U.S. patent application number 17/706200 was filed with the patent office on 2022-09-08 for model driven estimation of faulted area in electric distribution systems.
The applicant listed for this patent is Operation Technology Inc.. Invention is credited to Mohammad Reza Dadash Zadeh, Jun Qiu, Farrokh Shokooh.
Application Number | 20220285983 17/706200 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000006362081 |
Filed Date | 2022-09-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220285983 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Dadash Zadeh; Mohammad Reza ;
et al. |
September 8, 2022 |
MODEL DRIVEN ESTIMATION OF FAULTED AREA IN ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION
SYSTEMS
Abstract
A system for estimating faulted area in an electric distribution
system. The system includes a database storing input data, a fault
detection module to estimate, based on the input data, if a new
faulted area estimation process is required, a condition estimation
module to estimate condition of metered protective devices,
un-metered protective devices, and metered devices (PMDs), an
upstream to downstream module to assess condition of each metered
protective device, un-metered protective device, and metered device
(PMD), starting from a feeder circuit breaker towards feeder
downstream, to estimate a tripped protective device and a last
metered device upstream of a fault, and a downstream to upstream
module configured to assess outaged electric loads or elements
towards network upstream to find the common interrupting protective
device.
Inventors: |
Dadash Zadeh; Mohammad Reza;
(Irvine, CA) ; Shokooh; Farrokh; (Irvine, CA)
; Qiu; Jun; (Irvine, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Operation Technology Inc. |
Irvine |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000006362081 |
Appl. No.: |
17/706200 |
Filed: |
March 28, 2022 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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16163493 |
Oct 17, 2018 |
11289942 |
|
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17706200 |
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62577938 |
Oct 27, 2017 |
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62577953 |
Oct 27, 2017 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G01R 31/088 20130101;
H02H 3/042 20130101; G01R 31/2836 20130101; H02J 13/00034
20200101 |
International
Class: |
H02J 13/00 20060101
H02J013/00; H02H 3/04 20060101 H02H003/04; G01R 31/28 20060101
G01R031/28; G01R 31/08 20060101 G01R031/08 |
Claims
1. A system for estimating faulted area in an electric distribution
system, comprising: a database storing one or more input data; a
fault detection module configured to determine, based on the one or
more input data, if a new faulted area estimation process is
required; a condition estimation module configured to estimate
condition of metered protective devices, un-metered protective
devices, and metered devices (PMDs); an upstream to downstream
module configured to assess condition of each metered protective
device, un-metered protective device, and metered device (PMD),
starting from a feeder circuit breaker towards feeder downstream,
to estimate a tripped protective device and a last metered device
upstream of a fault; and a downstream to upstream module configured
to assess outaged electric loads and elements towards network
upstream to find the common interrupting protective device.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the estimated tripped protective
device and the last metered device upstream of the fault, and the
common interrupting protective device are merged to estimate one or
more faulted areas.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more input data to the
fault detection module comprise online data.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the online data comprise one or
more of condition, fault indication, reclosing stage, crew feedback
and customer call data.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the condition estimation module
further receives online data and offline data as input.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the online data comprise one or
more of condition, fault indication, reclosing stage, crew feedback
and customer call data.
7. The system of claim 5, wherein the offline data comprise one or
more of connectivity data and high level operational behavior of
the PMDs.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the high level operational
behavior comprises one or more of observability, reclosability,
fault interruptability and switching capability.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the condition is one of
Energized, Close_Hot, Close, Close_Dead, Open_Hot, Open, Open_Dead,
and Unknown.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the condition estimation module
further configured to: (1) determine one or more child tables for
the PMDs; (2) determine one or more parent tables for the PMDs; (3)
apply one or more first rules to the one or more parent tables to
estimate condition of a parent PMD; (4) apply one or more second
rules to the one or more child tables to estimate condition of a
child PMD; (5) compare the estimated condition of the parent PMD
and the estimated condition of the child PMD; and upon determining
that the estimated condition of the parent PMD and the estimated
condition of the child PMD is not the same, repeat steps (1) to
(5).
11. A method for estimating faulted area in an electric
distribution system, comprising: estimating, by a fault detection
module, based on one or more input data, if a new faulted area
estimation process is required; estimating, by a condition
estimation module, condition of metered protective devices,
un-metered protective devices, and metered devices (PMDs);
assessing, by an upstream to downstream module, condition of each
metered protective device, un-metered protective device, and
metered device (PMD), starting from a feeder circuit breaker
towards feeder downstream, to estimate a tripped protective device
and a last metered device upstream of a fault; and assessing, by a
downstream to upstream module, outaged electric loads and elements
towards network upstream to find the common interrupting protective
device.
12. The method of claim 11, further merging the estimated tripped
protective device and the last metered device upstream of the
fault, and the common interrupting protective device to estimate
one or more faulted areas.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more input data to
the fault detection module comprise online data.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the online data comprise one or
more of condition, fault indication, reclosing stage, crew feedback
and customer call data.
15. The method of claim 11, further receiving, by the condition
estimation module, online data and offline data as input.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the online data comprise one or
more of condition, fault indication, reclosing stage, crew feedback
and customer call data.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the offline data comprise one
or more of connectivity data and high level operational behavior of
the PMDs.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the high level operational
behavior comprises one or more of observability, reclosability,
fault interruptability and switching capability.
19. The method of claim 11, further, by the condition estimation
module: (1) determining one or more child tables for the PMDs; (2)
determining one or more parent tables for the PMDs; (3) applying
one or more first rules to the one or more parent tables to
estimate condition of a parent PMD; (4) applying one or more second
rules to the one or more child tables to estimate condition of a
child PMD; (5) comparing the estimated condition of the parent PMD
and the estimated condition of the child PMD; and upon determining
that the estimated condition of the parent PMD and the estimated
condition of the child PMD is not the same, repeat steps (1) to
(5).
20. The method of claim 11, wherein the condition is one of
Energized, Close_Hot, Close, Close_Dead, Open_Hot, Open, Open_Dead,
and Unknown.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 16/163,493, filed Oct. 17, 2018, which claims
priority to U.S. Application No. 62/577,938, filed Oct. 27, 2017,
and U.S. Application No. 62/577,953, filed Oct. 27, 2017, the
entire contents and disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by
reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The claimed invention relates to estimating faulted area
within an electric distribution system and more particularly to
system and method for estimating faulted area within an electric
distribution system using offline model and online data.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] In a typical electric distribution system, several feeders
originated from one or more substations supplying electricity to
the customers. In a power outage, electric distribution system
faulted area estimation, isolation and service restoration is one
of the key applications within an advanced distribution management
system (ADMS). Locating fault in distribution system often has two
aspects. The first aspect is to determine the tripped protective
device and corresponding faulted area while another aspect is to
estimate the distance/impedance/reactance between the fault
location and the location where a waveform recording device is
installed within a distribution feeder, i.e. typically at the
feeder substation. Considering the nature of distribution feeder
with a main and several laterals, there are multiple locations
within a distribution feeder that can have the same
distance/impedance/reactance. The most probable fault locations are
the locations within the estimated faulted area.
