advantages over the prior art.
Generally, the present invention relates to a system and method for providing full-duplex data communications between an electric power distribution station and a power consumer via the same power distribution line that provides electric power to the power consumer.
In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a full-duplex communications system for transmitting information is provided. A power distribution circuit is coupled to an electric power distribution line to transmit an electrical power signal to a power consumer. A first information transmitter, which is coupled to the power distribution circuit, provides first information signals concurrently with the electrical power signal to the power consumer via the electric power distribution line. A first information receiver, coupled to a power consumer device powered by the electrical power signal, receives the first information signals via the electric power distribution line. A second information transmitter coupled to the power consumer device provides second information signals concurrently with the electrical power signal via the electric power distribution line. A second information receiver, coupled to the power distribution circuit, receives the second information signals via the electric power distribution line. This configuration allows for full-duplex communication between the power distribution circuit and the power consumer via the electric power distribution line.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a full-duplex communications system for disseminating information from a power distribution station to a plurality of power consumer sites via the electric power distribution line providing power to the plurality of power consumer sites is provided. An information transmitter at the power distribution circuit provides information signals via the power distribution line to the plurality of power consumer sites while also providing the power consumer sites with electric power. Each of the power consumer sites includes at least one information receiver which is coupled to a power consuming device which also receives the information signals. Each consumer site also includes a consumer information transmitter to provide consumer information to the power distribution station via the power distribution line, which is received at the power distribution circuit by a consumer information receiver. This configuration provides for fill-duplex communication between a utility power source and each of the power consumer sites, without the need for additional wiring.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the invention, a communications system for transmitting information from a utility power distribution node to a power consumer via an electric power distribution line is provided. A transmitting circuit at the power distribution node transmits an information signal via the power distribution line at a frequency less than the frequency at which the power is transmitted on the power distribution line. This low frequency signal is received by a receiving circuit at a customer site via the power distribution line. In one embodiment of the invention, a low frequency modulating circuit superimposes the information signal onto the electric power signal which provides power to the consumer.
In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a signal transmission device transmits information signals from a utility power distribution node to a power consumer via a power distribution line. The signal transmission device includes an information signal modulating circuit to superimpose an information signal on the power signal. The frequency of the information signal generated has a frequency less than the frequency of the power signal. The modulating circuit includes a zero-crossover sense circuit to determine the approximate zero-crossover points of the power signal. A signal inversion circuit inverts the phase of every nth half-period of the power-signal between successive zero-crossover points. By altering the phases of the power signal, the control signal can be superimposed onto it, wherein consecutive positive phases of the altered power signal correspond to a first logic state (e.g., a “high” logic level) of the information signal, and consecutive negative phases of the altered power signal correspond to a second logic state (e.g., a “low” logic level) of the information signal. Signal driving circuitry concurrently drives the altered power signal, and the electric power, to the power consumer via the power distribution line.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a communication method for communicating between an electric power provider and an electric power consumer via an electric power distribution line is provided. A power signal is provided to the power consumer via the electric power distribution line at a predetermined power signal frequency. A control signal, corresponding to the control information, is concurrently transmitted to the power consumer via the electric power distribution line. The control signal is transmitted at a frequency less than the frequency of the power signal. The control information can be used to manipulate the operation of the consumer devices at the power consumer site.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The figures and the detailed description which follow more particularly exemplify these embodiments.
Each distribution substation normally serves its own load area, which is a subdivision of the area served by the distribution system. At the distribution substation the subtransmission voltage is reduced for general distribution throughout the area. The substations consists of one or more power-transformer banks together with the necessary voltage regulating equipment, buses, and switchgear. Distribution transformers are ordinarily connected to the distribution transformer, which serve to step-down from the distribution voltage to the utilization voltage. These step-down transformers, often referred to as pole transformers, supply a consumer or group of consumers over a secondary circuit. Each consumer is connected to the secondary circuit through its service leads and meter.
