Monitoring electric systems for wiring faults

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10969414-B2
Application number	US-201815945375-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2018
Priority date	Apr 4, 2018
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable media are disclosed for monitoring electric systems for wiring faults. In some examples, a system includes a production power meter coupled to a power generation system of a building and configured for measuring electric power generated by the power generation system, one or more consumption power meters coupled to an electric system of the building and configured for measuring electric power consumed by the electric system, and a computer system coupled to the production power meter and the consumption power meters. The computer system is programmed for determining that at least one power meter is installed with a reversed polarity that is reversed with respect to an installation specification, resulting in the computer system receiving measured values from the at least one power meter having an incorrect sign.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a power generation system of a building comprising a photovoltaic solar system and a plurality of micro-inverters for converting direct current power generated by the photovoltaic solar system to alternating current power for consumption by an electric system of the building, export to a utility grid, or both;
a production power meter coupled to the power generation system and configured for measuring electric power generated by the power generation system;
one or more consumption power meters coupled to the electric system of the building and configured for measuring electric power consumed by the electric system; and
a computer system coupled to the production power meter and the consumption power meters and programmed for:
receiving a production time series of electric production values from the production power meter;
receiving a consumption time series of electric consumption values from the consumption power meters;
determining, by comparing the production time series and the consumption time series to respective reference values, that at least one power meter is installed with a reversed polarity that is reversed with respect to an installation specification, resulting in the computer system receiving measured values from the at least one power meter having an incorrect sign; and,
comparing power measurements from each micro-inverter to an aggregate measured power from a system-level metering interface and determining to enable, disable, or reduce power generation from at least one of the micro-inverters based on the comparing.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the power generation system comprises an intermittent power source, and wherein comparing the production time series to reference values comprises selecting at least one electric production value from the production time series during a time when the intermittent power source is specified as idle and determining that the at least one electric production value has a sign that indicates power production.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the electric system is configured to consume electric power from the photovoltaic solar system and a utility grid and to export electric power to the utility grid when the power generated by the photovoltaic solar system exceeds the power consumed by the electric system.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the computer system is programmed for determining a net energy export time series for the electric system based on the production time series and the consumption time series, and wherein determining that at least one of the production power meter and the consumption power meters is installed with an incorrect polarity comprises:
selecting at least one net energy export value from the net energy export time series at a time during a night;
determining that the net energy export value has a sign that indicates a positive net energy export at the time during the night; and
as a result of determining that the net energy export value has a sign that indicates a positive net energy export at the time during the night, determining that one of the consumption power meters is installed with a reversed polarity.

5. The system of claim 1 , comprising a display, and wherein the computer system is programmed for displaying on the display an alert message indicating that the at least one power meter is installed with a reversed polarity.

6. The system of claim 1 , comprising a data communications system, and wherein the computer system is programmed for transmitting, on the data communications system and to a remote computer system, an alert message indicating that the at least one power meter is installed with a reversed polarity.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer system is programmed for:
determining a net energy consumption time series for the electric system based on the production time series and the consumption time series;
displaying at least a portion of the net energy consumption time series on a display or transmitting the portion of the net energy consumption time series to a remote computer system or both; and
compensating for the at least one power meter being installed with a reversed polarity by inverting, for each net energy consumption value in the portion of the net energy consumption time series, the sign of the corresponding measured values from the at least one power meter.

8. A system comprising:
a photovoltaic solar system and a plurality of inverters for converting direct current power generated by the photovoltaic solar system to alternating current power for consumption by a multi-phase electric system of a building, export to a utility grid, or both;
a plurality of consumption power meters coupled to the multi-phase electric system, each consumption power meter being configured for measuring electric power consumed by a respective phase line of the multi-phase electric system; and
a computer system coupled to the consumption power meters and programmed for:
receiving, from each consumption power meter, a consumption time series of electric consumption values;
comparing at least a first consumption value from a first consumption power meter to a second consumption value from a second consumption power meter;
determining, by comparing the first consumption value with the second consumption value, that a fault exists in the wiring of the multi-phase electric system; and,
comparing power measurements from each inverter to an aggregate measured power from a system-level metering interface and determining to enable, disable, or reduce power generation from at least one of the inverters based on the comparing.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the multi-phase electric system is a split-phase electric system comprising two alternating current phase lines and a neutral line, and wherein determining that a fault exists in the wiring of the multi-phase electric system comprises determining first and second line-to-neutral voltages and determining that a difference between the magnitudes of the first and second line-to-neutral voltages exceeds a threshold difference.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the multi-phase electric system is a split-phase electric system comprising two alternating current phase lines, and wherein determining that a fault exists in the wiring of the multi-phase electric system comprises determining that the two alternating current phase lines are not of opposite electrical phase.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the multi-phase electric system is a split-phase electric system comprising two alternating current phase lines and a neutral line, and wherein determining that a fault exists in the wiring of the multi-phase electric system comprises comparing measurements from the two alternating current phase lines to neutral, comparing measurement from the two alternating current phase lines to ground, and determining an indication of neutral-to-ground integrity based on the comparing.

12. The system of claim 8 , comprising a photovoltaic solar system and one or more inverters for converting direct current power generated by the photovoltaic solar system to alternating current power for consumption by the multi-phase electric system, export to a utility grid, or both, and wherein determining that a fault exists in the wiring of the multi-phase electric system comprises comparing voltage measurements from a photovoltaic solar system monitoring interface to voltage measurements from an inverter monitoring interface and determining a measure of wiring integrity based on the comparing.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein determining the measure of wiring integri

Assignees

• Sunpower Corp

Inventors

• Scrutchfield Donald H
• Bintz Miles F
• Benjamin Dylan W
• Fischer Kevin C

Classifications

• H02J2101/24

  Photovoltaics · CPC title

• H02J13/1337

  involving the use of Internet protocols · CPC title

• H02J13/14

  the power network being locally controlled, e.g. home energy management systems [HEMS] · CPC title

• H02J13/10

  characterised by displaying of information or by user interaction, e.g. supervisory control and data acquisition [SCADA] systems · CPC title

• H02J2105/42

  Home appliances · CPC title