[0004] In a typical electric distribution system, several feeders
originated from one or more substations supply electricity to the
customers. Each feeder is protected and monitored through several
devices, including metered protective devices, un-metered
protective devices, and metered devices, all of which will be
collectively referred to in this disclosure as protective or
metered devices (PMDs). These feeders are typically interconnected
at one or more locations through normally opened switches allowing
temporary restoration for some loads if possible. FIGS. 1A and 1B
illustrate an exemplary simple distribution system 100 with three
feeders 104, 106, 108 originated from one substation 102 (FIG. 1B).
As shown in FIG. 1B, some of monitoring and protective related data
at each substation can be collected and transferred to distribution
control center using a remote terminal unit (RTU) 110. One of the
main applications used in control center is outage management
system (OMS) 120 (FIG. 1A). In current distribution management
system, OMS can utilize network connectivity data, online data
transmitted by RTUs, outages reported through customer calls and
feedback received from crews in the field through Workforce
Management System 130 to detect incidents, find fault locations,
and determine isolation and restoration steps.
[0005] One of the key functionality of OMS application is locating
fault. In power industry, fault location is perceived as an
application where the location of the fault is estimated typically
using voltage and current waveforms or values collected at the
point of interconnection of feeder to the substation. In a typical
fault scenario, multiple locations would be estimated as point of
fault due to the nature of distribution feeder network
connectivity. Hence, another application is required to filter out
the potential fault locations based on PMD, customer calls and crew
feedback data collected through the field.
[0006] It is therefore desirable to provide system and method for
improvements in estimating faulted area within an electric
distribution system, and that provide advantages heretofore unknown
in the art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] Provided herein are exemplary embodiments of systems,
devices and methods for estimating faulted area within an electric
distribution system.
[0008] This operation, referred to as faulted area estimation, can
be independently used to predict tripped protective device and the
area where the fault location lies to dispatch crews to investigate
the issue, and at the same time perform temporary restoration. The
present disclosure describes a new system, method and model to
perform faulted area estimation.
[0009] In some embodiments, the present disclosure includes a
system for estimating faulted area in an electric distribution
system. The system includes a database storing input data, a fault
detection module to determine, based on the input data, if a new
faulted area estimation process is required, a condition estimation
module to estimate condition of metered protective devices,
un-metered protective devices, and metered devices, all of which
will be collectively referred to in this disclosure as protective
or metered devices (PMDs), an upstream to downstream module to
assess condition of each PMD, starting from a feeder circuit
breaker towards feeder downstream, to estimate a tripped protective
device and a last metered device upstream of a fault, and a
downstream to upstream module configured to assess outaged electric
loads or elements towards network upstream to find the common
interrupting protective device.
[0010] In some embodiments, the present disclosure includes a
method for estimating faulted area in an electric distribution
system. The method may include estimating, by a fault detection
module, based on one or more input data, if a new faulted area
estimation process is required; estimating, by a condition
estimation module, condition of un-metered protective devices and
condition of metered protective devices; assessing, by an upstream
to downstream module, condition of each un-metered protective
device and condition of each metered protective device, starting
from a feeder circuit breaker towards feeder downstream, to
estimate a tripped protective device and a last metered device
upstream of a fault; and assessing, by a downstream to upstream
module, outaged electric loads and elements towards network
upstream to find the common interrupting protective device.
[0011] Other features and advantages of the present invention will
be or will become apparent to one with skill in the art upon
examination of the following figures and detailed description,
which illustrate, by way of examples, the principles of the present
invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] The present invention may be better understood by referring
to the following figures. The components in the figures are not
necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon
illustrating the principles of the disclosure. In the figures, like
reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the
different views.
[0013] FIG. 1A illustrates a exemplary applications in an electric
distribution system, according to an embodiment of the
invention
[0014] FIG. 1B illustrates an exemplary simple electric
distribution system, according to an embodiment of the
invention.
[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary process of faulted area
estimation, according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates exemplary high-level diagram of a
condition estimator, according to an embodiment of the
invention.
[0017] FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an exemplary parent rule
judgments process, according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0018] FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate an exemplary child rule judgments
process, according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0019] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary system diagram of a system
for faulted area estimation in an electric distribution system,
according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates exemplary system or apparatus in which
processes of the present disclosure can be implemented, according
to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] The below described figures illustrate the described
invention and method of use in at least one of its preferred, best
mode embodiment, which is further defined in detail in the
following description. Those having ordinary skill in the art may
be able to make alterations and modifications to what is described
herein without departing from its spirit and scope. While this
invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms,
there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in
detail a preferred embodiment of the invention with the
understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an
exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not
intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to the
embodiment illustrated. All features, elements, components,
functions, and steps described with respect to any embodiment
provided herein are intended to be freely combinable and
substitutable with those from any other embodiment unless otherwise
stated. Therefore, it should be understood that what is illustrated
is set forth only for the purposes of example and should not be
taken as a limitation on the scope of the present invention.
[0022] Turning to the drawings, FIGS. 1 to 7 illustrate exemplary
embodiments of systems and methods for estimating faulted area in
an electric distribution system, which may be generally referred to
as Faulted Area Estimation. The faulted area may be bounded to one
or a combination of protective devices, meters and electrical
loads. The present disclosure utilizes both online and offline data
to estimate the faulted area. In some embodiments, the present
disclosure may not use recorded waveforms by protective relays or
fault recorders. However, the resulted area can be utilized to
limit possible fault locations derived from the recorded waveform
analysis.
[0023] Generally, the offline data may include the model of an
electric distribution system including network connectivity data
and high-level operational behavior of protective devices such as
observability, fault interruptability, reclosability and
sectionalizing capability. Online data that can be utilized may
include online condition data of the observant electric devices,
fault indication, reclosing stage, crew condition feedback and
customer calls. "Condition" is defined herein as an extended status
of a metered protective device, un-metered protective device, and
metered device (PMD), which holds any value within the condition
range, e.g., Energized, Close_Hot, Close, Close_Dead, Open_Hot,
Open, Open_Dead, and Unknown. Condition estimation of electric
distribution devices especially unmetered protective devices is
essential to perform fault management applications such as faulted
area prediction and accurate fault locating.
