disclosure of Invention
The embodiment of the invention provides a method, a device, equipment and a storage medium for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor, so as to realize rapid real-time early warning of the turn-to-turn insulation of the generator rotor.
To achieve the purpose, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for detecting inter-turn insulation of a generator rotor, where the method includes:
acquiring reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator;
determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data, and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data;
and determining the state of rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current, wherein the deviation threshold range is used for representing the deviation range between the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power.
Further, the real-time operation data are a plurality of groups of data acquired in real time.
Further, the determining the state of the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current includes:
acquiring a first group of the multiple groups of real-time electromagnetic power, wherein each group of real-time operation data in the first group exceeds a preset deviation threshold range under the same exciting current;
determining a first fraction of the first group in the plurality of groups of real-time electromagnetic power;
and determining the state of rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the first ratio.
Further, the determining the state of the rotor inter-turn insulation of the generator according to the first ratio comprises:
determining a second proportion of the real-time electromagnetic power of each group in the first group, which exceeds the deviation threshold range, in the group of real-time electromagnetic powers;
and determining the state of rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the first ratio and/or the second ratio.
Further, after determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different excitation currents according to the reference operation data and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different excitation currents according to the real-time operation data, the method includes:
and fitting by taking the exciting current as an abscissa and the reference electromagnetic power as an ordinate to obtain a reference electromagnetic power curve, and fitting by taking the exciting current as an abscissa and the real-time electromagnetic power as an ordinate to obtain a real-time electromagnetic power curve.
Further, the determining the state of the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current includes:
fitting by taking the exciting current as a horizontal coordinate and taking extreme values at two ends based on the deviation threshold range as a vertical coordinate to obtain a deviation curve;
and determining the state of the rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the reference electromagnetic power curve, the real-time electromagnetic power curve and the deviation curve.
Further, the deviation threshold range includes at least two groups.
On one hand, the embodiment of the invention also provides a device for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor, which comprises:
the data acquisition module is used for acquiring reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator;
the power determining module is used for determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data;
and the rotor detection module is used for determining the state of rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current, wherein the deviation threshold range is used for representing the deviation range between the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power.
On the other hand, the embodiment of the invention also provides a device for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor, which comprises: one or more processors; a storage device for storing one or more programs which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method as provided by any embodiment of the invention.
In still another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the method as provided in any embodiment of the present invention.
The embodiment of the invention obtains the reference operation data and the real-time operation data of the generator; determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data, and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data; and determining the state of the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current, wherein the deviation threshold range is used for representing the deviation range between the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power, so that the problem that the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator can only be detected off line is solved, and the effect of quick real-time early warning of the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator is realized.
Detailed Description
The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for purposes of illustration and not limitation. It should be further noted that, for the convenience of description, only some of the structures related to the present invention are shown in the drawings, not all of the structures.
Before discussing exemplary embodiments in more detail, it should be noted that some exemplary embodiments are described as processes or methods depicted as flowcharts. Although a flowchart may describe the steps as a sequential process, many of the steps can be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of the steps may be rearranged. A process may be terminated when its operations are completed, but may have additional steps not included in the figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc.
Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like may be used herein to describe various orientations, actions, steps, elements, or the like, but the orientations, actions, steps, or elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one direction, action, step or element from another direction, action, step or element. For example, a first module may be termed a second module, and, similarly, a second module may be termed a first module, without departing from the scope of the present application. The first module and the second module are both modules, but they are not the same module. The terms "first", "second", etc. are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the described features. In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless explicitly specified otherwise.
Example one
As shown in fig. 1, a method for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor according to a first embodiment of the present invention includes:
and S110, acquiring reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator.
In this embodiment, when detecting the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator, firstly, a DCS (Distributed Control System) is used to obtain reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator, where the operation data of the generator is data such as voltage at any camera terminal, active power, reactive power, stator current corresponding to the terminal voltage, and excitation current of the generator starting to boost the voltage to a rated power from zero, and the reference operation data of the generator may be an average value of the data when the generator normally works within a preset time, or the data may be given by a research and development staff, and the real-time operation data of the generator is the data collected by a staff in real time.
And S120, determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data, and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data.
