Optical Sensor platform fueling the intelligent grids of tomorrow.
Available today.
The easier install gets field employees to buy in, reduced fire risk is an outside the box benefit, and the ability for grid operators to have the information they need to manage the system more efficiently brings energy and environmental benefits
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MICATU's Optical Sensors cannot be saturated, avoiding risks such as open electrical circuits that may harm field crews, cause equipment to overheat, explode or combust.
Our Optical Sensors provide a higher volume of accurate, precise data without the aggravation of traditional measurement technologies. Using an advanced optical crystal, the MICATU Optical Sensor captures voltage and current at +/- 0.5% accuracy, voltage harmonics to the 250th, current harmonics to the 11th, as well as temperature.
MICATU’s Optical Sensor platform is the foundation for the next generation of grid awareness. More accuracy, higher precision, standardized data. All from a fully modular system you deploy as needed. A future-proof technology compatible with existing equipment.
A Gridview optical sensor is “hot gloved” or “hot sticked” onto each line of the three-phase power grid. The sensors connect directly to the Gridview m410 processor, a grid edge computer in a ruggedized enclosure that samples data at 15,000 cycles per second for highly accurate and granular signal processing. The m410 then transmits these data points via DNP3, in accordance with IEC Standards, to the operations center for use in any analytics software package such as an Advanced Distribution Automation System (ADMS), Outage Management Software (OMS), or power service applications such as Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration (FLISR).
Micatu was the first to commercialize an optical sensing solution for measurement in a field device for use on the utility grid. While unarguably a novel approach, optical sensing is not complex or mysterious. It’s based on physics. Light is simply a better way to measure voltage and current. But optical sensing also allows operators to measure the electric field without the dangerous work of passing electrons. All things considered, optical sensing is by far the safer option.
Micatu has developed a next-generation sensing solution that uses Pockel’s Electro-Optical Effect Principle for voltage and Faraday Effect to detect current, which is done by measuring intensity modulation based on beam polarization. The design uses standardized optical components and manufacturing methodologies to create voltage readings to within +/- 0.5% accuracy.
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The GridView optical sensors are designed to retrofit into your existing grid conditions, whether in a substation, overhead, or underground. Their modular design allows them to be mounted directly on the grid based on the application. They can connect to an overhead conductor or bus bar, or tap into the existing underground system. They are lightweight, versatile, and can be installed on any distribution line from 4kV to 72kV. The Gridview m410 processor converts all sensor data into DNP3 data points according to IEC Standards format.