A driver device, a method for monitoring a driver device, and a power supply device are disclosed. The driver device includes a controller and a driver module. The driver module includes a voltage divider loop and a plurality of drivers. The voltage divider loop includes a pull-down resistor and one or more corresponding resistors connected to each of the plurality of drivers, where the pull-down resistor and the one or more corresponding resistors are coupled to a power supply via a first node, and the first node is coupled to the controller.

A power converter includes a power conversion controller configured to determine whether or not an output terminal is misconnected to a system power supply based on a current between a power converter and the output terminal and a voltage between the power converter and the output terminal, and to perform a control to stop power conversion in the power converter when determining that the output terminal is misconnected to the system power supply.

An input power monitoring circuit includes a rectifier circuit, a divided voltage generator circuit, a divided voltage comparator circuit, a switching circuit, and a computing device. The divided voltage comparator circuit is configured in such a manner that polarity of an output signal that is outputted from a first comparator upon a first rectified divided voltage exceeding a first comparison voltage is opposite to polarity of an output signal that is outputted from a second comparator upon a second rectified divided voltage exceeding a second comparison voltage. Output terminals of the first and second comparators are connected to each other. A connection point between the output terminals of the first and second comparators is connected to an input terminal of the switching circuit. The computing device measures frequency of a pulse signal outputted from the switching circuit, and determines the voltage state of input power based on the measured frequency.

Systems, methods and apparatus for electric power grid management and communications are disclosed. At least one active grid element is constructed and configured in network-based communication with a server via at least one coordinator. The at least one active grid element communicates Internet Protocol (IP)-based messages with the server via the at least one coordinator in real time or less than 15 minutes interval. The at least one active grid element participates actively in an electric power grid. The at least one active grid element has an energy consumption pattern or an energy supply pattern. The IP-based messages comprise at least one IP packet including a content, a priority, a security, and a transport route. The content comprises an amount of power available for the electric power grid or an amount of curtailment power available at an attachment point of the at least one grid element.

Described herein are methods and systems for estimating an originating location of a power quality event in an electrical grid. Each of a plurality of sensor devices connected to the electrical grid detects an input signal generated by electrical activity on the electrical grid, generates an output signal based upon the detected input signal, and transmits power quality data to a computing device via a communications network, where the power quality data is based upon the output signal. The computing device is configured to analyze the power quality data from at least a subset of the sensor devices to determine a power quality event occurring in the electrical grid, estimate an originating location of the power quality event based upon the power quality data, and transmit a notification to one or more remote computing devices based upon the estimated originating location of the power quality event.

Methods and devices are provide for determining a failure in a potential transformer and identifying a phase of the potential transformer exhibiting failure. The failures may be incipient failures. Detecting the failure may include determining voltage magnitudes and angles; determining phase-errors; determining phase-phase errors; and determining an uncorrelated phase using the phase-phase errors. The devices and methods may provide an alarm or indication of the phase exhibiting the potential transformer failures. Post processing may be performed to optimize the time and amount of provided alarms or indications. The voltage angles and magnitudes may be provided by the potential transformers being monitored.

The system and method described herein provide grid-forming control of a power generating asset having a double-fed generator connected to a power grid. Accordingly, a stator-frequency error is determined for the generator. The components of the stator frequency error are identified as a torsional component corresponding to a drivetrain torsional vibration frequency and a stator component. Based on the stator component, a power output requirement for the generator is determined. This power output requirement is combined with the damping power command to develop a consolidated power requirement for the generator. Based on the consolidated power requirement, at least one control command for the generator is determined and an operating state of the generator is altered.

A ground-fault detecting device includes: a first detecting module, having a first input terminal, a second input terminal, and a third input terminal coupled to a first-phase electric power, a second-phase electric power, and a third-phase electric power on an AC side of a photovoltaic power generating system respectively, for sampling voltages of the first-phase electric power, the second-phase electric power, and the third-phase electric power to generate a first sampled voltage, a second sampled voltage, and a third sampled voltage respectively; and a controller, coupled to the first detecting module, for determining if a ground-fault occurs in the AC side before the photovoltaic power generating system is connected to a grid according to the first sampled voltage, the second sampled voltage, and the third sampled voltage; wherein the controller generates an alarm signal when the ground-fault occurs in the AC side.

Techniques for controlling a power distribution network are provided. An electronic processor receives, a fault indication associated with a fault from a first isolation device of a plurality of isolation devices. The processor identifies a first subset of a plurality of phases associated with the fault indication and a second subset of the plurality of phases not associated with the fault indication. The processor identifies a downstream isolation device downstream of the fault. The processor sends send a first open command to the downstream isolation device for each phase in the first subset. The processor sends a close command to a tie-in isolation device for each of the plurality of phases. The processor sends a second open command to the downstream isolation device for each phase in the second subset. Responsive to identifying a potential loop configuration, the processor sends the second open command prior to the close command.

A method for operating a converter-based grid unit disposed electrically within an AC voltage section or adjacently to an AC voltage section of an electrical grid and electrically connected to the AC voltage section, includes using a control device to adjust infeed and drawing of active power and/or reactive power into and from the AC voltage section by actuating at least one converter of the converter-based grid unit. A multiplicity of measurement values is transmitted to the control device. The measurement values at least relate to different measurement variables and/or measurement locations within the AC voltage section or the converter-based grid unit. The control device selects a measurement value group from the multiplicity of available measurement values by selecting in accordance with a predefined selection guideline, and the at least one converter is actuated based on measurement values of the selected measurement value group.