In this embodiment, it is further required to obtain a stator dc resistance value of the generator and a synchronous reactance of the generator, a power factor angle is first calculated according to active power and reactive power, a power angle is then calculated according to the power factor angle, a terminal voltage of any camera, a stator current corresponding to a terminal voltage, a stator dc resistance value, and a synchronous reactance, an idle load electromotive force is calculated according to an excitation current, a reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different excitation currents is calculated according to a power angle and an idle load electromotive force calculated according to reference operation data, and real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different excitation currents is calculated according to a power angle and an idle load electromotive force calculated according to real-time operation data, and real-time operation data.
S130, determining the state of rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same exciting current, wherein the deviation threshold range is used for representing the deviation range between the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power.
In this embodiment, the worker needs to set a deviation threshold range in advance. Illustratively, setting a deviation threshold range to be +/-5% of reference electromagnetic power, under the same excitation current, if the reference electromagnetic power of the generator is 30000000, determining the deviation threshold range to be 28500000-31500000, then determining the rotor inter-turn insulation state of the generator according to whether the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator is in the range of 28500000-31500000, if the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator is in the range of 28500000-31500000, determining that the rotor inter-turn insulation of the generator is good, and if the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator is out of the range of 28500000-31500000, determining that the rotor inter-turn insulation of the generator has a short-circuit defect.
The embodiment of the invention obtains the reference operation data and the real-time operation data of the generator; determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data, and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data; the method comprises the steps of determining the state of inter-turn insulation of a rotor of the generator according to real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same exciting current, wherein the deviation threshold range is used for representing the deviation range between reference electromagnetic power and real-time electromagnetic power, so that the problem that the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator can only be detected off line is solved, and the effect of quick real-time early warning of the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator is achieved.
Example two
As shown in fig. 2, a second embodiment of the present invention provides a method for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor, and the second embodiment of the present invention is further explained on the basis of the first embodiment of the present invention, where the method includes:
s210, acquiring reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator, wherein the real-time operation data are a plurality of groups of data acquired in real time.
S220, determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data, and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data.
And S230, acquiring a first group of the multiple groups of real-time electromagnetic power, wherein each group of real-time operation data in the first group exceeds a preset deviation threshold range under the same exciting current, and the deviation threshold range is used for representing the deviation range between the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power.
S240, determining a first proportion of the first group in the multiple groups of real-time electromagnetic power.
In the embodiment, in order to more accurately judge whether the current inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator has defects, when the real-time operation data is obtained, a plurality of groups of real-time operation data are obtained to be compared and judged with the reference operation data. Further, the deviation threshold range includes at least two groups.
Illustratively, N sets of real-time operating data are co-collected over a period of time, and two sets of deviation threshold ranges r1 and r2 are set, where r1= ± 2%, r2= ± 4%, and the deviation r = (baseline electromagnetic power-real electromagnetic power)/real electromagnetic power × 100% is set. In the N sets of real-time operation data, a first set in which a condition that the real-time operation data exceeds a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current is found, N1 sets of data exceeding the deviation threshold range r2 are found, N2 sets of data exceeding the deviation threshold range r2 are found, and both the N1 set and the N2 set are the first set. Then, a first fraction of the first group in the plurality of sets of real-time electromagnetic power is determined, the first fraction = N1+ N2/N × 100%, and then the state of the rotor inter-turn insulation defect of the generator is determined directly from the first fraction.
Furthermore, the ratio of the N1 group to the N2 group can be independently judged, and when N1/Nx 100% < 2%, the current rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator is determined to be good; if N1/Nx100% is more than or equal to 2% and N2/Nx100% is less than 4%, determining that the current rotor inter-turn insulation of the generator has a weak point, and needing to strengthen operation monitoring and shorten a detection period; and if the N2/Nx 100% is more than or equal to 4%, determining that the current rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator has a short-circuit defect, and needing to be overhauled as soon as possible.
And S250, determining a second proportion of the real-time electromagnetic power of each group in the first group, which exceeds the deviation threshold range, in the group of real-time electromagnetic power.
And S260, determining the state of the rotor inter-turn insulation of the generator according to the first ratio and/or the second ratio.
In this embodiment, on the basis of obtaining the first group, further, a second ratio of the portion of the real-time electromagnetic power of each group in the first group, which exceeds the deviation threshold range, in the group of real-time electromagnetic powers may be determined, and then the state of the inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator may be determined according to the second ratio or a combination of the first ratio and the second ratio.
