Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method for predicting flashover of an electrical generator collector, the method comprising:buffering measured data corresponding to a plurality of measured variables measured at multiple discrete time instances over a determined time period to generate a frame of measured data using a generator monitoring unit, an exciter and control unit, or both the generator monitoring unit and the exciter and control unit;receiving the frame of measured data using a receiver module;fitting a statistical model to the frame of measured data by dividing the frame of measured data into a plurality of time windows and determining one or more coefficients of the statistical model using the measured data for each of the plurality of time windows using a statistics module;estimating one or more parameters for the frame based upon the measured data and the statistical model, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of field circuit impedance and field current noise using an estimation module; andpredicting a flashover condition of the electrical generator collector based, at least in part, upon the one or more estimated parameters for the frame using a flashover prediction module. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of measured variables comprises two or more of field voltage, field current, field power dissipation, ozone concentration, visible and UV light emission, and audible noise. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the one or more parameters comprises:computing for each discrete time instance a predicted value for one measured variable of the plurality of measured variables using the statistical model and at least one other measured variable of the plurality of measured variables; andcomputing a difference between the predicted value and a corresponding measured value of the one measured variable for each discrete time instance. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the statistical model comprises a linear regression model. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting the flashover condition comprises:comparing the one or more estimated parameters with a predefined threshold;determining one or more of:a density count denoting a number of occurrences of the one or more estimated parameters exceeding the predefined threshold in the frame;an occurrence interval between successive occurrences of the one or more estimated parameters exceeding the predefined threshold; andgenerating an indication of the flashover condition based on at least one of the density count and the occurrence interval. 6. A system for predicting flashover of an electrical generator collector, the system comprising:a receiver module for receiving a frame of measured data corresponding to a plurality of measured variables, wherein the frame of measured data comprises buffered measured data corresponding to the plurality of measured variables measured at multiple discrete time instances over a determined time period;a statistics module for fitting a statistical model to the frame of measured data by dividing the frame of measured data into a plurality of time windows and determining one or more coefficients of the statistical model using the measured data for each of the plurality of time windows;an estimation module for estimating one or more parameters for the frame based upon the measured data and the statistical model, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of field circuit impedance and field current noise; anda flashover prediction module for predicting a flashover condition of the electrical generator collector based, at least in part, upon the one or more estimated parameter for the frame. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of measured variables comprises two or more of field voltage, field current, field power dissipation, ozone concentration, visible and UV light emission, and audible noise. 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the statistical model comprises a linear regression model. 9. A computer program product, comprising:a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions for predicting collector flashover, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause one or more processors to:buffer measured data corresponding to a plurality of measured variables measured at multiple discrete time instances over a determined time period to generate a frame of measured data;receive the frame of measured data;fit a statistical model to the frame of measured data by dividing the frame of measured data into a plurality of time windows and determining one or more coefficients of the statistical model using the measured data for each of the plurality of time windows;estimate one or more parameters for the frame based upon the measured data and the statistical model, wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of field circuit impedance and field current noise; andpredict a flashover condition based, at least in part, upon the one or more estimated parameters for the frame. 10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the plurality of measured variables comprises two or more of field voltage, field current, field power dissipation, ozone concentration, visible and UV light emission, and audible noise. 11. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to:compute for each time discrete instance a predicted value for one measured variable of the plurality of measured variables using the statistical model and at least one other measured variable of the plurality of measured variables; andcompute a difference between the predicted value and a corresponding measured value of the one measured variable for each discrete time instance. 12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer executable instructions to cause the one or more processors to:compare the one or more estimated parameters with a predefined threshold;determine one or more of:a density count denoting a number of occurrences of the one or more estimated parameters exceeding the predefined threshold in the frame;an occurrence interval between successive occurrences of the one or more estimated parameters exceeding the predefined threshold; andgenerate an indication of the flashover condition based on at least one of the density count and the occurrence interval.