Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PACWorld Spring2008 All
PACWorld Spring2008 All
automation
and control
magazine
Spring 2008
The Guru:
Shri Mata Prasad
page 60
$7 US
54 EMTP MODELING
Spring 2008
www.
.org
contents
10
4 editorial
38
10 letters
77
91
11 news
The latest news from the world of electric
power systems protection, automation
and control
53 legal issue
18 cover story
On the challenges faced by protection engineers today and how to overcome them
54 EMPT modeling
28 lessons learned
94
11
18
60
34 blackout watch
70 history
36 utilities challenges
77 I think
Do we really need Smart Grids? Marco Janssen shares his thoughts on that issue
38 fault locator
Precise distance to fault locator with twoend phasor measurement transmitted via
serial protection data interface
83
70
46 61850 engineering
Review on designing IEC 61850 systems for
maintenance, retrofit and extension
79 industry reports
CIGRE B5 goals and activities, as well as an
IEEE PSRC guide on breaker failure protection are discussed
83 conference reports
Reports on conferences in the United
Kingdom and the United States
93 book review
PAC World Photo Gallery
presents Protection
in Digital Art
94 hobby
Benton Vandiver III shares with us some of
his BBQ experience and secrets
98 final thoughts
98 events calendar
Go to pages 8 and 68
PAC.SPRING.2008
by Alex Apostolov
Comment
PAC World
is your forum
In this issue we continue our discussion of
topics important to protection professionals.
After discussing the concepts for protection of
transmission lines around the world, now we are
going to talk about electric power systems analysis
from the point of view of protection.
The work of a protection specialist
in many ways is similar to what a
detective needs to do. It actually goes
beyond that, because while Sherlock
Holmes needs just his magnifying
glass and pipe to solve a crime that
has already occurred, we need a
very different set of tools not only to
solve a system event after it happens,
but also to design and configure the
protection, automation and control
system in a way that will prevent
such an event.
Like detectives we first need to
collect the evidence. This requires
a trained eye that can recognize
something significant that may look
like garbage to everybody else. But a
trained eye is not sufficient. Powerful
tools can definitely help us to figure
out not only what happened, but
also when and where. If we keep the
detective analogy in mind, this is like
asking todays investigators to use
only a magnifying glass instead of
DNA testing, microscopes, spectral
analysis and other available tools.
Understanding when an event
occurred is another important task
in our detective work. Modern
protection IEDs provide time
stamping of different events
based on relatively accurate time
synchronization. However, we
usually do not think about when
the time-stamp was actually put on
the event. For example, if the device
senses the change of state of a breaker
based on monitoring of its binary
inputs, the enabling of filtering and
PAC.SPRING.2008
contributors
Demetrios Tziouvaras
Demetrios Tziouvaras was born in Monahiti, Grevena, Greece. He holds a M. Sc. in Electrical
Engineering from Santa Clara University, CA, USA. He worked for 8 years with Pacific Gas
and Electric Co and joined the R&D Engineering Department of Schweitzer Engineering
Laboratories, Inc. in 1998. Mr. Tziouvaras is a senior IEEE member and member of the PSR
Committee. He is a member of CIGRE and the convenor of CIGRE SC B5.15 on Modern
Distance Protection Functions and Applications. He has taught many seminars and is the
author of more than 35 conference papers, and three patents. He served as chairman of an
IEEE PSRC working group that developed an IEEE PES tutorial on EMTP Applications to
Power System Protection. When he has free time on weekends he likes to cook some of his
favorite Greek dishes, take care of the Tziouvaras ranch near San Francisco, CA, go camping
and ride his two beautiful horses with his wife Diana. Mr. Tziouvaras is married and
has a daughter and a son named Panagiota and Athanasios respectively.
Marco C. Janssen
Marco C. Janssen graduated the Polytechnic in Arnhem, The Netherlands and further
developed his professional skills through programs and training courses.
He is President and Chief Commercial Officer of UTInnovation LLC a company that
provides consulting and training services in the areas of protection, control, substation
automation and data acquisition, and support on the new international standard IEC
61850, advanced metering and power quality. He is a member of WG 10, 17, 18, and 19
of IEC TC57, the IEEE-PES and the UCA International Users Group.
Marco coaches his sons football team and enjoys watching
science fiction movies as well as traveling, good food and wine.
Ivan De Mesmaeker
Ivan De Mesmaeker received M.Sc. Engineering Degree from the University of Brussels in
1968. He joined BBC (later ABB) in Baden, Switzerland in 1969. He was Project leader of
the first steady-state distance protection of BBC and of the first numerical line protection,
as well as test set equipment. He is currently Senior Technical Manager for Protection and
Control Systems. He was member of CIGRE Working Group 34-04 (1980-1986) and
Swiss delegate in SC34 of CIGRE (till August 2000). He received the CIGRE Technical
Committee Award in January 2001 and has been Chairman of Study Committee B5 of
CIGRE since 2002. He has authored and co-authored several professional papers.
When not working, he enjoys skiing, hiking, camping and
editing of video films about holidays.
Wolfgang Wimmer
Wolfgang Wimmer works for ABB Switzerland in Baden. He is Principle Engineer in the
development of substation automation systems. He has a M. Sc. degree as well as a Ph.D. in
Computer Science from the University of Hamburg. After some years developing Computer
networks at the German Electron Synchroton DESY in Hamburg he changed to ABB for
development of train control systems, later Network Control Systems.
He has more than 20 years experience with development of substation automation systems.
He is a member of IEC TC57 WG 19 and WG 10, and editor of IEC 61850-6.
Wolfgang likes walking in the mountains as well as at rivers, reading popular books about
biology, especially neuroscience, as well as science fiction and fantasy books.
He also enjoys listening to country music.
PAC.SPRING.2008
All is Well
continued on page 68
GALLERY
Photography
Digital
Art byby
Harmeet
Terry McCoy,
Kang
HawkEye Communications,
Houston,
Texas.
Locus
of a swing
passing
harmlessly by a
moon-shaped like
distance characteristic
(load blinders cut out)
Harmeet Kang
UK
Harmeet is a
protection design engineer
at AREVA T&D
Automation, Stafford, UK
who believes that
protection is not just
science, but
art as well
PAC.SPRING.2008
PAC.SPRING.2008
10
letters
Don't hesitate.
Tell us what you like
and what we can
d o b e tt e r . S h a r e
your thoughts and
experiences.
Simon Richards, UK
pac world
address
The PAC World magazine is published quarterly by PAC World. All rights
is allowed.
PAC.SPRING.2008
industry
+tech
news
11
1
Franklin
Institute
Award
V i r g i n i a Te c h e n g i n e e r i n g
professors James Thorp and Arun
Phadke are recipients of the
2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in
Electrical Engineering for their
combined contributions of more
than 60 years to the power
industry.
Specifically, they have collaborated
on many advances that strengthen
the electric utility industrys ability
to prevent power grid blackouts,
or to make them less intense and
easier to recover from.
For this collaborative work, the
Franklin Institute has now included
Thorp and Phadke into its list of
PAC.SPRING.2008
Virginia Tech
engineering
professors James
Thorp and Arun
Phadke , USA
industry news
12
Toshibas
State-of-the-Art Line
Differential Relay
Now with IEC 61850
2007 Karapetoff
Award
GE Digital Energy's
breakthrough in networking
GE Digital Energy unveils a breakthrough in networking
hardware that can reduce up to 70% of your total communications
costs with the introduction of their new Multilin UR Switch
Module. A fully managed, embedded Ethernet switch for their
flagship Universal Relay (UR), this advanced, 6-port Ethernet
Switch eliminates the need for external, rack-mounted switches.
More importantly, it significantly reduces the total costs
associated with hardware, installation, wiring, and troubleshooting
required for todays traditional substation communication
architectures. The Multilin UR Switch Module delivers full station
management, monitoring, and control functionality with complete
communications redundancy.
PAC.SPRING.2008
13
New Configuration
and Monitoring Tool
IEC 61850
SIPROTEC
Fast Bus Transfer scheme solution
Applications of Siemens SIPROTEC
Relays have revolutionized the
transfer scheme designs. Using only
two basic feeder protection relays
Siemens can realize for example a
Fast Motor Bus Transfer Scheme
per ANSI C50.41-2000. Motor Bus
systems are critical loads which can
not endure long separations from
the power supply. In both industrial
and utility power plant applications,
the consequences of an unplanned
motor bus outage can be costly,
time consuming and dangerous.
The load must be transferred to
a redundant source. The speed
PAC.SPRING.2008
industry news
14
8
Non-Operational
Data Access
Enterprise
Substation
PAC.SPRING.2008
done by inserting
a testplug into the
access point. Just like
the Interface Test
System, SAX features
a finger-safe front and
keyed entry system.
Current shorting
t e s t p l u g s p r ov i d e
additional user safety.
With an internal
resistance of only ca.
2m, SAX is an ideal
solution for the use
with highly sensitive
microprocessor relays.
15
If only 2%
of the solar
from East
to West
Sunpath
Parabolic
mirror
radiation from
the worlds
Heat collecting
element
technology plant
Steam
turbine
Oil
at 395 o C
Direct normal
radiation
Solar through
Recalentador
Superheater
deserts were
used it would
Drive
motor
Condensator
Boiler
Condensator
be enough to
Oil
at 302 o C
supply the
world's power
demands.
Preheater
this technology
is that it is a
conventional
thermal power
plant with a solar
energy source.
PAC.SPRING.2008
technology news
16
The "KIZUNA" is a
Japan Launches
High-speed Communications Satellite
Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, Ltd. and the
Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA) launched the
super high-speed Internet
satellite "KIZUNA" (WINDS)
by the H-IIA Launch Vehicle
No. 14 (H-IIA F14) at 5:55 p.m.
on February 23, 2008 (Japan
Standard Time, JST) from the
Tanegashima Space Center.
The launch vehicle flew
smoothly and, at about 28
minutes and 3 seconds after
liftoff, the separation of the
KIZUNA was confirmed.
