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Managing Fault and Disturbance Data Dean Weiten, Michael Miller, Dave Fedirchuk Alpha Power Technologies (APT) Due in part to this large volume of non-significant Abstract - The increased installation of digital recorders, triggers, recorders are often ignored until some external recording relays and other devices capable of capturing power event occurs. For instance, a relay operation, outage, or system data is providing more data on power system converter commutation failure may cause the user to performance than ever before. How to make effective use of consider that the recorder may have captured data relevant this data is a challenge being faced by many utilities. to the event. The user then communicates with the recorder, typically by dial-up modem, and sifts through the recorder’s This paper provides an overview of advances in storage for records around the time of the event. Often Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), communication several recordings must be retrieved through relatively slow technologies and software and discusses their application to data links to find one that contains data of interest. the task of fault and disturbance analysis. Each record is then manually analyzed using interactive graphical display tools. Often records from multiple sources Index Terms -Transient, data, exchange, record, power must be considered and somehow combined to obtain a systems, intelligent systems, data processing whole picture of the event. Record data must be manually correlated and time-aligned with other system information, I. INTRODUCTION such as sequence of events lists. The actual analysis of the retrieved data is a lot of work, and often takes an expert user Recording systems have been used in the power utility many hours. industry for some time. The information they provide is Broad-based access to the analysis results and the valuable in the diagnosis and prevention of system failures. recorded waveforms often requires the printing and Recorder data can be put to many uses: determining the distribution of paper reports. Although un-analyzed cause of a misoperation, identifying coordination problems, recorder data can be shared through the use of the IEEE building and verifying system models and detecting and COMTRADE record format, online access to the records is preventing equipment failure, to name just a few. often limited and does not include the results of the The number of recording sources in use has increased analysis. over the last few years as utilities discovered the many uses of recording data. Unfortunately, so has the volume of It has been said many times at past TRUC that every recording data to be analyzed and managed. recording has a story to tell - sometimes it shows that a The analysis and management of records takes breaker is operating outside of parameters and may need considerable time and requires skilled personnel. For this service, or it could be simply saying that the recording reason, many records may not examined and much of their trigger criteria are incorrect. The excess of non-significant potential value is lost. recordings, the difficulty and time required to retrieve and analyze the data and the lack of support for broad access to the results means that much of the value of the recordings II. TYPICAL RECORDING SYSTEMS USE is unused. This is unfortunate, since this data could With present recorder technology, it is often necessary provide information critical to the utility’s operation. to record a lot of extra data in order to ensure that the desired data is captured. Recorder trigger criteria are relatively simple, so sensitive thresholds must be set up. As III. THE IDEAL RECORDING SYSTEM? a result, recordings are often generated for ‘non-events’: The ideal recording system of the future might be very occurrences that are not worth recording, but which meet simple indeed. There would be three colored lights on the the sensitive trigger criteria. As well, when a system event workstation - red, yellow, and green. The recording system occurs, numerous records may be generated, with some would measure all relevant parameters for all system being interesting, and many not relevant. operations and use artificial intelligence techniques and user-defined parameters to assess the appropriateness of the system’s response. The recordings would be Presented at the Transient Recorder User’s Conference 1998 automatically retrieved, reviewed, sorted and color-coded: Atlanta, GA and swing records (e.g. 120 seconds of 1 sample per cycle) Green: Operation as expected. System nominal. Don’t can be obtained from the same device inputs. Each bother reviewing records, unless you are bored. timeframe could have independent triggers and storage capabilities. Yellow: Operation as expected but system maintenance Larger numbers of inputs can be scanned at fast rates, may be required. Review records soon. giving recorders sequence-of-events capability to supplement the analog recordings. Statistical data can be Red: Operation not as expected. System needs collected for maintenance purposes, such