Patent ID: 7759913

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling operation of a voltage regulator via a tap position change, the voltage regulator operatively coupled to a single-phase of a three-phase power system to regulate a measured voltage of the single-phase to an in-band area for delivery to a load, the apparatus comprising: a means for deriving a digitized voltage stream representative of the measured voltage of the single-phase; and a microcontroller operatively coupled to the means for deriving the digitized voltage stream, the microcontroller having a microprocessor and a memory operatively coupled to the microprocessor, the microcontroller being programmed to: start a countdown time period upon detecting a first excursion of the measured voltage from the in-band area to an out-of-band area, periodically sample and store the digitized voltage stream as a plurality of measured voltage samples, upon expiration of the countdown time period, calculate an averaged measured voltage value based on the plurality of measured voltage samples, and upon expiration of the countdown time period, compare the averaged measured voltage value to a first threshold voltage value, the comparison of the averaged measured voltage value to the first threshold voltage value determinative of whether the tap position change of the voltage regulator is needed.