We would like to express our
profound appreciation for
the cooperation and support
of all related personnel and
organizations that helped
contribute to the successful
launch of the KIZUNA aboard
the H-IIA F14.
At the time of the launch, the
weather was cloudy, wind
speed was 15.2 m/second
from the northeast and the
temperature was 9.7 degrees
Celsius.
The "KIZUNA" is a
communications satellite that
enables super high-speed
data communications of up to
1.2 Gbps to develop a society
without any information
availability disparity, in which
everybody can equally enjoy
high-speed communications
wherever they live.
Using an antenna for South
East Asian countries, we
are aiming to achieve super
high-speed communications
with nations in the Asia/
Pacific region with which
Japan has close ties.
Large-volume and high-speed
communications provided
by the KIZUNA (WINDS) are
expected to be useful in
various areas. For example,
we will be able to contribute
to "remote medicine" that
enables everybody to receive
sophisticated medical
treatment regardless of time
and location by transmitting
communications
satellite that
enables super
high-speed data
communications
of up to 1.2 Gbps
With a larger
antenna of about
5 meters in
diameter, super
high-speed data
communications
of up to 1.2 Gbps
will be available.
(Such a service is
mainly for
organizations and
companies.)
Artist's View:
KIZUNA (WINDS)
mission logo.
Internet service as that in
urban areas.
See: http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/f14/index_e.html.
PAC.SPRING.2008
17
Mind Control
of Computers
Human thoughts,
expressions and
emotions are
captured by the
neuroheadset.
To share your
ideas about what
we can do with
"mind control of
computers",
please send an
e-mail to:
editor@pacw.org
PAC.SPRING.2008
Brain computer
interface
technology
works by
observing an
individual's
electrical brain
activity and
processing
it so that
computers can
take inputs
from the
human brain.
cover story
20
Paul McGuire
joined Electrocon
after receiving his
MSc (EE) and EE
Professional degree
from The University
of Michigan in 1974.
He has participated
in every phase
of the work of
Electrocon, and is
currently involved
in software project
management and
licensing, managing
and recruiting staff,
customer relations
and customer technical training.
A registered professional engineer in
the State of Michigan since 1984, Paul
is a member of IEEE,
CIGRE, Tau Beta Pi
engineering honor
society, Sigma Pi
Sigma physics honor
society, and
Phi Kappa Phi.
recalculation
Before
After
Coordinated operation
Transmission
miscoordination
PAC.SPRING.2008
Distribution or general
miscoordination
Miscoordination
cannot be solved
50 50N Recalculated
Z1 Recalculated
51 51N Recalculated
Z2 Recalculated
k0 Recalculated
67N Recalculated
21
fault calculations, which would give them better settings.
Planners run electromechanical transient stability simulations
without the benefit of a realistic model of the protection
system, which would give more reliable warnings that the
actions of protective devices may affect the scenarios being
studied. Operations personnel would benefit from a timely
warning if credible contingencies will overload lines to the
extent of risking protective device operation. Likewise, why
shouldn't SCADA systems warn the protection group about
relay loading and CT rating infractions?
Companies experience parallel data sharing failures,
as well. For many companies, the biggest shortcoming in
the protection groups network model is the absence of an
up-to-date model of their neighbors systems. National
security issues and competitive concerns play a role, but in
many cases there are simply not enough people around to
do the necessary communicating. Some utilities' security
rules prevent vendors from examining and trouble-shooting
their data, requiring the vendor instead to use guesswork
and trial-and-error to find the cause of reported problems.
And in a recent case, a company experienced measurable
delays in restoring power after a blackout, because they were
not allowed to know what generation was available to their
system - this in the name of fair competition!
Experience Base. A second area of change and challenge
for our profession is the diminishing experience base. We
see several reasons for this. Utility reorganization (read
downsizing) has been underway around the world since the
early 1990s and has never led to increases in engineering
PAC.SPRING.2008
Increasing
complexity
and additional
governmental
regulations
are today's
reality
cover story
22
Overcurrent
relay ratcheting
has caused
more than one
misoperation.
PAC.SPRING.2008
Vendor Software
mitigating factors to the complexity issue. No utility uses all
the available functions and most settings either dont apply
to the protection functions directly, or at least do not change
from installation to installation. Those that do are critical, of
course, and must be computed by the protection engineer.
Certainly the cost per function has dropped significantly. Also,
the evolution of digital relay complexity was driven in part by
a demand to solve many different protection issues associated
with various governmental and engineering requirements.
It seems that increasing technical feasibility and competitive
one-upmanship played a role, too. With proper care, these
forces can foster creativity and efficiency.
Possible Solutions
The challenges discussed above are complex. There is
no single, simple solution. In fact, we expect a multitude of
component solutions to become prevalent in the years to
come, and these will affect multiple issues at once. The drain
of experience and personnel continues and is not likely to be
reversed any time soon. The solutions we are able to offer are
aimed at making the best use of the engineers we have.
They may be classified into three broad categories:
Apply new technologies to get the right answers
Use the new technologies to counter the challenge of
diminishing staff and experience
Implement changes in data administration
Apply new technologies to get the right answers
It is often said that protective relaying is both an art and
a science a science because the engineer can apply precise
rules and techniques in developing relay settings; an art
because, sometimes application of these precise rules does
not quite work. The engineer has to use his or her experience,
judgment, and knowledge of the power system to tweak or
modify the relay settings to meet the desired objective.
23
Views of relay
vendor setting
software: Every
relay vendor
offers its own
tools for settings
management.
PAC.SPRING.2008
A. Giuliante
"Tony" is the President and founder
of ATG Consulting,
which provides specialized protection
engineering consulting services to
the power industry.
Prior to forming his
company in 1995,
Tony was Executive
Vice President of
GEC ALSTHOM T&D
Inc. - Protection and
Control Division.
From 1967 to 1983,
he was employed by
General Electric and
ASEA. He is a Fellow
of IEEE and has
authored over 50
technical papers. He
is a frequent lecturer on all aspects of
protective relaying,
including electromechanical, solid
state, and digital
based equipment.
Giuliante is a past
Chairman of the
IEEE Power System
Relaying Committee
1993-1994, and
past Chairman of
the Relay Practices
Subcommittee. He
holds degrees of
BSEE and MSEE from
Drexel University.
cover story
24
PAC.SPRING.2008
25
2. Simulating the whole protection system is analogous to
using a flight simulator a safe environment for engineering
training, and for studying the effect of relay settings on
wide-area coordination.
3. Stored and properly documented setting techniques
can speed the setting and documenting processes, and also
serve as a teaching tool for younger engineers. We arent
advocating this training technique as a replacement for the
resident expert but as a supplement and a backup for when
there is no expert.
4. A common database environment can unify and
coordinate the management of settings to a useful degree
without needing to replace the multi-vendor setting software
communication environments - an unrealistic objective in a
competitive world.
5. The application of advanced computer methods, not
only to protection but throughout power system engineering,
can attract prospective engineers to our profession from a
generation already enamored of computer technology.
Implement changes in data administration
Software cant provide the incentive for organizations
to cooperate, but it can make the mechanics of cooperation
easier. We discuss here some of the advantages that might be
gained by sharing both network and protection data within
different groups in a company and among companies.
1. Data must be maintained by those who use it and who
know the system best, but data could be stored, shared, and
kept secure at a higher level than the individual groups or
their companies. Multi-user database management systems
are common and must not be viewed as a constraint.
PAC.SPRING.2008
by Christoph Brunner
27
PAC.SPRING.2008
28
Protection Failure
lesson learned
Substation
"Horror
Stories" - a
Manufacturer's
Perspective
The rigid, real time performance demands placed on Protective Relays, Remote Terminal Units, Communication links, SCADA and EMS systems, coupled with harsh
operating environment, make these systems complex to design, install and operate.
This article describes real life episodes as seen through the eye of equipment provider.
1 IED architecture
OPERATOR
INTERFACE
COMMUNICATION
SUBSYSTEM
SUBSTATION
AUTOMATION
PROCESSOR
SCADA, EMS
ANALOG
INTPUT
SUBSYSTEM
PAC.SPRING.2008
BINARY
INTPUT
SUBSYSTEM
Power system
BINARY
OUTPUT
SUBSYSTEM
29
False Breaker Trip Reporting
A Supervisory Control (early
1970s predecessor of SCADA)
system at a major Electric Utility
reported circuit breaker operations
at several substations occurring at
random, over the span of several
weeks.
Subsequent inspection of the
breaker control equipment at
those substations revealed that no
breaker operations took place and
a Supervisory Control equipment
was providing false information.
Several dozens of these systems
were purchased and installed by
that Utility. Naturally, the reliability of the equipment and the qualifications of the personnel involved in
its design and manufacturing were
seriously challenged by the Utility
management.
It has been mildly suggested during the meeting preceding field investigations that the equipment be
put in perfect operating condition
by the end of the week or replaced
with similar product made by those
who know what they are doing.
The diagram in Figure 5 depicts a
typical system configuration.
The rest of the day was spent
at the Master Station ( a 90 tall
cabinet full of PC cards with mostly
discrete transistors and indicating
lights). The oscilloscope measurements indicated proper signal levels
suggesting that the problem was
on the RTU level. It is worth mentioning here that the understanding
of the substation noise was rather
sketchy in those days and the equipment tended to be overdesigned.
Similar investigations were performed at the Remote Terminal
Units in question. Oscilloscope
measurements provided no clues.
An MG-6 relay connected in buzzer mode was used to generate a
substantial amount of noise; again
no false operations were observed.
As the week came to a close, the
52a wiring (see above) check was
done in desperation. The RTU terminals looked fine; however, a walk
to the breaker control box in the
yard was very fruitful; the corresponding terminals had loose screw
connections! It was discovered later
that the same problem existed at all
suspected RTU locations. End result: happy Customer !
