GENCON II PRO Features

Wexler Computer Systems Development Ltd.

April 26, 2012
The main unit, responsible for computation, measurement, paralleling and communication.

For the latest literature visit http://gencon.info/

General
1.2

R
GENCON
is a comprehensive computer system for
the measurement, protection, management, paralleling and remote monitoring of generator-sets. The
system is designed for OEMs, putting the emphasis
R
on software flexibility using the GENCON
system enables the OEM to manufacture a single control panel that fits practically all generator-set applications.
R
The GENCON
system is made of three parts:

1.1

An auxiliary input/output board with digital and

analog channels that mainly serves the engine (IOB1
is a simpler alternative with digital I/O channels
only).

R
GENCON

1.3

Specifications

IOB2

AVRx

An interface module for the generator voltage regulator.

are subject to change without notice

Measurements
Parameter
1
Volts Gen Phase A
2
Volts Gen Phase B
Volts Gen Phase C
3
4
Volts Gen Phase A-B
5
Volts Gen Phase B-C
6
Volts Gen Phase C-A
Amps Gen Phase A
7
8
Amps Gen Phase B
9
Amps Gen Phase C
10 Amps/Per-Unit Sequence Currents
11 Hz Gen Frequency
12 kW Gen Phase A
13 kW Gen Phase B
14 kW Gen Phase C
15 Total kW Gen
16 kVA Gen Phase A
17 kVA Gen Phase B
18 kVA Gen Phase C
19 Total kVA Gen
20 kVAr Gen Phase A
21 kVAr Gen Phase B
22 kVAr Gen Phase C
23 Total kVAr Gen
24 kW-Hour Count
25 P.F. Gen Phase A
26 P.F. Gen Phase B
27 P.F. Gen Phase C
28 % THD Gen Phase A
29 % THD Gen Phase B
30 % THD Gen Phase C
THD = Total Harmonic Distortion

R
GENCON
measures the electrical parameters of the
gen-set 10 times per second. The measurements are
R
true RMS and 0.5% accurate. GENCON
averages
the incoming measurements and updates most LCD
displays about once per second.
R
GENCON
measures all the electrical parameters
of three-phase1 generators in 4-wire and 3-wire configurations, see table 1. Also measured is one phase
of the mains or the generator-bus that is the reference
phase to synchronize the generator with, see table 2.
The synchroscope measurements, see table 3, show
the difference between the generator parameters and
the parameters of the reference phase.
Table 4 shows the engine related measurements.
Single lead resistive senders, the common automoR
tive type, can also be used as GENCON
effectively
cancels the battery ground noise.
R
GENCON
has three 4-digit counters that record
the systems activity, see table 5. A secret 10
year service counter is also in built for the optional
MAINTENANCE REQUIRED alarm. Like
the kW-Hour and the Hours-Run, the value of these
R
counters is preserved while GENCON
s DC supply
is switched off. The counters are protected by two
passwords from user tampering.

Protection

The generator protective functions (table 6) and the

engine protective functions (table 7) are based on the
measurement system. All these functions have user
adjustable trip-points and time-delays.
Table 8 lists the gen-set protective functions that
R
are contact based. GENCON
protections comply
with the American NFPA level 1 recommendation.

Table 1: Generator measurements

Engine Management

1
2
3

R
GENCON
has eleven 380Vac/10A command relays.
Table 9 shows a typical use of these relays in direct
R
engine management. GENCON
can also be used

1 Single-phase

Transducer
None
None
None
None
None
None
5A CT
5A CT
5A CT
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None

Parameter
Volts Bus/Mains Phase A
Hz Frequency Bus/Mains
% THD Bus/Mains Phase A

Transducer
None
None
None

Table 2: Mains/Bus measurements

support is available on order

1
2
3

Parameter
Phase Shift
Voltage Match
Frequency Hz Slip

Transducer
None
None
None

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Table 3: Synchroscope

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Parameter
Volts Battery
RPM Speed
Hours-Run Count
Engine Temperature
Oil Pressure
Fuel Level
Oil Temperature

Transducer
None
Magnetic Pick-up
None
Resistive sender
Resistive sender
Resistive sender
Resistive sender

Table 4: Engine measurements

1
2
3
4

Counter name
Engine Cranks
Gen-Set Runs
Gen-Set OnLoad
Service Weeks/Days

Alarm
Battery High Volts
Battery Low Volts
Engine Temperature Low
Engine Temperature High
Oil Pressure Low
Oil Pressure High
Fuel Level Low
Fuel Level High
Oil Temperature Low
Oil Temperature High
RPM Over Speed
Engine Slow Crank
Engine Over Crank
Oil Pressure Not Built
Engine Shutdown Failed
RPM vs. Frequency Mismatch
Table 7: Engine protection

Table 5: Activity counters

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Alarm
Over Voltage
Under Voltage
Over Frequency
Under Frequency
Inverse Time Overcurrent
Negative Sequence Overcurrent
Harmonic Distortion
Illegal Phase Order
Reverse Power
Loss of Excitation
Loss of Mains During Paralleling
Voltage Not Built
Frequency Not Built
Dead Bus Protection

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Alarm
Remote Emergency Stop
Low Oil Pressure Shutdown
Low Oil Pressure Warning
High Temp Engine Shutdown
High Temp Engine Warning
Low Temp Engine Warning
Low Coolant Level
Low Fuel Level
Battery Charger Fault
Air Damper Closed
External Overload
Table 8: Engine protection (contact inputs)