[0024] In some embodiments, upon detection of fault, a fault
detection logic or module determines if a new faulted area
estimation process is required or the fault indication belongs to
an existing faulted area estimation process. Each faulted area
estimation process handles a feeder within a distribution system.
For each faulted area estimation process, a state machine may be
established to assess online data from pre-fault condition to the
present. Upstream to downstream evaluation may be performed by
assessing each PMD, starting from feeder circuit breaker towards
feeder downstream based on its behavior and the latest online data
to estimate the tripped protective device as well as the last
metered device upstream of the fault. Downstream to upstream
evaluation may be performed by assessing the outaged electric
loads/elements towards network upstream to find the common
interrupting protective device. Results of both evaluations may be
merged at the end to predict a faulted area.
[0025] As used herein, a logic or module may be one or more
software programs or may be part of a software program. In some
embodiments, a logic or module may include hardware component.
[0026] A condition estimator described herein may be applicable to
distribution feeders that are operated radially. Nevertheless, the
feeder can have various types of distributed energy resources
integrated as far as islanded operation may not be allowed. In
applications where each radial circuit is fed through a ring
(looped) circuit, the present disclosure can still be applied to
the radial portion. The present disclosure may be applied to single
or multiphase system.
[0027] Turning to FIG. 2, an exemplary process 200 of faulted area
estimation is illustrated, according to some embodiments of the
disclosure. Generally, online input data 210 may be utilized to
detect fault, at Fault Detection logic or module 230. Once a new
fault is detected, a new faulted area estimation process is
generated. However, if the data belongs to an existing faulted area
estimation process, only the existing process will be executed and
resulted faulted area may be updated. Each faulted area estimation
process may represent a faulted feeder and a fault. In the case of
a faulted feeder where the faulted area or location is confirmed by
a system operator, any new fault indication within the same feeder
but outside of the confirmed faulted area may result in a new
faulted area estimation process which excludes the confirmed
faulted area. Each faulted area estimation process may maintain all
the offline and online data relevant to the faulted feeder.
Description of each component is described further below.
Offline Input Data
[0028] In some embodiments, offline input data 220 may include PMD
data and electric network connectivity data.
[0029] PMD Data:
[0030] In some embodiments, PMD data may include a list of metered
protective devices, un-metered protective devices, and metered
devices (PMDs) such as circuit breakers, reclosers, fuses,
distribution transformer meters, fault indicators, smart meters,
etc. In addition, it may hold high level characteristics of
protective devices including normal operation status (Open/Close),
observability (if condition is available directly/indirectly, it is
observable), and type (non-interrupter, fault interrupter,
recloser, switch, sectionalizer, double-throw switch or load). If
load or a combination of loads is not metered, a virtual
non-observable PMD (Type Load) is considered to represent load
condition in the Condition Estimator, which will be described in
more detail below.
[0031] Connectivity Data:
[0032] In some embodiments, connectivity data may include
information of a distribution feeder, in a suitable format, to
define distribution buses or nodes especially those that are
connected to PMDs, branches between two nodes and shunt elements
such as nodes. In some embodiments, for the sake of simplicity,
connectivity data may not include de-energized or out-of-service
elements. This means that, connectivity data should represent the
feeder before fault occurrence. However, it is possible to include
them and enhance the condition estimator logic of the present
disclosure to account for such elements. For example, connectivity
data may be a list of nodes. Each node knows its connectivity data
to its connected nodes including the information of branches and
PMDs in between. In addition, each node may include the information
of the connected shunt devices to the node.
Online Input Data
[0033] In some embodiments, online input data 210 may include
condition, fault indication, reclosing stage (or reclosing shot,
which may be an indicator typically a number to show how many times
recloser has interrupted and reclosed after fault occurrence), crew
feedback and customer call.
Condition
[0034] This data may indicate condition for any observable PMD
along with time stamp of the last measurement. In some embodiments,
possible conditions may be: Energized, Close_Hot, Close,
Close_Dead, Open_Hot, Open, Open_Dead, and Unknown. These
conditions are defined below.
[0035] Energized: PMD carries current/power above a minimum current
threshold. This threshold may be set so as to ensure that some
level of load is carried out through the PMD. For instance, this
threshold can be set to 5% of the rated current at the point of
measurement.
[0036] Close_Hot: PMD is closed and is hot (has voltage), i.e., the
voltage is more than a minimum voltage threshold. For instance,
this threshold can be set to 5% of the rated voltage at the point
of measurement.
[0037] Close: PMD is closed but there is no data available
regarding voltage or current amount, for example due to lack of
sensory, or the current value is not high enough to make any
judgment. It should be noted that the condition of uninterruptable
PMDs may be one of the above, e.g., Energized, Close_Hot or Close.
In addition, the normal operating condition of uninterruptable PMDs
is set to Close.
[0038] Close_Dead: PMD is closed but voltage is less than a minimum
voltage threshold.
[0039] Open_Hot: PMD is open and its upstream terminal is hot (has
voltage). Upstream terminal is the terminal that is towards the
feeder circuit breaker. In the case of normally open Tie PMDs, PMD
is hot if any of both terminals are hot. Tie PMD is a protective or
metered device that connects two electric distribution feeders
together.
[0040] Open: PMD is open but there is no data available regarding
voltage amount, due to for example the lack of sensory, or the
voltage value is not high enough to make any judgment.
[0041] Open_Dead: PMD is open and voltage is less than a minimum
voltage threshold.
[0042] Unknown: PMD is not observable or condition estimation is
not possible temporarily.
[0043] It should be noted that if a PMD condition is "Energized",
it is at the same time Close_Hot or Close. The Condition estimated
is a guaranteed state based on the available data.
[0044] In the case of single-phase tripping or when not all three
phases are impacted due to fault clearance, only impacted phases
may be employed to estimate condition. In addition, the condition
definition can be extended for more than two terminal devices such
as double-throw switch.
[0045] Crew_Feedback:
[0046] The feedback may include condition for unobservable PMDs
provided by crew in the field along with reporting time stamp. For
any PMD, the online condition may be the most recent data between
metered Condition and Crew_Feedback based on their time stamps.
[0047] Fault Indication:
[0048] Protective or metering devices with communication capability
can transmit fault detection information in various forms such as
an event for each detection or a counter value that increments for
any new fault detection.
[0049] Customer Calls:
[0050] In today's modern distribution automation system, customer
calls are available for outage management system to be used as part
of fault location, isolation and service restoration. In the
present disclosure, each customer may be modeled as part of
connectivity data and represent a PMD. Any customer call in the
form of an event or other forms may be utilized to initiate or
update a faulted area estimation process within the present
disclosure.
