Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Preamble
1.1 Objective
1.2.2 In most cases, the electrical fault creates fault records in more than one relay. Time
synchronisation of relays and fault-recorders simplifies the task of fault analysis.
1.2.3 Time synchronisation also increases the accuracy of control decisions by automatic
control and protection equipment. This is relevant in the switchyard, where numerical
Bay control units are used.
1.2.4 It is necessary to synchronise the clocks of Energy meters, especially those used for
ABT (availability based tariff) applications involving tariff switching.
2.1.3 Unit Protection: This includes the Generator protection panel, Generator Fault Recorder
panel and the GT-UAT-ST protection panels. The data in these devices need to be
correlated with the plant DCS and also the switchyard. The devices shall therefore be
synchronised without exception.
2.1.4 Automatic Bus transfer system: This system consists of intelligent devices which record
the transient signals like bus/incomer voltages and also the commands to breakers and
their statuses. Time synchronisation of the system assists in the analysis of transfer
failures. It is useful, though not strictly necessary to time synchronise this system.
2.1.5 Relay Management System (RMS) and Energy Management System (EMS): These
systems need to be time synchronised. They pass on the time signal to all the connected
relays and meters.
2.1.6 MV and LV switchgear relays (if not connected to RMS): It is recommended to
synchronise the relays at the following locations. They contain useful information which
need to be correlated in the event of system disturbances and voltage dips which lead to
Unit tripping.
∗ Incomers, Ties and Bus PTs of MV Station switchgear and Unit switchgear
∗ Incomers and Bus couplers of 415V Station PMCC and Unit PMCC
∗ Incomers of 415V Emergency PMCC
2.1.7 The SCADA, RMS and EMS consist of one or more interconnected Servers
(Computers). The relays and meters listed above may be referred to as IEDs (Intelligent
Electronic Devices).
3.1.2 The rate accuracy of a clock is normally called the clock accuracy and means how much
the error increases, i.e. how much the clock gains or loses time.
3.3.2 Its time should be compared to the Time reference when available, and the time updated
only after a fixed difference is established.
3.3.3 It should update its time in a predictable manner. For some IED applications, a sudden
jump in time is undesirable due to the error it causes in the recorded data. In such
devices, the clock must ‘slew’ its time at a controlled rate, thereby correcting the time
error gradually.
4.1.2 GPS is sponsored and operated by the US Department of defence. Civilian access to the
system is subject to US government Selective Availability (SA) policy.
4.1.3 GPS provides continuous worldwide coverage, 24 hours a day under all weather
conditions. Satellites distributed in 6 orbital planes (4 in each plane) spaced around the
equator, pass over the earth at an altitude of approximately 20,000 kilometres. Each
satellite has an orbital period of 12 side real hours (11 Hrs and 58 Minutes of civil time).
A single satellite will orbit the earth twice a day, tracing the exact foot print path; but
passing 4 minutes earlier than the day before. At least 4 satellites will be in view at any
time above any point on the earth. Each GPS satellite bears an ultimate precision clock
utilizing Rubidium-Caesium oscillation whose accuracy is comparable to International
Atomic Time. The satellites transmit highly accurate, real time, worldwide navigation
information at a frequency of 1575.42 MHz.
4.1.4 The GPS Receiver collects the data from the GPS Satellites and outputs a time base
pulse (1PPS) every second in precise synchronisation with UTC/IST. Each 1PPS Pulse is
accompanied by a Serial Data packet output (A real time data comprising of Year,
Month, Date, Hour, Minute and Second), which is a time stamp for that pulse. This
output is utilized by a master clock to synchronize its time with UTC/IST with a
maximum uncertainty of 1 micro second. The master clock can then generate various
types of outputs to synchronize any number of digital clock / microprocessor based
systems.
4.1.5 See Annexure A for the relationship between GPS time and UTC time, when handling
Leap years and leap seconds.