Table 6: Generator protection

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Function
Preglow or Idle Speed
Fuel Solenoid
Starter Crank
Air Damper
Lubrication Pump
Set Running Indication
Visual Alarm Control
Audible Alarm Control

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Function
Phase/Frequency Synchronizer
Voltage Matching
Sync Check, dwell-time or freq-slip
kW Load sharing, isochronous speed or droop
kVAr Load Sharing, constant voltage or droop
kW Export Control, adjustable ramp
kVAr Export Control, adjustable ramp
Table 10: Paralleling functions

Table 9: Engine control relays

Mains Failure Detector. It is based on the
R
reference phase that GENCON
measures, see
table 2.

with external Engine Control Units where it does not

require, for instance, to have a magnetic pickup unit
of its own.

Time Delayed Transfer Logic (with an adjustable break to make delay).

Paralleling

R
GENCON
includes all the necessary functions for
running a gen-set in parallel with the mains (peakshaving) or for running a gen-set in parallel with
R
other GENCON
based gen-sets (load-sharing), see
R
table 10. Using its TDM firmware GENCON
can maintain a constant generator bus frequency
and voltage of up-to 8 or 142 gen-sets. Using its
MODBUS-RTU firmware the number of parallel running gen-sets is unlimited but a supervisory system
(Gview) is required to maintain the bus frequency
and voltage levels.
R
GENCON
controls the generator Hz and KWs
directly through the engine governor or, when using its HYDRA firmware, using its A66 interface
UP/DOWN contacts through the hydraulic goverR
nor servo motor. GENCON
controls the generator
Volts and KVARs using its AVRx interface module
through the generator voltage regulator.

In-Phase Transfer Logic

Applications

R
The GENCON
system can be used in any gen-set
application. In most cases it provides a complete solution. Where the requirements are non-standard,
R
GENCON
offers a special operating mode, the
generic mode, where it operates under the command
of an external PLC.
Single gen-set applications include:

Prime Power.
Mains Standby.
Mains Standby with Soft Transfer.
Peak Shaving (aka Peak Lopping).

Automatic Transfer Switch

Cogeneration (aka Combined Heat & Power).

GENCON , as the tradition in Europe requires, has

a built-in ATS logic. It includes:
2 A 14 gen-set system
COMM II PRO units

is

formed

by

joining

Multiple gen-set applications include:

Random Access Load-Sharing with Power
Ramp.

two

 Load Dependent Start/Stop Sequencing (with

optional balancing of the runtime and the
breaker engagement counters).
R
GENCON
can interface with most speed control
(governor) and voltage regulator (AVR) models and
in addition:

It can cooperate with external engine management units.

It can share the load with foreign gen-set controls through in built speed and voltage droop
loops.

Figure 2: Gpanes

HMI/SCADA

round-robin database).
Gpanes can chart any
logged data interval or export the data to a spreadsheet program for further analysis. A shutdown event
can automatically generate an SOS e-mail message.
Gview is an HMI software that is designed for
R
the MODBUS-RTU variant of GENCON
firmware.
It can control an arbitrary number of controllers
through multiple serial RS485 ports.

R
Up to eight GENCON
controllers can be connected
via a single Communicator3 unit to any HMI4 or
SCADA5 system that uses the Modbus protocol, see
figure 1. The maximal length of the RS485 cable
is 1200m (=4000ft). The Communicator can also
drive a 32 lamp alarm annuciator through the optional IOB3 module.

Alarm
Annunciator
rs485
G1

G2

G8

COMM

rs232

SCADA

Figure 1: The Communicator

Gpanes is a powerful HMI/SCADA software that
R
is designed for the standard firmware GENCON
controllers. Gpanes connects to the Communicator via a cable, a dial-up modem or a Modbus/TCP
data link and provides the remote operator control
Figure 3: Gview
screens that update at real-time rate, see figure 2.
Gpanes can be used safely across the Internet as it
incorporates a standard, certificate based, Transport
Layer Security (TLS).
Misc
Gpanes also includes a subsystem for data and 9
event logging (using a constant storage footprint Display 20 char x 4 lines LCD with backlight. User
3 COMM II PRO model
translatable texts.
4 Human

Machine Interface
Control and Data Acquisition

5 Supervisory

Faults logging Last 8 reports, time tagged.

5

Keys Stop, Alarm mute/reset, 4 menu navigation

keys, 10 digit keys.
Parameters Non-volatile field-adjustable options,
set-points and delays.
Security Three password system.
Indicators High intensity shutdown, warning and
activity LEDs.

10

Technical data
listing E219920 (safety standard UL508).

Battery Voltage, 8 Vdc to 40 Vdc continuous

(load-dump protected).
Accuracy, 0.5% (true RMS).
Front panel, completely sealed (IP65).
Operating temperature, 20o C to +70o C (storage 30o C to +80o C).
Four AC volts inputs (V1/V2/V3/V4), each
electrically isolated to 7500 V (IEEE 587 class
C).
Three AC amps inputs (I1/I2/I3), each electrically isolated to 1500 V (1 minute).
RS485 port, electrically isolated to 1600 Vac
(1 minute) or 2000 Vac (1 second).