Output Data
[0051] Faulted Area Estimation:
[0052] A main purpose of the present disclosure is to estimate a
faulted area. In the present disclosure, Faulted Area may be a
region within a distribution feeder that starts by a PMD called
"Start PMD" and ends with one or more PMDs called "End PMDs". All
the PMDs in between are referred to under "Middle PMDs".
Fault Detection
[0053] Still referring to FIG. 2, online input data 210 may be fed
into a Fault Detection module 230. At each time step (e.g., every
few seconds), the online input data may be scanned. Any change
detected within (1) Condition, (2) Fault Indication, and (3)
Customer call data may be collected to be assessed. For any change,
it is determined whether the data change belongs to an existing
faulted area estimation process or a new faulted area estimation
process should be created. In some embodiments, this may be done by
the following steps.
[0054] Step 1: The feeder of the PMD indicating a fault is found.
If the found feeder does not have an existing faulted area
estimation process, create a new one. Otherwise:
[0055] Step 2: If the found feeder has an existing faulted area
estimation process with confirmed faulted area location, then:
[0056] Step 2a: Find the outaged area. Outaged area is the list of
all PMDs including electric loads that are de-energized due to the
fault.
[0057] Step 2b: If the PMD is not within the outaged area, create a
new faulted area estimation process. Otherwise, ignore the fault
indication and no faulted area estimation update is required.
State Machine
[0058] In some embodiments, each faulted area estimation process is
associated with a state machine 250 which has two main states:
1--Pre-fault, and 2--Post-fault. Once a state machine is created,
it may be set to pre-fault condition. In pre-fault condition,
archived online data just prior to fault detection (at 230) may be
utilized to run condition estimation (at 252). The state machine
250 may stay in pre-fault condition once, and then may switch to
post-fault condition. In post-fault state, post-fault online data
may be utilized at every time step to estimate the faulted area. At
this state, Downstream-to-upstream evaluation (at 256) may be
performed for any new customer call or condition change. Whereas,
Upstream-to-downstream evaluation (at 254) may be performed for any
new fault indication or condition change. To avoid faulted area
estimation process during fault condition or any transitional data,
faulted area estimation process may only be performed when the
online data related to the faulted area estimation process is
consistent for a few consecutive time steps that is set by default.
In some embodiments, the default may be two.
[0059] In some embodiments, a time step may be about a few seconds
that is recommended to be greater than half of the maximum fault
clearing time of any metered protective device with the
distribution system. Even if this condition is not met, the
estimated faulted area would be incorrect momentarily and will be
updated with correct faulted area when all the online data to the
faulted area estimation process belongs to the post-fault state.
Each evaluation may result into one or multiple estimated faulted
areas. Once both evaluations have been performed, the resulted
estimated faulted areas will be merged if possible (at 258) to
estimate a faulted area.
Condition Estimation
[0060] As stated above, condition estimation (at 252) may be
performed as part of the state machine 250. "Condition" is defined
as an extended status of a PMD which holds any value within the
condition range, e.g., Energized, Close-Hot, Close, Close-Dead,
Open_Hot, Open, Open_Dead, and Unknown. Condition estimation is a
process of estimating condition of un-observant (un-metered)
protective devices as well as condition of observant (metered) PMDs
with old time stamps. The condition estimator may take full benefit
of measured data within distribution system to enhance the
visibility of the system for the application of fault management
system while it minimizes the amount of data required to be
transferred through communication system. Although the process of
condition estimation is described herein as for use in faulted area
estimation in an electric distribution system, it also has other
applications beside the present disclosure. See the Condition
Estimator section in this present disclosure for further
detail.
Upstream to Downstream Evaluation
[0061] In some embodiments, Upstream to Downstream Evaluation (at
254) is another process of the state machine 250. This evaluation
is explained by the following steps.
[0062] Step 1: Condition estimation (at 252) is executed for the
latest online data. See the Condition Estimator section in this
present disclosure for further detail.
[0063] Step 2: The following lists are created:
[0064] List (a), FaultDetectors: This list may include all PMDs
that indicate new fault either directly through fault indication or
they are interruptible and their conditions have changed to one
form of Open while they were close prior to fault.
[0065] List (b), Close_Deads: This list may include all PMDs that
have Close_Dead condition while they had Energized or Close_Hot
condition prior to fault.
[0066] Step 3: If the list of FaultDetectors is empty, find the
most common interruptible PMD parent of PMDs listed in Close_Deads.
If found, this PMD is a candidate PMD for faulted area estimation.
Go to Step [0062].
[0067] Step 4: Start from the feeder Circuit Breaker/PMD, check
each PMD by analyzing the network connectivity towards downstream
appreciating pre-fault PMD condition, i.e., stop at a PMD with any
form of Open (Open_Hot, Open, Open_Dead) condition while pass
through a PMD with any form of close (Energized, Close_Hot, Close,
Close_Dead) or Unknown conditions. The last PMD found to be in the
list of FaultDetectors is a candidate for the start of faulted area
estimation.
[0068] Step 5: If a candidate PMD is found, revise the candidate
PMD based on reclosing information as following:
[0069] Step 5a: If the candidate PMD is not Interruptible but
capable of detecting fault, and it is downstream of a recloser and
upstream of sectionalizer, use upstream recloser for the following
steps instead of the candidate PMD if it is not open of any form
and completed possible reclosing stages. Otherwise, continue with
the original candidate PMD.
[0070] Step 5b: If the candidate PMD is reclosable, and it is close
of any form, and either it has not reclosed or has completed all
possible reclosing stages, find the following lists:
[0071] 5b.i: PMD_Children: all immediate PMDs downstream of the
candidate PMD.
[0072] 5b.ii: Interruptible_PMD_Children: all immediate
interruptible PMDs downstream of the candidate PMD.
[0073] Then,
[0074] 5b.iii: If PMD candidate has not reclosed at all, replace
candidate PMD with all PMDs in Interruptible_PMD_Children list.
[0075] 5b.iv: If PMD candidate has completed all possible reclosing
stages, replace candidate PMD with its downstream
sectionalizer.
[0076] Step 6: For each candidate PMD found from the previous step,
a faulted area is created starting from each PMD. Then, for each
area, the other ends (boundary) PMDs and Middle PMDs are determined
as following steps:
[0077] Step 6a: If start PMD is Open, or it is reclosable and at
least reclosed once, or it is sectionalizer, the other ends of
estimated faulted area are the interruptible PMD children of the
start PMD. Otherwise:
[0078] Step 6b: the other ends of the estimated faulted area are
the most downstream PMD/loads downstream of the Start PMD where
there is no path with Energized or Close_Hot PMD in between. Middle
PMDs are all PMDs exclusively between Start PMD and End PMDs.
