Multi-phase simulation environment
A Multi-Phase Simulation Environment (“MPSE”) is provided which simulates the conductor current and voltage or electric field of multiple phases of an electrical power distribution network to one or more sensing or measuring devices and includes independent control of wireless network connectivity for each sensing or measuring device, independent control of GPS RF to each device, and interface to a back-end analytics and management system.
1. A method for simulating and measuring electrical characteristics of a power grid network, comprising the steps of:
generating a sync waveform from a master waveform generator to one or more slave waveform generators to provide a phase locked loop reference between the master waveform generator and the one or more slave waveform generators;
generating a trigger signal from the master waveform generator to the one or more slave waveform generators to initiate a first event waveform of a waveform playlist;
delivering the first event waveform of the waveform playlist from the master waveform generator and the one or more slave waveform generators to one or more devices under test;
measuring electrical characteristics of the first event waveform with the one or more devices under test;
generating a trigger signal from the master waveform generator to the one or more slave waveform generators to initiate a subsequent event waveform of the waveform playlist;
delivering the subsequent event waveform of the waveform playlist from the master waveform generator and the one or more slave waveform generators to the one or more devices under test; and
measuring electrical characteristics of the subsequent event waveform with the one or more devices under test.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising measuring electrical characteristics of the first event waveform and the subsequent event waveform with an oscilloscope.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising comparing the electrical characteristics measured by the oscilloscope to the electrical characteristics measured by the one or more devices under test.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first event waveform comprises a simulated current signal and a simulated voltage signal.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measured electrical characteristics of the first event waveform comprise a simulated conductor current and an electric field signal.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sync waveform comprises a square wave shared among the master and slave waveform generators.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more devices under test comprise one or more power line monitoring sensors.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first event waveform comprises a background waveform that represents typical waveform characteristics of a normally operating power grid.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subsequent event waveform comprises an event waveform that represents a fault, disturbance, or power outage of a power grid.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first event waveform is delivered from the master waveform generator and the one or more slave waveform generators in the phase locked loop reference.
11. A power grid simulation system, comprising:
a first device under test configured to measure electrical characteristics on a first conductor;
a second device under test configured to measure electrical characteristics on a second conductor;
a master waveform generator electrically coupled to the first device under test, the master waveform generator being configured to apply a first simulated current and a first simulated voltage on the first conductor to the first device under test;
a slave waveform generator electrically coupled to the second device under test, the master waveform generator being configured to apply a second simulated current and a second simulated voltage on the second conductor to the second device under test;
wherein the master waveform generator is configured to generate a trigger signal from to the slave waveform generator to initiate a first event waveform and a subsequent event waveform of a waveform playlist; and
wherein the master waveform generator and the slave waveform generator are configured to deliver the first event waveform and the subsequent event waveform of the waveform playlist to the first and second devices under test in a phase locked loop.
12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising an oscilloscope configured to measure electrical characteristics of the first event waveform and the subsequent event waveform.
13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising a central processing unit configured to compare the electrical characteristics measured by the oscilloscope to the electrical characteristics measured by the first and second devices under test.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first event waveform comprises a simulated current signal and a simulated voltage signal.
15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the measured electrical characteristics of the first event waveform and the subsequent event waveform comprise a simulated conductor current and an electric field signal.
16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the master waveform generator is further configured to provide a sync waveform to keep the master waveform generator and the slave waveform generator in the phase locked loop.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein first and second devices under test comprise power line monitoring sensors.
18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first event waveform comprises a background waveform that represents typical waveform characteristics of a normally operating power grid.
19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the subsequent event waveform comprises an event waveform that represents a fault, disturbance, or power outage of a power grid.