APPLICATION OF EXPERT SYSTEMS IN CO-ORDINATED CONTROL & PROTECTION Derek Leiper Abstract Microprocessor technology is increasingly being applied to substation contrl and protection systems, ‘These offer several advantages over conventional systems including increased functionality. Existing systems are described together with the enhanced functionality Which result in expert systems for ‘substation applications. Co-ordinated Control and Protection Systems ‘A number of substations have now been ‘commissioned in the UK which contain microprocessor based Co-ordinated Control and Protection (CCP) systems. These systems provide the majority of all secondary functions within the substation. The architecture of such @ system is shown in figure 1 ‘The system is arranged ina star configuration, ‘maximising the benefits of distributed I/O and serial data links. There are thvee distinct levels in the substation and within each, specific equipment provides certain functons ‘The system is also divided into three separate sub-systems. in order to provide greater reliability and flexibility in application, At the bay level, usually adjacent to the Switchgear itself, functions associated wi bays of switchgear are performed, for example YO units provide digital and analogue signal collection, command outputs, alarm and measured value display, time tagging, butfering and processing of information for ‘communication withthe master unit. Interiock units provide switchgear status indication, local control, bay interlocking and ‘communication with the interlock master unit for station interlocking. Protection equipment Provides the appropriate type of protection with the necessary degree of redundancy, for ‘example distance protection on a feeder arcutt With two main protections plus back-up. Interface with the JO unit can be through Derek Leiper is with the Engineering Deparment of Hebbum, Tyne & Wear either conventional muticore connections or via serial data lnk At the station level the control system master Unit provides and co-ordinates all Communication with the distributed 1/0 units, Peripheral equipment and remote (ot-ste) equipment. The peripheral equipment, normally consisting of @ VDU, function keyboard and printer provide the substation control point allowing ful controt of switchgear land protection equipment, status indication display, alarm annunciation, measured value display and event logging. Event lists can also be stored on magnetic media (tloppy disk) and interrogated remotely via modem. ‘The master unit also supports self-monitoring ‘and failure diagnostic routines which result in the annunciation of system messages in the event of CCP system disturbances, ‘Substation control and monitoring by the Area Control Centre Level is also supported by the master unit A variety of protocols can be Used. ‘The major benetits of COP Systems compared with conventional systems are: © ‘Substantial cost savings through reduced ‘ite cabling, less physical area required and the ease of changing system parameters without the need to change hardware, © Mutiple functions in one system results in Reyrolle Lid., Reyrole Protection,less equipment reducing engineering, manufacturing, installation and ‘commissioning and easing maintenance. © Modular construction and system architecture allow easy extension, 2 reduced spares requirement and viable Implementation with existing conventional ‘equipment. © Reliability and availabilty are increased through extensive selt-monitoring and failure diagnostics. (© Improved operation through a.user-tiendly, ‘menu prompted VDU and keyboard (© Complete system testing is possible in the factory giving increased quality assurance, Enhanced Functional tems ‘The advent of COP systems has resulted in the presentation of all substation-related data in a common format at a central point within the substation. The communications architecture that CCP system possess allows acquired data, such as analogues, status indications, relay annunciations, plant alarms etc to be used by a multitude of diverse application This data availability and the communications architecture combine to provide a suitable ‘environment in which further computing power ‘can be installed, Expert for Decision Support ‘A number of expert systems have been ‘developed which can aid power system ‘operators in thelr interpretation of power system data, ‘Alarm processing expert systems [1] can accept raw SCADA messages as input, hypothesise possible conclusions as to their collective meaning, and output appropriate summary messages, etfecively reducing the amount of data presented to the system ‘operators. Fault diagnosis expert systems [1] perform per level of reasoning compared with ‘alarm processing expert systems, and can Provide operators with valuable ‘diagnostic 5/2 Information, particularly after events where the power system has not behaved In the expected manner, perhaps as a result of protection failures/maloperations, switchgear failures, communications problems etc. ‘System restoration expert systems [2] can ‘output suggested remedial actions following severe system faults, where elther totally isolated areas of the power system exist, or the power system has become separated into Islands. These expert systems require knowiedge of pre-fault system conditions (tor ‘example plant which was out for maintenance) ‘and of power flows in the system in order that valid restorative actions can be suggested. ‘Apolcation of Expert Systems in a Substation Envionment ‘These expert systems were developed primary for control” centre application, however, as explained previously, the potential now exists for implementing iteligent ‘applications at the substalon. The alarm processing, faut diagnosis and system restoration expert systems can be talored 0 ‘operate, albeit in a “scaled-down” fashion, on ata generated by COP systems. Examples of functions which could be performed by these expert systems include: © Summarising protection operations with ‘associated secondary and switchgear ‘activity, © Summarising/diagnosing protection ‘maloperationsffaiures (and any relevant back-up operations). Deeper diagnosis could be performed through the ‘examination of relay and dedicated fault records after particulary unusual fault events. © Summarising delayed auto-recolse and ‘auto-switching activity © Summarising ‘control actions, ‘successful/unsuccesstul © Diagnosing plant fauits/problems. © Diagnosing _communications/hardware Irregularities or faults(© Suggesting switching sequences tor restoring integrity to the power system following faults. © General processing Future possiblies has been demonstrated that expert systems: ‘could be applied in a substation environment. However, it changes were made to SCADA architectures used, 80. that data from ‘substations remote to the CCP-equipped ‘substation were made available at the CCP. ‘equipped substation, the functionality of the ‘expert systems would be enhanced to the ‘extent that transmission network events, in ‘addition to substation events, could ‘be processed. low priority alarm/event ‘An arrangement such as this would result in the creation of local control areas, or "zones", with a CCP-equipped substation being designated as the "master" substation for its repective zone. The master substation would ‘accept data from all other substations in the zone, process this data, and pass concise, ‘summarised information to the control centre, This would effectively distribute functions which are presently performed at the control Cconter to the substations ‘The advantages of distributing the functions in this manner include: © Increased overall speed of operation and response to onerous system conditions. (© Reduced control centre computing load. © Reduced control ‘communications load, centre-substation © Increased autonomy forthe substation total ‘substation automation faciitate, © Inteligence allows local error checks to be performed on acquired data © Enhanced local support for field engineers through the provision of diagnostic information “on-site ‘Conclusion ‘This paper has shown how CCP systems can Provide a suitable platform upon which to implement inteligent applications. A brief description of the application of expert systems in the power system domain has been given, and it has been illustrated that these expert systems can be applied at the substation. Examples of substation events which could be processed by expert system have been shown, and finally some future possiblities for extending the functionality of these expert systems through a redefinition of the SCADA communications architecture were Indicated, Aeterences 4, McDonald, J.R., Burt, GM., Young, D.J "Alarm processing and fault diagno Using knowledge based systems. for transmission and distribution network control, IEEE Transactions on Power ‘Systems, Vol 7, No 3, Aug.92, pg 1292 1298. 2. Deltino, B., Invernizzi, M., Morini, A, "Knowiedge-based restoration guidelines", IEE Computer Applications in Power, July 1992, pg 54-59,Figure 1: Co-ordinated Control & Protection System Architecture [area Leet © 1009 The rattan of Bete Enger Printed ene putin ye IE, Soy Pace, Landen WC2R OBL, UK. 5/4