2018 International Conference on Industrial Engineering, Applications and Manufacturing (ICIEAM)

Development of Technical Solutions for Digital

Substations Using Ddigital Instrument Combined
Current and Voltage Transformers

Topolskiy D.V. Yumagulov N.I. Galiyev A.L.

South Ural State University Department for Education in Physics Department of the General and
Chelyabinsk, Russia and Mathematics Theoretical Physics
[email protected] Nizhnevartovsk State University Sterilitamak branch of the Bashkir State
(NVSU) University
Nizhnevartovsk, Russia Sterlitamak, Russia

Abstract—The paper discusses technical solutions for the develop similar devices with other ranges of currents and
development of instrument transformers for digital substations. voltages on the basis of the developed prototype. In the
A new combination of current and voltage measurement existing combined measuring transformers, this combination is
converters for combined transformer voltage class 110 kV and not used.
higher is considered. The possibilities of creating digital
instrument transformers based on the principles of open
architecture are analyzed. In the authors' opinion, such an II. THE CURRENT STATE OF THE PROBLEM AND THE
approach will ensure independence from hardware and software RESEARCH TASKS
manufacturers. Computer modeling, experimental studies and When organizing Smart Grids, it is important to ensure the
experimental exploitation of a prototype of the digital instrument interaction of the main automated components. Devices
combined current and voltage transformer confirm the results measuring electrical parameters must communicate with
presented in the paper. control devices in real time via digital communication
channels on all sections of the grid. Since most of the
Keywords—digital substation; Smart Grids; Supervisory
Control And Data Acquisition; Digital Instrument Transformers;
energetic objects began using the SCADA technology
Intelligent Electronic Devices; IEC 61850 (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), all automation
devices must be connected at the software level by SCADA-
systems. In turn, SCADA-systems should exchange data with
I. INTRODUCTION each other [1-4].
At present, the world energy sector is in a state of
At present, electric substations traditionally have very
reformation. Modern scientific, technical and economic
limited opportunities to participate in the process of solving
requirements for energetics necessitates the transition to a new
the problems of electric grid control. Basically, they provide
technological order, including advanced technologies in the
their funds as sources of source information and as executive
field of energy, measurement, information, communications
devices. At the same time, the set of data that is currently
and other technologies. At the heart of the energetics of the
received from substations are oriented to support the solution
new way will be various-scale complex systems and services
of technological tasks of the grid control centers, as well as the
of intelligent energetics. The new technological structure will
tasks of mutual exchange of information with dispatch centers,
be fully formed in the coming years, and will determine the
power stations, and large consumers. Of course, when creating
technological profile of the markets for equipment, software
digital substations, this set of technological information should
systems, engineering and services in the energy sector.
be supplemented by other useful data that are not currently
A separate direction in the transition to a new available. The digital substation is a complex system that
technological way of energetics is the transition to intelligent includes power and auxiliary devices, control devices,
control and engineering. In particular, this direction provides computers and microprocessor intellectual electronic devices
for the development of digital substations of various voltage (IED), control software (Figure 1). Figure 1 is indicated by: I
classes, the mandatory component of which are digital – Process level (Lower): 1 – switching substation, 2 –
instrument transformers. instrument transformers, 3 – switching devices, 4 – merging
unit, 5 – remote terminal unit; II – Bay level (Medium): 6 –
It is proposed to build a digital instrument combined bay controller, 7 – relay protection and automation, 8 – others
current and voltage transformer based on an electromagnetic IEDs; III –Station level (Upper): 9 – server SCADA, 10 –
current transformer and a capacitive voltage divider located on workstation of operator [5-8].
the high voltage side and transferring these signals through an
optical fiber cable. Such a construction makes it possible to

978-1-5386-4307-5/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE

 2018 International Conference on Industrial Engineering, Applications and Manufacturing (ICIEAM)
Thus, for the development of digital substation technology,
it is necessary to solve the problem of creating digital
instrument current and voltage transformers that have high
metrological characteristics, using advanced digital,
measuring, information and communication technologies for
real-time high-voltage measurements in their design. At the
same time, digital instrument transformers, which are part of а
digital substation SHC, should have a relatively low cost, low
weight and dimensions, as well as viscous risk of fire and
explosion.

