Patent ID: 8792217

Claim:
A system to monitor and control a plurality of pieces of monitored equipment in an electric power delivery system, the system comprising: a data network; a first local protection IED and a second local protection IED, each of the first and second IEDs comprising: a local protection IED network interface in communication with the data network; a monitored equipment interface to receive monitored equipment data including a plurality of measurements indicating electrical conditions associated with monitored equipment, wherein the monitored equipment comprise electrical generators; a local protection IED processor; and a local protection IED computer-readable storage medium, comprising: software instructions executable on the local protection IED processor that enable the local protection IED to: record the plurality of measurements indicating electrical conditions associated with monitored equipment received via the monitored equipment interface; associate a plurality of measurements with a time stamp indicating the time at which each of the plurality of measurements is made to generate a plurality of time-synchronized measurements; analyze the plurality of time-synchronized measurements; determine a local-level protection action based upon the analysis of the plurality of time-synchronized measurements; transmit the plurality of time-synchronized measurements via the data network; a system protection IED configured to operate at a supervisory level with respect to the first local protection IED and the second local protection IED, the system protection IED, comprising: a system protection IED network interface in communication with the data network; a system protection IED processor; a system protection IED computer-readable storage medium, comprising: software instructions executable on the system protection IED processor that enable the system protection IED to: receive the plurality of time-synchronized measurements transmitted by each of the first and the second local protection IEDs; analyze the plurality of time-synchronized measurements received from each of the first and the second local protection IEDs; determine a system-level protection action based upon the analysis of the plurality of time-synchronized measurements by: detecting a common-mode fault, where the common-mode fault is a fault on a generator; determine operating conditions of the electric power delivery system based on the plurality of time-synchronized measurements; and; comparing the operating conditions with predetermined acceptable operating conditions of the electric power delivery system; and, performing the system-level protection action by disconnecting the generator with the fault.