Power Line Carrier Communication

INTRODUCTION

Fast and efficient communication is a pre-requisite for the management of modern power
systems. To maintain a large power grid in optimum working condition the Central Load
Dispatcher has to have at his command a large battery of communication systems. The load
dispatcher may use the commercial P& T telephone system using open wires or under-ground
cables for communication over short distances such as communication between the load
dispatcher center and generating/receiving stations in the same city where the load dispatcher
stations is located. In some cases, VHF wireless communication may also be used. For
communication over medium and long distances in a power network, Power Line Carrier
Communication is the most economical and reliable method of communication, this is because
of higher mechanical strength and insulation level of the high voltage power lines which
contribute to the increased reliability of communication and lower attenuation over the longer
distances involved.

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Power Line Carrier Communication

CARRIERS

The carrier used in modern PLC communication systems are radio frequency currents of
frequencies between 24 kHz and 500 kHz.

The use of radio frequency carrier currents enables several channels of communication to be
hand over a single physical circuit.

The reasons for low frequency limit of 24 kHz are:

 Harmonics, switching & lightning surges and corona which will be present on high
voltage power lines all have components in the frequency band between 100 Hz and 24
kHz, which can cause considerable noise in communication circuits, if frequencies . the
signal noise to noise ratios in such circuits will be quite poor. Below 24 kHz are chosen
as carrier frequencies.
 It will be very difficult to separate the power frequency and radio frequency
components below 24 kHz as the difference in the frequencies will be smaller, and the
unwanted power frequency voltages will be very high compared to signal voltages
which will be of the order of a few mill volts.
 The cost of coupling equipment becomes prohibitive below 24 kHz because of the size
and complexity of the equipment required for operating efficiently at such low
frequencies.
The reasons for the high frequency limit of 500 kHz are:
 Above 500 kHz, the radiation losses become very high.
 Interference to and from other services increases.

The lower and upper frequency limits of 24 kHz and 500 kHz have been decided by the CCITT
of the ITU for the above reasons.

In many countries, the range of frequencies used for PLC communication is restricted by the
governments concerned as some of the other utilities such as long wave radio stations,
navigation beacons etc. have to share the available frequency band.

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MODULATION

In PLC telephony, the carrier currents are modulated by voice frequency currents and the
modulated currents are transmitted over the power lines. Double side band amplitude
modulation system was the system which was in common use in the early days of PLCC.
Modern PLCC systems are almost exclusively single sideband amplitude modulation system
for voice communication. Frequency modulation is rarely used for speech transmission
because of its considerable bandwidth requirements.

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COUPLING ARRANGEMENTS

Since telephone communication system work at low voltages, they cannot be directly
connected to high voltage lines. Suitable coupling devices have therefore, to be employed.
Theses usually consist of high voltage capacitors with suitable line matching units for matching
the impedance of power line to that of the co-axial cable connecting the matching unit to the
PLC transmit-receive equipment.

WAVE TRAPS

Further, the carrier currents used for PLC communication have to be prevented from entering
the power equipment in the stations, as this would result in high attenuation or even complete
loss of communication signals. For this, purpose “Wave Traps” are employed. These consist
mainly of suitably designed choke coils connected in series with the power lines. These choke
coils offer negligible impedance to power frequency currents, but offer suitably high
impedance to the radio frequency carrier currents.

Wave traps are generally provided with one or more suitably designed capacitors in parallel
with the choke coils to enable them to resonant (rejecter resonance) at the carrier frequencies
and thus offer an even higher impedance to the flow of RF currents.

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COUPLING CAPACITORS

A modern coupling capacitor consists of a stack of flat wound elements of pure cellulose paper
and aluminum foil held between insulating rods under optimum pressure to minimize
capacitance changes with temperature and time. The interconnections are designed to obtain
highest possible surge withstand capacity, highest cut-off frequency and lowest series
resistance at carrier frequencies.

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Power Line Carrier Communication

TYPES OF COUPLING

 PHASE-TO-GROUND COUPLING

The wave traps and coupling capacitors are all connected to one conductor of the power
line. The remaining two conductors, though not directly connected to the line, carry a
portion of the returning carrier current because of the capacitance between the
conductors. Because these two conductors do not have wave traps, a portion of the
carrier energy is lost. Also radiation losses are high as earth forms a part of the circuit,
and the noise pick-up is correspondingly higher.
This type of coupling is more economical than the other types of coupling as it uses
only half number of wave traps and coupling capacitors used with the other types of
coupling. But because it is inefficient and less reliable than other types, it is used only
for short or unimportant lines or where high reliability in presence of faults is not
essential. Eg. Where carrier protection is not to be employed.

