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Submitted by WA Contents
Construction started on MVRDV's "crazy" Valley in Amsterdam
Netherlands Architecture News - Sep 12, 2017 - 17:02 24798 views
Construction work has started on MVRDV's "crazy" mixed-use tower in Amsterdam - the mountain-like building, encompassing a total of 75,000-square-metre space, is located on the Amsterdam's Central Business District Zuidas. Called Valley, MVRDV's competition-winning design for OVG Real Estate was selected by the Municipality of Amsterdam in 2015 - the mountainous complex will include apartments, offices, an underground parking, a sky bar and various retail and cultural facilities.
The design and programme try to find a balance between human scale, nature and the atmosphere of the business district. The project is expected to be completed in 2021, if everything goes on a plan.
Image © Vero Visuals
"In twenty years, the Zuidas area of Amsterdam has developed into the Netherlands main international business centre, which resulted in a reduced focus on residential interests," said MVRDV.
Based on this, this massive Valley will be a part of the city's ambition to revitalise this business district by transforming the area into a more liveable and complete urban quarter, welcoming large amounts of residents and additional public facilities to the area over the next decade.
MVRDV's Valley features three peaks composed of varied heights - and their heights reach up to a maximum of 100 meters at which the publicly accessible Sky-bar sits, spread out over the top two stories, offering panoramic views over Amsterdam. The building consists of 196 apartments, 7 stories of offices, a three-story underground parking with 375 parking spots and various retail and cultural facilities.
From street level, a pedestrianised path, running along retails functions, terraces and roof gardens, leads up to the central valley-area spread across the 4th and 5th level and surrounds the central tower. Piet Oudolf, internationally renowned landscape architect, will design all of Valley's vegetation, focusing on a year-round green appearance. The project takes its name from this publicly accessible valley.
The Valley is located in a transitive plot, which means it sits on the border between residential and commercial functions. The building creates a connection between green sports fields and the dense urban setting of the business centre and it initiates the change from the smaller scaled buildings of the inner city to the large volumes that define the South-axis. The overall form of the building is derived from the idea of transition.
The studio places the residential volumes on top of the multifunctional plinth and pushes them to the very edge of the envelope, which causes the building to be read as one single entity.
Image © MVRDV
"In mirroring the corporate surroundings through of its reflecting glass exterior façade, the design acknowledges its corporate heritage and visually connects to its immediate neighbours," added MVRDV.
"In direct contrast to this, the inner façade is defined by a series of rugged, stone terraces with large planters, covering the building in vegetation and bringing a sense of human scale to the volume."
"Through this opposing treatment of the facades, the duality of the resulting volume, which is reminiscent of a carved out block, is expressed: The corporate vs the residential. The XL vs the human scale."
"Valley combines residential apartments with a green environment that offers panoramic views of Amsterdam", said Winy Maas, MVRDV co-founder.
"A lively plinth offering a range of commercial activities has some offices above and is topped finally with residences. The carving out of the resulting block ensures that it becomes less introverted than existing buildings in the Zuidas. There will be many terraces, both private and public, filled with people, flowers, plants and outdoor seating."
The ground floor of the Valley - called Grotto - will be publicly accessible to the public, and a large interior space will fully be covered with natural stone and lightened by two great skylights that double as water filled ponds on the valley above. The Grotto will function as both a living room for the residents of Valley as well as a Grand Foyer for all other activities in the building, ensuring a lively atmosphere throughout the day.
MVRDV's design for Valley forms a contrast between the corporate history and the more residential future of the Zuidas. Its offices boast high floor-to-ceiling windows, large, brightly lit floorplates and full-service amenities.
The residential levels have large openable windows and sliding doors for outdoor spaces integrated within the stone facades. The studio will use natural stone in outdoor ceilings and terraces - and they will use fixed or automatically hydrated planters featuring various heights that facilitate Valley's distinct green appearance. Full glass railings will help to protect residents against wind and sound without impeding on their panoramic views.
MVRDV is working closely with Arup to design a series of jagged, natural stone façade by using a parametric tool. This specifically-developed tool allows for much needed real-time control over quantities of daylight and sunlight, over structural limitations and required privacy, amongst other things.
The outcome of design creates overall variation of Valley's building volume - which means that no two apartments are alike, creating a wide variety of housing types with unique plans for its inhabitants.
"The abundance of outdoor spaces and communal green area's promotes health and well-being whilst at the same time, contributes to the buildings green ambitions. In addition to a -0.3 EPC rating and a GPR score of 8, Valley will aim for a BREEAM-NL Excellent rating," explained the studio.
MVRDV is working together with Deltavormgroep & Piet Oudolf on landscape design, Van Rossum for structural engineering, Deerns for Installations (HVAC), DGMR on building physics and energy efficiency strategy and Inbo for construction engineering. The investor is the RJB Group of Companies and contractors G&S Bouw and Boele & van Eesteren.
Ground floor plan. Image © MVRDV
1st floor plan. Image © MVRDV
4th floor plan. Image © MVRDV
15th floor plan. Image © MVRDV
Top image © Vero Visuals
> via MVRDV
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After a string of high-profile shootings, legislators in Honduras have passed a law banning passengers on motorcycles.
Passengers on motorcycles have been blamed for the drive-by shooting deaths of a former government security adviser and a prominent journalist and her driver earlier this week, according to this article from the BBC. The Honduran Congress passed the ban in hopes of preventing more drive-by motorcycle murders in the country. With 82 murders per 100,000 people, Honduras has the world's highest murder rate, according to the BBC article.
The measure, which will last for six months, was requested by President Porfirio Lobo, whose government is facing rising crime.
"We know it is going to affect a certain part of the population," congressman Erick Rodriguez was quoted as saying by El Heraldo newspaper.
This seems to be the most important element of this ban: who it will affect. Motorcycles and scooters are a common mode of transportation in Honduras, and typically carry more than one person – often way more. On a trip through the country a few years ago, I saw entire families packed onto the backs of dirt bikes careening through Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and the country roads in between. And while cars certainly make up the majority of the traffic on the clogged urban streets of the big cities in Honduras, motorcycles are – as in many developing countries – a major ingredient of road traffic.
Banning multiple riders on motorcycles seems to hit the lower-income segment of the population hard. These are people who likely rely on the motorcycle or dirt bike as the sole vehicle for their entire family. Not allowing them to couple trips will likely put a strain on families' abilities to get where and what they need. While preventing drive-by murders is a noble goal, it seems that this ban on motorcycle passengers will be more effective at preventing regular people from getting around.


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EU Employment Law an obstacle to footballers' calls for quota system in England
Published 21 October 2013 | Authored by: Neil Johnston, Will Hampshire
When Greg Dyke was appointed as the new Chairman of the English Football Association (FA) earlier this year, he declared that the organisation's primary responsibility was to give the nation a successful English football team, and that on past record they had not done as well as they should have done. What we needed, Dyke suggested, was more English players playing in the top tier of English football, the Premier League.
In the following months, many ideas were floated as to the best way of achieving this aim. One suggestion, that has gathered growing support over the last week, is the introduction of a quota system to ensure there is a minimum number of English home grown players playing in any one game. Ex-England players Glenn Hoddle and Gareth Southgate are the latest to lend their support. Hoddle is also a former England manager and was recently appointed on to the FA Commission, set up by Dyke, that has been tasked with examining ways of increasing the number of young English players playing at the top level, and ultimately improving the prospects of the national team. Southgate is the current England Under 21 manager and has wide ranging responsibilities in relation to youth development.
The proposals are arguably a short-term fix and there are of course questions over whether introducing a quota will just make it easier for players that were otherwise not deemed good enough, to play regularly in the Premier League, rather than actually increase the quality of the national team. However, the real obstacle to the quota proposals, as alluded to by both Hoddle and Southgate, lies in EU employment law.
Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides for the freedom of movement for workers within the EU, and in particular "the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality between workers of Member States as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment".
Historically, the FA and the football associations from other EU countries had agreements in place with the EU Commission that allowed the number of "foreign" players, i.e. those that did not qualify to play for the national team of that particular country, to be limited. Up until 1995, the so called "3 + 2 rule" existed, whereby national associations were permitted to limit the number of foreign players clubs could field in any one game to three, plus two players that had played in the relevant country uninterrupted for a period of five years. However, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered a landmark judgment in 1995 that turned this position on its head.
In the case of Union royale belge des sociétés de football association ASBL -v- Jean-Marc Bosman, which is more often remembered for allowing players to move at the end of their contract without a transfer fee being paid, the ECJ also held that the use of a quota system was incompatible with EU law as it constituted an obstacle to the freedom of movement of workers within the EU. Since then, no quotas have existed in any of the leagues of the EU Member States. In England, this has resulted in a notable decline in the number of English players playing regularly in the Premier League. Recent statistics have suggested that English players accounted for less than a third of all minutes played in the Premier League last year. It is worth noting, however, that the top leagues in the other EU countries have not seen such an effect.
Combining these statistics with England's poor showings at recent major competitions paints a gloomy picture, and provides the rationale for the recent calls for a reintroduction of a quota system. How much this support will change following England's qualification for next year's World Cup in Brazil, is unknown. However, it is difficult to see how such a system can coexist with the freedom of movement principle enshrined in EU employment law.
Mark Palios, a former FA Chairman, has suggested that a quota system could be put in place despite the legal restrictions. Palios compared the situation to how football operates in relation to insolvency, pointing out that "paying all the football creditors off before anyone else, flies in the face of insolvency law".
To the extent that Palios is suggesting football could somehow exempt itself from EU employment law, the position seems pretty clear. In Bosman, the ECJ specifically held that the freedom of movement principle applied to clauses contained in the regulations of sporting associations which restricted the rights of other EU nationals to take part, as professional players, in football matches. Similar recent attempts to exempt football from European employment law have also failed. Football is an "economic activity", and therefore the football industry must comply with EU law in the same way as any other industry.
A quota system that places restrictions on the number of EU players that are eligible to play in a game will clearly create an obstacle to the freedom of movement of workers under Article 45 of TFEU. What is more at issue, is whether under EU legislation, such an obstacle is justified. The rationale in England for introducing a quota system is ultimately to improve the prospects of the national team. At this point it is important to consider that this very argument was put forward in Bosman for justifying a quota system. The ECJ's reaction was that whilst removing the restrictions would inevitably curb the chances of a player to play at the top level in his home country, it would at the same time increase the opportunities available for that player in the other EU countries.
And it is this point that perhaps best explains the current dearth of talent in the English game. For while home grown players in the other top European leagues, namely in Spain, Italy, Germany and France, routinely move to play for clubs abroad, the number of English players doing likewise is remarkably low. Whether this is because of language issues or a psychological reason is not clear, but it is an important consideration. It might be argued that the recently announced FA Commission, in their task to improve the national team, would do better concentrating on long term measures, such as putting the correct structures in place, focusing on player development from an early age, and looking at ways to encourage players to seek opportunities abroad, something Hoddle promoted in his Football Academy linking up with Spanish side Jerez Industrial, rather than seek a short term fix that is contrary to embedded principles of EU employment law.
Tags: England | EU Law | Europe | Football | Free Movement for Workers
The foreigner debate: Is the Home-Grown Player Rule fit for purpose?
Brabners lawyer speaks at two international football law conferences
Are the Scottish Professional Football League insolvency rules about to change?
Neil Johnston
Neil is a Director in the Employment & Pensions Department of Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP with considerable experience of contentious and non-contentious employment matters. Neil has advised a wide range of sports clients including sports funding bodies, football clubs, and sports marketing companies. He has also acted for individuals including a Premier League referee and player. Neil has significant litigation expertise, covering unfair dismissal, whistleblowing and all aspects of discrimination law.
@FFWlawyers
Will Hampshire
Will is a Solicitor in the Employment & Pensions Department of Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, working for a broad range of clients. Will has particular experience in Employment Tribunal claims, representing both employers and employees on a variety of matters including unfair dismissal and a range of discrimination claims. Earlier this year he assisted in defending a high profile racial discrimination claim brought against one of our clients.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Customers hate having to repeat steps already taken, simply because the agent they are speaking to doesn't know anything about their problem. This can be solved by providing context.
If you want your contact center to keep pace with increasing customer expectations, you need to focus on the key areas of choice, availability, responsiveness and personalization.
While focusing on the customer experience today is required, the multitude of touchpoints involved makes it increasingly difficult to keep customers happy all the time, which is necessary if you are to build brand loyalty.
An increasing number of senior citizens are making use of smartphones when communicating with contact centers. Adopting a visual IVR is the ideal way to make their lives easier and reduce your own costs at the same time.
In a world where your competition is only one click away, customer loyalty is crucial for staying relevant in any industry and profitable. Did you know that it costs today about 6 to 7 times more to acquire a new customer than keep an old one, while just a 5% increase in retention increases profits by up to 95%?
The customer experience begins well before and continues long after their interactions with your contact center. So an omnichannel experience encompasses much more than just customer service.
Delivering a better customer experience is always a key goal, but not always that easy to achieve. Effectively implementing and utilizing a Voice of the Customer program is the answer.


Pokémon trainer Red has vanished! Yellow Caballero and Pikachu's search leads them to the mysterious headquarters of the Elite Four on Cerise Island. Who has the baddest Pokémon around?
There's only one way to find out…! And watch out for Team Rocket, Pikachu… Are they your enemies or your allies now?


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Paulina Kewes (NHC Fellow, 2002–03)
The Staging of History in Early Modern England
Paulina Kewes wrote three chapters of her book on The Staging of History in Early Modern England and completed primary and secondary reading towards that project. She wrote several articles including "Contemporary Europe in Renaissance Drama," forthcoming in Shakespeare and Renaissance Europe, ed. Andrew Hadfield and Paul Hammond, Arden Critical Companions series (Nelson, 2004); "Acts of Oblivion, Acts of Remembrance: Rhetoric, Law, and National Memory in Restoration England," forthcoming in Ritual, Routine, and Regime: Institutions of Repetition in Euro-American Cultures, 1650-1832, ed. Lorna Clymer (University of Toronto Press, 2004); and "Dryden's Theatre and the Passions of Politics," forthcoming in the Cambridge Companion to John Dryden, ed. Steven N. Zwicker (Cambridge University Press, 2004). She also wrote reviews of Nicholas Grene's Shakespeare's Serial History Plays and Joseph Loewenstein's The Author's Due: Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright for the Review of English Studies, and a review of Richard Dutton's Licensing, Censorship and Authorship in Early Modern England for Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theater Research. Kewes was Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth; she has accepted a new position as Fellow and Tutor in English at Jesus College, Oxford.


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Culture & Society News Poland
Poland to extend ban on international flights until June 16
by Kafkadesk
Warsaw, Poland – Poland plans to extend the ban on all international flights until June 16, Reuters reported late last week, citing a decree passed by the government.
Although countries throughout Europe are cautiously lifting their months-long lockdown as the coronavirus crisis appears to recede on the old continent, Poland is still grappling with an important increase in new daily cases of Covid-19 infection, mostly due to outbreaks in coal mines in Silesia.
On Monday, Poland had nearly 27,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and less than 1,200 Covid-related deaths.
While Poland has already lifted numerous anti-coronavirus restrictions over the past several weeks, and allowed domestic flights between the main hubs and cities throughout the country to operate since June 1, the ban on international flights and travel, introduced nearly three months ago and repeatedly extended, appears to be set to remain for the time being.
Most of Poland's borders should remain closed until at least mid-June, although the government recently announced it would join the "travel bubble" established by the three Baltic states to allow free movement with Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
"We agreed that free movement between the Baltic states and Poland will be resumed [this] week", announced Lithuania's Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis after talking with his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki.
"I hope that within the next weeks the restrictions will be lifted and travel will be possible for holidays", Poland's Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz told reporters a few days ago, referring to a wider easing of travel restrictions. "There's a discussion also within the EU, maybe this bubble will be the EU bubble – I hope".
TagsBaltics • Covid-19 pandemic • Flights • Poland • Travels & Tourism
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…can pull out of your bag when the time is right. Approx. 4" Crown 3 1/2" Brim Made of: 100% Toyo Straw (Paper) UPF 50+ Adjustable Sweatband Grosgrain Hat Band Packable Unlined Size: One Size Fits Most - Fits up to size 7 1/8 (M) comfortably.


Just in case people forget, there is a territory in the Middle East called the Gaza Strip, where nearly 2 million Palestinians live in a politically instigated economic deprivation. I am stressing the political angle because there is no reason to why the Gaza Strip, on the Mediterranean coast, cannot be enjoying tourism income and a robust export economy to Europe and the rest of the world.
The politics is simply created by an illegal and unjust siege that has spanned over a decade, with no end in sight. The official reason given for this illegal siege is the fact that the Islamist movement, Hamas, is in control of Gaza. For its part, Hamas says that it won free and fair elections in 2006 but was never allowed to govern. The problem, of course, intensified in June 2007, when Hamas rejected the rule of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and kicked out the presidential guards from Gaza, centralising both administrative and security power in the tiny strip. Efforts at reconciliation have failed largely because of the refusal of Hamas to adhere to new elections, but also due to the fact that the Palestine Leadership Organisation's (PLO) leadership in Ramallah has not been willing to find any compromise that includes sharing power with Hamas.
The situation has further escalated in recent months as the Ramallah leadership has decided to take on Hamas directly, with the only offer on the table a total Hamas capitulation. President Abbas has made it clear that the PLO would only cooperate if Hamas lays down its arms and allows Abbas's administration to take over both administrative and security control. The means of pressure have included stopping paying the electrical bill and stopping to pay salaries to both Hamas-appointed employees, as well as employees who have been working in Gaza well before the 2006 elections that brought to power pro-Hamas members of parliament.
The Ramallah leadership has also announced recently a decision by the constitutional court that negates the 2006-elected Palestinian Legislative Council, with the call for legislative, not presidential, elections to take place within six months.
Gazans are part of the Palestinian people, and the dire economic situation has left Gaza with among the highest unemployment rates in the world and a total collapse of any sign of hope for a population that had already suffered from the decade-long Israeli siege. President Abbas might be looking at the long term and refusing to accept a partial solution that would turn Gaza into a Lebanon-like complicated governance, where the Hizbollah militias yield exaggerated powers over the civilian political leadership.
The Palestinian Central Council and the Palestine National Council have called on President Abbas not to punish the people of Gaza and to renew support for the electric company and to reinstate the salaries of public workers, but Abbas has refused and instead has escalated the pressure on Gaza by withdrawing the presidential guards manning the Rafah crossing point, thus making an already difficult crossing point even more difficult.
Abbas's policy has not succeeded and is unlikely to succeed. The situation has been so difficult that Israel is concerned about the potential of a people explosion in Gaza and as a result, has agreed to transfer funds from Qatar to Hamas in order to pay government employees.
The international community has totally acquiesced with the Israeli and the Abbas policies against Hamas, and has done little to help break up the siege or help find a shared internal solution. One obstacle that needs to be overcome is the fact that the world community considers Hamas a terrorist organisation and has done little to help them get recognised by the international community. Hamas has sent clear signals of agreeing to accept many of the demands of the international community, including support for the two-state solution, but few international governments have agreed to engage with Hamas. Many remember the days when the PLO was similarly declared a terrorist organisation but at that time, many world powers were willing to help break the isolation of the PLO until Israel and the PLO exchanged letters of recognition. The time might be right now for the world community to help rehabilitate Hamas as a legitimate Palestinian organisation. With such engagement, it might be possible to work on ending the siege and also help bring about a serious reconciliation mechanism that includes new legislative and presidential elections.
The Palestinian people, not Hamas or Fateh, are the source of the power in Palestine and it is important to give the people their right to choose and to remove the monopoly of power that has been restricted to two movements that have not been legitimised by any elections in over a decade.


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Justia Patents Over Power LineUS Patent Application for Method and apparatus for interfacing RF signals to medium voltage power lines Patent Application (Application #20020002040)
Method and apparatus for interfacing RF signals to medium voltage power lines
RF digital information signals are interfaced with a medium voltage power line data channel. An interface circuit connects between the medium voltage and low voltage sides of a step-down power transformer. The interface circuit includes a metal oxide arrestor (MOV) and an opto-coupler. The MOV provides the needed capacitance and voltage rating without the bulk of a capacitor having similar capacitance and voltage rating. The opto-coupler provides an added margin of safety for coupling communications data while isolating the medium voltage power from the low voltage side of the transformer.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) from provisional application No. 60/198,306, filed Apr. 19, 2000. The 60/198,306 provisional application is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety, for all purposes.
[0002] The present invention relates generally to the field of digital communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to communication of digital signals, including information and control signals, via power lines.
[0003] Referring to FIG. 1, a typical electric power distribution architecture is illustrated. The configuration shown has a transformer 10 that steps medium voltage (tens of thousands of volts) power down to low voltage power (a few hundred volts AC, typically 100 to 240 VAC). The low voltage (LV) power is fed to several homes 20. Using this architecture for a power line communications system, the medium voltage (MV) line can be used to transfer data to and from the LV lines.
[0004] Since the MV line is typically rated at a few tens of kilovolts, interfacing to the MV line can prove to be costly, size prohibitive, and pose safety hazards. For example, an RF (radio frequency) signal is typically used in a powerline communications system as a carrier for digital information or control signals. In order to couple such an RF signal into a wire with large voltage at low frequencies (50-60 Hz), the solution would appear to call for a high pass filter that can withstand high voltage (i.e., the voltage level of the MV line). The high pass filter is used to prevent the low frequency (typically in the range of 50-60 Hz) power line voltage from being coupled into the RF transmitter and receiver circuitry, referred to below as the "communications device". A capacitor could provide such a filter, however such a filter capacitor would need to be able to withstand tens of kilovolts carried on the MV line. A filter capacitor according such requirements is expensive and physically large.
[0005] Thus, what is needed is a low cost, small form factor, safe scheme for interfacing RF signals to a MV power line.
[0006] The present invention provides a method and apparatus of interfacing a high frequency signal in a power line communications system. The present invention is especially useful in, although by no means limited to, applications in which an RF signal is coupled to and from a medium voltage power line, such as a power distribution or transmission line. There are two types of MV distribution systems that power utilities use: (1) aerial and (2) underground. Presently preferred embodiments of the invention work for both distribution system types.
[0007] A presently preferred implementation of the invention employs a metal oxide varistor (MOV) as an element of a high pass filter to substantially attenuate the low frequency power line voltage and current waveforms, so as to prevent them from damaging the communications device used to transmit and receive the digital signal. Other aspects of presently preferred embodiments of the invention are described below.
[0008] Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent in the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures.
[0009] FIG. 1 illustrates a conceptual view of a typical electric power distribution topology.
[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an interface circuit for a medium voltage power line according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0011] FIG. 3 illustrates a graph of the transfer function for a front-end circuit embodied according to one embodiment of the present invention.
[0012] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an interface circuit front-end portion, according to an alternate embodiment of the present invention, with a ferrite bead to ground.
[0013] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of an interface circuit front-end portion, according to another alternate embodiment of the present invention, with a quarter wave length tap.
[0014] The present invention may be advantageously embodied as an interface circuit for interfacing transmitted and received radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line. A preferred embodiment of the interface circuit has a medium voltage node that is adapted for connection to the medium voltage power line, a reactive element adapted to be connected to ground, and a metal oxide varistor connected between the medium voltage node and the reactive element. A first opto coupler couples into the interface circuit the transmitted radio frequency communications signals to be interfaced via the medium voltage node, and a second opto coupler couples out of the interface circuit the received radio frequency communications signals interfaced via the medium voltage node. A radio frequency combiner is connected to the reactive element. The radio frequency combiner is also connected to the first opto coupler so as to make the transmitted radio frequency communication signals available to the medium voltage node via the metal oxide varistor. The radio frequency combiner, which is optional and may be used in situations in which the transmit and receive signals are coupled to/from the MV line via a common interface, is further connected to the second opto coupler so as to make the received radio frequency communications signals available from the medium voltage node via the metal oxide varistor.
[0015] In order to couple an RF signal into a wire with high voltage at low frequencies (50-60 Hz), essentially a high pass filter that can withstand high voltage may be used. As mentioned above, a capacitor that can operate as such a filter and withstand tens of kilovolts is prohibitively expensive and physically large.
[0016] One device that provides capacitance (other than a capacitor) in a communications application is a MOV. A column of MOVs can withstand up to 80 kV peak, and provide about 10 pF of capacitance. The physical size is acceptable as well. An additional feature of using MOVs is that they provide surge protection. As MV lines are subject to lightning strikes, high energy surges, switching transients, etc., this increased safety feature is important. MOV products fitting these requirements (e.g., MOV gapped elbow arrester 235-55) are available from Cooper Power Systems, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pa.
[0017] An opto-coupler is used for additional safety, thus electrically isolating the MV circuitry from the communications equipment via light.
[0018] Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary embodiment for constructing such an interface circuit is illustrated. The MOV 202 is connected to the MV line and to the primary windings of a transformer 212. An RF signal on the MV line will flow through the MOV 202 and will be present on the secondary of the transformer 212. The MOV 202 is an open circuit for the medium voltage power (since the power line voltage is less than the MOV's conduction voltage). Preferably, the transformer 212 is a toroidal transformer with a few windings of the MOV 202 ground wire on the primary and a few windings of magnetic wire on the secondary. The RF combiner 204 combines the receive and transmit signals from the communications device. The amplifier 206 on the receive side increases receiver sensitivity but is an optional feature that is not necessary for all applications. The opto-couplers 208, 210 decouple the communications device from the medium voltage line circuitry (a desired safety feature); this too is an optional feature that is not necessary for all applications.
[0019] Referring to FIG. 3, the transfer function for an exemplary front end circuit is illustrated. Frequency (in MHz) is represented along the horizontal-axis, and attenuation (in dB) is represented along the vertical-axis. A broad band of relatively low attenuation is evident from about 15 MHz to about 115 MHz. Low (i.e., power distribution) frequencies, such as those in the 50-60 Hz band, are heavily attenuated.
[0020] Referring to FIG. 4, an interface circuit front-end portion according to an alternate embodiment is illustrated. In this embodiment, a ferrite bead 420 is placed between the MOV 410 and ground to choke the RF signal from being grounded. The ferrite bead 420 is connected in parallel with the transformer 430.
[0021] Referring to FIG. 5, an interface circuit front-end portion according to another alternate embodiment is illustrated. The transformer shown in the previously described embodiments is omitted and its functionality is replaced by feeding the ground line 502 between the MOV 510 and ground at an interval L that is a quarter wavelength (&lgr;/4), measured at the carrier frequency, from the ground point. Installation according to this alternate embodiment may be tricky, but has the advantage of being particularly elegant.
[0022] The present invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, however, it will be appreciated that various modifications and improvements may be made to the described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.
1. An interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line, the interface circuit comprising:
a medium voltage node adapted for connection to the medium voltage power line;
a reactive element adapted for connection to a common potential;
a metal oxide varistor connected between the medium voltage node and the reactive element, wherein the radio frequency communications signals are interfaced to the medium voltage node via the metal oxide varistor.
2. The interface circuit for interfacing, radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 1, wherein the reactive element comprises: a transformer.
3. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 1, wherein the reactive element comprises:
a transformer, and
a conductive line coupled through a ferrite bead;
wherein the transformer and the conductive line are connected in parallel with one another.
4. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency communications signals include transmitted signals, the interface circuit further comprising:
a first opto coupler adapted to couple in to the interface circuit the transmitted radio frequency communications signals to be interfaced via the medium voltage node.
5. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 4, wherein the radio frequency communications signals include received signals, the interface circuit further comprising:
a second opto coupler adapted to couple out of the interface circuit the received radio frequency communications signals interfaced via the medium voltage node; and
a radio frequency combiner that is connected to the reactive element, and connected to the first opto coupler so as to make the transmitted radio frequency communication signals available to the medium voltage node via the metal oxide varistor, and connected to the second opto coupler so as to make the received radio frequency communications signals available from the medium voltage node via the metal oxide varistor.
6. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 5, further comprising:
an amplifier connected between the radio frequency combiner and the second opto coupler so as to provide amplification of the received radio frequency communications signals.
an opto coupler adapted to couple out of the interface circuit the received radio frequency communications signals interfaced via the medium voltage node.
8. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 1, wherein the common potential comprises ground.
a conductive line having a selected length and being adapted for connection to a common potential, the selected length being one quarter of the wavelength of the radio frequency communications signals; and
a metal oxide varistor connected between the medium voltage node and the conductive line, wherein the radio frequency communications signals are interfaced to the medium voltage node via the metal oxide varistor.
10. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 9, wherein the radio frequency communications signals include transmitted signals, the interface circuit further comprising:
11. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 10, wherein the radio frequency communications signals include received signals, the interface circuit further comprising:
12. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 11, further comprising:
13. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 9, wherein the radio frequency communications signals include received signals, the interface circuit further comprising:
14. The interface circuit for interfacing radio frequency communications signals with a medium voltage power line of claim 9, wherein the common potential comprises ground.
15. A method for receiving a digital signal from a power line carrying both the digital signal and a powerline voltage waveform, wherein the digital signal is modulated by an RF carrier and the powerline voltage waveform is in the 50-60 Hz band, comprising receiving the digital signal through a high pass filter while blocking or attenuating the powerline voltage, wherein the high pass filter comprises a metal oxide varistor (MOV).
16. The method for receiving a digital signal from a power line of claim 15, wherein the high pass filter further comprises a reactive element connected between the MOV and a common potential.
17. The method for receiving a digital signal from a power line of claim 15, wherein the high pass filter further comprises a selected length conductive line connected between the MOV and a common potential, the selected length being one quarter of the wavelength of the RF carrier.
Inventors: Paul A. Kline (Gaithersburg, MD), Sergey L. Dickey (Fairfax, VA)
Current U.S. Class: Over Power Line (455/402); With Transmission Line (455/14); 455/41
International Classification: H04M009/00;