4.1.6 A typical Master clock based on GPS cons ists of the following:
∗ GPS Antenna
∗ GPS Receiver
∗ Master Clock –A & B
∗ Redundant Comparator Clock
∗ Signal Conditioner for Time Reference generation
∗ Power Supply –A&B
4.1.7 The Master clock provides outputs such as Potential free contact (1 PPS, 1PPM), IRIG
B-AM, IRIG B-TTL, NTP and SNTP. These are used to directly synchronise the Servers
(SCADA, RMS, EMS) used in the electrical systems. The Servers then pass on the time
signal to their respective IEDs.
4.1.8 Stand-alone IEDS are also synchronised directly to the Master clock. The number of
such IEDs may be scaled up using Signal conditioners, which have multiple outputs. The
outputs are usually of IRIG-B or Potential free contact type. The Signal conditioners are
located near the clusters of client IEDs. The figure below pictorially represents all the
available options.
5.1.4 Initially, the clock of the target device needs to be set manually to the correct minute and
second. When the pulse train is activated, the clock will be rounded off to the nearest
whole second or minute, depending on the period of the pulse train. The rounding-off
will take place on the rising edge of the input. The time is corrected at every pulse
received by the clock. In some cases, the synchronisation can be selected to be on the
falling edge.
5.1.5 In some cases, the time is adjusted by accelerating or decelerating the clock. By this way
the clock neither stops nor makes sudden jumps during the time adjustment.
5.1.6 The pulse is rejected if the error is large (typically > ±0.05 seconds for second-pulse or
±2 seconds for minute-pulse).
5.1.7 Typically, two detected pulses within acceptable time range are required for the target
device to activate pulse synchronisation. Similarly, if the synchronisation pulses
disappear, the device deactivates pulse synchronisation after a delay corresponding to a
few pulses.
5.1.8 The typical accuracy achievable with time synchronisation via a digital input is ±2.5
milliseconds for second-pulse and ±5 milliseconds for minute-pulse synchronisation.
The pulse length of the digital input signal does not affect time synchronisation.
5.2 IRIG B
5.2.1 IRIG stands for Inter Range Instrumentation Group. It is specified by the
Telecommunications and Timing group of the US army and was originally developed for
sending time or other data around missile test ranges. It now finds use in government,
military and commercial fields.
5.2.2 Modern day electronic systems require time-of-day and year information for correlation
of data with time. Serial formatted time codes are used to efficiently interface the timing
system output with the user system.
5.2.3 Standardization of time codes is necessary to ensure system compatibility among the
various equipment suppliers. These digital codes are typically amplitude modulated on
an audio sine wave carrier or transmitted as fast rise-time TTL signals. The use of the
IRIG standard is to provide a standard protocol for serial time codes that are generated
for correlation of data with time.
5.2.4 IRIG Standard 200-04 is the latest IRIG specification. The most common version is
IRIG-B. IRIG-B refers to a serial time code format. This is a timing signal that has a rate
of 100 pulses per second. IRIG-B sends Day of Year, Hour, Minute and Second data on
a 1 kHz carrier, with an update rate of one second. IRIG-B DCLS (DC level shift) is
IRIG-B without the 1 kHz Carrier.
5.2.5 There are other formats in the IRIG Standard 200-04, which have other pulse rates (IRIG
A, D, E, G and H). They are not used for our application.
5.2.6 The available IRIG B formats are IRIG B000, IRIG B003, IRIG B120, IRIG B122 and
IRIG B123. The 3 digits are coded as below. For more details on IRIG-B format and on
BCD, SBS and CF, refer to Annexure-B.
∗ BCD - Binary Coded Decimal, coding of time (HH, MM, SS, DDD)
∗ SBS - Straight Binary Second of day (0....86400)
∗ CF - Control Functions depending on the user application
5.3.2 With the appropriate hardware, NTP is capable of achieving synchronisation to within
microseconds, depending on the synchronisation source and the network paths. Due to
complexity, this protocol is not used for electrical systems. Refer to Annexure C for
more details.
5.4.2 Here the IED functions as a SNTP client. For clock synchronization one can select
between the operating modes Broadcast- from-SNTP-Server or Request- from-Server.
With the first operating mode, synchronisation occurs by a broadcast message sent from
the SNTP server to all devices in the network. In the Request-from-Server mode, the
IED requests the device specific time signal during a settable cycle.