Downstream to Upstream Evaluation
[0079] In some embodiments, the Downstream to Upstream Evaluation
(at 256) of the state machine 250 may include the following
steps.
[0080] Step 1: Condition estimation (at 252) is executed for the
latest online data. See the Condition Estimator section in this
present disclosure for further detail.
[0081] Step 2: A List of all outaged customers (PMDs) relevant to
the faulted feeder since fault has been detected is created.
[0082] Step 3: For each customer in the list created in Step 2, if
the immediate PMD parent has a condition of Open in any form, Add
the PMD parent to the list of candidate PMDs. Further, the customer
may be removed from the outaged customer list.
[0083] Step 4: If the outaged customer list is not empty, find the
most common interruptible PMD parent of all the outaged customers
in the list within the faulted feeder. If found, this PMD is added
to the list of candidate PMDs.
[0084] Step 5: If no common interruptible PMD parent found in the
previous step, all outaged customers are added to the list of
candidate PMDs.
[0085] Step 6: For each candidate PMD found from the previous Step
5, a faulted area is created starting from each PMD. Then, for each
estimated faulted area, the other ends (boundary) are determined as
in the following steps.
[0086] Step 6a: If start PMD is Open, or it is reclosable and at
least reclosed once, or it is sectionalizer, the other ends of
estimated faulted area are the interruptible PMD children of the
start PMD. Otherwise:
[0087] Step 6b: the other ends of the estimated faulted area are
the most downstream PMD/loads downstream of the Start PMD.
Merge Estimated Faulted Areas
[0088] As shown in FIG. 2, estimated faulted areas found using
Upstream to Downstream (at 254) and Downstream to Upstream (at 256)
evaluations may be merged (at 258) to estimate a faulted area. The
following steps may be performed at merging 258.
[0089] Step 1: First, faulted areas from both evaluations are
combined.
[0090] Step 2: Among combined faulted areas with the same Start
PMD, keep the first location and remove the rest.
[0091] Step 3: Check all faulted areas. If Start and Ends of a
faulted area (Area A) is within the Middles and Ends of another
faulted area (Area B), remove Area A. In other words, since Area A
is a subset of Area B, the process picks Area B, which is more
comprehensive.
[0092] It should be noted that the present disclosure is not
limited to single feeder but covers a large distribution system
with multiple feeders. The feeder connectivity is not static and
can change dynamically during day-to-day operation. This is
advantageous over existing solutions that are based on a single
feeder with static configuration. The present disclosure may
advantageously utilize all possible online data from: protective
devices, fault indicators, meters, customer calls along with model
data especially high level behavior of protective devices to
achieve a more precise location.
[0093] In some embodiments, due to the advantageous use of a
condition estimator, there is no stringent requirement on the
communication system and measurement synchronization and time
stamping accuracy.
[0094] It should also be noted that the present disclosure may
handle multiple faults within a distribution feeder with a
reasonable practical time intervals among them assuming that all
old faults are confirmed within the faulted feeder.
[0095] In some embodiments, the present disclosure may handle
single phase and three phase systems.
Condition Estimator
[0096] Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary high-level diagram of a
condition estimator 300 is illustrated. Condition estimation of
electric distribution devices, especially unmetered protective
devices, is essential to perform fault management applications such
as faulted area estimation and accurate fault location. As stated
above, "Condition" is used in the present disclosure as an extended
status of a PMD which holds any value within the condition range
i.e., Energized, Close-Hot, Close, Close-Dead, Open_Hot, Open,
Open_Dead, Unknown. The condition estimator takes full benefit of
measured data within distribution system to enhance the visibility
of the system for the application of fault management system while
it minimizes the amount of data required to be transferred through
communication system.
[0097] Generally, inputs to the system of the present disclosure as
described above include online condition data of the observant
devices, crew feedback, as well as offline data including network
connectivity data and high level operational behavior of protective
devices such as observability, fault interruptability and switching
capability. Condition can be determined at the location of
protective or metering devices and inputted to the condition
estimator while raw data such as switching status of circuit
breaker, terminal voltage or through current can be provided to
condition estimator where the input condition is determined at the
estimator location. In various embodiments, input data are provided
with a time stamp. In some embodiments, synchronization precision
requirements may not be stringent for the application of fault
management system. Outputs from the system may include estimated
conditions of unobservant devices as well as observant devices with
older time stamp.
[0098] The condition estimator 300 may include an iterative
technique that examines several electrical rules for each PMD
within a distribution feeder as compared to its neighboring
devices. In some embodiments, the estimator 300 may consider the
last measurement for each data, type of protective device and
network connectivity information to estimate (1) Condition of
unobservant devices, and (2) Condition of observant devices with
older time stamps.
[0099] The condition estimator may be applicable to distribution
feeders that are operated radially. Nevertheless, the feeder can
have various types of distributed energy resources integrated as
far as islanded operation is not allowed. In applications where
each radial circuit is fed through a ring (looped) circuit, the
present disclosure can be still applied to the radial portion. It
should be noted that the present disclosure can be applied to
single or multiphase system.
[0100] The condition estimator 300 may receive offline input data
310 and online input data 320 and output estimated conditions
390.
Condition Estimator Input Data
Condition Estimator Offline Input Data
[0101] In some embodiments, offline input data 310 for the
condition estimator 300 may include PMD Data: This may include a
list of PMDs such as circuit breakers, reclosers, fuses,
distribution transformer meters, fault indicators, smart meters and
etc. In addition, it may hold high level characteristics of
protective devices including normal operation status (Open/Close),
observability (if condition is available directly/indirectly, it is
observable), Type: (non-interrupter, fault interrupter, switch,
sectionalizer, double-throw switch or load). If load or a
combination of loads is not metered, a virtual non-observable PMD
(Type Load) is considered to represent load condition in the
invented Condition Estimator.
[0102] In some embodiments, offline input data 310 for the
condition estimator 300 may also include Connectivity Data: This
data may include sufficient information of a distribution feeder in
any form to define distribution buses or nodes especially those
that are connected to PMDs, branches between two nodes and shunt
elements such as loads. In some embodiments, for the sake of
simplicity, de-energized or out of service elements may not be part
of the connectivity data. This means that, connectivity data should
represent the feeder before fault occurrence. However, it may be
possible to include them and enhance the invented condition
estimator logic to account for such elements.