as cumulative i2t attention. You’d better take a look at this one! in a breaker. On-the-fly data compression  can be applied to increase storage capability and reduce transmission time. Realization of such a system may be some years away, but recent developments in technology make much of this ideal possible today. IV. CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY Advances in the technologies upon which recorders rely now permit significant improvements in what recorders can do for us. B. Fast, Seamless Communications Infrastructure Networked digital communications is becoming widespread and seamless. With the extensive local area networking (LANs) found in substations and offices, intranets and the Internet, communications between different computers is becoming common and accepted. The infrastructure is well developed, and technical skills relating to its implementation are readily available. For long distance communications, telecommunications A. Increased Front-End Processing Power companies can provide high speed links like ADSL or T1 Modern recording systems use digital signal trunks that transfer data at a rate of 100’s of megabits per processors (DSP) at the front end where the incoming second. signals are digitized. Advances in DSP technology in the Today, even modems used for plain old telephone past few years have significantly increased the amount of service (POTS) can attain transfer speeds in excess of 33 processing that can be accomplished at the front end. A kilobits per second. The connections between modems are mid-range DSP can execute 30 million floating point more reliable, gracefully degrading as line conditions instructions per second and costs around $15 . deteriorate. An even greater change has taken place in the density In the near future, constellations of hundreds of low and cost reduction of computer memory. Chips supporting earth orbit (LEO) satellites will be launched, to provide high megabits of memory are now available in the same size as speed communications almost anywhere. Remote sites those which used to support 64 kilobits. won’t need expensive phone lines installed, just compact, cost-effective satellite transceivers. Impact: When interconnect is made, the languages that Increased front-end processing power allows more computers speak are becoming increasingly standardized. accurate and sophisticated triggering algorithms to be run. Most computer systems talk TCP/IP, which is the Internet Noise can be filtered out digitally, harmonics analyzed in standard. This allows different systems to at least exchange realtime and logical combinations used to qualify triggering files. events. This serves to reduce “non-meaningful” recordings (such as a manual breaker opening without a corresponding Impact: relay trip or changes in the analog levels) while ensuring With the increased economy and reliability of data that relevant events are detected. communications it is now feasible to have timely automated More processing power and more memory permits the transfer of data, initiated by the recorder. Although the recorder to operate at multiple timeframes simultaneously. actual link may be created and broken as needed, the Transient records (e.g. 1 second of 96 samples per cycle) recorder can essentially be continuously on-line. Automatic data transfer to a central location means that recordings could be automatically analyzed and classified Impact: shortly after they occur. Summaries and the raw data would In the past, slow and inflexible record display graphics both be available for immediate access from the central have made the task of analyzing records frustrating. The server. powerful processing and graphics capabilities of today’s The feasibility of continuous on-line access to typical desktop computer can make the this task recorders makes it possible to use recorder information as an significantly faster and easier. operator support tool, providing such information as fault Increased display resolution permits more data to be location almost immediately after the event. displayed simultaneously, giving a more complete view and making data relationships easier to see. Calculation intensive analysis such as harmonic content can be displayed smoothly and without delay as a cursor is moved along a waveform. Features such as user- specific layout preferences, multiple record display and “undo” facilities can be implemented. The graphical format of today’s operating systems allows software to be designed to help the user work more intuitively. In addition to graphical recording display, data searches, record lists and report generation can benefit from a graphical layout. C. Large, Inexpensive Storage Media E. Extensive Local Area Networking Storage media is rising in capacity and dropping in price Ten years ago, the task of sharing data between and size. A typical hard drive ten years ago, in 1988, was 10 desktop computers was difficult. Networks were rare and Mbytes; a top end drive was 30 Mbytes . These drives often plagued by compatibility problems and poor were comparatively large and heavy, the size of a 5¼" throughput. Data was