5.4.3 The device requesting synchronization (the Client), formats a request data packet and
sends this to the synchronization server at time T1. The server records the reception
time, T2, and transmits a response data packet at time T3 containing time values for both
T2 and T3. Finally, the client receives at the time T4 and decodes the other two times
contained in the packet. The four times are used to compute estimates of both the end-to-
end network latency and the offset between the clocks.
which may be either coaxial (typically RG-58 type) or shielded twisted pair.
6.1.2 IRIG-B AM : The best practice for modulated IRIG B is to use shielded twisted pair
cable to connect the IED to the clock. This is adequate for all installations within a
substation. Fibre-optic cables have the advantage of immunity to electromagnetic
interference. However, while substations may reasonably be considered high-EMI
environments, the expense of fibre optic cable and drivers is generally not justified for
most connections, particularly between clock and IEDs in the same rack or control room.
6.1.3 Potential free contact : Coaxial Cable or twisted pair cable can be used.
6.1.4 NTP / SNTP : Twisted pair cable can be used for NTP / SNTP.
6.1.5 The choice of cable type, gauge, stranding etc. is up to the station designer based on
other considerations, such as ease of routing and termination, and minimising costs.
7.1.2 The format of Annexure – D may be used for this purpose. It conveys the following
basic information.
7.1.3 Systems and IEDs to be synchronized
∗ Finalise the list of equipment which need synchronisation. The decision is techno-
commercial in nature, and the aspects were dealt with, in section 2.1 above.
A.1.1. The U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department defines the leap year
according to the Gregorian calendar, which was instituted by Pope Gregory VIII in 1582 to
keep the year in a cycle with the seasons. The average Gregorian calendar year, technically
known as the Tropical Year, is approximately 365.2425 days in length and it will take about
3,326 years before the Gregorian calendar is as much as one day out of step with the
seasons.
A.1.2. According to the Gregorian calendar, which is the civil calendar in use today, years that are
evenly divisible by 4 are leap years with the exception of century years that are not evenly
divisible by 400. This means that years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, and 2500 are NOT
leap years. Years 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years.
A.1.3. All clocks, including GPS follow the same leap year calendar. Hence the dates are
consistent.
A.2.1. Civil time is occasionally adjusted by one-second increments to insure that the difference
between a uniform time-scale defined by International Atomic Time (TAI) does not differ
from the Earth’s rotational time by more than 0.9 seconds. Consequently, Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC), also an atomic time, was established in 1972 and is adjusted for the
Earth’s rotation and forms the basis for civil time.
A.2.2. Twenty four leap seconds (as on 01-01-2009) have been added to keep UTC in
synchronization with the rotation of the earth. In 1980, when the Global Positioning
System (GPS) came into being, it was initially synchronized to UTC. However, GPS time
does not add leap seconds, and consequently, GPS time is fifteen seconds ahead (as on 01-
01-2009) of UTC. The relationship between (TAI) and UTC is given by a simple
accumulation of leap seconds occurring approximately once per year. If required, time
changes are made on December 31 and on June 30 at 2400 hours.
Annexure B : IRIG-B
B.1. IRIG-B format
B.1.1. The beginning of each 1.0 second time frame is identified by two consecutive 8.0 ms bits,
P0 and Pr. The leading edge of Pr is the on-time reference point for the succeeding time
code words. Position identifiers P0 and P1 through P9, (8 ms duration) occur every 10th bit
and 10 ms before the leading edge of each succeeding 10 pps "on-time" bits (see Figure).
B.1.2. The three time code words and the control functions presented during the time frame are
pulse width coded. The binary zero and the index markers have duration of 2.0 ms, and a
binary one has duration of 5.0 ms. The 100 pps leading edge is the on-time reference point
for all bits.
B.1.3. The BCD time-of-year code word consists of 30 bits beginning at index count one. The
sub-word bits occur between position identifiers P0 and P5; there are 7 bits for seconds, 7
for minutes, 6 for hours, and 10 for days. Nine bits for year information occur between
position identifiers P5 and P6 to complete the BCD time code word. An index marker
occurs between the decimal digits in each sub-word to provide separation for visual
resolution. The LSB occurs first. The BCD time-of- year code recycles yearly.
