PHASE DETECTION IN MESH NETWORK SMART GRID SYSTEM

摘要

A method, wireless network, and device are disclosed for determining the phase with which a device on an electrical distribution network is associated. At least one device on the electrical distribution network may be associated with a known phase out of multiple possible phases. This device may store the phase information in its memory. A control node may initiate a phase scan process to determine the relative phase of other devices with respect to the phase of the control node, including the device that has the known phase association. When the phase scan process encounters the device that has the known phase association, the control node may recognize the known phase and calculate the phase associations of the other devices in the electrical distribution network using delay information stored in the other devices.

主权项

1. In a wireless network having a control node that communicates with a plurality of communication nodes, wherein the wireless network includes a plurality of subsets of the communication nodes, each of the plurality of subsets being associated with a respective phase of a plurality of phases, each communication node having a wireless communication path to the control node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more other communication nodes that serve as repeaters, a method of operating at least a portion of the wireless network, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) transmitting, by the control node, a first phase detection message to a first communication node on a first wireless communication path, the first phase detection message indicating a time of occurrence of a first value within a first voltage cycle of the control node; (b) receiving, by the control node, a message indicating a first delay between the time of occurrence of the first value within the first voltage cycle and a time of occurrence of the first value within a second voltage cycle of the first communication node; (c) causing, by the control node, a second phase detection message to be transmitted from the first communication node to a second communication node on the first wireless communication path, the second phase detection message indicating the time of occurrence of the first value within the second voltage cycle; (d) receiving, by the control node, a message indicating a second delay between the time of occurrence of the first value within the second voltage cycle and a time of occurrence of the first value within a third voltage cycle of the second communication node; (e) repeating, by the control node, steps (c)-(d) with each successive communication node on the first wireless communication path, at least one communication node in the first wireless communication path having a phase that is known by the control node; and (f) determining, by the control node, the respective phases with which the communication nodes on the first wireless communication path are associated as a function of the known phase and the received delays.