Condition Estimator Online Input Data
Condition
[0103] In some embodiments, online input data 320 for the condition
estimator 300 may include condition for any observable PMD along
with time stamp of the last measurement. Possible conditions may be
{Energized, Close_Hot, Close, Close_Dead, Open_Hot, Open,
Open_Dead, and Unknown} as defined below.
[0104] Energized:
[0105] PMD carries current/power above a minimum current threshold.
This threshold may be set properly to ensure that some level of
load is carried out through the PMD. For instance, this threshold
can be set to 5% of the rated current at the point of
measurement.
[0106] Close_Hot:
[0107] PMD is closed and is hot (has voltage), i.e., the voltage is
more than a minimum voltage threshold. For instance, this threshold
can be set to 5% of the rated voltage at the point of
measurement.
[0108] Close:
[0109] PMD is closed but there is no data available regarding
voltage or current amount due to lack of sensory, or the current
value is not high enough to make any judgment. It is important to
note that the condition of uninterruptable PMDs should be one of
the above e.g., Energized, Close_Hot or Close. In addition, the
normal operating condition of uninterruptable PMDs is set to
Close.
[0110] Close_Dead:
[0111] PMD is closed but voltage is less than a minimum voltage
threshold.
[0112] Open_Hot:
[0113] PMD is open and its upstream terminal is hot (has voltage).
Upstream terminal is the terminal that is towards the feeder
circuit breaker. In case of normally open Tie PMDs, PMD is hot if
any of both terminals are hot. Tie PMD is a protective metered or
unmetered device that connects two electric distribution feeders
together.
[0114] Open:
[0115] PMD is open but there is no data available regarding voltage
amount due to the lack of sensory or the voltage value is not high
enough to make any judgment.
[0116] Open_Dead:
[0117] PMD is open and voltage is less than a minimum voltage
threshold.
[0118] Unknown:
[0119] PMD is not observable or condition estimation is not
possible temporarily.
[0120] It should be noted that if a PMD condition is Energized, it
is at the same time Close_Hot or Close. The Condition estimated is
a guaranteed state based on the available data.
[0121] In the case of single-phase tripping or when not all three
phases are impacted due to fault clearance, only impacted phases
may be employed to estimate condition. In addition, the condition
definition can be extended for more than two terminal devices such
as double-throw switch.
Crew_Feedback
[0122] In some embodiments, online input data 320 for the condition
estimator 300 may also include condition for unobservable PMDs
provided by crew in the field along with reporting time stamp. For
any PMD, the online condition may be the most recent data between
metered Condition and Crew_Feedback based on their time stamps.
Condition Estimator Output Data
[0123] Generally, output data of the condition estimator 300
include estimated conditions 390 for all PMDs. For an observable
PMD with data belong to older time stamp, the condition estimator
300 may estimate a corrected condition using neighboring PMDs data
with newer time stamp if possible. Condition is defined as
above.
[0124] The estimated conditions 390 may include time stamps.
Parent and Child Tables Determination
[0125] In some embodiments, parent and child PMD tables 330 may be
determined, or created, for use by the condition estimator 300. The
term Child refers to downstream PMDs while the term Parent refers
to upstream PMD. It is important to note here that the use of
parent and child PMD tables may be optional. Connectivity data can
be utilized in any form to determine upstream/downstream
(parent/child) PMDs. As shown in FIG. 3, only offline data 310 may
be required to build tables 330. In the process of condition
estimation, tables 330 are generated once and used in execution as
far as the feeder connectivity data has not changed. Utilizing PMD
child and parent tables, grand child or grandparent PMDs can be
also identified and utilized.
Child Table
[0126] The network connectivity data may be analyzed starting from
the feeder circuit breaker. For each PMD, the immediate downstream
PMD(s) may be determined. These PMD(s) may be recorded in the PMD
child table, as part of tables 330. The entire network is analyzed
until all PMDs are analyzed. Using this child table, it is possible
to simply determine child PMDs for any PMD.
Parent Table
[0127] In an aspect, a parent table may be derived from the child
table. Analyze the entire PMD child list. For each child PMD,
record upstream or parent PMD in the PMD parent table, as part of
tables 330. The feeder CB (PMD) does not have any parent. Using
this parent table, it is possible to simply determine parent PMD(s)
for any PMD. In typical radial distribution system, most PMDs have
only one parent PMD while Tied PMDs which are normally open have
two parents.
Condition Estimation
[0128] The condition estimation may start at 340. At each execution
of the condition estimator 300, if parent and child tables are
available, the process of estimation may start by initializing PMD
conditions, at 342.
[0129] Initialization:
[0130] At 342, all observable PMD conditions may be initialized
with latest online data including condition and time stamp. All
unobservable PMD conditions may be initialized with either (1)
normal operating status in case of first time initialization, or
(2) latest condition estimated in the last time step. For any PMD
(type=load), initial condition may be set to Unknown in case of
first time initialization, otherwise latest estimated condition may
be used. For any PMD, if Crew_Feedback is available and has the
newer time stamp than the time stamp of last measured condition,
PMD condition and time stamp would be initialized with
Crew_Feedback and its time stamp, respectively.
[0131] Apply Parent and Child PMD Rules:
[0132] At each iteration 344 of condition estimation, parent and
child rules, as defined below and in FIGS. 4A-4B and 5A-5B, may be
applied. Both child and parent tables may be used for the judgment
processes described in the following sections. Having two tables
make it advantageously faster to find each PMD's children or
parents. For each set of parent-children, first the child with (1)
one parent, (2) newest time stamp, (3) Condition within {Energized,
Close_Hot, Close_Dead, Open_Hot or Open_Dead} and finally (4)
lowest condition may be found. Based on these criteria, if more
than one child is found, anyone can be selected. For each
parent-children set, this child is defined as the Ruling Child. If
the Ruling Child has a newer time stamp than parent, parent
judgment rules will be applied as followings. It is important to
note here that Parent Judgment cannot be applied in case of
Multi-Parent case. In case of distribution feeders that are
operated radially, each PMD will have only one parent.
Parent Judgment Rules
[0133] The condition estimator 300 may apply parent judgment rules
to update the condition of a parent PMD based on the condition of
its Ruling Child. FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an exemplary process
400 of applying parent judgment rules. In some embodiments, the
following Rules may be applied.
[0134] Rule 1. Major judgment is possible only if Ruling Child is
found. Otherwise, minor judgment may be applicable as defined in
Rule 6 below. A major judgment means when the condition of a child
may considerably dictate its parent's condition. In contrast, a
minor judgment means when the condition of a child may not
considerably change or dictate its parent's condition.
[0135] Rule 2. Major Judgment is possible only if Ruling Child has
a newer time stamp than its parent. Otherwise, minor judgment may
be applicable as defined in Rule 8 below.