B.1.4. Eighteen control functions occur between position identifiers P6 and P8. Any control
function bit or combination of bits can be programmed to read a binary one or zero during
any specified number of time frames.
B.1.5. The SB seconds-of-day word occurs between position identifier P8 and P0. A position
identifier occurs between the 9th and 10th binary coded bit.
B.2.1.1.Un- modulated or level-shift IRIG-B time code is generally developed by a system clock at
a level of approximately 5 volts peak, i.e. the ‘high’ level is approximately +5V and the
‘low’ level approximately zero volts. Most clock outputs are often coaxial (typically BNC).
B.2.1.2.For applications requiring the ultimate in accuracy (i.e. sub- microsecond), issues such as
cable delay (1 to 1.5 nanosecond/foot or 3 to 5 ns/meter) and ringing caused by the fast rise
and fall times of the signal coupled with imperfect line termination (which causes
reflections) must be considered. For such applications, it is customary to use direct coaxial
connections with one load per driver, and lines are generally terminated at either the source
or load to reduce ringing if the line length exceeds a few feet. Since the characteristic
impedance of coaxial cable is typically 50 (sometimes 75 or 93) ohms, compared with the
input impedance of the opto-coupler circuit of around 1000 ohms, overloading of the driver
often precludes more than one load being used per output when the load includes a 50-ohm
termination.
B.2.2.1.The modulated IRIG-B signal is similar in many ways to a voice- grade audio or telephone
signal, and it can be distributed with similar methods. The rise and fa ll times of the signal
are low, and the decoders generally use an automatic gain-control amplifier to compensate
for varying input signal levels, so there are no significant considerations with respect to
reflections or signal loss. Similarly, delays are small compared with the achievable
accuracy of perhaps 50-100 microseconds at best, so cable delays are not an issue. IED
inputs are normally transformer- isolated, so earth loops will also not be a problem.
B.2.2.2.The best practice for modulated IRIG-B adequate for all installations within a sub-station,
is to use shielded twisted pair cable to connect the IEDs to the clock.
B.3.1. The best engineering practice generally requires any signal line to be earthed at some point.
For most analogue signals, including time-code signals, this is normally the signal source.
B.3.2. Since earth loops are to be avoided, it is important to earth each signal at one point only.
This must be the source end, if there is the possibility to have multiple loads attached to a
given source. Therefore, IRIG-B inputs in IEDs must provide galvanic isolation.
C.2. With the appropriate hardware, NTP is capable of achieving synchronisation to within
microseconds, depending on the synchronisation source and the network paths.
C.3. NTP synchronisation is part of a software package that includes a full suite of NTP options
and algorithms, which are relatively complex, real-time applications. The sheer size and
complexity of the NTP suite is not appropriate for many environments that do not have
stringent accuracy requirements.
C.4. The NTP daemon is an operating system programme which sets and maintains the system
time of day in synchronism with time servers. When it starts, it checks its configuration file
(/etc/ntp.conf) to determine synchronisation sources, authentication options, monitoring
options, access control and other operating options. It also checks the frequency file
(/etc/ntp/drift) that contains the latest estimate of clock frequency error. If specified, it will
also look for a file containing the authentication keys (/etc/ntp/keys).
C.5. Once the NTP daemon is up and running, it will operate by exchanging packets (time and
sanity check exchanges) with its configured servers at poll intervals and its behaviour will
depend on the delay between the local time and its reference servers. Basically, the process
starts when the NTP client sends a packet containing its timestamp to a server. When the
server receives such a packet, it will in turn store its own timestamp and a transmit
timestamp into the packet and send it back to the client. When the client receives the packet
it will log its receipt time in order to estimate the travelling time of the packet.
C.6. The packet exchange takes place until a NTP server is accepted as a synchronization
source, which takes about five minutes. The NTP daemon tries to adjust the clock in small
steps and will continue until the client gets the accurate time. If the delay between both the
server and client is big enough the daemon will terminate and we will need to adjust the
time manually and start the daemon again.
C.7. The NTP is fully specified in a document “Request for Count 1305”.See
www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1305.html for further information.