Method and device for detecting faults in a transmission line

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11054458-B2
Application number	US-201816620853-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2018
Priority date	Jun 16, 2017
Publication date	Jul 6, 2021
Grant date	Jul 6, 2021

Abstract

A method and device for detecting faults in a transmission line by reflectometry, include the following steps: injecting into the transmission line a reference signal at an emission frequency f DAC ; collecting a reflected signal at a point on the transmission line; sampling the reflected signal at a sampling frequency f ADC , the sampling frequency f ADC being different from the emission frequency f DAC ; storing each point of the sampled signal at a memory address corresponding to an index assigned to the point of the sampled signal and according to a precomputed memory-address increment Δ, the memory-address increment Δ depending on the emission frequency f DAC , on the sampling frequency f ADC , on an over-sampling factor Ω and on a preset acquisition time Σ; repeating the storing step during the acquisition time Σ; and generating, from the points stored during the acquisition time, a recomposed signal able to be used to detect faults.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for detecting faults in a transmission line (L) by reflectometry, comprising the steps of:
injecting into the transmission line a reference signal at an emission frequency f DAC ;
collecting a reflected signal at a point on the transmission line;
sampling the reflected signal at a sampling frequency f ADC , the sampling frequency f ADC being different from the emission frequency f DAC ;
storing each point of the sampled signal at a memory address corresponding to an index assigned to said point of the sampled signal and according to a precomputed memory-address increment Δ, said memory-address increment Δ depending on the emission frequency f DAC , on the sampling frequency f ADC , on an over-sampling factor Ω and on a preset acquisition time Σ;
repeating the storing step during the acquisition time Σ; and
generating, from the points stored during the acquisition time, a recomposed signal able to be used to detect faults.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sampling step comprises a step consisting in indexing each point of the sampled signal with an index related to the index of the preceding point of the sampled signal and to the precomputed value of the memory-address increment Δ.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 , comprising an initial step of computing the memory-address increment Δ.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the memory-address increment Δ is computed from a predefined value of the emission frequency f DAC and from a predefined value of the over-sampling factor Ω, and wherein the sampling frequency f ADC and the acquisition time E are determined depending on predefined values of the emission frequency f DAC and of the over-sampling factor Ω.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the memory-address increment Δ is computed from a predefined value of the emission frequency f DAC and from a predefined value of the sampling frequency f ADC , and wherein the over-sampling factor Ω and the acquisition time E are determined depending on the predefined values of the emission frequency f DAC and of the sampling frequency f ADC .

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the step of generating a recomposed signal consists in reading the points of the sampled signal stored at the predetermined addresses.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , in addition comprising a step of producing a reflectogram.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , in addition comprising a step of analyzing the reflectogram with a view to detecting faults.

9. A system for detecting faults in a transmission line (L) by reflectometry, comprising means for implementing the method as claimed in claim 1 .

10. The system for detecting faults as claimed in claim 9 , comprising a display interface for displaying information characteristic of the presence of a fault on the transmission line and/or of the location of the fault.

11. A non-transitory computer program containing instructions for executing the method for detecting faults in a transmission line as claimed in claim 1 , when the program is executed by a processor.

12. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium on which is stored a program containing instructions for executing the method for detecting faults in a transmission line as claimed in claim 1 , when the program is executed by a processor.

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique

Inventors

• Layer Christophe
• Cabanillas Esteban
• Dupret Antoine

Classifications

• G01R31/11 Primary

  using pulse reflection methods · CPC title