often passed via floppy disks, which floppy drive. Their access time was measured in the tens of held only 360 Kbytes - hardly enough to contain a typical mSec. Today, in 1998, a typical hard drive is 2.1 Gbytes, a fault record. Today almost every office has a network which top end hard drive is over 8 Gbytes. Today’s drives are provides almost seamless inter-computer communications at typically the size of a 3½" floppy, or smaller at 2½". Access rates of 10 ( or even 100 ) Mbits/second. In addition to data time is 8 mSec or faster. MTBF is typically rated at 300,000 sharing, networks provide access to high quality printers hours  and automated data back-up services. Even floppy disks The use of RAID ( Redundant Array of Inexpensive have been improved to hold 1.44 or 2.88 Mbytes. Disks ) arrangements can readily provide secure storage for many Gbyte of data. Impact: With ubiquitous networks, it is possible to store and Impact: provide fast access to many thousands of recordings. The availability of inexpensive, fast, high capacity data Records can be readily available at any desktop node storage makes it quite feasible to keep several years of data throughout the utility. from multiple recorders online in a single database. For Perhaps more importantly, it is now possible to create a example, a Gbyte of storage could hold 2000 records of 1 common workspace for disturbance analysis, with Mbyte each (with compression ). comments, analysis and reports being shared. Networks also facilitate features such as automatic D. Powerful, Graphics-Based Desktop Computers notification when new events occur. In the past decade, desktop computers’ processing power has grown at an astounding rate. In 1988, a typical F. Sophisticated Database Software Search Tools PC computer system had a 286 CPU running at 10 MHz, with Because of the tremendous wealth of data on the a Hercules MDA display. At that time, a top end system Internet, a great deal of research and innovation is had a 386 running at 33 MHz with an EGA display (the Intel happening in data search and categorization. ‘Data mining’ 486 was introduced in 1989). It would be running DOS 3, is a new technique for the exploration and discovery of and perhaps Windows 2.0 (Windows 3.0 was released in information on the Internet. May, 1990). In 1998, a typical system is a 200 MHz This technology is being applied to desktop computers Pentium running Windows 95 on a 1024 x 768 SVGA display, in the form of ‘agents’ and ‘wizards’, which are intended to while a top end system has a 333 MHz Pentium II running help users to more easily access the complex features of the Windows NT or UNIX with X-Windows on a 1600 x 1200 new, sophisticated software. An ‘agent’ is a search tool SVGA display. you tell what you want and it goes ands looks for data, based on some intelligent search criteria, like a web crawler. These percentages could no doubt improve as technology The technology is just now emerging. The aim is to improves. combine intelligence and mobility to provide only the data you want, but from a wide variety of sources. A ‘wizard’ is H. Software and Information Inter-Operability an expert which guides you through a specific task, e.g. Information sharing between different computer setting up a mail merge in your word processor. These tools systems, or even different software packages running on the can help provide intelligent sorting of a user’s data. same computer, has traditionally been difficult. In recent Powerful searching, grouping and display tools allow the years, the dominance of Microsoft Windows and a push to user to do comparative analysis. standardization has made significant improvements in inter- operability. Impact: Standards like Common Object Request Broker Database tools can be used to sort and group Architecture (CORBA) and Distributed Common Object disturbance records for quick access. Filters, such as Model (DCOM) are allowing dissimilar systems and timeframe or classification, can be applied to make data databases to work together and exchange information. The searches easier. Associated records - those taken from other COMTRADE record format standard (IEEE C27.111-1997) locations in the same time period - can be readily called up makes it possible to view transient records from different during the analysis of a record. Search criteria such as fault recording sources with the same program. type or clearing time, can be used to look for similar records to help identify system patterns. Impact: Statistical reports can be generated for maintenance Development of inter-operability standards means that purposes. The number of faults on a line over a specified it will be possible to share data between tools. Engineers period could be shown. The distribution of clearing times will be able to perform more sophisticated analysis, using could be graphed. data available from many different sources, like SCADA, recorders, relays, SER, and even field workers’ log books. Data will be transferred back to relay setting software, G. Expert Systems - Neural Network, and Fuzzy Logic to allow verification of relay settings, operating margins, and