Electricity management using modulated waveforms
This document relates to electricity management using modulated waveforms. One example modulates electricity to obtain modulated electricity having at least two different alternating current frequencies including a first alternating current frequency and a second alternating current frequency. The example delivers the modulated electrical power having the at least two different alternating current frequencies to multiple different electrical devices, including a first electrical device configured to utilize the first alternating current frequency and a second electrical device configured to utilize the second alternating current frequency. The modulated electricity can be delivered at least partly over an electrical line shared by the first electrical device and the second electrical device.
1. A method comprising:
authorizing time slices for drawing electrical power from an electrical grid;
instructing electrical devices downstream of a local transformer on the electrical grid to draw electrical power during the authorized time slices;
determining an expected cumulative power consumption pattern of the electrical devices over multiple time slices;
analyzing a measured cumulative power consumption pattern by the electrical devices over the multiple time slices;
identifying a particular time slice during which unauthorized power has been drawn based at least on an indication that the measured cumulative power consumption pattern does not match the expected cumulative power consumption pattern; and
identifying a particular electrical device that has drawn power during the particular time slice without authorization.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each time slice is of equal duration.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining the expected cumulative power consumption based at least on two or more other electrical devices that are instructed to draw power during the particular time slice.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
selecting the authorized time slices for individual electrical devices according to a coding scheme where different electrical devices are assigned different authorized time slices according to different orthogonal codes,
wherein the identifying the particular electrical device that has drawn power during the particular time slice without authorization comprises employing correlation analysis based at least on the coding scheme.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electrical devices comprise switches and the particular electrical device is a particular switch that is closed without authorization during the particular time slice.
6. A system comprising:
a sensing mechanism configured to sense cumulative power consumption by a plurality of electrical devices that are downstream of a local transformer on an electrical grid;
a processor; and
memory or storage resources storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
instruct individual electrical devices to draw electrical power during authorized time slices;
determine an expected cumulative power consumption pattern of the individual electrical devices over multiple time slices;
perform analysis of a measured cumulative power consumption pattern, sensed by the sensing mechanism, over the multiple time slices by the plurality of electrical devices;
identify a particular time slice during which unauthorized power has been drawn based at least on an indication that the measured cumulative power consumption pattern does not match the expected cumulative power consumption pattern; and
identify a particular electrical device that has drawn power during the particular time slice without authorization.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the electrical devices comprise switches and the particular electrical device comprises a particular switch.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
select different authorized time slices for individual switches according to different orthogonal codes.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
perform correlation analysis of the measured cumulative power consumption pattern relative to the expected cumulative power consumption pattern based at least on the different orthogonal codes to identify the particular switch that has drawn power during the particular time slice without authorization.
10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the sensing mechanism is downstream of the local transformer.
11. The system of claim 6 , wherein the sensing mechanism is located at a substation on the electrical grid.
12. The system of claim 6 , wherein the sensing mechanism is located at a power generation facility.
13. The system of claim 6 , wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
detect unstable grid conditions on the electrical grid; and
responsive to detecting the unstable grid conditions, reduce a number of time slices authorized for lower-priority electrical devices.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein each time slice is of equal duration and the expected cumulative power consumption varies over time based at least on expected power draw by the electric devices during the time slices of equal duration.
15. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
authorizing time slices for drawing electrical power from an electrical grid;
instructing electrical devices downstream of a local transformer on the electrical grid to draw electrical power during the authorized time slices;
determining an expected cumulative power consumption pattern of the electrical devices over multiple time slices;
analyzing a measured cumulative power consumption pattern by the electrical devices over the multiple time slices;
identifying a particular time slice during which unauthorized power has been drawn based at least on an indication that the measured cumulative power consumption pattern does not match the expected cumulative power consumption pattern; and
identifying a particular electrical device that has drawn power during the particular time slice without authorization.
16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein instructing the electrical devices comprises:
employing power line communication to send instructions over one or more electrical lines to the electrical devices.
17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein instructing the electrical devices comprises:
sending instructions over one or more computer networks to the electrical devices.
18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , the acts further comprising:
detecting a change to grid conditions on the electrical grid; and
responsive to detecting the change to the grid conditions, adjusting a number of time slices authorized for at least one of the electrical devices.
19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein determining the expected cumulative power consumption pattern comprises:
summing respective expected power draw patterns of the electrical devices, the respective expected power draw patterns being based on the authorized time slices.
20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the electrical devices comprise tamper-proof switches and the particular electrical device comprises a particular tamper-proof switch.