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Power Line Carrier Communication (PLCC)

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Po we r Line Carrie r Co mmunic atio n - PLCC (p ho to : Zanith Trans fo rme rs & Swithg e ars Pvt. Ltd )

Content Introduction
Use of PLCC in modern electrical power system is mainly f or telemetry and telecontrol. Tele means remote. Telemetry ref ers to science of measurement f rom remote location. Dif f erent types of data transmission system can be used depending upon the network requirement and conditions. Main data transmission system for telemetry and telecontrol are: 1. Use of telephone lines 2. Use of separate cables 3. Power Line carrier communication 4. Radio wave micro wave channel

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PLCC Pane l Blo c k Diag ram

large power system power line carrier communication is used f or data transmission as well as protection of transmission lines. Carrier current has a f requency range of 30 to 200 kHz in USA and 80 to 500 kHz in UK. Each end of transmission line is provided with identical PLCC equipment consisting of equipment: 1. Transmitters and Receivers 2. Hybrids and Filters 3. Line Tuners 4. Line Traps 5. Power amplif ier 6. Coupling capacitors Distance protection relay in relay panel at one end of the transmission line gets the input f rom CT and CVT in line. T he output of relay goes to modem of PLCC. T he output of PLCC goes to coupling capacitor and then to transmission line and travels to another end where it is received through coupling capacitor and inputted to relay and control panel at that end. Go to Content

Major goal/Applicat ion of PLCC

PLCC in modern electrical power system substation is mainly used for following purpose: 1. Carrier protection relaying of transmission line so that: Inter trip command can be issued by relay due to tripping of circuit breaker at any one end.

PLCC s c he me

To trip the line circuit breaker nearest to the f ault, this is done by: a) Distance protection relay (V/I characteristics) b) Dif f erential comparison method c) Phase comparison method

2. Station to station communication between operating personnel 3. Carrier telemetring, electrical quantities that are telemetered are kW, kVA, kVAR, Voltage and Power factor etc. Following methods are used f or telemetring as well as telecontrol: Simplex Duplex Multiplex Time division Multiplex Many f actors will af f ect the reliability of a power line carrier (PLC) channel. T he goal is to get a signal level to the remote terminal that is above the sensitivity of the receiver, and with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) well above the minimum, so that the receiver can make a correct decision based on the inf ormation transmitted. If both of these requirements are met then the PLC channel will be reliable. The factors affecting reliability are: 1. T he amount of power out of the transmitter. 2. T he type and number of hybrids required to parallel transmitters and receivers. 3. T he type of line tuner applied. 4. T he size of the coupling capacitor in terms of capacitance. 5. T he type and size, in terms of inductance, of the line trap used. 6. T he power line voltage and the physical conf iguration of the power line. 7. T he phase(s) to which the PLC signal is coupled. 8. T he length of the circuit and transpositions in the circuit. 9. T he decoupling equipment at the receiving terminal (usually the same as the transmitting end). 10. T he type of modulation used to transmit the inf ormation, and the type of demodulation circuits in the receiver. 11. T he received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). T he above list may not be all inclusive, but these are the major f actors involved in the success or f ailure of a PLC channel. Go to Content

Main Component s of PLCC 1. Coupling Capacit or

Coupling capacitor connects the carrier equipment to the transmission line. T he coupling capacitors capacitance is of such a value that it of f ers low impedance to carrier f requency (1/C) but high impedance to power f requency (50 Hz).

PLCC c o mp o ne nt - Co up ling Cap ac ito r

For example 2000pF capacitor offers 1.5M to 50Hz but 150 to 500kHz. T hus coupling capacitor allows carrier f requency signal to enter the carrier equipment. To decrease the impedance f urther and make the circuit purely resistive so that there is no reactive power in the circuit, low impedance is connected in series with coupling capacitor to f orm resonance at carrier f requency. Go to Content

2. Line t rap Unit

T he carrier energy on the transmission line must be directed toward the remote line terminal and not toward the station bus and it must be isolated f rom bus impedance variations. T his task is perf ormed by the line trap. T he line trap is usually a f orm of a parallel resonant circuit which is tuned to the carrier energy f requency. A parallel resonant circuit has high impedance at its tuned f requency, and it then causes most of the carrier energy to f low toward the remote line terminal. T he coil of the line trap provides a low impedance path f or the f low of the power f requency energy. Since the power f low is rather large at times, the coil used in a line trap must be large in terms of physical size. Hence a line trap unit/Wave trap is inserted between busbar and connection of coupling capacitor to the line. It is a parallel tuned circuit comprising of inductance (L) and capacitance (C). It has low impedance (less than 0.1?) f or power f requency (50 Hz) and high impedance to carrier f requency. T his unit prevents the high f requency carrier signal f rom entering the neighboring line. Go to Content

3. Transmit t ers and Receivers

T he carrier transmitters and receivers are usually mounted in a rack or cabinet in the control house, and the line tuner is out in the switchyard.

