Synchronizing network reference time among power line components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024154782-A1
Application number	US-202217981193-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 4, 2022
Priority date	Nov 4, 2022
Publication date	May 9, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for performing electric grid timing coordination. The method can include: receiving, by a first electric grid device, a message from a second electric grid device, the message including a first clock value associated with an oscillator of the second electric grid device; determining, based on the first clock value, a second-first device time offset between the second electric grid device and the first electric grid device; and storing the second-first device time offset in a time offset table stored at the first electric grid device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electric grid timing coordination method comprising:
receiving, by a first electric grid device, a message from a second electric grid device, the message including a first clock value associated with an oscillator of the second electric grid device; determining, based on the first clock value, a second-first device time offset between the second electric grid device and the first electric grid device; and storing the second-first device time offset in a time offset table stored at the first electric grid device.

2 . The method of claim 1 comprising:
receiving, by the first electric grid device, a second message from the second electric grid device; and
translating a time stamp in the second message to a local time of the first electric grid device by adjusting a value of the time stamp based on the second-first device time offset.

3 . The method of claim 1 comprising:
transmitting the second-first device time offset from the first electric grid device to the second electric grid device;
receiving, at the second electric grid device and from the first electric grid device, the second-first device time offset; and
updating, using the second-first device time offset, a clock of the second electric grid device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , where the first electric grid device receives new messages periodically.

5 . The method of claim 2 , where translating the time stamp comprises adding the second-first device time offset to the value of the time stamp.

6 . The method of claim 1 , where the second electric grid device stores another time offset table.

7 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving, by the first electric grid device, a third message from a third electric grid device, the third message including a second clock value associated with an oscillator of the third electric grid device; determining, based on the second clock value, a third-first device time offset between the third electric grid device and the first electric grid device; storing, by first electric grid device, the third-first device time offset in the time offset table stored at the.

8 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving, by the second electric grid device, a third message from a third electric grid device, the third message including a second clock signal value associated with an oscillator of the third electric grid device; determining, based on the second clock signal, a third-second device time offset between the third electric grid device and the second electric grid device; storing the third-second device time offset be in a time offset table stored at the second electric grid device; sending, from the first electric grid device, the second-first device time offset to a time coordinating device; and sending, from the second electric grid device, the third-second device time offset to the time coordinating device.

9 . The method of claim 1 where determining the second-first device offset time comprises:
obtaining a local clock value from a reference clock of the first electric grid device; and
determining a difference in time between the local clock value and the first clock value to obtain the second-first device time offset.

10 . An electric grid sensor comprising:
computer memory comprising more instructions for performing electric grid time synchronization; a local clock circuit; a network communication interface; and one or more processors in electrical communication with the network communication interface, the local clock circuit; and the computer memory, the one or more processors configured to execute the one or more instructions to perform operations comprising:
receiving a message from a second electric grid device, the message including a first clock value associated with an oscillator of the second electric grid device;
determining, based on the first clock value, a second-first device time offset between the second electric grid device and the electric grid sensor; and
storing the second-first device time offset in a time offset table stored in the computer memory.

11 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by a first electric grid device, a message from a second electric grid device, the message including a first clock value associated with an oscillator of the second electric grid device; determining, based on the first clock value, a second-first device time offset between the second electric grid device and the first electric grid device; and storing the second-first device time offset in a time offset table stored at the first electric grid device.

12 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , where the operations comprise:
receiving, by the first electric grid device, a second message from the second electric grid device; and
translating a time stamp in the second message to a local time of the first electric grid device by adjusting a value of the time stamp based on the second-first device time offset.

13 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , where the operations comprise:
transmitting the second-first device time offset from the first electric grid device to the second electric grid device; receiving, at the second electric grid device and from the first electric grid device, the second-first device time offset; and updating, using the second-first device time offset, a clock of the second electric grid device.

14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , where the first electric grid device receives new messages periodically.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 , where translating the time stamp comprises adding the second-first device time offset to the value of the time stamp.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , where the second electric grid device stores another time offset table.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , where the operations comprise:
receiving, by the first electric grid device, a third message from a third electric grid device, the third message including a second clock value associated with an oscillator of the third electric grid device; determining, based on the second clock value, a third-first device time offset between the third electric grid device and the first electric grid device; storing, by first electric grid device, the third-first device time offset in the time offset table stored at the first electric grid device.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , where the operations comprise:
receiving, by the second electric grid device, a third message from a third electric grid device, the third message including a second clock signal value associated with an oscillator of the third electric grid device; determining, based on the second clock signal, a third-second device time offset between the third electric grid device and the second electric grid device; storing the third-second device time offset be in a time offset table stored at the second electric grid device; sending, from the first electric grid device, the second-first device time offset to a time coordinating device; and sending, from the second electric grid device, the third-second device time offset to the time coordinating device.

Assignees

• X Dev Llc

Inventors

• He Mike Miao
• Yao Rui
• Li Xinyue
• Casey Leo Francis

Classifications

• H02J13/12 Primary

  Monitoring network conditions, e.g. electrical magnitudes or operational status · CPC title

• H04J3/0638

  Clock or time synchronisation among nodes; Internode synchronisation (synchronization for ring networks H04L12/422; data switching networks with synchronous transmission H04L12/43) · CPC title

• H04L7/0008 Primary

  Synchronisation information channels, e.g. clock distribution lines · CPC title

• H02J13/00002

  Electricity · mapped topic