PNM (Albuquerque, New Mexico), an electricity and natural-gas provider serving more than 1.3 million people throughout New Mexico, has been using beta versions of Avistar Inc.'s AP-10 phase-identification tool to verify consistent phasing between distribution line switches and substations, thereby ensuring accurate supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) information. Ray Vigil, engineering supervisor with PNM's distribution operations department, said that one AP-10 unit allowed crews to conduct test phasing on 126 switches in just six days.

“Compared to the traditional method of visually tracing these lines, I couldn't even calculate the time saved. When you consider the driving time throughout the Albuquerque metro area — that's 1200 square miles or so — it's man-months,” Vigil said, adding, “Without the AP-10, we probably would not have done the project.”

PNM crews in Santa Fe and in Albuquerque's East Mountains are using Avistar's patented technology for a variety of other projects, including system-modeling verification and underground-system improvement.

“The crews love it,” Vigil said. “Their typical reaction is, ‘Why didn't we have this sooner?’”

The AP-10 allows one-person operation and has just three components: a Reference Unit, which installs at a substation, and the Field Unit and Hotstick Unit, which go to the job site. When touched to an energized conductor, the Hotstick Unit wirelessly transmits information to the Field Unit, which calls the Reference Unit via a built-in cellular modem to compare GPS time-stamped zero-crossings, then reports the phase and phase angle. When the Field Unit is within cell range, the AP-10 provides successive readings, often in less than 10 seconds. When out of cell range, the Field Unit stores a reading for 1 hour to allow the user to drive to cell range, then automatically dials. The Field Unit reports the phase with bright, clearly labeled LEDs and easily distinguishable 80 dB beep patterns.
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