P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC

JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

6
Distribution Automation
Equipment

6.1 Introduction
Modern electric power systems are supplied by large central generators that feed power into
a high voltage interconnected transmission network. The power, often transmitted over long
distances, is then passed down through a series of distribution transformers to final circuits for
delivery to customers (Figure 6.1, also refer to Plate 1).
Operation of the generation and transmission systems is monitored and controlled by Su-
pervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. These link the various elements
through communication networks (for example, microwave and fibre optic circuits) and con-
nect the transmission substations and generators to a manned control centre that maintains
system security and facilitates integrated operation. In larger power systems, regional control
centres serve an area, with communication links to adjacent area control centres. In addition
to this central control, all the generators use automatic local governor and excitation control.
Local controllers are also used in some transmission circuits for voltage control and power
flow control, for example, using phase shifters (sometimes known as quadrature boosters).
Traditionally, the distribution network has been passive with limited communication be-
tween elements. Some local automation functions are used such as on-load tap changers and
shunt capacitors for voltage control and circuit breakers or auto-reclosers for fault manage-
ment. These controllers operate with only local measurements and wide-area coordinated
control is not used.
Over the past decade, automation of the distribution system has increased in order to
improve the quality of supply and allow the connection of more distributed generation. The
connection and management of distributed generation are accelerating the shift from passive
to active management of the distribution network. Network voltage changes and fault levels
are increasing due to the connection of distributed generation [1]. Without active management
of the network, the costs of connection of distributed generation will rise and the connection
of additional distributed generation may be limited [2].

Smart Grid: Technology and Applications, First Edition.

Janaka Ekanayake, Kithsiri Liyanage, Jianzhong Wu, Akihiko Yokoyama and Nick Jenkins.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

113
P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

114 Smart Grid: Technology and Applications

Figure 6.1 Typical power system elements

The connection of large intermittent energy sources and plug-in electric vehicles will lead
to an increase in the use of Demand-Side Integration and distribution system automation.

6.2 Substation automation equipment

The components of a typical legacy substation automation system are shown in Figure 6.2.
Traditionally, the secondary circuits of the circuit breakers, isolators, current and voltage
transformers and power transformers were hard-wired to relays. Relays were connected with
multi-drop serial links to the station computer for monitoring and to allow remote interrogation.

Figure 6.2 Substation components [3, 4]

P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

Distribution Automation Equipment 115

Figure 6.3 A modern substation [3, 5]

However, the real-time operation of the protection and voltage control systems was through
hard-wired connections.
The configuration of a modern substation automation system is illustrated in Figure 6.3. Two
possible connections (marked by boxes) of the substation equipment are shown in Figure 6.3.
Although it may vary from design to design, generally it comprises three levels:
r The station level includes the substation computer, the substation human machine interface
(which displays the station layout and the status of station equipment) and the gateway to
the control centre.
r The bay level includes all the controllers and intelligent electronic devices (which provide
protection of various network components and a real-time assessment of the distribution
network).
r The process level consists of switchgear control and monitoring, current transformers (CTs),
voltage transformers (VTs) and other sensors.
P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

116 Smart Grid: Technology and Applications

In connection 1, analogue signals are received from CTs and VTs (1 A or 5 A and 110 V)
as well as status information and are digitised at the bay controller and IEDs. In connection
2, analogue and digital signals1 received from CTs and VTs are digitised by the interfacing
unit. The process bus and station bus take these digital signals to multiple receiving units,
such as IEDs, displays, and the station computer that are connected to the Ethernet network.
To increase reliability, normally two parallel process buses are used (only one process bus is
shown in Figure 6.3) [5].
The station bus operates in a peer-to-peer mode. This bus is a LAN formed by connecting
various Ethernet switches through a fibre-optic circuit. The data collected from the IEDs
is processed for control and maintenance by SCADA software that resides in the station
computer.
The hard-wiring of traditional substations required several kilometres of secondary wiring
in ducts and on cable trays. This not only increased the cost but also made the design inflexible.
In modern substations as inter-device communications are through Ethernet and use the same
communication protocol, IEC 61850, both the cost and physical footprint of the substation
have been reduced.