T his then means there is a large distance between the equipment and the tuner, and the connection between the two is made using a coaxial cable. T he coaxial cable provides shielding so that noise cannot get into the cable and cause interf erence. T he coaxial cable is connected to the line tuner which must be mounted at the base of the coupling capacitor. If there is more than one transmitter involved per terminal the signal must go through isolation circuits, typically hybrids, bef ore connection to the line tuner. Go to Content

PLCC c o mp o ne nt - Trans mitte rs and re c e ive rs

4. Hybrids and Filt ers

T he purpose of the hybrid circuits is to enable the connection of two or more transmitters together on one coaxial cable without causing intermodulation distortion due to the signal f rom one transmitter af f ecting the output stages of the other transmitter. Hybrids may also be required between transmitters and receivers, depending on the application. T he hybrid circuits can, of course, cause large losses in the carrier path and must be used appropriately. High/low-pass and band-pass networks may also be used, in some applications, to isolate carrier equipment f rom each other.

5. Line Tuners
T he purpose of the line tuner in conjunction with the coupling capacitor is to provide low impedance path f or the carrier energy to the transmission line and a high impedance path to the power f requency energy. T he line tuner/coupling capacitor combination provides a low impedance path to the power line by f orming a series resonant circuit tuned to the carrier f requency. On the other hand, the capacitance of the coupling capacitor is high impedance to the power f requency energy. Even though the coupling capacitor has high impedance at power f requencies, there must be a path to ground in order that the capacitor may do its job. T his f unction is provided by the drain coil, which is in the base of the coupling capacitor. T he drain coil is designed to be low impedance at the power f requency and because of its inductance it will have high impedance to the carrier f requency. T hus the combination of the line tuner, coupling capacitor, and the drain coil provide the necessary tools f or coupling the carrier energy to the transmission line and blocking the power f requency energy. One last f unction of the line tuner is to provide matching of impedance between the carrier coaxial cable, usually 50 to 75 ohms, and the power line which will have an impedance of 150 to 500 ohms. Go to Content

6. Mast er Oscillat or and Amplif iers

High frequency carrier signal is generated in oscillator. Oscillator can be crystal oscillator with which operation f or a particular bandwidth can be achieved. T he output voltage of a oscillator is held constant by voltage stabilizer. T he output of oscillator is f ed to amplif ier so that loses in transmission can be compensated. Losses occurring in carrier current is termed as attenuation of carrier signal. T hey are mainly: Losses in coupling equipment which are constant losses f or a given carrier f requency bandwidth. Line losses vary with length line, size of line, weather condition etc T hese losses f or underground line is more than overhead line. Frequency spacing is a process using dif f erent carrier f requency in two adjacent transmission lines. Wave trap/Line trap help in accomplishing this. Go to Content

PLCC c o mp o ne nt - Mas te r o s c illato r and amp lifie rs

7. Prot ect ion and eart hing of coupling equipment

Over voltage can be caused due to lightning, switching and sudden loss of load etc. They produce stress on coupling equipment and line trap units. Non linier resistor in series with protective gap is connected across the line trap unit and inductor of coupling unit. T he gap is adjusted to spark at a set value of over voltage.

