What Are Synchrophasors?
The electrical grid delivers power from generators to consumers with alternating current (AC). As such, every part of the grid must be aligned in phase, otherwise power losses would ensue via superpostion.
Synchrophasors are devices which measure the phase of the grid at geographically dispersed locations in order to ascertain the present health of the grid. Specifically, by observing relative phases from different locations, engineers can discern power flow accross the grid. Synchrophasors are already being utilized by utilities in order to (among other things) optimize their generator performace. These synchrophasors are designed for the transmission portion of the grid, measuring each of the three phases, and utilize a proprietary communications medium to concatonate the data.
What Differentiates Our Synchrophasors?
Our project's motivation was to create cheap synchrophasors designed to be plugged into any NEMA-5 outlet and report the phase via the internet to a publically accessible server. This website is the interface to that server.
What Are Senior Design Projects?
Where most majors culminate in either a thesis or senior seminar class, the Jack Baskin School of Engineering strongly encourages its Computer and Electrical Engineering undergraduates to participate in a Senior Design Project (SDP) as a capstone for their major.
Projects are entirely student lead, from conception to final production, with professor mentorship and guidance along the way. For more information about other projects or SDP as a whole, please visit the SDP homepage.