Author(s):
Jaswinder Singh – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Ravinder Singh – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Abhishek Gaur – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Yashwant Shrimali – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Deepak Singh – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Vaibhav Gupta – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Our applications address the following important challenges in traditional instrumentation systems:
dependence on people
lots of operating time
human error
Restrictions on the use of meter equipment at rural substations
The collected data is not accurate enough to be used for reliability analysis
Failure notification is not possible
We developed a flexible drop AMR system using the NI cRIO-9014 embedded real-time controller and GPRS communication interface to acquire data from remote drop instrumentation devices using the NI LabVIEW Real-Time Module. The CompactRIO system provides a good solution for processing data, managing multiple tasks, and communicating with the TCP/IP network protocol.
AMR systems are used to measure electrical parameters from instrumentation equipment installed at remote substations. We built GIS-based applications to provide a graphical view of substations in a centralized data center. The software provides the function of updating GIS real-time parameters from remote substations.
The software system is divided into five modules:
Collect data from substation instrumentation equipment
Communicate between the data center and the CompactRIO controller
GIS module
Substation single channel Display/network principle model module
Reporting and Analysis
Figure 1. AMR system architecture
This module collects data from a network of instrumentation devices installed on the substation’s input and output devices. CompactRIO controllers provide a reliable and consistent solution for processing data collected from instrumentation devices using the Modbus communication protocol. CompactRIO can handle different interfaces including RS232 and analog and digital I/O on a single Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), enabling real-time data processing.
Digital I/O modules can be used to monitor the status of the circuit breaker, and when the status of the circuit breaker changes, it can be sent to the responsible substation via SMS and email. The module reads the following parameters from the instrumentation device:
electric
temperature check
maximum demand
Troubleshooting
Communication between the data center and CompactRIO
NI’s GPRS module acts as a communication medium, allowing communication between remote substations and the data center. The data collected from the AMR interface is transmitted through the GPRS modem using TCP/IP and written to the SQL server database in the data center using the LabVIEW database connection toolkit. We built a custom website using the LabVIEW Web Publishing Tool to provide access to real-time and historical data. The system is able to record data in the CompactRIO controller’s memory in the event of a communication failure, and it can read the data when communication is restored.
GIS
GIS is used to show the location of energy system resources. The idea of integrating GIS and AMR is to provide a graphical user interface for the AMR system so that the grid can be visualized, as shown in Figures 2 and 3.
GIS contains special symbols that are dynamically updated using AMR data, thus continuously representing the current state of the grid. The operator can view the target location on the map and zoom in and out. The map automatically switches between levels at a predetermined zoom ratio, displaying a familiar map to the operator in the window.
Figure 2. GIS and Substations
Figure 3. GIS zoom out
The Single Line Display (SLD) is used to symbolize the drop, drop bus configuration, transformers and circuit breakers. The AMR system updates meter parameters from remote substations on the SLD, such as per-phase current, voltage, power, and circuit breaker power status (Figure 4). Detailed parameters can be viewed in another window (Figure 5). The displayed data comes from the database and is updated by the AMR system.
Figure 4. Drop Single Line Display
Figure 5. Substation real-time parameters
The application includes the ability to draw and document the physical grid model (substations, HT connections, transformers and LT connections), which can be updated with changes (Figure 6). This application is an extension of the AMR system that can graphically display distributed networks and configure network elements at the substation level. Data is collected from distributed transformers and instrumentation data is stored in CSV format using a handheld device. The collected data is stored in a database for reporting and analysis.
Figure 6. Grid model
Data collected from remote instrumentation devices provides the following information and reports:
Tampered or zero reading instrumentation
Energy consumption/supply level, energy consumption of network equipment (LT junctions, transformers, HT junctions and substations) over time
Maximum demand, voltage, current, power consumption/load per connector
Performance reports with peak and base demand, line and transformer/substation loads, power factor, reactive power demand, multifactor and voltage conditions
Reliability report including continuity of supply disruptions
Graphical report with load, voltage waveform, load duration and power factor curves
Largest demand for LT/HT joints, transformers and substations
Abnormal consumption report
Customized reports such as energy balance, high consumption areas, consumption trends and load/voltage curves
Figure 7. Graphical report
Our AMR systems developed using NI hardware and software are reliable and consistent solutions for power utilities. We are able to integrate instrumentation, condition monitoring, GPRS communication and application software such as GIS, data acquisition, SLD and report generation using a single platform. As a result, we avoided integration issues and shortened development time. The system helps utilities improve grid status and meets future challenges in the Indian power sector.
At the time of this publication, the system has completed substation testing, and we are developing an application to read meters from multiple substations in a distributed network spanning geographic areas, and more advanced features are being added to the application.
