2006 China Intemational Conference on Electricity Distribution Switchgear Interlocking with IEC61850 Markus Wache Siemens AG PTDEA2PM, Humboldtstr, 59, D 90459 Namberg, Federal Republic of Germany Abstract ‘This paper starts with the history of switchgear interlocking in high voltage substations. In the last fourty years, different principles have been used for that purpose. Coming from pneumatic and electromechanical solutions, in the 1980s the first microprocessor based systems have been introduced successfully into the market, The next step was the introduction of switchgear interlocking functionality as a system component into digital substation control systems. The latest development in this application is the use of the communication standard IEC61850 which provides the GOOSE service for communication from bay to bay. This interoperable approach enables the substation control system to provide the switchgear interlocking even in systems built from products of different vendors. The paper is focused on describing this solution and comparing it to the former ones. It also discusses the engineering of the different generations of interlocking systems and migration aspects Keywords: High Voltage Switchgear interlocking, IEC61850, GOOSE messages, history of interlocking, 1 INTRODUCTION ‘The first interlocking systems have been based on clectromechanical relays. The switches have been controlled pneumatically, so the fitst interlocking systems consisted of pneumatical components for control of them, In the 1980s the first microprocessor based switchgear interlocking system was introduced as a separate level in the substation architecture, Due to good field experience and technical progress, the switehgear interlocking function could be integrated into the substation automation system, ‘The first solution had typically the bay interlocking function situated in the bay control units The substation wide interlockings have been processed in the central unit at substation level, Todays state of the art is the processing of the complete switchgear interlocking in the bay level, using the interoperable standard IEC618S0 [1], [2] for station wide interlocking, 2 ELECTROMECHANICAL INTERLOCKING SYSTEMS, ‘These interlocking systems did the interlocking with a number of relays which are wired together in a certain manner, The type of wiring fixes the interlocking, The system also contains the local control of the switches, Cig. 1). An example for the prewired interlocking logic, with relays is shown in Fig. 2. Remote control usually uses a RTU (Remote Terminal Unit), connected with parallel wiring to the interlocking system. The interlocking information between the bays have been exchanged by hardwiring (for example position of | coupler), see Fig. 1. These systems are very reliable, but use much space (one cubicle per bay) and can be changed or extended only with high effort.2006 China Intemational Conference on Electricity Distribution Local Control anc intertock ng Parallel wiring to = oiher bays a > ee Paral ng to ] 7 Pneumatic reat beaker) LL. do wees) +--- switchgear x Fig.l: First generation of interlocking systems (electromechanical) fo foo eoawrmecm men 20 ony atk «(Orv tce Y 1) Relegee vate OUP acting AND ( co 2\eolch ON athe se OR oF AND Fig2: Example of interlocking conditions for double busbar system 3 FIRST GENERATION OF DIGITAL SWITCHGEAR INTERLOCKING SYSTEMS In the 1980s, the first mictoprocessor based switchgear interlocking systems have been introduced successfully into the market. The interlocking conditions are coded in EPROMS and checked by @ microprocessor The system architecture is shown in Fig. 3. Each bay is equipped with an interlocking bay unit, The interbay conditions ate checked in a master unit which is typically placed in the coupler For exchange of information, a serial communication Link is used. The local control is done with a mimic diagram at the front of cach interlocking unit. The switching authority ocal/remote) and the selection of uninterlocked mode a a he ue eo oratil wiry 0 smtigee) aay vce Fig3: Second generation of interlocking systems (microprocessor based, with serial communication) is done via Keyswitches. Remote control is done in the same way a5 before: A Remote Terminal Unit or substation control system is connected via parallel Wiring to the interlocking system (Fig. 4), ax Figet: Remote control of digital interlocking system ‘The system shown in Fig. 4 has three levels: First level is the switchgear interlocking system, second level is, the bay level with bay control and protection units and the third level is the substation master unit with operator terminal, printer and connection to network: control center vie telecontrol protocol (for example IEC80870-5-101), The use of a digital, microprocessor based system leads to many advantages: The bay units are mach smaller Changes and extensions are possible very easy and testing ofthe interlocking conditions can be performed. ‘The reliability of the system is proven and the use of digital systems in high voltage switchgears became accepted2006 China Intemational Conference on Electricity Distribution 4 INTERLOCKING — INTEGRATED IN SUBSTATION AUTOMATION SYSTEMS 4.1 First Generation: Vendor-specific solutions After acceptance of digital solutions for high voltage switchgear interlocking, the next step was the integration of interlocking functions into the substation control system, The local control and. the bay’ interlocking were included into the bay control units of the substation control system (SCS) and the interbay interlocking function was included into the substation controller (master unit). The existing communication lines can be used also for check of interlocking conditions which leads to substantial simplification of the system structure (Fig. 5) Fig: Interlocking level integrated in bay control units of substation control system Compared to Fig. 4, the bay controller have included keypad and display for local control, and also key switches for switching normal / uninterlocked mode (S1} and localitemote switching authority (SS) are available ‘These important control elements moved from the separate interlocking level (which is now obsolete) of | Fig. 4to the bay level. The bay interlocking conditions can be engineered with the bay engineering tool in a comfortable graphic editor ‘The interbay interlocking conditions which had been handled in the system shown, in Fig 4 in the interlocking master unit are nov checked automatically in the substation controller each time when a command is given, independent from the command origin (remote operation from control center, local operation at the substation operator terminal o bay control from keypad of a bay control unit). Since at that time only the communication protocol to the protection devices was standardized (15C60870-5-103), the communication for interlocking purposes had to be solved vendor-specific. That means that bay controller and substation controller must be delivered by the same manufacturer. 4.2 Second Generation: Using interoperable systems: for substation control and interlocking ‘The latest step in the evolution of interlocking systems for high voltage switchgcars started with the standardization of the substation communication protocol, With the introduction of | IEC61850 communication standard, the complete interlocking task including interbay communication can be performed at bay level. This leads to a further simplification of the system structure and to the possibility to combine systems fiom different vendors. The resulting new structure is shown in Fig. 6. Sa wih =. aM) ie : go ti of i Fig6: Switchgear TEC61850-GOOSE, Interlocking using As shown in Fig. 6, the interlocking information is exchanged directly between the bay control units using, the IEC61850.GOOSE message service, GOOSE stands for “Generic object oriented substation event” and provides a fast and secure information exchange. ‘The communication to the substation control level is provided using IEC61850 info-report; this can be seen as a client-server connection with the bay controller and protection devices as servers and the substation level as client. Since both info-report and GOOSE are standardized communication protocols with the full capability for substation control and interlocking, the customer is able to combine bay controllers, protection devices and substation controllers from all manufacturers which provide IEC61850 compatible devices, The second major advantage is that the