The utility substation 102 shown in
For a variety of reasons, it may be desirable to communicate information from the utility substation 102 to one or more customer devices 104 at a particular customer site. For example, it may be desirable to control or monitor a meter reading device, which is installed at a customer site to determine the power consumption at that customer site. Control information could provide the ability to control or alter the operation of the meter reading device. Furthermore, utility companies often provide a customer with a power rate discount if the customer agrees to allow for a temporary adjustment of their consumption. For example, a power company may provide a customer with a rate discount where the customer agrees to allow the power company to temporarily adjust or terminate their power consumption for certain nonessential power consuming devices, such as water heaters, swimming pool heaters, air conditioners, etc. during peak operation. This allows the utility company to limit the peak power consumption when necessary, hereinafter referred to as “load control”.
Other more general information, which is not necessarily to “control” customer devices, can also be provided via the power distribution lines. These general information signals are transmitted in the same manner as signals intended to control a customer device. Such general information signals include information to display or store the price of power at the customer site, the date and time, the temperature or other information capable of being received and translated at the customer site. For example, the time displayed on an electronic device at the customer site could be periodically adjusted to display an accurate time as transmitted by the utility station.
The present invention therefore allows control signals and general information signals to be sent to the particular customer device via the power distribution line 106 to control customer devices and provide more general information to the customer. Information from the customer device may also be sent via the power distribution line to the utility substation 102, thereby creating a two-way control information communication link via the power distribution line 106. The aforementioned examples of control signal applications where control signals (and/or general information signals) are provided by the utility substation to a customer site are merely representative of the various uses that such control signals provide. Therefore, the examples provided throughout the application are illustrative in nature, as the invention is not limited to any particular control signal use.
In order to provide control information at the utility substation 102, a transmitter 108 is used to drive the control signals along the power distribution line 106 in the direction represented by the arrow 110. A receiver 112 at the customer device is configured to recognize the control signals transmitted by the control information transmitter 108. Similarly, the utility substation 102 may be equipped with an information receiver 114 to receive information, such as a power consumption reading, from a transmitter 116 at the customer device 104 in the direction represented by arrow 118.
The control information communications link 100 shown in
The full-duplex communication link 100 is designed for the transfer of control information at a frequency at or below the frequency at which the power is being distributed on the power distribution line 106. Such low frequency control signals provides for longer transmission links, and there is little chance that the data will interfere with the electrical power transmission. Furthermore, a low frequency signal can pass through downstream transformers and capacitors with minimal signal degradation, and without the aid of additional equipment such as repeaters.
Data analyzation using low frequency control signals over a period of time can provide a great deal of valuable information. For example, in load control situations where a power consumer has agreed to have nonessential power consuming devices regulated by the power company, each request by the power company to adjust or temporarily terminate the power to the consumer can be stored and compared to an acknowledgment received at a later time. If it is determined that power consumption at the customer site decreased over a period of time and/or over a number of occurrences of request/acknowledgment events, the power adjusting or terminating request was likely successful. On the other hand, if the peak power consumption did not decrease during these times, an equipment failure may have occurred, or the customer may have tampered with the control signal receiver at the customer device 104. Statistical information gathered over time can protect the utility companies from providing a discount to a power consumer where it is unwarranted.
Referring now to
Transmit control circuitry at the utility central office is used to provide a bitstream of binary data, shown as the transmit control signal on line 315, to assist in modulating the control signal at the control information transmitter 316. The transmit control circuitry at the utility central office may include a modem connection to a remote site in order to receive the actual information which is to be converted into the control signal. The transmit control signal is a bitstream which corresponds to the actual information to be converted into the control signal. For example, the bitstream can include binary indications of the modulation points in a frequency modulated system, so that a binary “1” corresponds to a first frequency, and a binary “0” corresponds to a second frequency in the frequency modulated system. The transmit control signal is described in further detail in connection with
The control information transmitter 316 is coupled in series with the neutral line 324 of the main transformer 302. Therefore, the control signal voltage generated by the control information transmitter 316 causes the voltage on the neutral line to correspond to the control signal generated. The control signal is also applied to the three phases of the power distribution line 314. Therefore, while the voltage on each of the phases of the power distribution line 314 may go to a higher voltage than where only the power signal were present on the line, the voltage on the neutral line 324 is similarly modulated such that the voltage at each of the phases does not change with respect to the voltage on the neutral line 324.
