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Glossary

Term Definition
ADC Analog-to-Digital Converter. Hardware that converts analog voltage/current signals into digital values for processing.
Affinity Laws Engineering equations that relate pump performance (flow, head, power) at one speed to performance at another speed. Used to predict pump behavior across different VFD frequencies.
Apparent Power The total power in an AC circuit, measured in kVA. It is the vector sum of active power and reactive power.
BEP Best Efficiency Point. The flow rate at which a pump operates at maximum hydraulic efficiency.
BHP Brake Horsepower. The mechanical power required to drive the pump, measured at the shaft.
Black Box The pre-trigger recording feature that captures data from before an event occurred, similar to an aircraft flight recorder.
Boot2Qt An embedded Linux distribution provided by Qt, optimized for running Qt applications on embedded hardware.
CT Current Transformer. A device that steps down high current to a lower, measurable value.
CT Ratio The ratio of primary to secondary current in a current transformer (e.g., 100:5 = 20).
DownThrust A condition where the pump operates below its minimum flow rate, causing downward axial force on the pump shaft and bearing damage.
ESP Electric Submersible Pump. A type of artificial lift system used in oil wells, consisting of a downhole motor, pump, and surface control equipment.
GOR Gas-Oil Ratio. The volume of gas produced per unit volume of oil, indicating well behavior.
GPIO General Purpose Input/Output. A hardware pin on the processor that can be controlled by software.
Ground Fault An unintended electrical path between a conductor and ground, indicating insulation failure.
Harmonic A frequency component that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. The 5th harmonic of a 60 Hz system is 300 Hz.
HMI Human Machine Interface. The touchscreen display and software that operators use to interact with the monitoring system.
IEC 61000-4-30 International standard for power quality measurement methods.
IEEE 519 Standard for harmonic control in electrical power systems, defining acceptable THD limits.
Locked Rotor A fault condition where the motor rotor is unable to turn, drawing very high current (starting current) continuously.
Modbus An industrial communication protocol. RTU variant uses serial (RS-485), TCP variant uses Ethernet.
Negative Sequence A symmetrical component that represents phase unbalance. High negative sequence values indicate unbalanced voltage or current.
Nominal The rated or design value of a parameter (e.g., nominal voltage = the voltage the system is designed to operate at).
Phasor A vector representation of an AC quantity (voltage or current) showing both magnitude and phase angle.
Post-Trigger The period of data recording that continues after an event is detected.
Power Factor The ratio of active power to apparent power (0 to 1). A value of 1 means all power is doing useful work.
Pre-Trigger Buffer A continuously updated buffer that stores the most recent data packets, allowing the system to save data from before an event was detected.
RMS Root Mean Square. A method of calculating the effective value of an AC signal.
Rogowski Coil A type of current sensor that uses an air-core coil to measure AC current without a magnetic core.
SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. A system for remote monitoring and control of industrial processes.
SPI Serial Peripheral Interface. A high-speed serial communication bus used to transfer data between the ADC and the processor.
TDD Total Demand Distortion. Similar to THD but referenced to the full-load demand current rather than the fundamental.
THD Total Harmonic Distortion. A measure of how much a waveform deviates from a pure sine wave, expressed as a percentage.
Trip The critical event threshold. When exceeded, automatic event recording is triggered.
UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter. A serial communication protocol used for sensor data.
UpThrust A condition where the pump operates above its maximum flow rate, causing upward axial force on the pump shaft and stage damage.
VFD Variable Frequency Drive. A motor controller that varies the output frequency and voltage to control motor speed. Also called VSD (Variable Speed Drive).
VT Voltage Transformer. A device that steps down high voltage to a lower, measurable value.
VT Ratio The ratio of primary to secondary voltage in a voltage transformer (e.g., 1950:110 = 17.73).
Warn The warning event threshold. When exceeded, an alert is displayed but the condition is not yet critical.
Water Cut The percentage of water in the total fluid produced from a well.