[0136] Rule 3. If Ruling Child is Energized, set Parent to
Energized.
[0137] Rule 4. If Ruling Child is Close_Hot or Open_Hot, set Parent
to Close_Hot.
[0138] Rule 5. If Ruing Child is Open_Dead or Close_Dead, if Parent
is uninterruptible, set Parent to Close_Dead, otherwise if Parent
is interruptible and has at least one Grandparent with Energized or
Close_Hot condition, set parent condition to Open_Hot; otherwise
set parent to Unknown.
[0139] Rule 6. In the case of no Ruling Child PMD, among all Child
PMDs with Unknown status excluding load PMDs, find the child PMD
with latest time stamp. If the child has a newer time stamp than
its parent, if parent is interruptible, set Parent condition to
Unknown, otherwise set to Close.
[0140] Rule 7. When any of Rules 3, 4, 5 or 6 is applied, update
Parent time stamp with Child time stamp.
[0141] Rule 8. If Child and Parent time stamps are equal and parent
is not metered while child condition is energized, set parent
condition to Energized.
Child Judgment Rules
[0142] For each parent-children set, child rules as defined below
may be applied after parent rules have been applied. The condition
estimator 300 may apply child judgment rules to update the
condition of a child PMD based on the condition of its parent PMD.
FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate an exemplary process 500 of applying
child judgment rules. In some embodiments, the following Rules may
be applied.
[0143] Rule 9. Judgment is possible only if parent has an equal or
newer time stamp than its child. The equal condition will make the
parent dominant in case of parent-child conflict. It is possible to
make child dominant as well. However, in distribution system, it is
expected to have better and more reliable measurement and data
communication for Parent PMD as compared to Child PMDs.
[0144] Rule 10. If parent's Condition is Energized and parent PMD
has only one child and its condition is not Open of any form i.e.,
{Open_Hot, Open, Open_Dead}, the child's Condition may be set to
"Energized" and its time stamp may be updated with its parent time
stamp.
[0145] Rule 11. If parent is Energized and has more than one child
or it is Close_Hot, promote each child's condition to Hot. If child
is interruptible do not update the time stamp and skip the rest of
this rule. Otherwise, update child's time stamp with parent's time
stamp, further, if child's condition is Energized and parent's time
stamp is not equal to child's time stamp, set child's condition to
Close_Hot. Condition Promotion to Hot is defined as conversion of
{Close, Close_Dead} to Close_Hot and {Open, Open_Dead} to Open_Hot.
It should be noted that if a PMD condition is Energized, it is at
the same time Close_Hot or Close. The Condition estimated is a
guaranteed state based on the available data.
[0146] Rule 12. If parent has any condition within {Close_Dead,
Open_Hot, Open, Open_Dead}, and child has only one parent,
de-promote each child's condition to Dead. Then update its time
stamp with parent's time stamp. De-promotion to Dead is defined as
a conversion of any condition within {Energized, Close_Hot, Close}
to Close_Dead or {Open_Hot, Open} to Open_Dead.
Extensions
[0147] In some embodiments, additional conditions may be used. For
example, it may be possible to consider Close_Hot De-energized, Hot
or Dead conditions as part of the condition set and extend the
algorithm. However, in certain operations, it may be hard to
determine if a PMD is de-energized due to no load condition as
compared to fault clearance by downstream (child) protective
device(s) interruption. In addition, it may not be as practical to
have voltage measurement for a PMD while current measurement or
status is not available.
[0148] In addition, it may be possible to define Condition as a
two-dimensional status. For example, as shown in Table 1, dimension
1 is {Energized, Close, Open, Unknown}, and dimension 2 is {Hot,
Dead, Unknown}. In this definition, only the marked options in the
table will be available.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Two Dimension Condition Definition Energized
Close Open Unknown Hot x x x x Dead x x x Unknown x x x
Check Convergence
[0149] Referring again to FIG. 3, after applying parent and child
rules, at 344, at each iteration of condition estimation, the
present and previous estimated conditions of each PMD may be
compared. If there is no difference, convergence is achieved.
Otherwise, condition estimation for all PMDs may be repeated. In
some embodiments, there may be a limit on the maximum number of
iterations that can be performed. If the maximum number of
iterations is reached without convergence, the condition and time
stamp of all PMDs may reset to its original values.
[0150] Once convergence or maximum iteration is achieved, the
process of condition estimation 300 may stop at 348, and the
estimated conditions and time stamps may be available as outputs
390.
System Architecture
[0151] Turning to FIG. 6, a system diagram of an exemplary system
600 for faulted area estimation in an electric distribution system,
according to some embodiments of the disclosure, is illustrated.
System 600 may include a fault detection module 605, an upstream to
downstream evaluation module 615, a downstream to upstream
evaluation module 620, a condition estimator 610, database or
storage area 625, and communication module 630. System 600 may
reside on a computing system, a single server or may be
distributed. For example, one or more components (e.g., 605, 615,
620, 610, etc.) of system 600 may be distributed across various
locations throughout a network. Each component or module of system
600 may communicate with each other and with external entities via
communication module 630. Each component or module of system 600
may include its own sub-communication module to further facilitate
with intra and/or inter-system communication.
[0152] Fault detection module 605 determines if a new faulted area
estimation process is required or the fault indication belongs to
an existing faulted area estimation process. Upstream to downstream
evaluation module 615 assesses condition of each PMD, starting from
feeder circuit breaker towards feeder downstream based on its
behavior and the latest online data to estimate the tripped
protective device as well as the last metered device upstream of
the fault. Downstream to upstream evaluation module 620 assesses
the outaged electric loads/elements towards network upstream to
find the common interrupting protective device. Database or storage
area 625 may store various data (e.g., offline and online input
data), tables and condition outputs.
[0153] Condition estimator module 610 estimates condition of
un-observant (un-metered) protective devices as well as condition
of observant (metered) protective devices with old time stamps. The
parent and child table determination modules 611 create
parent-child tables for use by the condition estimator module 610.
The rules application modules 612 apply parent rules and child
rules to estimate conditions of parent and child PMDs.
[0154] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary overall system or apparatus
700 in which processes 300, 400, and 500 may be implemented. In
accordance with various aspects of the disclosure, an element, or
any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be
implemented with a processing system 714 that includes one or more
processing circuits 704. Processing circuits 704 may include
micro-processing circuits, microcontrollers, digital signal
processing circuits (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),
programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic,
discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured
to perform the various functionalities described throughout this
disclosure. That is, the processing circuit 704 may be used to
implement any one or more of the processes described above and
illustrated in FIGS. 2-5.
