VoltSense™ Project Overview
INTELLIGENT MACHINE-LEARNING SENSOR FOR ELECTRIC POWER DISTRIBUTION
VoltSense™ is an intelligent sensor initially developed by TAV Networks at the request of, and under contract with, Pacific Gas & Electric Company at the close of 2015. The initial applications were fast fault location estimation and power quality monitoring. VoltSense™ as a voltage sag monitor is installed on the secondary side (i.e. the low voltage side) of distribution transformers. A direct electrical connection is made during installation with one to three phases of energized lines, and with the ground or neutral line if present. Following installation, VoltSense™ can be left in place for days, weeks, or indefinitely. VoltSense™ continuously monitors voltage levels using a high-speed voltage sampling circuit, and reports voltage variations via a cellular data connection if the RMS voltage deviates beyond preset voltage thresholds.
VoltSense™ has evolved since its inception and can now be incorporated as an application within modern revenue meters and/or reclosers. Machine Learning can be used in place of threshold detection to extend the functionality for automatic anomaly detection. In mid-2025 TAV Networks was awarded a U.S. Patent for the incorporation of generative AI into the VoltSense™ product.
VoltSense™ is applicable for multiple use cases:
Foliage management with fault prediction based on voltage signature analysis
Rapid fault detection, location, and power restoration
Power quality monitoring including multi-level voltage sags and swells, line-to-line voltage imbalance, and logging of voltage excursions
Confirmation and monitoring of equipment operation (e.g. protection switching)
Distributed energy resource monitoring
Higher power distribution reliability, with improvements in CAIDI/SAIDI performance metrics
VoltSense™ is a practical, easy-to-deploy product that can provide a quick payback in benefits. Intended users include power system engineers and technicians, outage management personnel, and power restoration crews. Benefits are both “hard”, such as reduced costs for power restoration and “soft”, such as increased reliability and happier customers. Users periodically obtain and review historical reports showing the voltage steady state behavior and disturbances. These reports can be used to determine if the distribution system voltage regulation is operating correctly, if capacitor banks are operating properly, if the voltage provided to customers is adequate, and if customer-side issues are leading to poor power quality. An example of waveform capture from a VoltSense™ sensor is shown in the Figure below:
Integrated Power Reliability And Safety Solutions
The VoltSense™ solution for Power Utilities is a comprehensive integrated hardware/software solution applicable to multiple use cases and AMI 2.0 applications, where data is captured at the edge, with the application of patented machine learning technology, where anomalies are detected, and exceptional data is sent to a cloud-hosted head-end and further processed to support specific use cases. Solution integration includes software placed on intelligent revenue meters used by the Power Utility, and the incorporation of the Utility’s asset data base and GIS system which provide a distribution circuit model. Use cases include fault detection and estimation of fault location, early detection of foliage incursion on power lines, and monitoring of power factor and power quality.
Key Benefits
Early detection of Foliage Incursion on power lines
Condition-Based Foliage Management
Mitigation of Wildfire Ignition
Fast Fault Detection and Location for rapid restoration
Anomaly Detection indicative of equipment failure
Distributed Energy Resource (DER) monitoring
Power Factor performance monitoring
Phase Identification
Detection of Power Theft & Non-Technical Power Loss
Improved CAIDI/SAIDI performance metrics