PQView® is a database software application developed by Electrotek Concepts, Inc. that is designed to store and analyze large quantities of power quality-related disturbance and steady-state measurement data. Featuring data management tools that can quickly characterize this data, PQView includes statistical analysis and plotting tools that can provide single- or multiple-site analyses for power systems.
PQView enables users to organize data from a variety of instruments, such as power quality monitors, voltage recorders, in-plant monitors, and fault recorders. It also stores site characteristics and event information. This information is valuable not only in establishing a disturbance’s source, but also the customer equipment sensitivity to power system problems.
Until now, the major drawback of this type of data collection effort was the management and integration of the resulting databases, which could be gigabytes in size. Instrument and event data had to be analyzed using separate applications, requiring the user to master each one in order to make sense of them.
PQView brings all this information together in one relational database and provides the means to automate both the loading of new data and the generation of monitoring reports. PQView comes with a base set of reports that provide information on raw measurements, detailed statistical analysis, and executive summaries. These reports enable the user to reach all of the audiences interested in the results and allow reports to be customized as needed.
Using technology developed under EPRI sponsorship, PQView combines powerful features in a user-friendly interface. It utilizes Microsoft® Access as its foundation, providing a database engine, development tools, support for database editing and security, and integration with other Microsoft Windows® applications such as word processing and spreadsheet programs. PQView consists of two major components, the Power Quality Data Manager (PQDM), which creates, loads, and edits power quality databases; and the Power Quality Data Analyzer (PQDA), which generates reports and analyzes the data.
PQView's Power Quality Data Manager (PQDM) enables the user to create power quality databases, edit site-specific information, characterize disturbance and steady-state data collected by monitoring devices, load the characterized data into databases, edit the data, and maintain the databases. The PQDM offers users the option of accessing Microsoft Access’s full capabilities to perform specialized management tasks, generate customized reports, automate database management and analysis tasks, or customize the PQDM’s working environment.
PQDM was designed to characterize power quality data from a variety of instruments and allows management of that data in site- and instrument-specific formats. Instrument software formats and hardware supported include
PQDM does not directly interface with instruments; rather, it utilizes the instrument vendor’s software for communications and data downloading tasks. PQDM processes the data files produced by the vendor software.
PQDA works with databases created by the PQDM to generate reports and perform data analysis. Using the PQDA, a user can select data subsets for analysis; generate reports for selected data; view data characteristics and plots; define correlation, trend, and histogram plots; and create custom queries and reports.
PQDA allows the user to select part or all of the data in a database for analysis, while protecting the integrity of the original database. This is accomplished by having the PQDM serve as the data handler, with PQDA serving as a separate component. From these data selections, a variety of predefined reports can be generated. Like the PQDM, the PQDA allows users, if they wish, to work in Microsoft Access to customize queries, analyses, and reports.
The following list presents a sample of PQView's capabilities for analyzing voltage sags (dips), voltage swells, and voltage interruptions (outages).
Analysis options include the following choices:
A PQView database has tables in which to store billions of steady-state measurements. These measurements can consist of individual samples of a quantity at a given time, or they can consist of the envelopes consisting of the minimum, average, and maximum of a quantity over an interval.
PQView offers two report writers that automatically summary power quality information. The user can select which sites are to be included in the report and what date range is needed. Then PQView will automatically create one or more reports using the Microsoft Word file format. Reports can be edited after completion in order to fine-tune the data presentation. The Microsoft Word documents can be automatically stored in the EPRI/Electrotek Power Quality Database database format, which has both a workstation and a web interface.
PQView provides a SagMail module, which can be used to automatically send email notifications upon import of voltage sags or interruptions. You can specify one or more voltage thresholds to trigger an email message and as many email recipients as you wish. SagMail can even be configured to alert you by email data if data is not being downloaded from a meter! PQView SagMail is compatible with SMTP and MAPI mail protocols.
PQView also provides event lists and statistics of transient events and transient overvoltage events.
