Sie sind auf Seite 1von 3

APPLICATION NOTE

GridSense, Inc.
2568 Industrial Blvd., Ste. 110 Tel: 916-372-4945
West Sacramento, CA 95691 Fax: 916-372-4948
CHK GridSense PTY Ltd.
Suite 102, 25 Angas Street Tel: +61 2 8878-7700
Meadow Bank, NSW 2114, Australia Fax: +61 2 8878 7788
gridsense.com

DistributionIQ: Battery-Free, Maintenance-Free Intelligent


Underground Fault Monitoring
INTRODUCTION
All over the world, utilities are increasing the amount of
underground cabling on their network. Underground
cables are protected from environmental changes and
extremes, remove the threat of downed power lines,
and thus help increase the reliability of power supplies.
Because of this additional reliability and safety,
underground cabling is often the distribution choice for
downtown areas of the network. While the life of the
underground network is considerably longer than the
overhead, faults and failures do occur.
Faults on the underground network pose a particular
challenge for utilities. Often used in densely populated
areas, an outage on the underground network can
heavily impact reliability scores such as Customer
Average Interruption Frequency (CAIFI) and System
Average Interruption Frequency (SAIFI). In addition,
physical constraints make tracking faults on the
underground network more complex and expensive
than tracking faults on overhead lines. These
complexities and costs leave too many underground
lines unmonitored, thus leaving too many customers
and utilities vulnerable to disturbances and outages.
Using over 20 years experience in overhead line fault monitoring, GridSense has recently
developed a new underground monitoring system that provides remote underground fault
notification along with intelligent data for determining fault locationall at a previously
unattainable price point.
REQUIREMENTS
Historically, options for underground fault detection have been non-intelligent independent
devices that lack remote capabilities. They required visual inspection to identify faults. Because
underground networks often lack AC or other power supplies, these legacy monitoring devices
were often battery-powered. But batteries require costly annual maintenance, and there is no
guarantee that batteries will not fail between inspections, leaving the network unprotected.


Intelligent Underground Fault Monitoring 2


Utilizing extensive experience in fault monitoring, the DistributionIQ system for underground
applications leverages the same proven, tested, fully submersible, and ruggedized monitoring
platform used in the TransformerIQ solution. It detects faults and reports them remotely,
while also providing actionable data to speed analysis and diagnosis.
Recognizing the key challenges of installing products underground, GridSense based the
design on the following customer requirements:
- Monitors had to be self powered, batteryless, and
maintenance free because maintenance on the
underground network can be prohibitively expensive.
- Monitor had to be retrofitable, and quickly installed on
energized underground lines.
- Monitors had to accurately detect fault current
passage, and have the intelligence to filter out inrush
and general changes in the underground load
characteristics.
- Monitor had to have the ability to capture a variety of
faults, including;
o High speed transient faults (less than 3 cycles)
that may not trip protection,
o Momentary interuptions and the more typical fault-causing outages.
- In order to provide intelligent, usable data, the monitor had to identify the type of fault,
phase information, fault duration, and fault current magnitude to enable distance to fault
calculations.
- Data had to be available remotely, using standard industry protocols such as DNP3 and
Modbus. Current remote communication options include ethernet, cellular, and utility
radio.
FULFILLMENT
Adapting existing technology, GridSense designed the compact, lightweight DistributionIQ
monitoring device that attaches non-intrusively in seconds inside a pad-mounted switch or
transformer compartment. Rogowski coils encircle the outgoing underground cables to
monitor RMS and fault currents. A CT power supply is then clasped over one of the
underground cables to parasitically draw power. Communications are usually integrated into
the device and thus require little or no on-site setup.

The DistributionIQ monitor is
based on the tested, proven,
TransformerIQ platform.


Intelligent Underground Fault Monitoring 3


BENEFITS
Using the rugged, maintenance free DistributionIQ
platform allows utilities to identify the fault path in real
time, provides data for intelligent switching, and enables
calculation of fault location to help restore maximum
capacity to customers in the shortest possible time. All
data is transmitted to the control station via the
communications protocol of your choice, and alarms can
be retrieved via email or text message.
This new solution provides vital intelligence on network
condition that helps ensure the quality and reliability of
the power supply. Just as importantly, it allows pro-active
issue prevention, as opposed to reactive damage control.
It helps you avoid issues and outages instead of reacting
to them.



This CT power supply draws power
parasitically from existing cable,
allowing battery-free, maintenance-free
monitoring.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen