substation solutions

www.sycomp-electronic.de/substations


General For an efficient administration and an economic operation of high voltage networks, substations are operated by automatic

systems. The principal layout of the control architecture of such a large energy grid is shown in the picture below.

Electric power supply companies usually operate several

substations in their service area. They employ operators

located in the central headquarters and technicians out in

the field. Operators have two main tasks to fulfill:

Dispatch of electric energy according to strategic

and tactical objectives Support of field technicians in preventive and

corrective maintenance in order to ensure network

availability and electric power supply in the periphery

For an efficient operation of the substations, the

infrastructure is essential.

To support the dispatch of electricity, fast and reliable

remote measuring and switching must be guaranteed in

the substations. Operators are supported by control center

software and remote controllable substations in dispatching

the energy.


With remote diagnosis and maintenance software, the

operators can complete the majority of diagnosis and

configuration tasks in the headquarters. Furthermore, the

field service may be supported by means of remote

diagnosis for a fast and focussed fault repair.

Today, remote control of substations is mostly realized by

means of network connections using TCP/IP protocol.

These kinds of network sometimes are private wide area

networks owned by the electric power supply company

concerned. Other companies use virtual private networks

based on public telecommunication networks. Either way, a

safe connection between headquarters and substations is

possible. A network is often split in two sections:

A dispatch network designed for the operation of the power transmission network.

In these networks, each station is identified as a

single node. A substation controller represents the substation with its measuring and switching

capabilities. A substation network designed for maintenance

and fault diagnosis.

In these networks, all bay controllers and other devices in the substations can be addressed

directly for diagnostic purposes.

In any case, a secure connection between the software in

the headquarters and the field automation devices is

possible. Due to the flexibility of network protocols,

different network architectures are possible.

Real Life Substation Automation Electric energy distribution is based on different energy

networks with a heterogeneous infrastructure. Whenever

new substations and power plants are built, they must be

made compatible with facilities that can be much older.

During operation of the systems, many parts are renewed

in order to add new features or due to obsolescence.

Sycomps products are well suited for these kinds of

environment where reliability and flexibility are the main

requirements. Reliability is ensured by robust hardware and

software design. The flexibility to adopt different kinds of

substations is provided by a modular concept of hardware

and software components. In general, the system is

characterized by the following features:

Robust shielded design in 19 inch racks No rotating hard disks

Suitability for AC or DC power supply

Rear I/O connections for easy replacement of

components

Redundant configurations

In the pictures below, several configurations show you how

Sycomp substation components fit in with different types of

substations or power plants.


Large substations Large substations processing several thousand I/O signals can be equipped with devices as shown in the picture.

This substation is equipped with one

substation controller acting as the

main counterpart to the control

center software in the headquarters.

The controller also acts as a

gateway to the different bay

controllers in the substation.

Additionally, existing systems like

sequence of event recorders (SER)

or command and control systems

(CCS) can be integrated into the

architecture.

Small facilities Small facilities like power plant

substations require only a reduced

amount of I/O signals. For these

kinds of substations, Sycomp offers

a compact solution.

The integrated substation controller

acts directly as a counterpart to the

control center software in the

headquarters. This system has a

limited amount of I/O interfaces.

This way, a small substation can be

controlled with a single device.


Redundant configurations A configuration with two redundant substation controllers is

possible, improving the availability of the substation.

Depending on the desired amount of security, redundancy

may be either restricted to the substation controller level or

may include a configuration with redundant bay controllers.

Configuration with redundant substation controllers

Configuration with redundant substation controllers and redundant bay controllers

Substation Controller A

Dispatch Network

Bay Controller

Substation Controller B

Switchyard


Substation Controller The substation controller represents the main gateway

between the control center software and the substation. It

is equipped with a variety of interfaces in order to be able

to connect to various systems providing the I/O interfaces

for the signals of the switchyard.

The picture below shows the architecture of a substation

controller, with some possible connections to different

devices. It is based on a PC with a Linux operating system.

in a 19 inch 3 U rack. The base system can be extended

with additional I/O boards for specific purposes.

The base system has these interfaces on board:

2 ethernet network interfaces

4 serial interfaces

Output for time synchronization pulse

Monitor

Keyboard

Additional interface boards are available in order to extend

the system:

4 additional network interfaces

8 additional serial interfaces

A GPS receiver for accurate time synchronization

Different AC or DC redundant power supplies are also

available.


Bay Controller The bay controller provides the real-time I/O features to

access the signals of the switchyard. These comprise the

collection of data and the control of output lines.

Additionally, existing devices such as a CCS or a SER can

be connected to the bay controller.

The bay controller is a multi-purpose control device

combining functions of various types of devices with

additional software features:

RTU (Remote terminal unit)

SER

SAS (Substation automation system)

Additional automatic functions

Additional remote diagnosis and control features

The architecture of the bay controller consists of a central

unit and an I/O unit. The I/O unit comprises several

modules and can be configured in a flexible way. Besides,

the system can be extended should the need for additional

input or output signals arise.

Architecture of the bay controller with some possible

connections to different devices.

Central unit of the bay controller

The central unit is based on a fanless embedded PC with

Linux operating system in a 19 inch 3 U rack. It has several

interfaces to connect to additional devices:

2 network connections

up to 6 rs232 serial lines

Input for time synchronization signal

3 digital outputs indicating different alarm states

Monitor Keyboard

Fiber optic interface to the I/O unit

In the Software chapter, you will find a description of the

specific feature set.

The central unit is connected by a serial bus with the I/O

unit. The I/O unit is a modular system with different 19

inch 3 U racks. Each rack has 16 slots for different I/O

boards. The central unit controls a maximum of 13 binary,

2 analog input, 1 analog output and 3 control racks. This

allows a maximum of 3328 binary inputs, 256 analog

inputs, 16 analog outputs and 270 digital control outputs.

The I/O unit is usually located in a switching cabinet away

from the central unit of the bay controller. Thanks to the

fiber optic connection, a galvanic isolation is provided and

fail-safe communication over longer distances in electrically

harsh environments is made possible.


Integrated Substation Controller

Integrated substation controller

Architecture of the integrated substation controller with

some possible connections to different devices.

The integrated substation controller is a compact system

with a reduced amount of I/O interfaces. It is based on the

hardware of the bay controller in a compact 19 inch 6 U

rack.

The general architecture of the integrated substation

controller is the same as those of the bay controller. The

main difference is the integration of the I/O devices into the

compact rack. The substation controller is then limited to

144 digital inputs, 64 analog inputs 30 digital control

outputs and 16 analog control outputs.

The integrated substation controller can be combined with a

separate I/O unit should the need for more I/O signals

arise.

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Software The software is also a modular system with a set of

configurable features. This means that the software

functions are available on the different systems (when

applicable) in the same way.

Remote I/O

The central feature of the system is the remote access to

the I/O signals of the switchyard. Values of the input signals

are transmitted to the control center software. The controls

can then be set remotely by the control center software.

Alarms

The systems can be configured in a way such as to generate

alarms on different events. These kinds of events can be

specific states of binary input signals or analog signals under

or over a specific threshold. The alarms may be set locally in

the control room by the alarm output of the system or

transmitted to the headquarters by software telegrams.

Event Recording

When certain events occur (usually combined with an

alarm), the event recording feature is activated. This

function creates a record of different input signals in the

time interval around the incident. This provides an effective

diagnostic tool for operators in order to analyze any network

malfunctions.

Automatic Control

The automatic control function allows switching specific

output controls upon detection of a specific input condition.

For example, an analog input falling below a specific

threshold value leads to the switching of a specific output

control.

Trace and Log

All major events like alarm events and new settings for

controls are logged automatically. Also, all communication

may be logged. This log information is placed in a log

system within the substation. For diagnostic purposes, this

information can be transmitted to the headquarters on

request.

Time Synchronization

Accurate measurement of time is necessary for any

correlation of the information coming from different

substations. Sycomp systems allow two different methods of

time synchronization:

Synchronization by means of GPS receiver with an

accuracy of approximately 1 us Synchronization by NTP protocol with an accuracy

of approximately 5 ms

Connection to External Systems

Sycomp systems provide several protocols in order to

integrate external devices with different I/O interfaces and

software capabilities into a remote control system. These

external devices can be connected either by serial or by

network connection. Connections to systems provided by

Siemens

ABB

Efacec

Westinghouse

and others have already been taken in operation

successfully. In any case, a specific analysis of each

particular environment with its particular requirements is

necessary to be able to find the best suited solution.

Thanks to our flexible software architecture, we are able to

integrate further devices.

Contact Sycomp for an individual solution

Connection to the Control Center and Diagnosis and Maintenance Software

Sycomp systems can communicate with the headquarters

software systems either via network or in case no network

is available - also by means of a modem connection. This

kind of communication is often based on the IEC 870-5-10x

protocol family.

If your systems talk using other protocols, contact Sycomp

for a solution. Our aim is to provide you with products that

fit your individual environment - not to change your

environment to fit our products.

Remote status

The diagnosis software or the control center software

connects to the systems and checks the systems status in

regular time intervals. This gives operators in the

headquarters a real-time overview of the status of the entire

network.

Remote diagnosis

All logging and tracing features of the systems can be used

remotely, too. In combination with a consistent time base,

malfunctions influencing several substations can also be

analyzed from the headquarters.

Remote configuration

The configuration of the systems can also be read and

modified remotely. With this feature, the system can be

adapted to changed conditions from the headquarters

simply by reconfiguration.


Published by

Sycomp Electronic GmbH

Einsteinstr. 7

85521 Dachau

Germany

More information

Tel +49 8131 29946 0

Fax +49 8131 29946 19

Mail [email protected]