Lesson #1: Pay attention to the
simplest element of your system
Continuous alarm
The equipment and location
were the same as in the previous
episode. Under normal operating
conditions the alarm or change of
contact status was reported by an
RTU and acknowledged by a Master Station to reset the alarm. The
communication links to the RTUs
were 60mA loops operating at 50
bps (sic!) connected as shown in Fig
ure 2. The transmit TX and receive
RX devices were identical mercury
wetted contact relays with plug-in
octal bases.
One of the RTUs reported an
alarm but the Master Station acknowledgement failed to reset
it, and thus an alarm condition
persisted at the RTU. The system
operator would dispatch a technician to the RTU who subsequently
swapped TX and RX relays, thereby eliminating the problem.
Several days or so later the same
problem would occur, so the same
approach was used and the problem cured again. Note that TX and
RX relays were now in their original position!
During the field trip to the substation, the real problem was determined to be a solder whisker on a
printed circuit board extending to
the adjacent trace, as shown in Figure 4.
During abnormal system behavior with the RTU enclosure sealed,
the internal temperature caused the
solder whisker to expand, touching the adjacent PCB trace and
disabling the alarm acknowledge
circuit. Opening the enclosure to
swap TX and RX relays lowered
the temperature sufficiently to contract the whisker, thereby fixing
the problem.
Janusz Dzieduszko
is M.S.E.E. graduate
of the Academy of
Mining and Metallurgy in Cracow.
He has over 40
years of experience
in engineering
management and
design in Substation
Automation. Janusz
is currently Consultant with USA
in Raleigh, NC. He
worked with: ABB,
Westinghouse,GE
and BBC. He holds
five patents and is
authored several
papers in Substation
Automation. His biography is included
in Marquis Who is
who in the World
and Who is Who in
America.
60 mA Loop
RX
TX
TX
To Master
RX
To RTU
PAC.SPRING.2008
Protection Failure
lesson learned
30
Be aware
of variables
introduced
during
board swapping.
3 Master simulator
A B C
RTU #1
A B C
RTU #2
PAC.SPRING.2008
nent platform with vertical pins inserted in the IC socket. The top pins
were jumpered with the bare wire
and hand soldered. The unused
connections, as determined by address decoding, were clipped off.
It was found that the jumpers
described above had cold solder
connections causing intermittent
problems. Furthermore, these
innocent jumpers were subconsciously removed from the bad
boards and transferred to the
good boards, always remaining
with RTU#2.
Lesson #3: Be aware of variables introduced during board
swapping.
Intermittent data
communication
A large process control system
as shown on the diagram in Figure
6 was installed. A major computer
manufacturer provided main control processors, SYSTEM 370 and
SYSTEM 7 and software; COMM
INTFCE and RTUs were supplied
by (then) a Major SCADA Company. RTU communication was
via copper shielded twisted pairs
with a maximum distance of 5
km. Asynchronous frequency shift
(FSK) modems operating at 1800
bps, with mark and space frequencies of 1200 and 2200 Hz respectively, were used. Connection was
4 wire with separate pairs for data
transmit and receive. RTU communication used popular 32-bit protocol with 2 start, 24 data, 5 CRC and
1 stop bits. SYSTEM 7 to COMM
INTFCE data link was parallel with
12 bit data lines and several control
lines.
During final system start-up,
a vicious communication problem
was uncovered.
Several (2 to 4) times per day
COMM INTFCE reported CRC
(cyclic redundancy check) errors
on data acquisition; this condition
existed in short bursts of 120 to
180 msec.
System software invoked error
recovery initiating 3 data retrieval
4 Solder whisker
31
RTU
RTU
RTU
RTU
52a
SYSREM 370
SYSREM 7
COMM INTCE
RTUs
AUDIO OUT
AUDIO OUT
TAPE RECORDER
RCVR
INPUT
DATA
OUT
FSK MODEM
A
B
OSCILLOSCOPE
PAC.SPRING.2008
Protection Failure
lesson learned
32
the tape counter on tape recorder.
Known sections of tape were
played back as in Figure 7. Normal
data retrieval sequence consisted of
one 32 bit request sent to RTU, followed by up to 8 32 bit responses
from RTU.
Data Request
RTU Response
RTU Response
Protection clusters
BUS
LINE
data highway
Station Computer
data links
PAC.SPRING.2008
33
station.In the final phase of testing
at the factory, the system suddenly
started to crash several times per
day.Extensive use of fiber optics
assured very high degree of noise
immunity, thus exonerating system hardware.The interaction of
multiple processors in clusters was
suspected and analyzed over the
period of days; no obvious reasons
were found.
It was observed later that the
crashes occurred during late morning, and were later correlated to the
passing of a Mail Robot vehicle near
the system. The vehicle has a motor
that generates EM interference; the
system hardware became a prime
suspect. Very soon the problem was
solved:
A robot (in addition to motor)
had a safety strobe light that was
penetrating one of the Protection
Clusters via partially open enclosure rear door. These light pulses
were read as spurious interrupts
by a fiber optic receiver left open
for the integration of other manufacturers cluster into the system. A
strategically placed piece of electrical tape cured the problem.
Lesson #5: Do not take anything for granted.
False system operations
Some time following successful
installation and integration at the
substation, the system described in
the previous chapter began to issue
false breaker trip commands.
These occurrences were rare
(2 to 3 weeks apart), random, and
were traced down to all protection
clusters. Obviously, much energy,
time, and money was invested in
attempts to eliminate this unpleasant phenomenon. The complexity
of the system opened the door to
various theories in two basic areas:
Substation noise
System software bug
The system passed extensive
factory type testing including
SWC, Fast Transient, RFI and temperature limits.
Massive utilization of fiber op-
0
0
Analog Input
FIELD
INPUTS
A/D
MUX
REF
PAC.SPRING.2008
system
power
outages
by Clare Duffy, ESBI, Ireland
34
Florida, USA
26 February,
2008
Watch
blackout
St. Andrew,
Jamaica
6 April,
2008
Karachi,
Pakistan
26 February,
2008
South Africa
Cape Town,31 March,
South Africa 2008
1 February,
2008
shut down automatically. Two other
generation plants were affected and
the system lost a total of 3,400 MW
of generating capacity.
A row over unpaid bills sparked
a huge power blackout in Pakistan's
biggest city, Karachi, leaving most
of its 12 million residents without
electricity. The outage came after
Pakistan's main power utility
New Delhi,
India
16 March,
2008
Manila
Philippinies Carcar City,
11 April, Philippinies
2008
30 January,
2008
PAC.SPRING.2008
Kuala Lampur,
Malaysia
21 April ,
2008
Time and
location of the
System & Power
Disturbances in
2008
Challenges
System Protection
36
I believe
that the only
solution to
the problems
is a black-box
approach.
Challenges
and
Opportunities
utilities face by using modern
protection and control systems
Before considering the application of relays, we should
answer a basic question:
What is the main requirement for protection from the
utilities point of view? In my opinion, there is no doubt that
reliability is the main requirement.
When there is a fault in the grid, everybody expects relays
to trip quickly and with selectivity no matter the kind of fault
or the initial cost of protection.
According to a survey carried out in eight utilities by
the CIGRE Task Force 34.06 (2002), reliability indexes
were between 92% and 97.5%. The three utilities with
the best indexes, above 97%, had carried out an extensive
refurbishment program of their protection system.
Although this may seem obvious, it must be emphasized
that refurbishment is the easiest way to achieve protection
reliability improvement.
There are two main drivers for refurbishment:.
Measurement Equipment
The measurement equipment used is as follows:
Increasing protection requirements are coming from
the grid. For example, in the case of Spain there has been an
PAC.SPRING.2008
pictures courtesy to :
Iberdrola
increase in load of 32% in the last seven years. This increase
has resulted in a reduction of critical clearing times and new
requirements for protection.
Protection assets are becoming older. According
to aforementioned CIGRE Task Force, 40 to 50% of the
protection relays of some utilities were electromechanical
and more than 30 years old.
Taking these two facts into account, we must think of
protection as a strategic asset that should be able to cope
with more and more demanding requirements from the grid
now and in the future. In order to achieve this, state of the
art protection systems will need to be installed in the grid.
But lets go even further -- improvements in reliability
that can be obtained from new digital relays. According to
Iberdrolas experience with causes of protection failure in
new substations, only around 15% of the failures are internal
to the relays. However, 40% of the failures are outside the
relays, mainly due to wiring. and 45% of the failures are
caused by setting errors. The good news is that 85% of these
failures could be eliminated by the utility.
Consider the three main ways to achieve reliability
improvement:
Standardization: in order to reduce engineering and
construction errors.
Commissioning testing: in order to identify and correct
these errors.
37
Fault analysis: in order to detect any faulty operation
Modern protection and control systems offer new
opportunities for improvement in these three approaches.
Here are examples of best practices:
Standardization
Red Elctrica de Espaa (REE), which is the TSO in Spain,
is carrying out a very ambitious protection refurbishment
campaign in the whole transmission system. The key to
achieving their goal is standardization and wiring reduction.
This standardization has allowed REE to increase the
reliability of their protection system and to fulfill deadlines
with their refurbishment program.
Commissioning testing
New devices based on IEC 61850 allow for new
functionality. Therefore testing can be carried out directly
from the configuration files of the substation and completed
automatically. This opens new opportunities to reduce
testing time and more efficient identification of failures.
Fault analysis
These days, with new digital protection, the problem is
not having the information, but how to deal with it.
In this respect, we think that protection management
systems are crucial. The system we are using in Iberdrola
covers the functions of communication with relays, fault
analysis tools, setting database and fault database. This
system is the heart of our protection organization and helps
us to achieve our goal of attending and correcting significant
protection failures in 24 hours.
A second step would be to develop analysis tools to
automatically help the engineer with a diagnosis. However,
in order to do this, standardization is essential
Its clear that digital technology offers new opportunities
for improvement; there are also several drawbacks, related
with people. Protection engineers have difficulties with the
new protection constraints such as:
Complexity. A modern relay usually has 200 or more
parameters to be adjusted.