The following table presents a summary list of the steady-state and harmonic distortion channels that PQView automatically computes from steady-state waveform measurements.
| Voltage | Current | Power |
|---|---|---|
|
Instantaneous Voltage Voltage Spectrum Peak Voltage RMS Voltage Harmonic RMS Voltage Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) Even Harmonic Distortion Odd Harmonic Distortion Crest Factor Form Factor Voltage Arithmetic Sum Telephone Influence Factor Flicker RMS Value Flicker dV/V Base Frequency of Maximum Flicker Harmonic Magnitude of Maximum Flicker Harmonic Flicker Spectrum Weighted Average Flicker Spectrum |
Instantaneous Current Current Spectrum Peak Current RMS Current Harmonic RMS Current Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) Total Demand Distortion (TDD) Even Harmonic Distortion Odd Harmonic Distortion Crest Factor Form Factor Arithmetic Sum Time Weighted Product |
Harmonic Power Spectrum Real Power Reactive Power Apparent Power Power Factor Displacement Factor |
The following table presents a summary list of the indices that PQView can easily compute from its power quality databases.
| RMS Variation Indices | Steady-State and Harmonic Indices | Transient Indices |
|---|---|---|
|
SARFI-X SARFI-CBEMA SARFI-ITIC SARFI-SEMI RVFI SIARFI SMARFI STARFI S1PARFI S2PARFI S3PARFI SAUFI SAOFI SASIFI SATIFI SAODI SAUDI SASIDI ARDI ARVSI AIRVSR AIRVSSR AMRVSR AMRVSSR CARFI ASIDI |
SATHD STHD95 STHD99 SAETHDRI SAHV S95HV S99HV SAENthHRI PCCTDDMean PCCTDDCP95 PCCTDDCP99 PCCETDDRI PCCNthCIMean PCCNthCICP95 PCCNthCICP99 PCCENthCRI SAENSR SNSRI95 SAEVUR SVUI95 SAEVDR SVDI95 SRVMI05 SRVMI95 |
SATMORI ATDI ATPFI |
PQView can provide information to customers and utility field personnel via the Internet or a corporate intranet. Through PQWeb, also available from Electrotek Concepts®, a server computer runs PQView’s data management and data analysis tasks and allows users to access and view the results using a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. Using this software, PQView becomes a multi-platform application, able to work across otherwise incompatible operating systems.
| American Electric Power | Columbus, Ohio |
| Cingular | USA |
| Baltimore Gas and Electric | Baltimore, Maryland |
| CEE Energiteknikk as | Norway |
| Central Networks | Derbyshire, United Kingdom |
| Cinergy | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (CEM) | Macau, China |
| Consolidated Edison Company of New York | New York, New York |
| Consumers Power | Jackson, Michigan |
| Detroit Edison Company | Detroit, Michigan |
| Duke Power | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| East Kentucky Power Cooperative | Lexington, Kentucky |
| Electrotek Concepts | Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Elektro Slovenija (ELES) | Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| Entergy | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| EPRI Solutions | Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Georgia Power Company | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Guangdong Power | Guangzhou, China |
| Hawaiian Electric Company | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Knoxville Utilities Board | Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Maui Electric Company | Maui, Hawaii |
| Mississippi Power Company | Meridian, Mississippi |
| Nebraska Public Power District | Columbus, Nebraska |
| Northeast Utilities | Hartford, Connecticut |
| Oklahoma Gas and Electric | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Hydro One | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Hydro Ottawa | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Operador Nacional do Sistema Eléctrico (ONS) | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Power Quality Solutions | Victoria, Australia |
| Public Service Electric and Gas | Newark, New Jersey |
| Public Service of New Hampshire | Manchester, New Hampshire |
| San Diego Gas and Electric | San Diego, California |
| SINTEF | Trondheim, Norway |
| Tennessee Valley Authority | Chattanooga, Tennessee |
| University of São Paulo (USP) | São Paulo, Brazil |
| United Illuminating Company | New Haven, Connecticut |
| Virginia Power | Richmond, Virginia |
| Compatible Operating Systems | Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP |
| Recommended Microprocessor | Pentium or later |
| Memory | 128MB (Minimum), 256MB (Recommended) |
| Free Hard Drive Space | 100MB |
| Required Companion Software |
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| Recommended Companion Software Applications |
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PQView is available for purchase directly from Electrotek Concepts. It is also available to qualified EPRI Program 1 and Program 97 funders. For more information, contact Jerry Olechiw by telephone at +1-800-372-6832 x281 or by e-mail at Jolechiw@dranetz-bmi.com.
Support for PQView is available through the PQView Users Group.
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