[0155] In the example of FIG. 7, the processing system 714 may be
implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the
bus 702. The bus 702 may include any number of interconnecting
buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the
processing system 714 and the overall design constraints. The bus
702 may link various circuits including one or more processing
circuits (represented generally by the processing circuit 704), the
storage device 705, and a machine-readable, processor-readable,
processing circuit-readable or computer-readable media (represented
generally by a non-transitory machine-readable medium 706). The bus
702 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources,
peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits,
which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be
described any further. The bus interface 708 may provide an
interface between bus 702 and a transceiver 710. The transceiver
710 may provide a means for communicating with various other
apparatus over a transmission medium. Depending upon the nature of
the apparatus, a user interface 712 (e.g., keypad, display,
speaker, microphone, touchscreen, motion sensor) may also be
provided.
[0156] The processing circuit 704 may be responsible for managing
the bus 702 and for general processing, including the execution of
software stored on the machine-readable medium 706. The software,
when executed by processing circuit 704, causes processing system
714 to perform the various functions described herein for any
particular apparatus. Machine-readable medium 706 may also be used
for storing data that is manipulated by processing circuit 704 when
executing software.
[0157] One or more processing circuits 704 in the processing system
may execute software or software components. Software shall be
construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code,
code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software
modules, applications, software applications, software packages,
routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution,
procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software,
firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or
otherwise. A processing circuit may perform the tasks. A code
segment may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a
program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a
class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or
program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another code
segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving
information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory or storage
contents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be
passed, forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including
memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network
transmission, etc.
[0158] The software may reside on machine-readable medium 706. The
machine-readable medium 706 may be a non-transitory
machine-readable medium. A non-transitory processing
circuit-readable, machine-readable or computer-readable medium
includes, by way of example, a magnetic storage device (e.g., solid
state drive, hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strip), an optical
disk (e.g., digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-Ray disc), a smart
card, a flash memory device (e.g., a card, a stick, or a key
drive), RAM, ROM, a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM
(EPROM), an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), a register, a
removable disk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM and any other suitable medium
for storing software and/or instructions that may be accessed and
read by a machine or computer. The terms "machine-readable medium",
"computer-readable medium", "processing circuit-readable medium"
and/or "processor-readable medium" may include, but are not limited
to, non-transitory media such as portable or fixed storage devices,
optical storage devices, and various other media capable of
storing, containing or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. Thus,
the various methods described herein may be fully or partially
implemented by instructions and/or data that may be stored in a
"machine-readable medium," "computer-readable medium," "processing
circuit-readable medium" and/or "processor-readable medium" and
executed by one or more processing circuits, machines and/or
devices. The machine-readable medium may also include, by way of
example, a carrier wave, a transmission line, and any other
suitable medium for transmitting software and/or instructions that
may be accessed and read by a computer.
[0159] The machine-readable medium 706 may reside in the processing
system 714, external to the processing system 714, or distributed
across multiple entities including the processing system 714. The
machine-readable medium 706 may be embodied in a computer program
product. By way of example, a computer program product may include
a machine-readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in
the art will recognize how best to implement the described
functionality presented throughout this disclosure depending on the
particular application and the overall design constraints imposed
on the overall system.
[0160] As used herein and in the appended claims, the singular
forms "a", "an", and "the" include plural referents unless the
context clearly dictates otherwise.
[0161] In the foregoing description and in the figures, like
elements are identified with like reference numerals. The use of
"e.g.," "etc," and "or" indicates non-exclusive alternatives
without limitation, unless otherwise noted. The use of "including"
or "include" means "including, but not limited to," or "include,
but not limited to," unless otherwise noted.
[0162] As used herein, the term "and/or" placed between a first
entity and a second entity means one of (1) the first entity, (2)
the second entity, and (3) the first entity and the second entity.
Multiple entities listed with "and/or" should be construed in the
same manner, i.e., "one or more" of the entities so conjoined.
Other entities may optionally be present other than the entities
specifically identified by the "and/or" clause, whether related or
unrelated to those entities specifically identified. Thus, as a
non-limiting example, a reference to "A and/or B", when used in
conjunction with open-ended language such as "comprising" can
refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including entities
other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally
including entities other than A); in yet another embodiment, to
both A and B (optionally including other entities). These entities
may refer to elements, actions, structures, steps, operations,
values, and the like.
[0163] The enablements described above are considered novel over
the prior art and are considered critical to the operation of at
least one aspect of the invention and to the achievement of the
above described objectives. The words used in this specification to
describe the instant embodiments are to be understood not only in
the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by
special definition in this specification: structure, material or
acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an
element can be understood in the context of this specification as
including more than one meaning, then its use must be understood as
being generic to all possible meanings supported by the
specification and by the word or words describing the element.
[0164] It should be noted that all features, elements, components,
functions, and steps described with respect to any embodiment
provided herein are intended to be freely combinable and
substitutable with those from any other embodiment. If a certain
feature, element, component, function, or step is described with
respect to only one embodiment, then it should be understood that
that feature, element, component, function, or step can be used
with every other embodiment described herein unless explicitly
stated otherwise. This paragraph therefore serves as antecedent
basis and written support for the introduction of claims, at any
time, that combine features, elements, components, functions, and
steps from different embodiments, or that substitute features,
elements, components, functions, and steps from one embodiment with
those of another, even if the following description does not
explicitly state, in a particular instance, that such combinations
or substitutions are possible. It is explicitly acknowledged that
express recitation of every possible combination and substitution
is overly burdensome, especially given that the permissibility of
each and every such combination and substitution will be readily
recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art.
[0165] In many instances entities are described herein as being
coupled to other entities. It should be understood that the terms
"coupled" and "connected" (or any of their forms) are used
interchangeably herein and, in both cases, are generic to the
direct coupling of two entities (without any non-negligible (e.g.,
parasitic) intervening entities) and the indirect coupling of two
entities (with one or more non-negligible intervening entities).
Where entities are shown as being directly coupled together, or
described as coupled together without description of any
intervening entity, it should be understood that those entities can
be indirectly coupled together as well unless the context clearly
dictates otherwise. The definitions of the words or drawing
elements described herein are meant to include not only the
combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all
equivalent structure, material or acts for performing substantially
the same function in substantially the same way to obtain
substantially the same result. In this sense it is therefore
contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more
elements may be made for any one of the elements described and its
various embodiments or that a single element may be substituted for
two or more elements in a claim.
[0166] Changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a
person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised,
are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope
intended and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious
substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the
art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements.
This disclosure is thus meant to be understood to include what is
specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually
equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what
incorporates the essential ideas.
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