3 Substation Mercedes
4 Wind farm
PAC.SPRING.2008
Biography
Javier Amantegui
Javier Amantegui
graduated as an
electrical engineer
from the Escuela
Superior de Ingeni
eros de Bilbao. He
joined Iberdrola in
1997 and worked in
the areas of SCADA
hardware mainte
nance, protection,
power quality and
metering. At pre
sent he is manager
of the Protection
and Technical Assis
tance Department
in Iberdrola Distri
bution in Spain. He
has been involved
in CIGRE activities
since 1988 and he
will be the new
SC B5 Chairman
from August 2008
onwards.
Precise
38 39
Fault Locator
with two-end
phasor measurements
EAF
Transformers
PAC.SPRING.2008
Dr. Juergen
Holbach
was born in
Germany in 1961.
He graduated from
the University of
Berlin with a PhD
in Electrical Engineering. He joint
the Siemens AG in
1992 as a development engineer in
Berlin Germany. In
1994 he moved to
the product management group for
protection relays
in Nuernberg
Germany. Since
2000 he works
for Siemens in the
US out of Raleigh
North Carolina.
I/A
20
0
-20
-40
20
-0.06
-0.05
-0.04
-0.03
-0.02
-0.01
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
t/s
-20
I/A
-40
20
Current IA
U/V
Current IB
Current IC
K1:Strom iL1
0
50
K1:Strom iL2
K1:Strom iL3
-0.06
-0.05
-0.04
-0.03
-0.02
-0.01
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
-0.06
-0.05
-0.04
-0.03
-0.02
-0.01
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
-0.02
-0.01
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
t/s
-20
0
-40
-50
Current IA
Current IB
t/s
Current IC
-100
U/V
20
0
-20
-40
50
Voltage VA
Voltage VB
Voltage VC
-0.06
-0.05
-0.04
-0.03
t/s
-50
-100
Voltage VA
Voltage VB
Voltage VC
K1:Spannung uL1
PAC.SPRING.2008
K1:Spannung uL2
K1:Spannung uL3
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Evaluation
Fault Locator
analysis
40
I
1
I
2
K1: double-ended
I
3
I
4
I
5
I
6
I
7
I
8
miles
41
23
24
ILoad
ZLA
IA
ZLB
RF
IB
VA
VB
Line impedance
Faulr resistance
Voltage
PAC.SPRING.2008
Michael Claus
was born in Wuerzburg Germany in
1960. He graduated
from the University
of Hannover with a
master in Electrical
Engineering. He
joint the Siemens
AG in 1988 as a development engineer
in Berlin Germany.
In 1991 he moved
to the product
management group
for protection
relays in Nuernberg
Germany. He is the
product manager
for the world wide
Siemens distance
relay business.
Fault Locator
analysis
42
The financial
returns for
the company
are optimised
by the higher
availability of
the overhead
15
line due to
a = IA + IB - IA
shorter down
times and
VA
VB
VARC / ISC1
1 + K0
consequently
the improved
ZL1
IA
transfer
capacity of the
network.
PAC.SPRING.2008
IB
43
computation. (Figure 6) Sometimes it is also desirable to
indicate impedance measured value and fault locator data
when there is only a fault detection by the protection
and no trip command. In this case the data window is
positioned at the end of the first fault detection data
window. The end of the first fault detection data window
is either determined by the re-set of the protection fault
detection or by a change of the fault type.
Synchronisation of the phasors
The two ended fault locator uses current and voltage
phasors of all three phases from both line ends. The
numerical filters are designed so that the fault location
calculation is done based on the fundamental component.
The current and voltage phasors are provided with a time
stamp, the actual system frequency and data window
length information is added and then transmitted via the
digital communication link to the corresponding device
at the other line terminal. Protection device A therefore
receives the values from protection device B and vice versa.
With the time stamp, system frequency and data window
length the phasors can then be synchronised to a common
reference. Using the time stamp, the phasors are then
checked to see if they belong to the same condition during
the system disturbance.
Only if they both refer to an identical interval of the
fault will the computation based on the two ended
method be done.
Two ended fault locator computation with
positive and negative sequence values
The here presented two ended fault location is based on
the principle that the voltage decays along the line up to
26
I/A
( )
( )
V (x ) = V m cosh g x Z I m sinh g x
whereby:
voltage at the position x
measured value at the corresponding line end
distance from the beginning of the line
propagation constant of the line
V (x )
Vm, Im
x
g
Relay trip
CB open
Prefault
condition
Fault inception
1.48
1.5
1.52
1.64
1.56
1.58
Jump A, C
1.60
1.62
t/s
Jump
Jump Data window extension
before trip command
Current waveform
Fault inception
non-transposed lines.
Breaker open
PAC.SPRING.2008
44
Fault Locator
analysis
g=
Z
R'+ jwL'
jwC '
17
18
Conductor arrangement
on HV towers
The fault
IA
R'
locator
provides the
user with
X'
R'
C'
C'
VA
X'
IB
A
d
C
VB
RF
C
dA
VA
dA
dA
VB
substantial
VA(x)
advantages.
VRF
x
Line impedance
PAC.SPRING.2008
VB(y)
y
Faulr resistance
Voltage
Non - symmetrical
Phase conductor
Symmetrical
Engineering
IEC 61850
46
Usage of names
Names are used at system
engineering time to establish
relations between the different parts
of the system: Relations between
the switch yard (primary system)
and the IED signals (secondary
system), and data flow between IEDs
for communication engineering
respective online communication
association establishment. A name
change at a data source therefore
leads to reengineering of all IEDs
connected to the changed one
respective replaced one. In former
master slave architectures all data
flowed between the bay level IEDs
and one single central place, only
the IED to be replaced and the
central IED were concerned. For
IEC 61850 however already for
availability reasons several station
level IEDs might be connected to
the same bay level IEDs, and the new
Wolfgang Wimmer works for ABB Switzerland in Baden. He
is principle engineer in the development of substation automation systems. He has a M. Sc. degree as well as a Ph.D. in
Computer Science from the University of Hamburg. After some
years developing Computer networks at the German Electron
Synchroton DESY in Hamburg he changed to ABB (former BBC)
for development of train control systems, later Network Control Systems. He has more than 20 years experience with development of substation automation systems. He is a member of
IEC TC57 WG 19 and WG 10, and editor of IEC 61850-6.
PAC.SPRING.2008
47
identification has non standardized
parts. The logical device name as
a manufacturer / organisation
related structuring is completely
free within some syntactical limits.
This is illustrated in table 1 with an
example designation for a switch
position value within the switch
control function:
MyControl LD1/Q0CSWI3.Pos.
stVal
A product manufacturer typically
provides IEDs as products with
some predefined functionality,
however with no context to the
project specific usage. Therefore the
LD relative name and some parts of
the LN instance identification need
to be given by the manufacturer
independent of the unknown
project, and might be needed after
project engineering to associate the
project specific data to the project
independent preconfiguration of
the IED. Therefore it is manufacturer
dependent, which parts of the
LN instance identification can be
adapted specifically for a project.
Although this designation is
mainly used for communication
establishment, we might call it a
product related designation in the
sense of IEC 61346-1, especially if
the IED designation is used as part of
the LD name.
Usage of application
oriented functional
names in parallel to
maintenance
related IED names
with automatic
translation via
SCL files, enhances
long term system
maintainability
Edition 2 practically at all places)
functions which are not directly
switch yard related, like protection,
control and automation functions,
but also supervision functions
outside the substation function itself
like fire supervision, or functions
belonging to power generation. The
functional names are completely
project / customer specific within
the structural restrictions given by
IEC 61346-1. The transition object,
i.e. the place where product related
name and function / application
related name matches the same
Figure 1
of a small
StatUrg
StatUrgC1
Color code:
GOOSE
interlocking
system
reasons, the
controllers
exchange
GOOSE
messages.
The
replacement
1 Data
flow between IEDs in the substation
Example of a small system with an OPC server & a gateway as station level IEDs
AA1KA1
OPC Server
P2WA1
For
an example
of IED P2KA1,
Unbuffered
influences
3 other IEDs.
P2Y1
COM581
***GW***
StatUrgC1 P2KA1
REC 670
StatUrgM1 P2WA1
MeasFlt
The four
Interlock
P2KA2
C264
P2WA1
controllers in
different bays
are sending
P2KA3
Siprotec-7SJ6xx
P2WA1
StatUrg
Positions
Positions
reports to the
P2FA1
REL 670
P2WA1
StatUrg
Interlock
Interlock
Interlock
station level
P2KA4
RED 670
P2WA1
IEDs.
PAC.SPRING.2008
Engineering
IEC 61850
48
IEC 61850
Communication engineering
IEC 61850 MMS based services
allow an interactive browsing of
the IED data model to retrieve all
communication related names. Due
to the unique LD name these can be
translated into IED related names as
well as functional names by means
of the SCD file. However, normally
operational traffic is based on
preconfigured data flow for services
allowing spontaneous sending.
These are typically:
Reporting service for status
update and time stamped events to
station level IEDs like HMI, or
gateways to network control
centres.
GOOSE real time service for
real time functions typically between
bay level IEDs, or down to process
level IEDs, e.g. interlocking related
data or protection trips and
blockings.
SMV services, if analogue
samples are needed directly from the
process, e.g. for protect ion,
synchrocheck and measurement
functions.
