Communications processor for electric power substations

Abstract

The communications processor includes an electronic network system which includes at total of 17 individual ports, four quad universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter devices, each of which serves four separate ports, and a microprocessor which processes and controls the flow of data under the control of stored control programs, command settings and command logic. Connected to a plurality of those ports referred to as IED ports are intelligent electronic devices IEDS, such as protective relays or meters, while connected to other ports, referred to as master ports, are remote terminal units or a local computer or terminal or a modem which can be connected to an external telephone line. The apparatus includes both buffer and long-term storage for development of a database, as well as an IRIG-B capability for synchronization of the time clocks of the connected devices.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The invention relates generally to protection systems for electric power lines, circuit breakers and transformers, and more particularly concerns a communication processing apparatus which is to be used primarily at electric power substations for integrating communications with and between the various protective devices and other supporting devices located at a substation.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Electric power systems generally include high voltage (>69KV) transmission lines from a generating means, a number of substations, and a network of distribution (<69KV) and feeder lines for the delivery of electric power to the customers. An electric power system typically includes a number of protective relays, as well as other protection devices, which monitor the operation of the power system and determine, among other things, when and where a fault occurs in the system. Circuit breaker devices are in turn controlled by the protective relays.[0003]Histo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Accordingly, the present invention is a communications processor apparatus for integrating communication between a plurality of electronic devices having data communication capability, such as protective relays, meters, terminal devices and a computer present at a given location in a power system, such as a substation, or connected remotely thereto, the apparatus including an electronic network system having a plurality of port positions to which electronic

Problems solved by technology

The systems described above, while achieving some communication integration at the substation level, were not capable of processing the information received from the ports, nor did those systems have a database capability.

These disadvantages significantly limited the capability of the communications systems.

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