6.2.1 Current transformers

The normal load current of transmission and distribution circuits varies up to hundreds or even
thousands of amperes. When a short circuit fault occurs, the current may increase to more
than 20 times the normal load current. Current transformers (CTs) are used to transform the
primary current to a lower value (typically 1 or 5 A maximum) suitable for use by the IEDs or
interfacing units.
The majority of CTs, which are now in service, are iron cored with a secondary winding on
the core. The primary is often the main circuit conductor forming a single turn. The operating
principle of these transformers can be found in [3, 6, 7]. The iron core of these transformers
introduces inaccuracies in the measurements due to the presence of magnetising current (which
only appears on the primary), flux leakage, magnetic saturation and eddy current heating. In
order to minimise their measurement errors, the design is optimised for the specific application.
Measurement CTs are used to drive ammeters, power and energy meters. They provide
accurate measurements up to 120 per cent of their rated current. In contrast, protection CTs
provide measurement of the much greater fault current and their accuracy for load current is
generally less important.
Measurement CTs are specified by IEC 60044-1 according to their accuracy classes, of 0.1,
0.2, 0.5 and 1 per cent at up to 120 per cent of rated current.
Protection CTs are normally described for example, as ‘10 VA Class 10P 20’. The first
term (10 VA) is the rated burden of the CT that can have a value of 2.5, 5, 10, 15 or 30 VA.
The accuracy class (10P) defines the specified percentage accuracy. The last term (20) is the
accuracy limit (the multiple of primary current up to which the CT is required to maintain its
specified accuracy with rated burden connected). The accuracy limit can be 5, 10, 20 or 30.

1 Optical CTs and VTs provide digital signals whereas conventional CTs and VTs provide an analogue signal (see

Sections 6.2.1 and 6.2.2).

P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

Distribution Automation Equipment 117

Class 10P is designated in ANSI/IEEE C57.13 as class C where the CT is classified by

‘C’ followed by a number. This number indicates the secondary terminal voltage that the
transformer can deliver to a standard burden at 20 times the rated current without exceeding
an accuracy of 10 per cent.
There are other classes of CTs such as Class T and X of IEEE C57.13, and Classes 3, 5
and PX of IEC 60044-1. More details about these current transformers can be found in the
respective standards [8, 9].

Example 6.1
Part of a distribution circuit is shown in Figure 6.4. The CT used is a 10 VA Class 10P
20 and has a secondary resistance of 0.6  and a magnetising reactance of j15 . Using
the equivalent circuit of the CT [3, 10], obtain the percentage current magnitude error
and phase displacement error for the rated current and for the current at the accuracy
limit when the rated burden is connected to the secondary.

Figure 6.4 Figure for Example 6.1

Answer
As the rated burden is 10 VA, the corresponding secondary resistance is given by
10
Rburden = = 0.4 
52
The per-phase equivalent circuit of the CT with rated current flowing is shown in
Figure 6.5:

Figure 6.5 Per-phase equivalent circuit of the CT

P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

118 Smart Grid: Technology and Applications

11000
V1 = √ = 6350.9 V
3
3 × (6350.9)2
Rload = = 31.75 
3.81 × 106
Transforming the primary quantities into secondary (multiplying voltage by the turns
ratio, that is, 40 and primary resistance by 402 ) the following circuit is obtained, as
shown in Figure 6.6:

Figure 6.6 Secondary referred equivalent circuit of Figure 6.5

254.04 × 103
Actual current in the secondary circuit =
50800 + [ j15 × 1.0/(1.0 + j15)]

= 5.0007∠0◦

5.0007 − 5
Therefore the percentage current magnitude error = × 100 = 0.014%
5
Phase angle error is 0◦ .
When the current is at the accuracy limit, that is, 200 × 20 A is flowing in the primary
circuit, instead of the Rload in the equivalent circuit, Rfault appears in the transformer
primary.
6350.9
Rfault = = 1.59 
4000

254.04 × 103
New actual current in the secondary circuit =
1.59 × 402 + [ j15 × 1.0/(1.0 + j15)]

= 99.8194∠ − 0.0015◦
Therefore, the percentage current magnitude error =
99.8194 − 5 × 20
× 100 = −0.18%
5 × 20
The phase angle error is 0.0015◦ .
P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