To evaluate the importance of
the DATA names for these services,
we have to look a bit into their
definition:
All services are configured by
means of a data set, defining the
hierarchy
Substation AA1
Voltage level E1 at 110kV
Bay Q3
Equipment QB1 : DIS
XSWI, Name /XSWI of Type m_XSWI
CSWI, Name /CSWI of Type E3_CSWI
CILO, Name /CILO of Type m_CILO
Equipment QA1 : CBR
XCBR, Name /XCBR of Type E_XCBR
CSWI, Name Q3QA1/CSWI of Type E3_CSWI
CILO, Name Q3QA1/CILO of Type m_CILO
Equipment BE5 : VTR
Function F1 : Protection
PTRC, Name /PTRC of Type E3_PTRC
PSCH, Name /PSCH of Type E3_PSCH
PTEF, Name /PTEF of Type m_PTEF
Subfunction Z1 : Distance zone 1
PDIS, Name /PDIS1 of Type E3_PDIS
Subfunction Z2 : Distance zone 2
PDIS, Name /PDIS2 of Type E3_PDIS
Subfunction Z3 : Distance zone 3
PDIS, Name /PDIS3 of Type E3_PDIS
Subfunction Z1B :
PDIS, Name /BPDIS1 of Type E3_PDIS
Function R1 : ProtRelated
RREC, Name /RREC of Type E3_RREC
RFLO, Name /RFLO of Type E_RFLO
Function M1 : Measurement
MMXU, Name /MMXU of Type E3_MMXU
MMS based
services allow
3 Example of a function
IED
interactive
Server
Logical Device
LN
browsing of
DO DO
LN
DO
Logical Device
LN
DO
LN
DO
model.
Client associations
I/O
Process bus access point (can be same as above)
PAC.SPRING.2008
49
data to be spontaneously sent, and
a control block, defining when and
how it shall be sent, as illustrated in
Figure 6.
The reporting service only
sends the changed data values. A bit
pattern in each report identifies the
place of the data set to which the sent
data values belong.
For GOOSE and SMV services
always all values of the whole data
set are sent. The order of values in the
message corresponds to the order of
the data items in the data set
definition.
This means, that essentially
the values sent on the wire do not
contain any of the names considered
earlier, just the relation between the
sent values and their place in the data
set definition. For correct message
interpretation the receivers only
have to know, to which data set the
message belongs, and how this data
set looks like. For reports this can be
established dynamically by means
of the browsing services or data set
creation services, however also by
static configuration with a common
SCD file as base. The relation
between the online message and the
data set definition then is established
as follows:
Reports are MMS based and
MMS a ssociat ions must be
Different physical
structures enforce
different IED related
data identifications at
IED/LD/LN level
Contains the data of the old
GOOSE message with same data
types and same semantics (functional
equivalence).
Contains or allows configuring
a data set with the same type of data
values in the same order and same
semantics related to the project as
the old IED.
Uses the same Ethernet level
addressing (Multicast address,
APPID, VLAN).
Has the same full data set name:
same LD name (if freely configurable
on the IED), same LN name (LLN0
for all GOOSE and SMV messages),
the same data set name (mostly
configurable at the IED for GOOSE
and SMV data sets), and the same
configuration revision number
(needs free setting by the tool
creating the data set, or some tool
support for the replacement).
IED: Ctrl9
Voltage level: E1
LD: LD1
Bay: Q3
Switch: QA1
LN (class) : CSWI
LN: QA1CSWI 1
DATA: Pos
Attribute: stVal
Functional name:
AA1E1Q3QA1CSWI.Pos.stVal
PAC.SPRING.2008
IEC 61850
50
Table 1 Degree of name standardization
IED structure
level
Degree of standardization
Example
designation
Logical device LD
Syntactical (61850-7-2)
MyControlLD1
---
---
100 Kb/S
Q0CSWI3
CSWI
Switch control
200 Kb/S
Pos
Pos
Switch position
Attribute
stVal
stVal
Status value
Engineering
Table 2
Architecture
LD Name
DATA
LN Name Name
Single bay
controller
Process bus from
bay controller to
circuit breaker
interface
Central controller
with process bus
to circuit breaker
interface
Ctr19LD1
Ctr19LD1
Q0CSWI1
Q0XCBR1
Pos
Pos
Ctr19LD1
SWg8LD1
Q0CSWI1
QA1XCBR4
Pos
Pos
Ctrl11LD9 Q0CSWI1
SWg8LD1 QA1XCBR4
Pos
Pos
Remark
Use functional
names as a key
between old
and new
configurations
supported in IEC 61850 better than
in other protocols in so far, as this
binding is done on the level of logical
nodes instead of signals, and will in
all cases, where application specific
LNs are used (e.g. no GAPC and no
GGIO), reduce to a selection of LN
instances with the same LN class,
thus minimizing the amount of
work as well as that of errors.
For good implementations of
station level clients, which internally
work with the functional names as
defined above, it is then sufficient
to reload them at driver level with
the SCD file resulting from this
re-mapping of LN instances.
Even better client
implementations allow to do
this reload per IED e.g. when
communication with the (new)
IED is (re-) established. In any case,
the probability of errors is restricted
to the remapped IED, and this
5 Different architectures
IEC 61850 offers solutions to
Ctrl 1
Ctrl 9
Station level
Ctrl 9
Bay level
Swg 8
Bay controller
PAC.SPRING.2008
SWg 9
Bay controller
+ Process bus
Swg 8
SWg 9
Central controller
+ Process bus
Process level
51
probability is quite low, because
the remapping is performed on the
relatively high level of LN instances,
supported in most cases by the
needed LN class. It should however
be considered that the new IED
should contain at least the same
DATA per remapped LN instance as
needed by the application.
Impact on engineering and
used products
The follow ing point s are
important to minimize the efforts in
case of SA system retrofit:
Use functional naming for
system engineering and the IED
related names, so that the SCD file
provides a translation between them
in a standardized format.
Use functional naming at
application level, i.e. within
application functions. Let the (MMS
based) communication drivers
translate the IED names into
functional names by means of SCD
file(s). In case of (station level) clients
which do not support this, use a tool
to create the new configuration from
the SCD file, by using the functional
name as common key between old
and new configuration.
The safety of this approach can
be supported by a system tool which
supports the IED replacement at the
functional structure on LN level,
with a check of the same respective
correct LN classes.
As we have seen, the replacement
of GOOSE servers without having
to reconfigure all GOOSE receivers
needs some optional features from
the IED respective its tool:
Support free LD naming
Support free data set naming, at
least for GOOSE and SMV data sets
Support free (guided) setting of
GOOSE confRev
To make this procedure safer,
the tool should support remapping
the new IED to the functional
names and, after this remapping,
automatically (re-)create the GOOSE
/ SMV data sets with identical layout
and name, set the LD name property
identical and take over all old
addresses.
Designing systems
for the maximal
ever intended
physical distribution,
eases future
retrofit
explicit communication connections.
This has also been considered at the
more detailed definitions of IEC
61850 Edition 2 for the influence
of the test and block quality of
incoming signals, and should also be
used when implementing test and
block modes on internally connected
logical nodes.
If these additional system
structuring rules are considered,
then the consequent usage of
functional naming for application
related functions in parallel to the
usage of product related naming for
automation system maintenance, as
foreseen in IEC61850-6, supports
easy retrofit and system extension
with minimum engineering,
modification and (re-)testing effort
even if the underlying physical
architecture is changed or IEDs
of a different type or a different
manufacturer are used.
6 Communication model
GOOSE or Report messages
defined by data sets and control blocks (CB)
IED
Communi-
s
ger
trig
CB
Data
Set
Logical Device
LN
cation model
with data sets
and control
Logical Device
LN
LN
DO
DO
DO
PAC.SPRING.2008
blocks
Legal Issues
53
Possible
Legal
Concerns
A class act ion lawsuit is a
procedural device that permits the
litigation of multiple claims in a single
proceeding.
PAC.SPRING.2008
Biography
Iana graduated
from UCLA in
2001 with a
major in Political
Science. In 2005
she was awarded
the degree of
Juris Doctor,
from Loyolla Law
School.
During her
studies, Iana
worked for Soft
Power Int., where
she became well
aquainted with
the engineering
world. She
furthered
her business
knowledge
working for
Insurance
Marketing Inc.
Upon graduating
from Law School,
Iana joined the
Criminal Defence
field, where she
has devoted her
talents to fight
for her clients.
Iana is currently
working on her
MBA from Ashford
University.
Biographical Sketch
EMTP Applications
FOR POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION
PAC.SPRING.2008
1 Comparison
Comparison of a laboratory and an EMTP simulated CT saturation test
80
80
60
60
40
40
Current [A]
STEADY-STATE APPLICATIONS
Power system operations can
cause unbalanced currents and
voltages in the network that could
impact the operation of protective
relays, e.g., during a single-phase
trip, unequal gap flashover of series
capacitors, or when a three-phase
transformer bank consists of different
single-phase units. These operating
conditions cannot be analyzed using
conventional load-flow programs
but can be easily studied using
steady-state EMTP simulations and
demonstrate the benefits of applying
EMTP for power system protection
applications.
Conventional short-circuit
and load-flow programs assume
Current [A]
Sysrem Analysis
EMTP
54
20
20
00
-20
-20
-40
-40
-60
-60
-80
-80
0
25
I
25
50
I
50
75
I
75
Time [ms]
Time (ms)
100
I
100
55
a balanced power system. The
assumption of a balanced system
is usually adequate under normal
operating conditions. In cases where
network unbalances exist under
normal conditions, conventional
programs may not be able to
determine the magnitude of normal
unbalances. EMTP steady-state
solutions are performed in the
phase domain, not using sequence
components, thereby easily solving
networks with nonsymmetrical
phase impedances. The EMTP
steady-state solution may be used
to help quantify the extent of
normal unbalances to assist in relay
applications.
Open conductors create series
unbalances that are not normal
conditions, and relays may be
expected to protect against them.
However, the resulting system
unbalances may be significantly
less than unbalances resulting from
short circuits. In fact, the unbalance
currents and voltages are heavily
dependent on the magnitude of
load currents. EMTP steady-state
solutions can readily determine
voltages and current measured by
relays under such conditions. Cases
of interest are: single-phase tripping;
1 phase of a disconnect switch open.
0.75
Saturated
Saturated
2.5
0.5
Calculated m
Calculated m
-2.5
0.25
-5
0
0.05
I
0. 05
0.1
I
0.1
0.15
I
Time (s)
0.15
0.2
I
0.2
Time (s)
0.25
I
0.25
remains
0.3 in a saturated state.
PAC.SPRING.2008
Sysrem Analysis
EMTP
56
Effectively
using EMTP to
model complex
power system
operating
conditions can
improve the
protection
schemes
and provide
answers
to relay
operations
that otherwise
are difficult to
obtain.