Because the control information transmitter 316 is coupled in series with the neutral line 324, an open-circuited condition in the control information transmitter 316 could result in an excessively large voltage being present at the customer site 304. In order to address this situation, at least one high voltage protection unit 326 is coupled between the neutral line 324 and earth ground. Other voltage protection also resides in the control information transmitter 316. These protection modules, as well as the high voltage protection circuit 326, will be described in greater detail in connection with the descriptions corresponding to
Referring now to
The control signal is consequently injected in the neutral line 402 of the power distribution line due to its in-series connection. This signal can have various peak or RMS voltage values, and in one embodiment of the invention is set to a value in the range of 20 volts to 120 volts utilizing phase modulation to generate the control signal. The signal is generated by the electronics module 406, and is passed through the protection module 408 onto the secondary windings 404 via the secondary winding power I line 410 and a secondary winding power 2 line 412.
The protection module 408 provides overvoltage protection for different voltage levels (i.e., different voltage thresholds) and at different speeds than the overvoltage protection provided by the high voltage protection unit 326 shown in
The electronics module 406 generates the low-frequency control signal corresponding to the desired control function to be performed. In one embodiment of the invention, the electronics module 406 includes crossover sense circuitry 414, crossover synchronization circuit 416, signal drivers 418, 420, 422, 424, and power switching transistors 426, 428, 430, 432. The crossover sense circuit 414 detects approximately when a carrier signal, such as the power signal transmitted on the power distribution line, crosses the zero-voltage point. This circuit is used when the control signal is to be modulated onto the power signal itself, and modulating the control signal during near-zero crossover points minimizes harmonics and other noise on the line. The crossover sense circuitry 414 is described in greater detail in connection with the description corresponding to
The electronics module 406 also includes crossover synchronization circuitry 416 which receives a bitstream of information from the transmit control circuit at the utility central office which corresponds to the actual information to be converted into the control signal. From this transmit control signal on line 417, the crossover synchronize block 416 manipulates the on/off operation of the power switching transistors 426,428, 430, 432, and does so at a time dictated by the crossover sense 414 output.
The voltage applied to the primary windings 322 of the transformer 320 are induced onto the center-tapped secondary windings 318, as was shown in
The secondary winding power signals on lines 502 and 504 are applied across a voltage dividing circuit, which in
The generated square wave is then fed back into a schmidt-trigger inverting device 524, which has built-in hysteresis. This inverting device sources or sinks current, depending on the state of the square wave signal on line 522, through the resistance R3526, which affects the voltage at node 518 and at the non-inverting input of the op amp 516. This results in triggering the state of the square wave signal on line 522 slightly before the zero-crossing of the 60 Hz sine wave signal. This square wave signal is then used to trigger transitions of the low frequency control signal.
It should be noted that the control signal need not be modulated onto the existing power signal. While it may be beneficial to use the power signal as a carrier because it is already available on the power distribution line, the present invention is not limited to use of the power signal as a carrier. Any time base that has long-term and short-term stability similar to the power grid may be used to generate the sub-carrier control signal. For example, the time base from global positioning system (GPS) signals could be used to generate any sub-carrier frequency desired, including a 60 Hz signal.
Referring now to
The circuit of
Referring now to
In order to determine which half-period waveforms are to be inverted, the crossover sense output and the transmit control signal are used. As was indicated in
In the example of
In order to account for this condition, the present invention provides for substation protection modules, such as protection unit 1000. These protection modules are referred to as “anti-fuses”, because where there is an open-circuit condition, they cause a short-circuit to ground, which is the opposite of what the operation of a standard “fuse” is. When the protection unit 1000 is activated upon recognition of an open-circuit condition in the control information transmitter 1002, it provides a short-circuit path from the neutral line 1004 to ground 1006, thereby maintaining a ground connection.