Exemplarily, two groups of deviation threshold ranges r1 and r2 are set, data analysis and comparison are carried out, and when the data proportion of the deviation r in a certain group exceeding the deviation threshold range r1 is less than 30%, the current rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator is determined according to the deviation and the data proportion of the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power under the same excitation current; if the data proportion of the deviation r exceeding the deviation threshold range value r1 exceeds 30%, but the data proportion of the deviation r exceeding the deviation threshold range value r2 is less than 30%, determining that the current rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator has a weak point, and needing to enhance operation monitoring and shorten the detection period; and if the data accounting for the deviation r exceeding the deviation threshold range value r2 exceeds 30%, determining that the current rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator has a short-circuit defect, and performing maintenance as soon as possible. Further, the first and second ratios may also be combined to determine a state of rotor inter-turn insulation of the generator.
EXAMPLE III
As shown in fig. 3, a third embodiment of the present invention provides a method for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor, and the third embodiment of the present invention is explained further on the basis of the first embodiment of the present invention, where the method includes:
and S310, acquiring reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator.
S320, determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data, and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data.
S330, fitting by taking the exciting current as an abscissa and the reference electromagnetic power as an ordinate to obtain a reference electromagnetic power curve, and fitting by taking the exciting current as an abscissa and the real-time electromagnetic power as an ordinate to obtain a real-time electromagnetic power curve.
And S340, fitting by taking the exciting current as a horizontal coordinate and taking extreme values at two ends based on the deviation threshold range as a vertical coordinate to obtain a deviation curve.
And S350, determining the state of the rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the reference electromagnetic power curve, the real-time electromagnetic power curve and the deviation curve.
In this embodiment, referring to fig. 4 to 6 together, in order to facilitate the analysis of the reference operation data and the real-time operation data of the generator by the staff and to facilitate the reporting to the non-skilled person, two sets of deviation threshold ranges r1 and r2 are set, the excitation current is used as an abscissa, the reference electromagnetic power is used as an ordinate to obtain a reference electromagnetic power curve, the excitation current is used as an abscissa, the real-time electromagnetic power is used as an ordinate to obtain a real-time electromagnetic power curve, the excitation current is used as an abscissa, and extreme values at two ends based on the deviation threshold ranges are used as ordinates to obtain a deviation curve r1 and a deviation curve r2, so as to obtain the graphs as shown in fig. 4 to 6, wherein the abscissa of the graph represents the magnitude of the excitation current Ir and the ordinate represents the magnitude of the electromagnetic power P, and thus, even if the non-skilled person is not skilled in the art, the relationship between the real-time electromagnetic power and the reference electromagnetic power and the deviation threshold ranges can be observed very intuitively.
As shown in fig. 4, if the real-time electromagnetic power curve is within the two sets of deviation curves, it can be roughly determined that the current rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator is good; as shown in fig. 5, if most of the real-time electromagnetic power curve exceeds the deviation curve r1 but does not exceed the deviation curve r2, it is determined that a weak point exists in the current rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator, operation monitoring needs to be enhanced, and the detection period is shortened; as shown in fig. 5, if most of the real-time electromagnetic power curve exceeds the deviation curve r2 and the rest exceeds the deviation curve r1, it is determined that the current inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator has a short-circuit defect, and the maintenance is required as soon as possible.
Furthermore, the part of the real-time electromagnetic power curve exceeding the deviation curve can be displayed by other colors so as to strengthen the intuition. In addition, the detection method in the second embodiment of the present invention may be combined, and the first proportion and/or the second proportion may be displayed in the real-time electromagnetic power curve by using different colors and/or line thicknesses.
Example four
As shown in fig. 7, a device 100 for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention is provided, and the device 100 for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention can execute a method for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor according to any embodiment of the present invention, and has functional modules and beneficial effects corresponding to the execution method. The generator rotor inter-turn insulation detection device 100 comprises a data acquisition module 200, a power determination module 300 and a rotor detection module 400.
Specifically, the data obtaining module 200 is configured to obtain reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator; the power determining module 300 is configured to determine reference electromagnetic power of the generator at different excitation currents according to the reference operation data, and determine real-time electromagnetic power of the generator at different excitation currents according to the real-time operation data; the rotor detection module 400 is configured to determine a state of inter-turn insulation of the rotor of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current, where the deviation threshold range is used to indicate a deviation range between the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power.
