Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Draft TR IEC 61850-7-6 published: Guideline for definition of Basic Application Profiles (BAPs) using IEC 61850

IEC TC 57 just published the 68 page draft Technical Report IEC 61850-7-6:

57/1986/DTR

Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Part 7-6: Guideline for definition of Basic Application Profiles (BAPs) using IEC 61850

Voting closes 2018-06-08.

"The IEC 61850 standard series offers a broad basis for communication networks and systems in power utility automation. Due to its broad coverage of power utility automation applications, it is up to the standard’s user (utility, vendor, system integrator…) to pick and choose specific options from the standard in order to meet the requirements of the intended objective. As a consequence, implementations of IEC 61850 represent specific subsets of the standard.
In the context of standards the term “profile” is commonly used to describe a subset of an entity (e.g. standard, model, rules).
Accordingly an IEC 61850 standard profile contain a selection of data models (mandatory elements), communication services applicable and relevant engineering conventions (based on the Substation Configuration Language SCL defined in IEC 61850-6) for an application function of a specific use case in the domain of power utility automation.
Depending on the scope and objective different profile types can be distinguished:

  • User profile – defined subset that is valid for a specific user / organization (e.g. utility)
  • Product / Device profile – implemented subset in a specific vendor product /device
  • Domain profile – defined subset for a specific domain and relevant use cases (e.g. monitoring of substation)
  • Application / function profile - subset covering a specific application or function (e.g. substation interlocking)

These profile types target on reducing complexity and facilitate interoperability for their specific scope and during engineering and device / substation lifetime. In order to achieve both these goals - a properly defined profile and appropriate implementations (processes, tools, products) that support the profile are required."

Note that IEC 61850 is not that complex - but it is very comprehensive!!
Comprehensiveness with regard to:

  1. Number of parts: some 50 inclusing drafts
  2. Number of Logical Nodes
  3. Number of Data Objects
  4. Configuration language
  5. Number of task forces working on new stuff
  6. Number of applications that can be covered
  7. ...

The most crucial challenge is this: How can I find what may be of interest for my application? I hope somebody will do a good job in preparing an overview of models published and under preparation.
Let me know if you are aware of some good document or website ...

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

IEC TC 57 Proposes New Work on SCD Based Substation Network Auto-Routing

IEC TC 57 Proposes New Work on SCD Based Substation Network Auto-Routing:

57/1987/DC

Proposal to develop IEC TR 61850-90-22 –
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Part 90-22: SCD based substation network auto-routing with visualization and supervision support

"The scope of the proposed TR is to provide a comprehensive analysis of increased challenges encountered in the field where substation network is adopted, and to propose a novel resolution which is SCD based substation network auto-routing with visualization and supervision."

The following issues are key: Network topology auto-discovery, IED auto-detection, GOOSE/SV auto-routing, QoS and traffic engineering, Redundant path and fast recovery, Traffic validation, policing and shaping, Network resource virtualization, ...

I am happy to see that this draft proposal as been published - it will implement what I have been said for years in my seminars: SCD documents are containing a lot more than just Logical Nodes ... more to come. Stay tuned.

Click HERE for the list of National Committees involved in IEC TC 57.

Friday, April 13, 2018

CEWE Instruments Exhibits a new Meter with IEC 61850 Interface

CEWE Instruments exhibits at the Hanover Fair the Prometer 100 family of high-precision four-quadrant energy meters with advanced measuring, logging, power quality monitoring and data storage capabilities.
Prometer 100 supports flexible and modular communications options enabling integration with existing AMR/AMI/SCADA systems, and provides an upgrade path to future substation automation systems (SAS).

Logical Nodes supported: LLNO, LPHD, MMXU, MMTR, MHAI, MABT

Please note that the meter has been certified by the UCAIUG for IEC 61850 compliance.

Visit CEWE at Booth (B09, Hall 12) at the Hannover Messe (23.-27. April 2018)

Click HERE for more information.
Cliock HERE if you need a ticket for the fair in Hanover.

Configuration Description Language for Extensions for Human Machine Interfaces

IEC TC 57 just published a very interesting committee draft for machine support of automatic mapping the SCL models to HMIs:

IEC 61850 (57/1984/CD):
Communication networks and systems for power utility automation –
Part 6-2: Configuration description language for extensions for human machine interfaces

Closing date for comments: 2018-06-01 

"This International Standard describes how the graphical components and their interactions
found within HMI applications are to be described using the Graphical Configuration
Language (GCL) and the HMI Configuration Language (HCL). It will describe how the
graphical elements – described in GCL – are to be bounded to the IEC 61850 elements
defined by IEC 61850’s System Configuration Language (SCL). ..."

The following excerpt from the CD gives an impression on how the HMI configuration is intended to be automatically derived (supported) by a new graphical configuration namespace:



Wow, this is really a major step forward!