Real-time grid disturbance source locator for utility
This technology uses a network of sensors placed at scattered points across an electrical power grid to detect and pinpoint where a disturbance—such as a generator failure or sudden load drop—has occurred. Each sensor records the precise moment it detects a frequency change, and a central system analyzes the sequence and pattern of those detections across all sensors. By examining which sensors picked up the disturbance first and how the wave propagated outward, the system triangulates the geographic source of the event. The result is near-real-time situational awareness for grid operators about where a problem originated, without requiring complex physical modeling of the grid.
What you could build
A grid monitoring software-hardware platform that gives utility control room operators a live map showing the source location of frequency disturbances as they happen; primary buyers would be regional transmission organizations (RTOs), independent system operators (ISOs), and large investor-owned utilities.
Who in Virginia should care
Dominion Energy, the PJM Interconnection footprint, and defense installations with microgrid or critical power infrastructure in Virginia would have direct operational use for this capability.
Readiness: Prototype likely
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Robert Matthew Gardner, Zhian Zhong, Yilu Liu
- Granted
- July 27, 2010
- Status
- Granted patent
- Patent number
- 7765034
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.