Winter 2009 Issue
Editorial
If we do a search on the Internet, we will see different versions of a “testing” definition. More or less, they can be summarized as: A procedure for critical evaluation; a means of determining the presence, quality, or truth of something. If we analyze this definition, we can see that there are several aspects that are valid for any abstract type of testing and can be applied ... MoreLetters
Don't hesitate. Tell us what you like, and what we can do better. Share your thoughts and experience. Congratulations on an excellent start. The content... More
News
Industry News
2009 IEEE Fellow Achievement Recognition
Recognizing the achievements of its members is an important part of the mission of the IEEE. Each year, following a rigorous evaluation procedure, the IEEE Fellow Committee recommends a select group of recipients for one of the Institute’s most prestigious honors, elevation to IEEE Fellow. The IEEE Board of Directors, at its meeting on 12 November 2008, elevated Dr. Alexander Apostolo... MoreIEC 61850 based Substation Automation System
Toshiba announces the availability of its Substation Automation System (SAS) GSC1000, compliant with the IEC 61850 standard for substation communications. All devices used within the SAS such as Bay Control Units and Protection Relays have been certified IEC 61850 compliant by KEMA. The new SAS is equipped with all of the essential functions required for application at all voltage levels and... MoreMiCOM P847 Phasor Measurement Unit
AREVA’s MiCOM P847 PMU (Phasor Measurement Unit) modules can be applied to monitor strategic busses and corridors in the transmission system. The applications include On-line and offline wide area monitoring and analysis systems as well as Real time stability control. The P847 has a set of VTs and CTs used for phasor measurements. Additional system protection functions such as freque... MoreMultilin HardFiber System
GE Digital Energy delivers a complete Process Bus solution for intelligent protection and control with the Multilin HardFiber™ System using IEC 61850 sampled values. This is a true breakthrough in the installation and ownership of protection and control systems. Replacing the need for thousands of copper wires in a substation, the Multilin HardFiber System replaces the copper wires... MorePower automation with industrial design
The new ABB’s Compact System SYS 600C hardware provides proven MicroSCADA Pro functionality for real-time monitoring and control of primary and secondary equipment in transmission and distribution substations with robust and compact design. It offers an ideal solution in harsh and demanding environments where real-time process information as well as monitoring and control capabilities a... MorePower Quality Testing Tool - PQ a new signal generator module
The growing demand to verify the capability and reliability of PQ meters/analyzers requires appropriate calibration tools. OMICRON’s PQ Signal Generator software module turns a CMC test set – ideally a CMC 256plus with its high-precision voltage and current outputs – into a signal source that generates all kinds of PQ phenomena according to IEC 61000-4-30 (-7, -15), includin... MorePOWERCORE-M(tm)
New Modular, Space-Saving Substation Control System POWERCORE-M™, an innovation in control house design from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), is a rugged, NEMA 3R compliant, modular substation control system ready for immediate installation and use. This low maintenance, modular enclosure system takes up half the space of conventional units, still allowing plenty of room fo... MoreRugged Managed Switch
The RuggedSwitch® RSG2300 is an industrially hardened, fully managed, modular Ethernet switch specifically designed to operate reliably in electrically harsh and climatically demanding utility substation and industrial environments. The RSG2300's ruggedized hardware design coupled with the embedded Rugged Operating System (ROS™) provides improved system reliability and advanced c... MoreSmart Grid Projects Funding in Stimulus Bill
On January 28, 2009 the United States House of Representatives passed their version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which includes funding for smart grid projects and energy efficiency programs. Four and a half billion USD are included in the stimulus bill for “Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability”. These funds shall be available for expenses necess... MoreTechnology News
Cheap, Clean Power ? is it Real? - Sounds too good to be true, but...
In 1991 Randell Mills, a Harvard medical doctor, claimed that he had discovered the hydrino - a theoretical form of the hydrogen atom in which the electron is at a lower orbit - meaning the atom itself contains less energy. The inventor decided that he could produce hydrinos and in the process capture the energy released during the transition from hydrogen, using it to generate electricity. T... MoreHigh-Speed Cameras new solutions
Specialists in the field of electric power systems are used to thinking in milliseconds when analyzing the operation of protection relays during short circuit faults or other abnormal conditions. And they always look for ways to further improve the speed of fault detection. In order to find new ways to achieve better results, it may be helpful to better understand what happens before the f... MoreThe New Lego - a Bug lab platform, an exciting rarity
When we look around us, we see many people with an electronic gadget designed by someone who has followed the advice of the company’s marketing department that has determined what kind of product is needed by the market. When you go to the store you will see the next generation of devices with a range of functions that make it appealing to the different consumers. But since all consumer... MoreCover Story
We can not test 21st century IEDs with 20th century testing technology.