In one embodiment of the invention, the protection module 1000 includes two bypass conductors 1008, 1010, which are ultimately short-circuited together if the control information transmitter 1002 fails to provide a continuous connection to ground 1012. Where the control information transmitter 1002 open-circuits, the voltage on the neutral line 1004 causes a current to flow through bypass conductor 1008, through a device which has properties such that its resistance to current drops as voltage increases. In one embodiment of the invention, a metal oxide varistor (MOV) 1014 is used which utilizes the nonlinear resistance property of zinc oxide to form a variable resistor whose resistance to current drops as voltage increases. Therefore, at relatively low voltages, the MOV has non-conductive insulating characteristics, while at high voltages the MOV conducts current.
The current from the neutral line 1004 passes through the MOV 1014, through a conducting device 1016 which is used to separate the bypass conductors 1008, 1010 under normal circumstances, and back through the bypass conductor 1010. In one embodiment of the invention, the conducting device 1016 is a solder joint which holds the bypass conductors 1008, 1010 apart until the current through the MOV 1014 is high enough to melt the solder joint, thereby causing the tensioned bypass conductors 1008, 1010 to snap together and provide a high current path for the current to flow to ground 1006.
In summary, the protection unit 1000 provides a high-current path to ground when the control information transmitter 1002 fails in an open-circuit mode. As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description of the protection unit 1000, various other components other than MOVs, solder joints, and the like can be similarly used to generate the “anti-fuse” function, as the protection unit 1000 of the present invention is not limited to such. It will also be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the device 1014 and the conducting device 1016 can be calibrated such that the bypass conductors 1008, 1010 are coupled together at a desired voltage on the neutral line 1004 through the selection of appropriate resistance values. Further, the precise mechanical configuration utilized is irrelevant, however the physical and electrical properties of the bypass conductors 1008, 1010 must be selected such that they can adequately carry the large currents that they will conduct.
The packet type corresponding to “time” provides the time and temperature, and may be transmitted such that the end of the stop bit is exactly at the top of the minute. In one embodiment of the invention, the temperature is a signed byte with 0.5° C. degree steps, and the time is defined in two bytes. In a first byte, bits (0-5) correspond to 0-59 minutes, bit (6) corresponds to the state of a DST (daylight savings time) flag to indicate whether the end device is in daylight savings time, and bit (7) is for a special schedule flag which is used for holidays or other special daily schedules. A second byte uses bits (04) to represent hours 0-23, a GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) flag to indicate whether the end device corresponds to GMT, a timezone offset flag to indicate whether a timezone offset has been applied to the end device time, and a second DST flag to indicate whether the end device includes a daylight savings time adjustment. These times and schedules allow for control of particular customer devices at particular times, and accounts for special circumstances due to holidays and other special events.
The packet type corresponding to “time” also includes the date, which, in one embodiment, includes 3 bytes of information. A first byte uses bits (0-4) to indicate the day of the month, and bits (5-7) to indicate the day of the week. A second byte uses bits (0-3) to indicate the month, and bits (4-7) to indicate the “season” (which can be defined), or a special schedule. A third byte uses bits (0-6) to indicate the binary year from 0-99, and bit (7) is reserved.
The packet type corresponding to “open” is a command to select multiple end units, and “close” causes all units to be deselected. The “data” packet type corresponds to general data to be passed on to the unit. The “options” type can be used for various options, including bit rates, bandwidth and frequency.
Referring again to
While the foregoing protocol is used in one embodiment of the invention, it is provided for illustrative purposes only. Various fields and binary value representations can be modified without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, as will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art. Therefore, the foregoing is merely illustrative, and the invention is not to be limited to a protocol as provided in connection with
The invention has been described in its presently contemplated best mode, and it is clear that it is susceptible to various modifications, modes of operation and embodiments, all within the ability and skill of those skilled in the art and without the exercise of further inventive activity. Accordingly, what is intended to be protected by Letters Patents is set forth in the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10649061 | Aug 2003 | US |
| Child | 11068496 | Feb 2005 | US |
| Parent | 10208431 | Jul 2002 | US |
| Child | 10649061 | Aug 2003 | US |
| Parent | 09723090 | Nov 2000 | US |
| Child | 10208431 | Jul 2002 | US |
| Parent | 08933745 | Sep 1997 | US |
| Child | 09723090 | Nov 2000 | US |
