SCADA allows local supervision and control of all operations related to the control, measurement and distribution of electrical energy carried out within the substations. It also guarantees remote access for remote control of the substation from the Central Load Dispatcher.
By means of a sophisticated man-machine interface running on an Industrial PC, it is possible to comprehensively monitor events, alarms, analysis, visualisation and control of the information acquired from the PLCs that govern each cubicle in both alternating and direct current.
The system is connected to a network of programmable logic controllers (PLC's), and also to the measurement and protection subsystems (developed by SICA), allowing real-time data acquisition from all elements of the substation. These data are stored and analysed in a database or sent directly to the PC screen as visual information. The application allows the generation of alarms and events, as well as performing local control functions on the substation.
SCADA features
Traditionally in Industrial Electrical Systems, the protection functions were separated from the control and monitoring functions of the industrial equipment. The man-machine interfaces and databases were designed with different characteristics to the control and monitoring designs. Today, thanks to developments in communications and development software, it is possible to integrate all control, monitoring and protection functions into a single, more cost-effective system.
The integrated system architecture developed by SICA makes it possible, thanks to its flexibility, to configure a system to achieve one or more control, monitoring and protection objectives for any industrial electrical system. It is easy to expand the system once it is already installed, adding new functionalities. The basic objective of our architecture is to reduce costs, as it manages to centrally perform all the tasks of control, monitoring and protection of industrial equipment.
The general architecture of our integral system consists of a number of equipment (PLC's, Network Analysers, Protection Relays, Measurement and Protection Managers), connected to a central industrial computer through a local area network.
The central computer periodically sends digital messages to the equipment to obtain information, and also sends commands to operate the electrical equipment and vary the settings on the automatic controls and protections.
The equipment connected to the network performs one or more of the following functions:
- Protection of electrical circuits and electrical equipment.
- Measurement of electrical parameters.
- Supplying the on/off status of industrial electrical equipment.
- Responding to commands from the central computer, to activate contact outputs and vary parameter settings.
This application allows remote centralised control, reducing investment costs and space requirements, as there is no need to install switches and physical signalling in the control rooms. These capabilities, integrated into our system, provide the ideal means to report any problems and control the industrial electrical system in a more efficient way.
Event reports, alarms and system control are performed with the help of the software installed on the central computer, which we call "Telemando SCADA".
With the help of the Remote Control SCADA the operator can observe the real-time status of the electrical equipment. This is achieved by displaying a series of graphical displays on the central computer.
One of the most commonly used types of graphical displays are single-line diagrams of the industrial electrical system.
Industrial Power System Monitoring
By means of SCADA, the system operator can monitor the status of the system and can therefore keep up to date with any problems that may arise and resolve them quickly. This is particularly important when the industrial electrical system has numerous load centres that provide complete information on the status of electrical equipment, voltage measurements, currents, active-reactive powers, etc.
When an audible or visual alarm occurs, the operator can observe on the SCADA screen what happened, as the monitoring system includes a sequential list of alarms and events of all the equipment, collected over a period of time. This information is of great help in diagnosing the cause of repetitive faults in the electrical system.
One of the key benefits of the monitoring system is the ability to prevent the occurrence of faults. For example, a transformer failure caused by over-temperature can be detected in advance by comparing the temperature of the transformer tank or phase windings with historical data collected from the operation of the transformer under the same load conditions.
The monitoring system provides information on power quality, in terms of voltage peaks and dips, as well as the possibility to include information on the generation of industrial harmonics. The operator or supervisor can use this information to schedule the operation and connection of electrical equipment involved in the final production, as well as prevent the occurrence of critical equipment failures by observing the generation of harmonics outside the collected historical norms.
Reporting is another important feature of the monitoring system, which is done by means of graphs and data tables.
Another facility of the Remote Control SCADA is that it allows centralised visualisation of all the existing instrumentation in the industrial electrical system, as well as the choice of the type of graphical representation of the signals measured or supervised.
Industrial Power System Protection
The type of protection relay is a key element in an integral system. In our system, multifunctional protection relays are used, as they incorporate measurement, communication and extra input/output contact possibilities to perform monitoring and control functions on the equipment they protect. Thanks to these relay possibilities, the protection functions are incorporated into the integral control, monitoring and protection system developed by SICA.