Coupling unit and PLCC equipment are earthed through a separate and dedicated system, so that ground potential rise of station earthing system does not af f ect the ref erence voltage level/Power supply common ground of the PLCC equipment. In this regard that is earthing of PLCC and other communication/Instrumentation/Electronic equipment please ref er to NEC Article 645 f or data centers (IT equipment.) Top

Advant ages of Digit al PLCC over Analog ones

1. Immune to noise in processing and storage stages, as it is completely digital. 2. Digital: Require less no. of circuits (hardware), since Digital Processor is a single chip. 3. Processing is accurate and reliable. 4. Frequency conversion is done in a single step (Digital Conversion). 5. Digital processing allows the application of a wide range of mathematics. (Analog processing is limited by the availability of devices to perform desired functions, while) 6. Equalization is perf ect: High-resolution digital f iltering gives very f lat f ilter response as desired. 7. T he perf ormance of digital circuits, opposed to analog, is relatively independent of actual component values in the implementing circuit. T heref ore, digital systems more reliably reproduce the desired responses in spite of temperature variations or component aging. 8. In addition, in digital circuits there is little need f or component matching. 9. Simplif ied Production: Lower Parts count and improved testability. Power Line Carrier (PLC) Signal propagation along high voltage lines depends entirely on the construction of transmission lines, mainly on the conf iguration and characteristics of all conductors and on the ground resistance optimum coupling allows to make the best use of a given transmission line. Transposition may introduce additional attenuation which can generally not be predicted with simple rules. Most transposition schemes result in high attenuation poles at certain f requencies such f requencies cannot be used f or PLC communications. Forbidden Frequency Ranges may be determined as explained in CIGRE Paper 35-02, Senn/Morf Optimum PLC Arrangement on Transposed Single Circuit power Lines (August, 1984) In critical cases, however, computer calculation may be necessary, for which the following data is required: 1. Height of each conductor above ground (at the towers) 2. Sag of conductors (between towers) 3. Horizontal distance (between conductors) 4. Number of conductors per phase (single or if bundle spacing) 5. Outer diameter of conductors, material of conductors 6. Number of strands at the circumf erence (outer strands)

Pro te c tio n and e arthing o f c o up ling e q uip me nt

7. Diameter of strands 8. Same inf ormation (a) to (g) f or ground wires 9. Total length of transmission line 10. Sketch of phasing arrangement showing type and number of transpositions and distance between transpositions (if double system, each scheme required separately) 11. Earth resistivity in Ohm meters, if not known, state whether around 300 or 1000 or 3000 communication separately. 12. Coupling arrangement (phase to ground of phase to phase) 13. Available carrier f requency range Go to Content

Typical signal t o noise rat io calculat ion by considering a line of 295 kilomet ers
Frequency line section: 140/144 KHz Line Voltage: 400 KV Line configuration: 3 transpositions at equal distance Line length: 295 Kms Conductor diameter: 31.77 mm No. of bundles per conductor: Two Overall loss = Line attenuation + Coupling loss Line attenuation (aL) = a1 x L + 2a C + aadd Where: a1 = attenuation constant of the lowest loss made in dB per Km ac = model conversion loss in dB aadd = additional loss caused by discontinuities e.g. coupling circuits, transposition etc. in dB a1 is a constant which depends upon f = f requency in KHz d = conductor diameter in mm n = No. of bundles Line configuration = No of transposition at equal intervals Upon substituting corresponding values with certain approximation we get a1: a1 = 0.029 dB/Km Line attenuation, aL = 0.029 x 295 + 2 x 0 + 10 = 8.55 + 10 = 18.55 dB Coupling Loss = Loss in Coupling equipment + tapping loss + paralleling loss + by pass losses in case of bypasses + cable loss. = 2 + 2.6 + 1 + 0 + 0.5 = 6.1 dB Overall loss = Line attenuation + Coupling loss = 18.55 + 6.1 = 24.65 dB Go to Content

SNR (Signal-t o-Noise Rat io) Calculat ion

Signal level (speech) = +35 dB & 38 dB (Corresponding to 20 Watt (43 dBm PEP) and 40 watts respectively) Noise level (Corona noise) in 2.2 KHz bandwidth = -13.5 dB Correction considering Psophometric factor = -2.0 dB Noise level in speech band (300 2400 Hz) = -15.5 dB Equipment noise above external = -60 dBm is very low corresponding to noise so not considered in calculation Signal level (speech) at receiver side on line side = +35 (Line attenuation + Coupling loss) = +35 (18.55 + 6.1) = +35 24.65 = 10.35 dB Signal to noise ratio = (Signal level (speech) at receiver side on line side Noise level in speech band) = +10.35 -(-15.5 dB) = 25.85 dB (considering PLC terminal power output as 20 watts) = 28.85 dB (considering PLC terminal power output as 40 watts which is recommended for better SNR). Go to Content