Author(s):
Jaswinder Singh – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Ravinder Singh – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Abhishek Gaur – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Yashwant Shrimali – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Deepak Singh – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Vaibhav Gupta – NexGEN Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Our applications address the following important challenges in traditional instrumentation systems:
dependence on people
lots of operating time
human error
Restrictions on the use of meter equipment at rural substations
The collected data is not accurate enough to be used for reliability analysis
Failure notification is not possible
We developed a flexible drop AMR system using the NI cRIO-9014 embedded real-time controller and GPRS communication interface to acquire data from remote drop instrumentation devices using the NI LabVIEW Real-Time Module. The CompactRIO system provides a good solution for processing data, managing multiple tasks, and communicating with the TCP/IP network protocol.
AMR systems are used to measure electrical parameters from instrumentation equipment installed at remote substations. We built GIS-based applications to provide a graphical view of substations in a centralized data center. The software provides the function of updating GIS real-time parameters from remote substations.
The software system is divided into five modules:
Collect data from substation instrumentation equipment
Communicate between the data center and the CompactRIO controller
GIS module
Substation single channel Display/network principle model module
Reporting and Analysis
Figure 1. AMR system architecture
This module collects data from a network of instrumentation devices installed on the substation’s input and output devices. CompactRIO controllers provide a reliable and consistent solution for processing data collected from instrumentation devices using the Modbus communication protocol. CompactRIO can handle different interfaces including RS232 and analog and digital I/O on a single Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), enabling real-time data processing.
Digital I/O modules can be used to monitor the status of the circuit breaker, and when the status of the circuit breaker changes, it can be sent to the responsible substation via SMS and email. The module reads the following parameters from the instrumentation device:
electric
temperature check
maximum demand
Troubleshooting
Communication between the data center and CompactRIO
NI’s GPRS module acts as a communication medium, allowing communication between remote substations and the data center. The data collected from the AMR interface is transmitted through the GPRS modem using TCP/IP and written to the SQL server database in the data center using the LabVIEW database connection toolkit. We built a custom website using the LabVIEW Web Publishing Tool to provide access to real-time and historical data. The system is able to record data in the CompactRIO controller’s memory in the event of a communication failure, and it can read the data when communication is restored.
GIS
GIS is used to show the location of energy system resources. The idea of integrating GIS and AMR is to provide a graphical user interface for the AMR system so that the grid can be visualized, as shown in Figures 2 and 3.
GIS contains special symbols that are dynamically updated using AMR data, thus continuously representing the current state of the grid. The operator can view the target location on the map and zoom in and out. The map automatically switches between levels at a predetermined zoom ratio, displaying a familiar map to the operator in the window.
Figure 2. GIS and Substations
Figure 3. GIS zoom out
The Single Line Display (SLD) is used to symbolize the drop, drop bus configuration, transformers and circuit breakers. The AMR system updates meter parameters from remote substations on the SLD, such as per-phase current, voltage, power, and circuit breaker power status (Figure 4). Detailed parameters can be viewed in another window (Figure 5). The displayed data comes from the database and is updated by the AMR system.
Figure 4. Drop Single Line Display
Figure 5. Substation real-time parameters
The application includes the ability to draw and document the physical grid model (substations, HT connections, transformers and LT connections), which can be updated with changes (Figure 6). This application is an extension of the AMR system that can graphically display distributed networks and configure network elements at the substation level. Data is collected from distributed transformers and instrumentation data is stored in CSV format using a handheld device. The collected data is stored in a database for reporting and analysis.
Figure 6. Grid model
Data collected from remote instrumentation devices provides the following information and reports:
Tampered or zero reading instrumentation
Energy consumption/supply level, energy consumption of network equipment (LT junctions, transformers, HT junctions and substations) over time
Maximum demand, voltage, current, power consumption/load per connector
Performance reports with peak and base demand, line and transformer/substation loads, power factor, reactive power demand, multifactor and voltage conditions
Reliability report including continuity of supply disruptions
Graphical report with load, voltage waveform, load duration and power factor curves
Largest demand for LT/HT joints, transformers and substations
Abnormal consumption report
Customized reports such as energy balance, high consumption areas, consumption trends and load/voltage curves
Figure 7. Graphical report
Our AMR systems developed using NI hardware and software are reliable and consistent solutions for power utilities. We are able to integrate instrumentation, condition monitoring, GPRS communication and application software such as GIS, data acquisition, SLD and report generation using a single platform. As a result, we avoided integration issues and shortened development time. The system helps utilities improve grid status and meets future challenges in the Indian power sector.
At the time of this publication, the system has completed substation testing, and we are developing an application to read meters from multiple substations in a distributed network spanning geographic areas, and more advanced features are being added to the application.
The Links: LM64P101 PM50CTJ060-3