As we can see from the History articles in the magazine, different forms of protection have been used in electric power systems for more than a century. With the increase in the importance of protection, it has been necessary to ensure that the relays are able to perform their functions as expected, when necessary, and do not operate when not required. Throughout the years different testing... MoreIEC 61850 Update
IEC 61850 and condition monitoring
After expanding into the domains of Distributed Energy Resources, wind farms and hydro power, IEC 61850 is taking on condition monitoring . In the past years, many hours have been spent in different technical groups to discuss monitoring and IEC 61850. Several activities related to standardization of monitoring information have been started. And as always, when many experts discuss technic... MoreLessons Learned
Testing Relay Performance During the 2003 Blackout
On August 14th, 2003, stable and unstable power swings occurred on the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) bulk transmission system. Distance protection relays tripped out on some of the lines during stable power swings. These events contributed to the blackout of many parts of the northeast United States and Canada that occurred on that date, and brought to attention the need to ... MoreImplementation of Time Domain Simulations and Relay Modeling
Implementation of Time Domain Simulations and Relay Modeling
Virtual Testing for Performance Evaluation and Setting Verification Settings of protection relays on the Transmission system require number of fault studies to calculate relevant impedances that the relay will be measuring during faults on the network. Steady state fault calculations and analysis used to be sufficient to obtain required fault quantities. Increased series compensation on ... MoreTesting Philosophy
Testing Philosophy
Philosophy A system of principles for conduct of life. The Numerical Relay Perspective An old Chinese saying ... “You can't do today's job with yesterday’s methods and be in business tomorrow.” Are you testing numerical relays using the same philosophy and practices used for electromechanical or static (EMS) relays?. If the answer’s YES, it’s tim... MoreEfficient Testing of Modern Protection IEDs
Efficient Testing of Modern Protection IEDs
The reliability of electricity generation, transmission and distribution is directly related to the reliability and quality of the protection system. Regardless of which generation of protection equipment is protecting the elements of the system, it is always necessary to prove its proper functioning during commissioning, and after certain duration of service. Complex technical devices and ... MoreThe Guru
The Guru
Professor Yang PAC World: You were born in Shanghai in 1937. What are your earliest memories from this city? P.Y: That was the time of the Japanese war. My memory is from a French occupied area – very quiet and not affected significantly by the war. I remember when the war ended – it was a great celebration. PAC World: You attended the Attached Middle School of Saint Joh... MoreHistory
Protection History
According to the patents of Károly Zipernowski, Miksa Déri and Ottó Bláth, the first transformers were produced in 1885 by the company Ganz & Co.. They were small alternating current ring-transformers or shell-form transformers. The magnetic circuit was closed jointless. The patentees used the word "transformer" for the first time. Five years late... MoreI Think
To test or not to test - that is the question?
Author: Marco C. Janssen, UTInnovation, Netherlands There seems to be an agreement though that testing serves a purpose and can help avoid safety and operational risks. So it is not so much the question of testing or not. It is the definition of what to test and how to test it. This is where the opinions quickly start to vary. When using numerical systems, one of the most important things... MoreIndustry Reports
Cyber Security Standards Under Review
NERC - the North American Electric Reliability Corporation The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) mission is to ensure the reliability of the bulk power system in North America. To achieve that, NERC develops and enforces reliability standards; assesses adequacy annually via a 10-year forecast and winter and summer forecasts; monitors the bulk power syste... MoreIEEE PES Power Systems Relaying
A Technical Committee of the Power & Energy Society. Now bearing the title C37.2–IEEE Standard for Electrical Power System Device Function Numbers, Acronyms, and Contact Designations, this standard was perhaps the first substation configuration language when published by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1928 as AIEE No. 26. It provided a means to describe, on... MoreConference Reports
2008 Southern African Power System Protection Conference
Eskom, the South African electricity utility, once again hosted the biennial Southern African Power System Protection Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa from the 12th to 14th November 2008. The conference was yet again fully subscribed with 350 delegates attending the two and a half days. An exhibition ran concurrently with the conference with 17 suppliers exhibiting electrica... MoreAustralian Protection Symposium 2008
The Australian Protection Symposium 2008 was an event quite different from typical conferences and symposiums. While usually people from different parts of a country get together at a single location to discuss a set of issues, in this case the symposium was organized as five one day events that took place in five different locations. The protection symposium took place from 25 Septe... MoreInternational IEC 61850 Seminar
The XXI Century Communications, Control and Protection Architecture Seminar was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. CIGRE and IEC Argentina have jointly organized for the first time in this country an International Seminar, with experts of recognized international status of the two organizations lecturing on the Standard IEC 61850, describing implementation experiences in substations a... MoreInternational Protection Testing Symposium, Austria
The Symposium was held in Schattenburg in Feldkirch, Austria - 23-24 October, 2008 Protection and control specialists from more than thirty countries gathered for the two day protection testing symposium to discuss the challenges resulting from the changing utility environment and the advancements in protection and communications technology. More than twenty papers covered a wide... MoreBook Review
Power systems electromagnetic transient simulation
The changing utility environment characterized with system congestion, increased sensitivity of industrial loads to short circuit faults and other abnormal system conditions leads to the requirements for fast fault clearing and stable behavior of protection relays during wide area system disturbances. Advanced protection functions based on the monitoring of the transient voltage and current ... MoreHobby
The Challenges of Geocaching
Geocaching –the beginning It all started on St. Nicholas Evening about a year ago. I was sitting in a nice restaurant in Rankweil, a village in Western Austria. Together with friends and former workmates I had a great time reflecting on old stories and experiences. After a while Martin, a good friend of mine, mentioned that he is actually working on a GPS receiver – a per... MoreFinal Thoughts
Your Opinion
Tell us your opinion about the names of the PAC World issues during the year.
Should we use the seasons?
You have been receiving the PAC World magazine for more than a year and a half and I am sure that many of you have noticed and probably asked the question:
Why the first issue in a year, for example the one that you are holding, is Winter 2009?
Like everything el... More
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