OUTAGE PREVENTION IN AN ELECTRIC POWER DISTRIBUTION GRID USING SMART METER MESSAGING

摘要

A system and method is disclosed for using AMI smart meter messaging types and data mining decision trees to determine if local equipment failure is present. The system and method may be used to predict impending failure based upon smart meter message behaviors and to create proactive investigation tickets. The predictions models may be generated from a big database of smart meter messaging and customer outage reports. The system and method can be applied to detect failures of higher level device equipment and may be incorporated into customer service processes. The system and method may also be used to determine customer owned equipment failures for referral to electricians.

主权项

1. An electric power distribution system comprising:
an electric power distribution grid having a multiplicity of elements capable of becoming deficient; a multiplicity of smart meters coupling the electric power distribution grid and a corresponding multiplicity of premises, each smart meter measuring electric power consumed at each corresponding premises and generating a multiplicity of message types related thereto, the multiplicity of message types not including information specifying a deficient grid element; an automated meter infrastructure network coupled to the smart meters for communicating the messages from the smart meters; a message database coupled to the automated meter infrastructure network for receiving messages from the multiplicity of smart meters; an outage processor for receiving outage reports through a communication network different from the automated meter infrastructure network, each outage report associated with a failed deficient grid element; a model generator coupled to the message database for generating a multiplicity of models based upon the messages and the outage reports, each model identifying a defective grid element based upon a message behavior of a smart meter associated with the defective grid element, the message behavior including a plurality of messages of a plurality of message types received from the smart meter; a model selector for selecting a plurality of models from the multiplicity of models based upon a confidence factor; the message database for receiving additional messages after selection of the plurality of models; an outage predictor for processing the additional messages with the plurality of models to predict a likelihood of an outage at a suspect premise; and a ticket generator for generating a ticket enabling a repair crew to repair a deficient grid element associated with the suspect premises.