III. WAYS OF SOLVING RESEARCH PROBLEMS

To solve the research tasks, it is proposed to organize the
SCH of a digital substation based on the use of digital
combined current and voltage transformers (DCCVT). These
transformers meet all of the above requirements. The cost of
one combined transformer is lower than the cost of a set of
two current and voltage instrument transformers. However, the
production of combined transformers has not yet been
organized widely.
Fig. 1. Software and hardware complex (SHC) of а digital substation. In addition to the high level of automation, a number of
specific requirements are imposed on the equipment of digital
When implementing the concept of intelligent electrical substations. The design and the algorithm of operation of the
grids, the important parameters are currents in power lines that combined transformer should provide for independence from
are suitable for substations and voltages on these lines. the equipment suppliers. In order to solve certain
Traditionally, the measurement of currents and voltages at technological problems, the freedom to choose the suppliers of
substations is mainly carried out using high-voltage components and software should be ensured. The
electromagnetic current and voltage instrument transformers implementation of these requirements is largely achieved by
that convert high currents of high voltages into smaller low- the unification of information protocols, as well as the
voltage currents and high voltages into low voltages that can expansion of the functional tasks implemented by each of the
then be converted into digital codes using analog-to-digital protocols. In many ways, this is facilitated by the introduction
converters. Conventional instrument transformers have a time- of the IEC 61850 standard.
tested design, but they have considerable mass, dimensions
and cost, as well as fire and explosion hazard. In addition, Functionally, the DCCVT must convert, acquisition and
these devices need electronic signal converters in the digital process digital information and exchange information with
code [9]. medium-level devices. For the transmission of measurement
data for instantaneous currents and voltages, the operation
On digital substations, the equipment of information algorithm of the DCCVT must include the use of the IEC
interaction is digital instrument transformers. Digital 61850-9-2 or IEC 61850-9-2LE protocols. The transformer
instrument transformers are a new class of products whose architecture must comply with IEC standards [15-17].
operation principle is based on the latest advances in optics,
electronics, digital signal processing and measurement Basic characteristics of the prototype:
information transfer systems that support the IEC 61850-9-2 • The voltage class is 110 kV;
protocol [10].
• Current measuring ranges – (100 - 1000) A;
Relatively recently, when measuring high-voltage currents,
optical transformers and current and voltage converters, whose • The measuring range of the current along the
operation principle is based on the Faraday effect, began to be protection track is 12 kA;
used [11-13]. The pioneer in the creation of such devices is the
company NxtPhase. Now a number of manufacturers produces • Accuracy class for voltage – 0.2, current – 0.2S, along
such devices. These converters have a noticeably smaller the track of protection – 5Р;
mass, they allow measuring both the direct current and the • Weight – not more than 120 kg.
alternating current and transmitting the optical signal about the
current for a considerable distance. Typically, the weight of The technical means of the digital substation must be
the optical sensor is approximately 10% of the weight of a repairable object that allow for maintenance. The DCCVT to
traditional oil-filled transformer. This reduces transportation be developed must relate to serviced continuous long-time use
costs and simplifies installation. The total area of the systems. For software and hardware solutions of transformer
substation can be reduced by 15-25% [14]. However, the main prototypes, the following values of indicators should be set
drawback of optical converters is the excessively high price. [18-20]:
This factor hampers their wide application.
 2018 International Conference on Industrial Engineering, Applications and Manufacturing (ICIEAM)
• The average time between failures is not less than 10
000 hours;
• The average recovery time is not more than 2 hours
without taking into account the time required for
organizational activities;
• Service life is not less than 25 years.
DCCVT operating conditions:
• Ambient temperature (-40 ... + 60)°С;
• Relative humidity of air up to 100% at 25°С;
• Atmospheric pressure from 650 mm of mercury
column;
• Height above sea level up to 1000 m.
To increase the accuracy of commercial metering of
electricity in a transformer, it is advisable to combine current
and voltage converters so that analog-digital samples of
current and voltage of the same phase are made
synchronously. With separate current and voltage converters, Fig. 3. Model of a substation network segment in a Riverbed Modeler
such synchronization is difficult, while in combined environment.
converters the sampling is carried out simultaneously in a
natural way by using multichannel microchips of analog-to- In the course of the research tests, the ability to transmit
digital converters with synchronous conversion start. measured values of current and voltage in real time in
accordance with the IEC 61850 standard was tested.
Analogues of the proposed solution with comparable
prices in the world market are not revealed. An innovative
result is the solution of the scientific and technical problem of
the combination of current and voltage converters with
appropriate synchronization.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

During the projects initiated by company Chelenergopribor
[21], a prototype of the combined transformer was created and
a number of studies were carried out, including computer
simulations and experimental studies (Figures 2-4). The
features of integrating the DCCVT into the information and
control network of the substation and transferring data to the
SCADA-system were studied [22-24].

Fig. 2. Verification of the correspondence of data transmission to IEC 61850 Fig. 4. Experimental studies of the transformer prototype.
 2018 International Conference on Industrial Engineering, Applications and Manufacturing (ICIEAM)
Experimental operation of the transformer was also instrument combined transformer TRATON-110 (Figure 7).
organized with the implementation of thermal imaging control [25]).
and transmission of measurement data to the cloud storage
(Figures 5-6).

Fig. 7. Outdoor sensor TRATON-110.

The TRATON-110 consists of an external sensor installed

on an open switchgear and a Merging Unit that interfaces the
substation network using the IEC-61850-9-2 LE protocol
installed in the substation building. The measurement result on
the high-voltage side is converted into a digital code and
transmitted to the low-voltage side via a fiber-optic
communication line up to 1.5 km in length. The current is
Fig. 5. Experimental operation of the transformer with thermal imaging measured using an electromagnetic current transformer
control. mounted in the high-voltage part of the sensor. Voltage is
measured using a capacitive scaling voltage converter
(divider). To obtain data for the relay protection circuits, the
TRATON-110 uses Rogowski coil, which provides current
measurement in emergency modes.
Main technical characteristics of TRATON-110:
• Voltage class is 110 kV;
• Rated primary current – (200 2000) A;
• Accuracy class of current measurement – 0.2;
• Accuracy class of current measurement for relay
protection and automation – 5;
• Accuracy class of voltage measurement – 0.2;
• Transmission protocol IEC 61850-9-2;
• Dimensions 1540 * 320 * 450 mm;
Fig. 6. The organization of the transfer of measurement data to the cloud
storage in real time. • Weight 120 kg;
In comparison with analogues, TRATON-110 has more
Based on the results of these and several other studies, the favorable indicators. At present, the transformer has
specialists of Chelenergopribor have created a digital successfully passed high voltage tests. Work is underway to
 2018 International Conference on Industrial Engineering, Applications and Manufacturing (ICIEAM)
include TRATON-110 in the register of measuring Automation and Control Systems 2015, IOP Conf. Series: Materials
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