PAC.SPRING.2008
57
Protection engineers are
encouraged to apply the various
60
60
CVT
Transient
CVT
Transient
40
40
Figure 4 a/b:
shows a CVT
transient response
during a line-toground fault.
Wave
0
0
20
-20
Ratio
Voltage
Ratio
Voltage
40
-40
60
-60
60
1
40
10
20
Wave
-1
0.5
0 CVT Transient
0.5
I
-0.5
I
0
80
20
6
40
1.5
I
I
0.5 Ratio Voltage
1.0
I
1.5
2.5
Time (cycle)
I
2.0
I
2.5
I
3.0
Magnitude
4
60
CVT transients reduce the fundamental voltage magnitude
2 1
10
5
0
1
8
2.5
Magnitude
Magnitude
Wave
20
20
0.5
0.5
1.5
2.5
CVT Output
0.5
Ratio Voltage
Voltage
0.5 Ratio
1
1.5
2.5
Time (cycle)
06
-2.54
-52
0
Figure 4 a/b:
also shows the
fundamental
frequency mag
nitude of a CVT
secondary voltage
as compared with
the ideal ratio
voltage.
Output
CVTCVT
Output
1
0.5
I
-0.05
I
0
0.5
I
0.5
1
Time (cycle)
I
1.0
1.5
2.5
Time (cycle)
I
1.5
I
2.0
I
2.5
I
3.0
55
Saturated
Saturated
2.5
2.5
00
Nonsaturated
Nonsaturated
-2.5
2.5
5
-5
Figure 3:
shows the
unsaturated and
saturated current
waveforms from
an EMTP simulation of a CT model
for a line fault at
a distance of 33
percent from the
relay location.
0
0
0.05
I
0.05
0.1
0.15
I
0.1
Time
I (s)
0.15
0.2
I
0.2
0.25
I
0.25
Time (s)
0.3
I
0.3
PAC.SPRING.2008
2.02
Apparent
Impedance
Apparent
Impedance
From
fromRatio
Ratio
Voltage
Voltage
X-Ohm
1.5
1.5
X - Ohm
Sysrem Analysis
EMTP
58
1.01
0.5
0.5
Apparent
Impedance
Apparent
Impedance
From
CVTCVT
Output
from
Output
RelayProtection
Protection
Region
Relay
Region
0
-0.5
0.5
00
0.5
0.5
1.0
1
1.5
1.5
R - Ohm
2.0
2
R-Ohm
Figure 6, 7:
The waveforms
shown in those
figures are from a
simulated
multi-machine
network.
-2000
0
PAC.SPRING.2008
500
1000
1500
Time (ms)
2000
2500
3000
59
One of the most common causes
is a subsidence transient that can
grossly distort the secondary signals
presented to a relay. (Fig.4a,b) EMTP
can simulate CVTs connected to the
power system and provide suitable
test signals for determining relay
performance. In addition to the
subsidence transient, CVT response
to non-fundamental frequency
signals can also be determined. CVT
transients reduce the fundamental
component of the fault voltage and
cause distance relays to calculate
a smaller than actual apparent
impedance to the fault. (Fig. 4 a,b)
Ferroresonance is possible in any
system composed of capacitors and
iron-core inductances. In a CVT, the
interaction of the source capacitance
with the tuning reactor inductance
and the step-down transformer
magnetizing inductance can lead to
a ferroresonance oscillation. CVT
manufacturers use ferroresonancesuppression circuits (FSCs) to
reduce or eliminate ferroresonance
conditions. EMTP can be used to
simulate ferroresonance conditions
in CVTs.
Relay Testing with EMTP
Generated Signals
Relay testing in the field has
generally involved steady-state tests
to determine the integrity of the
relay. These tests were performed in
the past using variacs, phase shifters,
and load boxes, or more recently with
modern electronic test equipment. In
recent years, more interest has arisen
EMTP is a valuable
tool for relay testing
and setting
optimization.
Test ing of Power-Swing
Protection Functions:
The most appropriate test method
to verify the relay behavior during
stable power swings or OOS (loss
of synchronism) conditions is to
generate a number of COMTRADE
test cases from EMTP simulations
and play them back into the relay
using modern test equipment.
Modern test sets are capable of
replaying COMTRADE waveforms
captured during power swings by
relays and DFRs or generated by
EMTP. Using this methodology, one
can verify if the relay will perform
satisfactorily during stable or
unstable power swings.
Figures 6 and 7 demonstrate
how different the waveforms are on
two transmission lines in the same
network during an OOS condition.
Testing of power-swing protection
functions with traditional relay
testing equipment can be very
difficult, if not impossible, to
perform. The difficulty arises from
the inability of older test sets to
reproduce the type of waveforms
present during power swings.
Figure 7:
The waveforms
shown here
would be impossible
to generate using a
test set while trying
to ramp the voltages, currents, and/or
frequency.
Magnitude (Mag)
1000
-1000
Time (ms)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
PAC.SPRING.2008
p
mr
aa
ts
a
ad
the guru
60
60
More than
50 years in
protection.
shri
1991
1982
1998
All awards
have been
very enjoyable,
intoxicating and
encouraging.
Technical
innovation and
developments
are taking place
in a very high
pace.
PAC.SPRING.2008
2008
the guru
Biography
I like to read
and think
about all the
questions that
we have not
answered yet. .
Shri Mata Prasad
PAC.SPRING.2008
62
My family
plays a very
important
PAC.SPRING.2008
63
time for indoor or outdoor games. I always felt a shortage
of available time during my youth and even today I feel
that there isnt enough time and so many things to do.
PAC World: How and when did you decide to study
electrical engineering?
MP: The four year engineering course at BHU consisted
of two years for combined study in civil, mechanical and
electrical engineering. In the third year, one has to select
whether to pursue a mechanical or electrical discipline.
As I said earlier, I had a blind infatuation for mechanical
engineering however a group of my Electrical Engineering
professors, especially Prof PC Dutt, Prof MC Pandey and
Principal M Sengupta advised me to choose electrical
engineering as they felt that I was more suited for it.
Today I must admit that my professors correctly judged
my aptitude and I owe everything to them.
PAC World: Did you study protection while in
university?
MP: Yes, I did study basics of Protection relaying covering
Generator, Transformer and Transmission Lines and this
particular topic fascinated me especially when I had gone
through some of the classic relaying schemes described by
Lewis and Tippet, Montieth and others published in AIEEE
Transactions . I was later exposed to protection philosophy
when I joined active service in UP Electricity Department
in 1957.
PAC World: Did you have any other interests while
studying? Sports? Music? Arts?
MP: As I said earlier, I did have great interest in music
and arts but I could never fulfill my desire to accomplish
anything further in this regard. I was very good in pencil
sketching of portraits and landscapes. I should have continued in these fields at least after retirement!
PAC World: Where did you start your career? Did you
work on power system protection from the beginning?
MP: From October 1954 to January 1955 I was under
training in Rihand Hydro project department and then
shifted to field duties - responsible for surveying and
construction of 33 kV double circuit lines. After joining
the Electricity Department as Assistant Project Engineer
in 1957, the first technical job allotted to me was to
study the Protection System for Rihand Power Plant and
draw specifications for protection of 132 kV lines and
substations. Thus, I started my career with Protection and
that became my first love.
PAC World: Would you describe the most challenging
project that you have been involved in?
MP: There were scores of challenging jobs entrusted
to me and successfully delivered. For example, the
interconnection system of the Obra 1000 MW power plant
with nine 400 kV lines of length varying from 140 to 400
km. In 1984, I joined NTPC on deputation for the HVDC
Projects and also for handling the associated 400 kV lines
from power plants and interconnected network. I had the
privilege to be actively associated with the first 400 kV
Static Var Compensators at Kanpur, the first 2*250 MW
PAC.SPRING.2008
the guru
64
PAC.SPRING.2008
65
We need to think
more about what
we can do with
our abilities
PAC.SPRING.2008
the guru
66
PAC.SPRING.2008
GALLERY
Digital Art by Harmeet Kang
A slightly colorful look
at signal processing
inside a relay
Harmeet Kang
UK
Harmeet is a
protection design engineer
at AREVA T&D
Automation, Stafford, UK
who believes that
protection is not just
science, but
art as well
PAC.SPRING.2008
PAC.SPRING.2008
PAC history
70
by Walter Schossig
Protection
71
History
Biography
Distance
Protection
From Protection Relays to Multifunctional
From continuous to multi-zone characteristics
First publications and first relays for distance protection
were covered in the last issue. The requirement of the
utilities was a decrease of the tripping time to a value less
than 2 s. To achieve this they skipped the distance-to-fault
depending continuous tripping characteristic and changed to
cascaded (multi-step) or mixed characteristics. The distance
relays provided by BBC and Siemens in 1928 still used the
continuous characteristic. Stoecklin J. proposed and BBC
developed a Relay that used the crossed-coil-ohmmeter
(known from measuring devices). It was patented for selective
protection. The base time of this relay was 0.5 to 1 second,
which increases with the distance to the fault up to five second.
The device consisted of three mechanically united main parts.
The impedance startup started a timing mechanism, while
an ohmmeter limited the relays time. The timing element
-clockwork with manual winding - measured the time and
operated exactly. It disburdens the current system; the result
was a well working device with small power consumption,
even with low currents. The clockwork stored approximately
100 seconds operating time - equal to 50 operations of the
PAC.SPRING.2008
Walter Schossig
(VDE) was born
in Arnsdorf (now
Czech Republic) in
1941. He studied
electrical engineering in Zittau
(Germany), and
joined a utility in
the formerEastern
Germany.After the
German reunion
the utility was
renamed as TEAG,
now E.ON Thueringer Energie AG in
Erfurt. There he received his Masters
degree andworked as a protection
engineer until his
retirement. He was
a member of many
study groups and
associations. He is
an active member
of the working
group Medium
Voltage Relaying
at the German
VDE. He is the
author of several
papers, guidelines
and the book
Netzschutztechnik (Power System
Protection)He
works on a
chronicle about
the history of
electricity supply,
with emphasis on
protection and
control.
the use of a step time characteristics (Figure 3). They were able
to protect 70% of the length of line with an operating time
of 0,3 s . Neugebauer,H. and Geise,Fr., Siemens, proposed
an express impedance relay in 1932. It was the first distance
relay in an economical single plate housing per end of line. Fast
distance relays were used to achieve short tripping times in
the EHV-grid (solid earthed star point). Usually they had three
measuring elements (in the English-speaking countries up to
six). Single-pole autorecloser with definite 3-phase trip was
possible now.