Distribution Automation Equipment 119

Figure 6.7 A Rogowski coil

As shown in connection 2 of Figure 6.3 (normally used in modern substations), the current
measurements from a CT are digitised and made available to the process bus and used by a
number of devices. Multiple use of the same digitised measurement requires high accuracy
CTs that measure both load and fault currents.
While iron cored CTs and hybrid CTs (an iron cored CT with an optical transmit-
ter) remain the most widely used CTs in the power system, high accuracy designs such
as the Rogowski coil formed on a printed circuit board and optical CTs [3, 11, 12]
are becoming available.
Rogowski coil CTs are used in a Gas Insulated Substations (GIS). The secondary winding
of the coil is a multi-layer printed circuit board as shown in Figure 6.7 with the upper and
lower tracks of each layer connected by metal vias (thus forming a rectangular coil). The
voltage induced on the secondary windings due to primary current (see Box 6.1) is integrated
(as a Rogowski coil gives di/dt) by the sensor electronics to obtain the value of the primary
current.

Box 6.1 A Rogowski coil

The Rogowski coil detects the magnetic field created by the change in conductor current
and generates a voltage (v) proportional to it.
μNL  a  di
v= ln  
2π b dt
where N is number of turns, L is thickness of the printed circuit board (multi-layers are
used), and di/dt is the change in primary current.

Optical CTs use the Faraday effect (Box 6.2), whereby the plane of polarisation of a light
beam when subjected to a magnetic field, is rotated through an angle. This angle of rotation
is proportional to the magnetic field thus to the primary current. Figure 6.8 shows this type
P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

120 Smart Grid: Technology and Applications

Figure 6.8 A simple optical CT

of CT in its simplest form. The opto-electronics compares the polarisation of the light beam
entered into the optical fibre and that collected after being subjected to the circular magnetic
field. The angle of deflection is used to generate digital signals proportional to the line current.

Box 6.2 The Faraday Effect

The Faraday effect describes an interaction between light and a magnetic field in a
medium. A polarised light beam rotates when subjected to a magnetic field (Figure 6.9).
The rotation of the plane of polarisation is proportional to the intensity of the magnetic
field in the direction of the beam of light.

Figure 6.9 The Faraday effect

The angle of rotation β in radians is given by β = νBd where B is the magnetic flux
density (in T), d is the length of the path (in m) and ν the Verdet constant for the material.
Some other designs are being developed based on the Faraday effect that use a disc
of an optically active material around the conductor [3, 7, 11]. The light enters the disc
from one side and travels around it (thus around the conductor) and is collected at the
other end.
P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

Distribution Automation Equipment 121

Figure 6.10 A high voltage CVT

6.2.2 Voltage transformers

It is necessary to transform the power system primary voltage down to a lower voltage to be
transferred through process bus to IEDs, bay controller and station computer. The secondary
voltage used is usually 110 V. At primary voltages up to 66 kV, electromagnetic voltage
transformers (similar to a power transformer with much lower output rating) are used but at
132 kV and above, it is common to use a capacitor voltage transformers (CVT).
As the accuracy of voltage measurements may be important during a fault, protection and
measuring equipment are often fed from the same voltage transformer (VT). IEC 60044-2 and
ANSI/IEEE C57.13 define the accuracy classes of VTs. Accuracy classes such as 0.1, 0.2,
0.5, 1.0 and 3.0 are commonly available. For example, Class 0.1 means the percentage voltage
ratio error should not exceed 0.1 per cent at any voltage between 80 and 120 per cent of rated
voltage and with a burden of between 25 and 100 per cent of rated burden.
The basic arrangement of a high voltage CVT is a capacitor divider, a series reactor (to
compensate for the phase shift introduced by the capacitor divider) and a step-down transformer
(for reducing the voltage to 110 V). The voltage is first stepped down to a high value by a
capacitor divider and further reduced by the transformer, as shown in Figure 6.10 [3, 6, 7].
For applications up to 11 kV, optical CVTs are now available. Due to the lower voltage
involved the inductor and transformer (in Figure 6.10) are replaced by an opto-electronic
circuit mounted on the base tank (see Figure 6.11). In this arrangement there is no L-C circuit
to resonate, and hence no oscillations, over-voltages or any possibility of ferro-resonance.
Some VTs use a similar technique to optical CTs based on the Faraday effect. In this case,
an optical fibre is situated inside the insulator running from top to bottom and is fed by a
circular polarised light signal. Due to the magnetic field between the HV terminal and the base
tank, the polarisation of the light signal changes and that deflection is used to obtain the HV
terminal voltage.