Tools coordination between different protection schemes. These techniques of data categorization and system Engineers will be able to verify critical equipment parameters control were mostly theory a decade ago. Today, however, against manufacturers’ specifications, to monitor for these technologies are in use, organizing data and making maintenance that might be required - for instance, checking predictions. fault clearing times. Expert systems are being used in many diverse ways: Different sources of data can be used to verify and for the recognition of handwriting and voice, for robotics corroborate each other. SCADA readings can be verified and automatic control systems, and for medical diagnosis, to against relay and recorder readings, to both ensure that all name a few. agree. In our own industry, there are a number of initiatives presently being made to apply expert systems to the V. A DATA M ANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR POWER SYSTEM analysis of fault recorder data. DISTURBANCE RECORDERS A disturbance recorder data management system is not Impact: about to replace a utility’s engineers. It can, however, allow Although automated analysis is not about to replace engineers to work more efficiently. the engineer any time soon, the ability to classify and Improvements in the underlying technologies now categorize records can be a tremendous help. support the automatic collection, classification, central In a system that retrieves records from remote sites, storage and widespread distribution of recorder data. These automated analysis can be used to extract key capabilities can allow recorder systems to move from being characteristics that can be used to create a record summary, passive repositories of data - accessed only when a problem to facilitate meaningful database searches, or to bring is reported from another source - to an active part of a important records to an engineer’s attention. utility’s monitoring, maintenance and planning process. Even without expert systems, it is often feasible to automatically determine fault classification ( e.g. single line A recorder data management system could: to ground ) or clearing time or to identify recordings taken due to a manual breaker operation ( i.e. no corresponding • Reduce non-significant data using more sophisticated relay trip or change in the analog quantities). front-end triggering algorithms and combinational logic If the automated analysis could even do a good job at • Retrieve data quickly and automatically to a central classifying 50% of the records, make an ‘educated guess’ on repository 25%, and leave the other 25% of the records for user review, • Classify and summarize incoming records based on a significant amount of time and effort could be saved. criteria such as fault type and clearing time. • Organize and manage records, summaries and reports in a database • Make record data available throughout the utility • Search for records based on criteria such as time, source, fault type, clearing time, priority. • Bring significant events, such as marginal operation of equipment, to the users’ attention. • Provide statistics and summaries for maintenance and planning • Provide a common workspace for sharing comments and analysis results • Link to external information sources, e.g. SCADA VI. REFERENCES  Source: Texas Instruments Corp. - http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/dsps/products/c3x/index.htm  An Efficient Zero-Loss Technique for Data Compression of Long Fault Records, R.V. Jackson, G.W. Swift, Alpha Power Technologies (Fault and Disturbance Analysis Conference Proceedings, 1996).  Source: Western Digital Company Background - http://www.wdc.com/company/compback.html  Source: Western Digital Products MTBF - http://www.wdc.com/products/drives/drivers-ed/mtbf.html  Source: Intel processor hall of fame - http://www.intel.com/intel/museum/25anniv/hof/hof_main.htm  Source: Microsoft museum technology - 1990 - http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/museum/exhibits/pastpresent/ technology/1990.asp and Microsoft museum corporate - 1990 - http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/museum/exhibits/pastpresent/ microsoft/1990.asp VII. A BOUT THE A UTHORS Dean Weiten Dean received his B.Sc.(EE) with honors from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg in 1984. He has been employed since then by Vansco Electronics in Winnipeg, doing design, implementation and troubleshooting of utility electronics, control systems, network systems, and vehicular electronics. Since 1995 he has been serving as Engineering Manager in the APT division of Vansco. Michael Miller Michael has been involved in the development of power system recording and control systems for the last 12 years. He is presently managing the development of Alpha Power Technologies’ new generation of recorder products. Dave Fedirchuk Dave has spent 25 years with Manitoba Hydro as a Protection Analytical Engineer in the System Performance Dept. He is now working with Alpha Power Technologies in the area of product marketing .
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