In the medium voltage, the grids had an isolated star point.
Petersen,W. invented the earth-fault neutralization in 1917.
Since then, especially in the German-speaking countries,
compensated grids are quite common. The capacitive earth
fault current is compensated by the inductive current and
continuing operation of the grid is possible. Fast distance relays
with only one measuring element were sufficient to detect 2and 3-phase short circuit faults.
The distance protection in Europe was the most often
used protection technology on mashed or parallel-operated
high voltage grids. When the short-circuit power in the grid
became higher, the requirement for fast tripping on the whole
line length became important. Ackermann already showed
a proposal for a step protection in 1920/21. This was used
in Siemens reactance relays in 1930, in the Oerlikon-Mini
mum-Impedance-Protection and the newer distance relays of
Westinghouse Co. and General Electric Co.
AEG developed their first fast distance relay in 1934 (SD1).
It uses pure three-step characteristics; fast tripping times of 0.3
up to 0.4 s were achieved. As an under-impedance protection
it uses two balanced beams, which were set up to different
lengths of the line. Additionally it consists of a 3-step timing
element and an iron-cored dynamometer as a directional
element. Startup was realized with built-in overcurrent
elements or - in a separate housing - with under-impedance
elements. The right housing consists of measuring elements
and the directional element with a tapped voltage-matching
transformer (for impedance setup). The other two devices
contained the startup, the choice of measuring values and
1 Distance relay
2 Distance relay
LG1, BBC
t [S]
PAC history
72
Z []
Distance characteristic
PAC.SPRING.2008
73
4 Distance relay
RD7, 1958
Z =
U + k I
I
PAC.SPRING.2008
PAC history
74
Self-supervision plays an
important role in
improving the performance
of distance relays.
I
Current circuit
Withdrawable
boards allow
quick fix of
problems in
solid state
distance
relays.
PAC.SPRING.2008
U
Voltage circuit
Siemens, 1986
10
D
istance
relay DD2, EAW
75
not successful in any case and that the vendors did not allow
that. The same problem occurred when different vendors were
used in the same grid. That is why the utilities defined their
requirements to allow the usage of relays of different vendors
in one grid. The pre-condition to do that was to harmonize
the operation behavior of relays. The German VDEW
proposed an "Agreement of Utilities for Harmonization of
Distance Protection" in 1951. The paper describes relays
of the following vendors - AEG - SD4, BBC (L3, LG1- and
LG2-Relays, Figure 2) and Siemens RZ24-/ RK4-Relays.
The BBC relays were reactance protection, while AEG
and Siemens provided impedance relays (elimination of arc
resistance with a mixed-impedance add-on). The guideline
defines startup (2-and 3-pole, range of overcurrent or under
-impedance-startup); voltage; dead zone; first-zone-time;
smallest measuring impedance; maximum operating time,
detection of doubled earth faults; power consumption.
Other recommendations were regarding the mounting and
the usage of the DC measurement (shunt instead of interposing
transformers). The recommendation for timing elements was
motor drive instead of clockworks (higher moment of force
and improved resistance against contamination). Ulbricht,R.
und Kadner,G. publish a bulky guideline for time grading
coordination with distance protection in the GDR (Eastern
Germany) in 1958. The document considers the special
circumstances in the GDR after World War II - 13 different
types of relays with different characteristics were available.
Therefore, the document describes selective time interval
and impedance, single and parallel lines, impact of measuring
failures at transformers, arc resistance, detection of doubled
earth faults; maximum operating time and calculation of
short-circuit currents.
ASEA (Sweden) produces the distance RYZKC relays
since 1950. To decrease tripping time distance protection
was used as busbar protection in transformer infeeds. EAW
(GDR) introduced RD7 in 1952. Pushing the button (Figure
4) performed a functional test of the relays (only if the tripping
circuit was interrupted). Austrian Rail (BB) used an auxiliary
distance relay in their 16 2/3 Hz grid since 1957. It was
developed by Gutmann,H, AEG, and was named SD4/
WZD0. It was a joint initiative with German Rail and AEG
and could be used for non-fading earth-faults as well (the other
phase was earthed in another station, and then a doubled earth
fault occurs and the faulty line could be tripped).
Backup Protection
Lively discussions regarding the use of backup protection
started in 1960. Norway, Russia and England preferred
doubling protection in the EHV grid. They used two similar
or equal relays. An expert from the United States reported the
breaker-and-a-half approach" - the reserve was the circuit
breaker, because failures of breakers and tripping circuits are
more likely than with relays and measuring transformers. The
EHV grid in Germany uses a backup relay per feeder ("main"
and "backup" or "system 1" and "system 2"). Both systems are
separated; up to today, it is quite common to merge different
type relays (e.g. distance and differential protection) of
zone 3
zone 2
zone 1
R
Resistive reach setting
12
PAC.SPRING.2008
The first
distance relay
with polygonal
characteristic
was produced
by ASEA
in 1970
PAC history
76
15
750 kV
Hungary
OAKDALE
750 kV
A-C-E
B-D-F
21 km
373.3 km (78.3%)
477km
103.7 km
LFCB
87
LFDC
78
21
LFZP
21
21G
62
MCTI
67G
10 kV
330 kV
PAC.SPRING.2008
Marco C. Janssen
I think
77
Do we
really need
Smart Grids?
The buzz word of our time is
Smart Grids. It seems that suddenly
everything has to become Smart.
When I look at this it makes me start
to think
PAC.SPRING.2008
Biography
Marco C. Janssen
graduated the
Polytechnic in
Arnhem, The
Netherlands and
further developed
his professional
skills through
programs and
training courses.
He is President and
Chief Commercial
Officer of
UTInnovation LLC
a company that
provides consulting
and training
services in the
areas of protection,
control, substation
automation and
data acquisition,
and support on the
new international
standard IEC 61850,
advanced metering
and power quality.
He is a member of
WG 10, 17, 18, and
19 of IEC TC57, the
IEEE-PES and the
UCA International
Users Group.
reports
industry
CIGRE SC B5
Protection
and
Automation
B5 is one of 16 Study
committees of CIGRE.
Its scope is to facilitate
and promote the pro
gress of protection and
automation.
79
The business environment for utilities has changed drastically due to the
restructuring of the world electrical energy markets. The profitability pressure has demanded
reconsideration of the complete secondary system approaches, to identify and beneficially
utilise all possible synergies between the tasks of protection, control and monitoring. All
assets have to be used in more profitable ways, whilst the security of on-demand energy
supply is increasingly important, due to the increasing costs for energy not supplied and the
severe impacts that blackouts now have on communities, industry, commerce and nations.
SC B5 covers all the secondary equipment and systems installed within substations. This
includes power system protection, substation local and remote control, automation, metering,
monitoring and recording.
Priorities
Automation of substations, with integrated protection and control systems and the use
of the new IEC 61850 Standard are major industry trends. The application of IEC 61850
will be extended to further areas and its impact will demand continued review and study
to detect any general problems, so that they can be addressed before they become too
widespread. CIGRE SC B5 provides a unique channel of feedback to IEC in this respect.
PAC.SPRING.2008
Communications
within substations are
covered by the new
and expanding
IEC 61850 standard.
Line
5
Feeder
39
39
39
1960
1970
Control
PAC.SPRING.2008
1980
32
1990
Busbar
Transformer
12
66 Cubicles, > 160 Devices
11
68 Cubicles, > 180 Devices
CIGRE B5
industry reports
80
2000
4 Cubicles,
"Soft" Devices
2010?
PAC.SPRING.2008
industry reports
82
protection to trip the breaker. An
overcurrent fault detector (50BF) is
employed to determine if the fault
is still present. 50BF will drop out
if the breaker clears the fault. The
guide discusses issues related to the
setting and drop out of the fault
detector (50BF). The timing for the
scheme is seen below. (Fig. 1)
In EHV transmission systems,
the total fault clearing time needs
to be less then the power system
critical clearing time plus some
margin. The power system critical
clearing time is a function of the
steady state stability limit for the
power system. Since the critical
clearing time to maintain system
stability is greater for single line
to ground faults than three phase
faults, some schemes employ dual
timers. (Fig. 3) The 62-2 timer can
be much longer than 62-1.
For lower voltage systems, the
total clearing time is chosen to limit
damage to equipment. Some faults
such as transformer or reactor faults
have such small currents that a fault
detector can not be used. In those
cases, a breaker 52b contact is used
for indication of breaker operation.
(Fig. 4) In some cases where there
is a known problem with a breaker
before its called to trip, a bypass
scheme can be employed. (Fig. 5)
In this scheme, if there is low gas
pressure and the primary relay calls
for a trip, the breaker failure scheme
is bypassed and the surrounding
breakers are tripped immediately.
Other schemes are also discussed.