6.2.3 Intelligent electronic devices

The name Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) describes a range of devices that perform one
or more of functions of protection, measurement, fault recording and control. An IED consists
P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

122 Smart Grid: Technology and Applications

Figure 6.11 Basic circuit of an optical CVT.

of a signal processing unit (as discussed in Sections 5.3.2 and 5.3.3), a microprocessor with
input and output devices, and a communication interface. Communication interfaces such as
EIA 232/EIA 483, Ethernet, Modbus and DNP3 are available in many IEDs.

6.2.3.1 Relay IED

Modern relay IEDs combine a number of different protection functions with measurement,
recording and monitoring. For example, the relay IED shown in Figure 6.12 has the following
protection functions:

r three-phase instantaneous over-current: Type 50 (IEEE/ANSI designation);

r three-phase time-delayed over-current (IDMT): Type 51;
r three-phase voltage controlled or voltage restrained instantaneous or time-delayed over-
current: Types 50V and 51V;
r earth fault instantaneous or time-delayed over-current: Types 50N and 51N.

The local measurements are first processed and made available to all the processors within
the protection IED. A user may be able to read these digitised measurements through a small
LED display as shown in Figure 6.13. Furthermore, a keypad is available to input settings or
override commands.
Various algorithms for different protection functions are stored in a ROM. For example,
the algorithm corresponding to Type 50 continuously checks the local current measurements
against a set value (which can be set by the user or can be set remotely) to determine
whether there is an over-current on the feeder to which the circuit breaker is connected. If the
current is greater than the setting, a trip command is generated and communicated to the Circuit
P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

Distribution Automation Equipment 123

Figure 6.12 Typical configuration of a relay IED

Figure 6.13 Relay IED. Source: Courtesy of Toshiba

P1: TIX/XYZ P2: ABC
JWST134-c06 JWST134-Ekanayake January 18, 2012 21:39 Printer Name: Markono

124 Smart Grid: Technology and Applications

Breaker (CB). IEDs have a relay contact that is hard-wired (in series) with the CB tripping
coil and the tripping command completes the circuit, thus opening the CB.

6.2.3.2 Meter IED

A meter IED provides a comprehensive range of functions and features for measuring three-
phase and single-phase parameters. A typical meter IED measures voltage, current, power,
power factor, energy over a period, maximum demand, maximum and minimum values, total
harmonic distortion and harmonic components.

6.2.3.3 Recording IED

Even though meter and protection IEDs provide different parameters (some also have a data
storage capability), separate recording IEDs are used to monitor and record status changes in
the substation and outgoing feeders.
Continuous event recording up to a resolution of 1 ms is available in some IEDs. These
records are sometimes interrogated by an expert to analyse a past event. This fault recorder
records the pre-fault and fault values for currents and voltages. The disturbance records are
used to understand the system behaviour and performance of related primary and secondary
equipment during and after a disturbance.

6.2.4 Bay controller

Bay controllers (Figure 6.14) are employed for control and monitoring of switchgear, trans-
formers and other bay equipment. The bay controller facilitates the remote control actions
(from the control centre or from an on-site substation control point) and local control actions
(at a point closer to the plant).
The functionalities available in a bay controller can vary, but typically include:

r CB control
r switchgear interlock check
r transformer tap change control
r programmable automatic sequence control.

6.2.5 Remote terminal units

The distribution SCADA system acquires data (measurements and states) of the distribution
network from Remote Terminal Units (RTU). This data is received by an RTU situated in the
substation (referred to here as the station RTU), from the remote terminal units situated in
other parts of the distribution network (referred to here as the field RTU).
The field RTUs act as the interface between the sensors in the field and the station RTU. The
main functions of the field RTU are to: monitor both the analogue and digital sensor signals
(measurements) and actuator signals (status), and convert the analogue signals coming from
the sensors and actuators into digital form. The station RTU acquires the data from the field