Electric automation primarily consists of three components:
- A component designed to receive signals sent by the relevant equipment.
- A component that effectively processes the received signals.
- A component that outputs signals related to electrical equipment.
The executing terminals (power plants, substations, etc.) and the dispatch and control terminals are two very important components of the electric automation system.
However, the automation system has a completely different work content in the two components of the power system.
They sequentially complete the work content of each part to achieve effective analysis and overall control of the corresponding data of the power system.
This work primarily involves the following three aspects:
- On one side, it collects operational data and parameters related to the power terminal system (substation, power plant, etc.) and realizes this part of the work through planning.
- On the other side, it performs effective analysis and precise judgment based on operational conditions, which leads to control.
- The last aspect of power system control for analysis, determines and formulates planning directives, the operation of relevant electrical equipment, parameter adjustments, and other commands until the execution ends (substations, power plants, etc.) to ensure timely and smooth measurement and control tasks.
Process of Electric Automation Development
Since the concept of electric automation was introduced, its development has largely followed the steps below.
Controlled Thyristors Replacing Fully Controlled Electronic Switches
Fully controlled devices, three generations of composite devices to the last four generations of power electronics, drive power, overcurrent and voltage protection, current detection, and even automatic temperature control, etc.
Converter Circuits from Low to High Frequency
In this way, high-frequency inverter circuits do not pose obstacles for increasing working frequency. At the same time, switching losses can be minimized.
Thus, it reduces the size of the inverter and effectively lowers costs. It can also integrate higher-power inverters, and we can see that the development of DC inverter circuits is very promising.
Universal Inverters for Large Scale Use
Generally, universal inverters refer to classes, serial manufacturing, considering the market demand for medium and small power inverters and larger ones.
From inverter products for analysis, U/F controllers have evolved from typical initial functional types to high-performance types, later to high-performance vector control types, up to now leveraging the power of IGBT semiconductor devices, their unique and reliable qualities, easy functionality, and maintenance characteristics such as single-chip control technology have also experienced similar increases.
Advancement of Power System Automation Enhanced by Computer Technology and Electronic Technology.
In the 1980s, the rapid development and widespread application of SCM technology fully upgraded power system automation equipment.
Domestic industrial computers and the introduction of PC technology in power plant monitoring systems, electrical system dispatch automation, and integrated substation automation have played a decisive role.
Accordingly, the developed application software can completely perform the operations of the power system for collection, aggregation, classification, analysis, display, printing, and completion in real-time. However, during this period, there are still some issues in electric automation.
For instance, equipment from different manufacturers cannot be interconnected. Since point-to-point star connection is generally used between equipment and computers, the real-time performance of the system is inadequate, which directly leads to poor configuration flexibility of the equipment.
Computer Technology in Power System Automation Applications
Computer control technology plays an important role in power systems. With the rapid advancement of computer technology, power systems and other essential aspects, as well as the sectors of transmission, generation, distribution, and power conversion require support from computer technology, which accelerates the rapid development of power system automation technology.
Applications in Power Plants
Usage in Substations
Application in Power Distribution Network Control
Application in Distribution Automation
Power Plants
Power plants are a crucial part of the power system. The level of automation in power plants directly determines the efficiency of electricity production operations. Both wind power generation and thermal power generation require the use of an automatic control system.
Currently, the automation technology used in wind power generation is mainly employed for controlling the rotational angle of blades and monitoring, protecting, and controlling so that wind power generation equipment can automatically convert wind and control sustainable cleaning.
The automation technology for hydropower generation mainly controls the potential water movement. Automation technology is predominantly used in information monitoring, protective systems, and power generation control systems that can be applied for measuring units, voltage regulation, and conventional hydropower generation.
Mainly used in thermal power generation to control coal fuel, relay protection control, and fault handling, you can also use information management, data monitoring, and automatic control operations, etc.
Substations
The process of applying electric automation technology in substations primarily involves using advanced computer technology to achieve operations based on the integration of relevant application information processing technology, electric system automation control technology, and related equipment information transmission technology.
Automate the effects and the management process of these effects.
Power Distribution Network Control
In electrical engineering, network dispatch technology pertains to creating a dynamic balance between electricity generation and consumption in the network by controlling relevant servers. The application of this electric automation technology is mainly realized through three aspects:
- Safety, stability, and high efficiency of the electricity network in its operations are primarily derived from its economic distribution technology.
- Electric automation susceptible forecasting regarding the system is mainly achieved by timely and precise monitoring and analysis of operational data of electrical equipment and power production process data.
- The precision in locating, determining, and troubleshooting the associated electricity network system automation technology, its timeliness and performance are achieved through displaying the corresponding electrical equipment data.
Distribution Automation
The current distribution scale is still small; the use of automation technology can meet the requirements of managing small-scale power distribution equipment, data transmission, and other needs through computer technology to provide efficient services to users in order to achieve effective and reliable power performance.
The system aims to now connect power distribution automation with artificial intelligence theory to realize extensive centralized control, supported by fiber optic communications.
This is significant for the effective exchange of essential data, substations, and establishing an efficient power distribution system.
Application of PLC Technology in Power System Automation
PLC combines computer technology and relay contact control technology. Its memory utilizes programmable logical control, arithmetic operations, and recording operations in its internal memory.
This technology constitutes a programmable logic controller system designed for use in industrial environments.
In recent years, this technology has been extensively used in power system automation, addressing issues of low reliability, complex wiring, weak flexibility, and high energy consumption found in traditional control systems.
Data Processing with PLC Technology
PLC combines computer technology and relay contact control technology. Its memory utilizes programmable logical control, arithmetic operations, and recording operations in its internal memory.
This technology forms a programmable logic controller system designed for use in industrial environments. In recent years, this technology has been widely used in power system automation.