Scheme Output
Protection scheme
50BF
A
B
C
62-1
2 of 3
AND
Timer
AND
Timer
Breaker Failure
Scheme Output
OR
OR
AND
62-2
BFI
52a
AND
OR
BFI
Timer
Breaker Failure
Scheme Output
50BF
Breaker Interrupt
Time
Breaker Failure
Timer
AND
Fault Cleared
50BF current
detector
Standard Breaker
Failure Scheme
BFI
OR
Breaker Failure
Scheme Output
Fault Occurs
Aux
Trip
Relay
Time
Remote Breaker
Interrupt Time
AND
50BF
Low gas
pressure
contact Timer
100msec
PAC.SPRING.2008
reports
conference
83
IEEE T&D
Conference
2008
Chicago,
Western Power
Delivery Automation
Illinois, USA
page 89
Spokane,
Washington, USA
page 88
Texas A&M
Conference for
Protective Relay
Engineers
College Station,
Texas, USA
page 86
PAC conferences
around the world
2008 Power
System
Conference
Clemson,
South Carolina,
USA
Protection, Automation
and Control conferences
around the world provide
forums for discussions and
exchanging ideas that help
the participants resolve
the challenges that our
industry faces today.
page 85
DistribuTECH
2008
Tampa ,
Florida, USA
page 84
PAC.SPRING.2008
conference reports
84
The Tampa
Convention Centerwas the conference
venue in Florida
DistribuTECH 2008
held in Tampa, Florida
The focus of the conference
was new technologies and
their impact on the future
of the industry.
Th e 1 8 t h D i s t r i b u T E C H
Conference & Exhibition was
held from January 22 to January
24, 2008 at the Tampa Convention
Center in Tampa, Florida. It is one
of the key events in North America
that gives the opportunity to many
electric power system specialists
to learn about the latest trends in
technology and exchange ideas
about the future of our industry.
The areas covered by the event
include automation and control
systems, information technology,
transmission and distribution
PAC.SPRING.2008
Industry
leading
manufacturers participated in the
exhibition
85
DistribuTECH
provides more current
resources, new
industry technologies,
and
fast-track
networking
opportunities.
PAC.SPRING.2008
conference reports
86
Developments
in Power System
Protection
2008
The success of the conference
shows that at this time of
rapidly changing technology,
a period of four or even three
Th e 9 t h I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Conference on Developments
in Power System Protection was
held from 17 - 20 March 2008
in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. This is
the largest specialized protection
conference in Europe that is held
at three or four years intervals at
different locations.
The conference venue was the
Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow.
This is Scotlands largest city with
a population of 600,000. It is the
commercial capital of Scotland and
one of Europes top 20 financial
centers. The hotel overlooks the
River Clyde and is located next to the
Scottish Exhibition and Conference
Centre (SECC) and opposite the
Glasgow Science Centre.
The conference
was hosted by
Texas A&M
University
PAC.SPRING.2008
87
principles
Impact of utility changes on
protection
Funct ional integrat ion of
protection and control
The papers were presented in
three forms:
Oral presentation sessions
Short presentations sessions
Poster sessions
A dedicated exhibition ran
in parallel to the DPSP 2008
conference, covering a range of
products and services.
The Conference Dinner was
held at the prestigious Kelvingrove
Art Gallery and Museum, one of
Scotland 's most popular tourist
attractions.
The conference
was held at the
Crowne Plaza
hotel next to the
SECC
PAC.SPRING.2008
88
conference reports
Western
Power Delivery Automation
Conference 2008
Paper session
during the
conference
The conference
was held at
the historical
Davenport
hotel
PAC.SPRING.2008
89
IEEE PES
T&D Conference
2008
The theme of the 2008
conference was Powering
Toward the Future.
The Conference
Reception was
held at the
Museum of
Science &
Industry
PAC.SPRING.2008
Your
photo
91
Desert Mood
PAC.SPRING.2008
Book review
93
Kilowatt
A Novel
It
is
difficult to
define the category
of the book, because it is
multidimensional. On the surface
it looks like a thriller, because we
have a couple of ordinary people
two journalists from a small town
radio station trying to find the
truth about a mysterious power
plant in Texas that is making the
employees sick. They are standing
up against different villains
ruthless corporate executives and
their cronies, corrupt politicians
and the Russian mafia.
At the same time the book is
philosophical. The subject of time
is directly related to the main plot,
but it is also discussed from the
point of view of our existence in
time and how it changes depending
on our state of mind. The book
raises a lot of other questions (e.g.
the meaning of clean power).
We define things based on what
we know, as well as our personal
experience. Something that does
not produce CO2 and radiation
may look clean, but if it caused the
sinking of a Soviet submarine is
it?
This brings us to a different line in
the story the moral responsibility
of the scientist while letting the
Genie out of the bottle.
Another difficulty with classifying
PAC.SPRING.2008
hobby
94
A Tasty
Hobby for
Those with
Patience
I was asked by Alex
what hobbies I had, in
particular anything that
was out of the ordinary.
I related a few of them
BBQ - a hobby?
First, its not that unusual in
Houston to cook BBQ (over 300
restaurants) and second its down
right popular as there are over 800
BBQ teams in the greater Houston
area. A BBQ team is usually made
up of a BBQ Pit, a head cook,
and three to a hundred helpers.
You might wonder how a hundred
could actually cook, well they dont
actually but the logistics for a BBQ
Cook-off Competition for a corporate sponsored team needs a big
group.
Biography
Benton Vandiver III received his BSEE from the University of
Houston in 1979.
He was with Houston Lighting & Power for 15 years and Multilin
Corp. for 4 years before joining OMICRON electronics where
he is currently Technical Director in Houston, TX. A Professional
Engineer, IEEE Member, and an active Z Krewe member (Galveston
Mardi Gras krewe), he mainly enjoys spending time with his wife
Julia and 2 year old daughter Jaclyn at every opportunity.
PAC.SPRING.2008
95
So how did I end up on a
BBQ team?
A close friend of ours asked
for help about ten years ago when
two of his team members (his sister & her husband) could not help
out. Julia and I said, sure wed be
glad too, what time do you need us,
where, and do I need to bring my Hibachi? (a very small grill)
He replied, Be at Sams Grill &
Bar parking lot on Friday at 3pm,
well be finished about 2pm on Sunday. And heres a picture of the Pit
well use to cook on. (see Figure 4)
BBQ organization:
I first thought "what have I committed too?" Turns out a traditional
BBQ Cook-Off requires a while to
organize and execute.
The BBQ pit has to come up
to temperature.
The fresh meats of each team
have to be inspected and tagged
by the judges to insure fairness in
the competition, and it often takes
twelve to fifteen hours to slow
smoke a typical ten pound beef
brisket till its done and ready to be
served. (Ribs take five to six hours,
chicken takes three to four hours.)
The
BBQ team sign!
Later Developments
About 4 years ago the team retired, mainly because our head
cook took this all way too seriously and opened a very successful
PAC.SPRING.2008
hobby
96
BBQ catering business in Houston.
So successful he retired from his
day job and within six months was
financially secure.
So there was something to our
tag line and many in the Houston
area benefited from the years of
practice in those BBQ cook-offs. Julia & I also came away with a lot of
knowledge about cooking this way
and what really made great BBQ.
Our favorite was and still is
the BBQ Baby Back Ribs. (see Pit_
wRibs in Figure 3) These were so
good we would often cook up extras to take home after the cook-off
and feast for days. Then it wouldnt
be long before we were eagerly anticipating the next cook-off date.
We still see the old team from
time to time and fire up the pit to
relive those great weekends.
I learned that the old adage,
Good things come to those who
wait has a lot of truth to it.
For really good BBQ you have
to be patient. If you are really patient, you can learn a few cooking
secrets. Each team develops their
own style, but almost all do these as
a minimum.
The Secret!
Heres THE cooking secret for
great BBQ anything.
Get a Pit with a separate fire
box.
Use real wood: oak for heat,
mesquite or hickory for its flavor,
and Sassafras (or Cinnamon wood)
for a great natural BBQ taste.
Keep the temperature between 275 F and 350 F, 300 F being optimum.
Make sure youre producing
enough smoke and never let flame
touch the meat.
If you follow those guidelines,
you can BBQ anything. Meats,
fish, foul and even vegetables.
If you have a traditional BBQ
with charcoal or propane, then fire
up one side to 350 F and cook on
the no fire side.
Use water soaked hickory wood
chips if possible to help create some
smoke, but indirect heat is better
than you think.
Recipes for almost anything can
be found on the web nowadays.
Google Texas BBQ Recipes for
some great sites and tips on Texas
BBQ.
My motive
for joining the
barbeque team was
mainly for
entertainment,
but the good food
could be a reason
for staying nine years
with the Coyote
Cookers.
PAC.SPRING.2008
97
Heres one of my favorites:
We eat the
best
and submit
the rest!
Coyote
Cookers
1996-2005
PAC.SPRING.2008
last word
98
Your Opinion
Every quarter we post a question on
the PAC World web site and ask you
to select an answer that will help your
colleagues from around the world understand the trends in our industry.
No clear preference
For three months we had on the PAC
World web site a simple question:
What redundant protection do you
use on transmission lines?
calendar
Poll Results:
IX Spanish-American
Electric Power Systems
Protection Symposium
20-23 May 2008
Monterrey, Mxico,
http://www.uanl-die.net/
pages/sipsep.html
WINDPOWER 2008
Conference & Exhibition
1 - 4 June 2008
Houston, Texas
http://www.
windpowerexpo.org/
PAC.SPRING.2008
IX Technical Seminar on
Protection and Control
1 - 5 June 2008
Belo Horizonte-MG,
Brazil
http://www.ixstpc.com.br/
paginas/default.asp
8th West African mining
and power exhibition and
conference 2008
3-5 June 2008
Accra, Ghana
http://ems.mbendi.com/
events/e4zj.htm
POWERGRID Europe
3 - 5 June 2008
Milan, Italy
http://pgrid08.events.
pennnet.com/fl/home.
cfm?Language=Engl
EAA 2008
1415 June 2008
Christchurch,
New-Zealand
SmartGrids for
Distribution seminar
23 - 24 June 2008
Frankfurt, Germany
http://conferences.theiet.
org/ciredsmartgrids/index.
htm
IEEE RVP AI
6 - 12 July 2008
Acapulco, Mexico
2008 IEEE PES General
Meeting
20-24 July 2008
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
http://ewh.ieee.org/cmte/
PESGM08/
ACS Applied Control
Systems Cyber Security
Conference
4-7 August 2008
Chicago, IL , USA
http://realtimeacs.
com/?page_id=18