Fig. 1 Phase to ground coupling

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Power Line Carrier Communication

WT= wave trap CC=coupling capacitor LMU=Line Matching unit

TR= Transmitting Receiving equipment

 PHASE-TO-PHASE COUPLING

There are four wave traps and four coupling capacitors are used for this type of PLC
coupling. The two power conductors used in this case may be considered as metallic go
and return lines for the carrier currents. The third conductor has no appreciable
influence on the carrier current transmission. Hence, the switching conditions of the
station have little effect on the communication. The signal attenuation is less because
two conductors are used instead of one conductor and earth. These types of coupling
are more reliable over longer distances and are generally used in load dispatch work.

Fig. 2 phase-to-phase coupling

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Power Line Carrier Communication

WT=Wave trap CC= Coupling capacitor CU= Coupling Unit(line matching

unit)
PLCC= PLC Cabinet.

 INTER-LINE OR INTER-CIRCUIT COUPLING

This is the same as phase-to-phase coupling but with the difference that the two
conductors used for communication belong to two different power circuits carried on
common towers. This type of coupling is not employed where the two circuits are
carried on two separate sets of towers as it then behaves more like a double phase-to-
ground coupling and is found to be impractical. This is because the two widely
separated conductors do not constitute an efficient transmission line but tend to behave
more like two antennas, with all the consequent disadvantages.
This type of coupling is even more reliable than phase-to-phase coupling on the same
circuit in that it permits operation with one of the two circuits opened out and grounded
for maintenance purposes.

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Power Line Carrier Communication

Fig. 3 Inter-circuit coupling

WT=wave trap CC=coupling circuit CU=coupling unit(line matching unit)

PLCC= PLC cabinet.

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Power Line Carrier Communication

WAVE TRAPS

Wave traps or Line Traps are used between the transmission line and the power station
equipment to:

 Avoid carrier power dissipation in the power plant.

 Reduce cross-talk with other PLC circuits connected to the same power station.
 Ensure proper operating conditions and signal levels at the PLC transmit-receive
equipment irrespective of switching conditions of the power circuits and equipment in
the station.

A wave trap must satisfy the following requirements:

A. It must block the carrier currents by ‘Blocking’. We mean that the trap should attenuate
the H.F. signals by atleast 8 to 11 dB.
B. It must carry the power frequency current safely during normal operation as well as
during short circuit fault conditions.

Short Circuit Strength

Rated I.E.C. Series-1 I.E.C. Series-2 N.E.M.A Standards

Current Ism IsN Ism IsN Ism IsN
(In (kA) (kA (kA) (kA (kA) (kA rms)
Amp) rms) rms)
200 13 5 26 10 - -
400* 25.5 10 40.8 16 42.5 15
630* 40.8 16 51 20 - -
800 51 20 64 25 56.8 20

1000 64 25 80.5 31.5 - -

1250* 80 31.5 102 40 102 36
1600 102 40 128 50 128 44
2000* 102 40 128 50 178 63

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Power Line Carrier Communication

3750 102 40 128 50 - -

4000 128 50 160 683 - -

*IEC Preffered values.

NOTE:
IsN = Short time rating current (1 second in IEC standards, 2 second in NEMA
standards)
Ism = assymatric peak value of IsN
= 2.55 times IsN in IEC standards
= 2.83 times in NEMA standards.

BY-PASS CIRCUITS

By pass arrangements have to be provided at all intermediate power stations on the line when
no PLC Communication is required with them. The station to be bypassed cannot be simply
bridged by a capacitance as dangerous power frequency voltages can be transferred from a live
power line section to a disconnected section. Hence standard coupling arrangements are made
as for providing a PLC communication station for both incoming and outgoing power lines and
the coupling units are connected together by co-axial cables.

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Power Line Carrier Communication

Fig 4. Bypass arrangement for phase to ground coupling

Advantages
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Power Line Carrier Communication

1. Good Performance
2. Existing Infrastructure (Network)
3. Permanently on Line
4. Good Geographical Coverage.

CONCLUSION

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Power Line Carrier Communication

In the above mentioned report on ”Power Line Carrier Communication” we have

studied about why we need Power Line Carrier as a Communication System. We came
to know about what is a carrier and how it works as a communication in Power Line.
Later we know different types of coupling i.e, Phase – To - Ground Coupling, Phase
-To - Phase Coupling and Inter - Circuit Coupling. We studied what is Wave Trap or
Line Trap and we also studied what are its different conditions.
Next we studied about the advantages of PLCC over different technologies.

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Power Line Carrier Communication

REFERENCES

1. H.W. Dommel with S. Bhattacharya, V. Brandwajin, H.K. Lauw & L. Marti,

Electromagnetic Transient Program Reference Manual (EMTP Theory Book),
Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, USA,1992-2nd Edition.
2. IEEE Guide for Power-Line Carrier Applications. An American National Standard.
ANSI/IEEE std 643-1980. IEEE, 1980.
3. B.A. Mork, D.Ishcenko, X.Wang, R.P Quest and C.P. Kinney. “Simulation Of Power
Line Carrier Communication Systems”.
4. Two Frequency Line Tuner. General Electric Publication.

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