The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 14, 2014
Filed:
Mar. 25, 2010
Christopher K. Fleck, St. Louis, MO (US);
Christopher K. Fleck, St. Louis, MO (US);
Aclara Technologies LLC, St. Louis, MO (US);
Abstract
A demand response unit (DRU) interposed between a utility's electrical power line (PL) and at least one load (L-Ln) to which power is supplied by the utility over the line. A detector (Fdet or Vdet) measures a characteristic (frequency F, voltage V) of an electrical waveform (W) by which power is transmitted by the utility to the load. The detector determines both when the measured frequency or voltage exceeds a predetermined threshold for a first predetermined period of time; and, if the threshold is exceeded, when the frequency or voltage exceeds the second predetermined threshold for a second predetermined period of time. For this purpose, the detector processes a predetermined number of intervals of the waveform and produces an average value of the characteristic which is compared to the threshold. This is done to reduce the effect of extraneous events which may temporarily change the value of the frequency or voltage. A power control (PC) is responsive to an output from the detector to, at least, partially interrupt flow of power to the load during the period of time when the measured frequency or voltage exceeds the threshold, thereby to reduce the load on the utility.