In this embodiment, the real-time operation data is a plurality of sets of data acquired in real time. The rotor detection module 400 is further configured to obtain a first group of the multiple groups of real-time electromagnetic powers, where each group of real-time operating data in the first group exceeds a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current; determining a first proportion of a first group in the plurality of groups of real-time electromagnetic power; and determining the state of the rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the first ratio. The rotor detection module 400 is further specifically configured to determine a second percentage of the real-time electromagnetic power of each group in the first group in the group of real-time electromagnetic powers, where the real-time electromagnetic power exceeds the deviation threshold range; and determining the state of the rotor inter-turn insulation of the generator according to the first ratio and/or the second ratio.
Further, the detection apparatus 100 for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor further includes a curve fitting module 500, where the curve fitting module 500 is configured to fit to obtain a reference electromagnetic power curve by using the excitation current as an abscissa and the reference electromagnetic power as an ordinate, and fit to obtain a real-time electromagnetic power curve by using the excitation current as an abscissa and the real-time electromagnetic power as an ordinate. The rotor detection module 400 is further configured to fit to obtain a deviation curve by using the excitation current as a horizontal coordinate and using extreme values at two ends based on the deviation threshold range as a vertical coordinate; and determining the state of the rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the reference electromagnetic power curve, the real-time electromagnetic power curve and the deviation curve. Wherein the deviation threshold range comprises at least two groups.
EXAMPLE five
Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a computer device 12 for detecting turn-to-turn insulation of a generator rotor according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer device 12 suitable for use in implementing embodiments of the present invention. The computer device 12 shown in fig. 8 is only an example and should not bring any limitations to the functionality or scope of use of the embodiments of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 8, computer device 12 is in the form of a general purpose computing device. The components of computer device 12 may include, but are not limited to: one or more processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28, and a bus 18 that couples various system components including the system memory 28 and the processing unit 16.
Bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processor, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, such architectures include, but are not limited to, industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, micro-channel architecture (MAC) bus, enhanced ISA bus, video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus.
Computer device 12 typically includes a variety of computer system readable media. Such media may be any available media that is accessible by computer device 12 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media.
The system memory 28 may include computer system readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as Random Access Memory (RAM) 30 and/or cache memory 32. Computer device 12 may further include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer system storage media. By way of example only, storage system 34 may be used to read from and write to non-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media (not shown in FIG. 8 and commonly referred to as a "hard drive"). Although not shown in FIG. 8, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk (e.g., a "floppy disk") and an optical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk (e.g., a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or other optical media) may be provided. In these cases, each drive may be connected to bus 18 by one or more data media interfaces. Memory 28 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out the functions of embodiments of the invention.
A program/utility 40 having a set (at least one) of program modules 42 may be stored, for example, in memory 28, such program modules 42 including, but not limited to, an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which examples or some combination thereof may comprise an implementation of a network environment. Program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as described.
Computer device 12 may also communicate with one or more external devices 14 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, display 24, etc.), with one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computer device 12, and/or with any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer device 12 to communicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communication may be through an input/output (I/O) interface 22. Also, computer device 12 may communicate with one or more networks (e.g., a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), and/or a public network such as the Internet) via network adapter 20. As shown, network adapter 20 communicates with the other modules of computer device 12 via bus 18. It should be understood that although not shown in the figures, other hardware and/or software modules may be used in conjunction with computer device 12, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems, to name a few.
The processing unit 16 executes various functional applications and data processing by running programs stored in the system memory 28, for example, implementing the methods provided by the embodiments of the present invention:
acquiring reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator;
determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data, and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data;
and determining the state of rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current, wherein the deviation threshold range is used for representing the deviation range between the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power.
EXAMPLE six
The sixth embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the methods provided in all the embodiments of the present invention of the present application:
acquiring reference operation data and real-time operation data of the generator;
determining the reference electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the reference operation data, and determining the real-time electromagnetic power of the generator under different exciting currents according to the real-time operation data;
and determining the state of rotor turn-to-turn insulation of the generator according to the real-time electromagnetic power and a preset deviation threshold range under the same excitation current, wherein the deviation threshold range is used for representing the deviation range between the reference electromagnetic power and the real-time electromagnetic power.
Computer storage media for embodiments of the present invention may take the form of any combination of one or more computer-readable media. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal may take many forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may also be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, smalltalk, C + +, or the like, as well as conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the case of a remote computer, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet service provider).
It is to be noted that the foregoing is only illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the technical principles employed. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein, but is capable of various obvious changes, rearrangements and substitutions as will now become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in some detail by means of the above embodiments, the invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but may also comprise further equivalent embodiments without departing from the inventive concept, the scope of which is determined by the scope of the appended claims.