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Overcurrent Curve
Editor Version 4
User's Manual
ASPEN Overcurrent Curve Editor is a proprietary computer program of Advanced Systems for Power Engineering,
Inc. (ASPEN).
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Advanced Systems for Power Engineering, Inc.
assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document.
Copyright 1988-2007 Advanced Systems for Power Engineering, Inc. All right reserved.
This User's Manual may be duplicated by the Licensee for its own use. You can order a new copy by writing to the
address below. Please refer to document OE-UM-2007.
Telephone: (650)347-3997
Fax: (650)347-0233
eMail: support@aspeninc.com
WEB Page: www.aspeninc.com
Our office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific time (GMT-8 in the winter; GMT-7 in the summer), Monday
through Friday.
_________________________________________________________________________________
ASPEN DistriView™, ASPEN OneLiner™, ASPEN Power Flow™, ASPEN Overcurrent Curve Editor™, ASPEN
Distance Relay Editor™, ASPEN Batch Short Circuit Module™, ASPEN Breaker Rating Module™, ASPEN
PowerScript™ and ASPEN Relay Database™ are trademarks of Advanced Systems for Power Engineering, Inc.
1.1 FEATURES
Overcurrent curves used by ASPEN OneLiner and DistriView are stored in binary files called relay libraries. The
ASPEN Overcurrent Curve Editor is an auxiliary program for maintaining these files.
The ASPEN Overcurrent Curve Editor can accommodate any protective device or damage curve that is
characterized by a family of time-versus-current curves or operating equations. These protective devices include:
• Overcurrent relays, both phase and ground.
• Fuses.
• Reclosers.
• Other low-voltage and industrial devices.
The program employs an interactive graphics interface. It allows you to display relay and damage curves on the
screen and change their characteristics with ease. Any changes you make are reflected immediately in the
graphical display of the curves.
The Curve Editor also helps you maintain the tap units in the relay libraries. The tap unit is a component of the
overcurrent relay models within OneLiner and DistriView. Each tap unit can be either discrete or continuous.
The program allows you to:
• Change the tap values of existing tap units.
• Add, rename or delete tap units in the library.
• Copy tap units from one library to another.
• Produce a report of tap units in the library.
Note: For brevity, the terms "relay" and "relays" are used in this manual to refer to overcurrent protective
devices in general. Thus a "relay" can be an ordinary phase or ground relay, a fuse, a recloser or any other
protective device.
EQUATIONS
The curves are described by an equation of this form:
a1 D
T= + a 2 D + a3
( M + b1 ) b2 + b3
In this equation, T is the trip time in seconds, D is the time dial, M is the tap multiple, and the rest are constants
provided by relay manufacturers.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This section documents the commands in the Main Window and in the Relay Window.
2. Click on "Yes" if you wish to save the updated library; otherwise click on
"No".
The program will shut down and its window will disappear.
2. Locate the curve of interest by enter a portion of the relay in the edit box.
The program will scroll into view the curve whose name best matches the
name you entered.
3. Select a device to be opened and click on "OK".
A Relay Window will appear displaying the curve(s).
Enter a time dial value in the edit box and press "OK".
Enter points for this time dial using the ‘Add Point’ button.
Each point has an ‘x’ and a ‘y’ value. The x coordinate represents the tap
multiple of relay and amps for fuses. The x coordinate of a recloser curve
can be either multiple of pickup or amperes. The y coordinate represents
time delay in seconds.
Each curve must have at least two points, but not more than 40 points.
Repeat this process for each time dial. When finished, go to step 7.
USING POINTS FILES
Press the ‘Load’ button under the ‘Time Dials’ group box to read the
x-y coordinates from a points file.
The points file is a text file containing x-y coordinates for a single time
dial. An example points file is shown below. The first line of the file
has the time-dial value. The rest of the file contains a number of x-y
Once the program reads in the coordinates from the points file, it will
listed the coordinates in the list box on the right. Each point is given an
index in the first column, starting with ‘1’ for the first coordinate pair, ‘2’
for the second coordinate pair, and so on. The index of the last entry is the
total number of points for this time dial.
The points file can have any number of x-y pairs. However, if the number
exceeds 40, you will get a warning message advising you to reduce the
number of points to 40 or less (with the Delete Point command) before
you go on to the next time dial.
Repeat this process for each time dial. When finished, go to step 7.
CURVES SPECIFIED BY AN EQUATION:
The name of the deleted relay will disappear from the list box. The
highlight will move to the next item in the list box.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you are done deleting curves. Click on "Done"
when finished.
The dialog box will disappear.
3. Click on "Duplicate".
A dialog box will appear asking for the name of the new relay. The name
can have up to 12 characters.
The old name will remain unchanged in the list box. The new relay name
will appear highlighted.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you are done renaming curves. Click on "Done"
when finished.
The dialog box will disappear.
3. Select one or more relays to copy from the source library by highlighting
the relay names. Press “Select All” if you wish to select all the devices.
4. Click on "Copy".
Each time the program finds that a relay from the source library with the
same name as a relay already in the current library, you will see the
following dialog box.
4. Enter the name of the new tap unit and click on OK.
The old name will remain unchanged in the list box. The new tap-unit
name will appear highlighted.
5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all the tap units that you wish to duplicate. When
finished, click on Done to close the dialog box.
The dialog box will disappear.
3. Select one or more tap units by click on the names. You can also click on
"Select All” to select all the tap units. Click on Copy.
Each time the program finds that a tap unit from the source library with
the same name as a tap unit already in the current library, you will see the
following message box.
Click on "Yes" to overwrite the existing tap unit; otherwise click on "No".
When all the selected tap units have been copied, the Copy Tap Units
From Another Library dialog box will disappear.
2b. Click on any time dial value on the Time Dials list box.
The program will show the x-y coordinates for that time dial on the Points
list box.
Make necessary changes to the point coordinates by means of the
Remove Point and Add Point buttons.
Alternatively, you can overwrite all the points for the current time
dial by pressing Load and read in a new points file.
3b. Add or remove time dials.
Use the Remove and Add button to remove or add a time dial.
Please refer to the documentation for the Device | New command in the
Main Window for more information on this dialog box.
4b. Modify the annotation as needed.
5b. Press the OK button.
The updated curve will appear in the Relay Window.
The relay will reappear to the way it was at the beginning of the session.
P
Points File 21
Print Curves 40
Printer
setup 17
S
C
Standard Equation for Relays 23
Compatibility
with OneLiner and DistriView 47
with previous versions of Relay Editor 47 T
Curve Models Tap Unit 7
by equation 7 copy from another library 34
by points 7 create a report of 35
create new 31
D delete 32
duplicate 33
Damage Curve open for editing 29
create new 20
Device
copy from another library 27 U
create new curve 20 Undo 39
delete 24
duplicate 25
edit parameters 37 Z
open 19 Zoom
print curves 40 Size 1.0x 43
rename 26 Size 1.5x 44
report 28 Size 2.0x 45
undo changes 39
F
File
create new library 13
curve coordinates 21
device report 28
exit 18
GE DLP data 10
open existing library 14
relay report 10
save library 15
save library under another name 16
tap unit report 10