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AIP Conference Proceedings 2233, 030009 (2020);
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0001584 2233, 030009
© 2020 Author(s).
Generic protective relaying framework forHV grid networkCite as:
AIP Conference Proceedings 2233, 030009 (2020);
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0001584Published Online: 05 May 2020
Sultan Eissa Eissa Shwok, Chockalingam Aravind Vaithilingam, and
Reynato Andal Gamboa
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Generic Protective Relaying Framework for HV Grid Network
Sultan Eissa Eissa Shwok1, Chockalingam Aravind
Vaithilingam1,a), Reynato Andal Gamboa1
1School of Engineering, Taylor’s University, Taylor’s Lakeside
Campus, No.1, Jalan Taylor’s, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor Darul
Ehsan, Malaysia
a)[email protected]
Abstract. This article presents an alternative for the
protective relaying framework for high voltage (HV) grid network
specifically for the 33kV substation. The schematic drawings of the
protective relaying panels of the 33kV substation were used to be
created manually in AutoCAD software. In order to create the
generic framework, a plugin in AutoCAD was developed to automate
the generation of the schematic drawings of the protective relaying
panels of the 33kV substation. The plugin was written in C# .NET
programming language and developed using Microsoft Visual Studio
which supports developing C# .NET applications. Development of the
plugin were split into two stages, the first stage was developing
the algorithm for back-end of the plugin, and the second stage was
developing the graphical user interface (GUI) for the front-end of
the plugin. Both the back-end and the front-end had to be
integrated together in order to create a fully functional plugin.
The plugin was tested to check if it could generate the schematic
drawings automatically without the need to open them in
AutoCAD.
INTRODUCTION
In electrical power systems, electricity is generated,
transmitted, and distributed to the consumers by a high voltage
grid (HV Grid). The HV grid is simply an interconnected network
that consists of a generator to generate the electrical power needs
to be supplied, transmission lines to carry the electrical power
generated from the generator to the loads, and then a distribution
system to distribute the power to consumers. The demand of power
varies depending on the type of consumers whether they are
domestic, commercial, or industrial consumers[1]. Every power
system should be designed in a such way to be flexible for meeting
the present demands as well as meeting increasing demands of the
consumers that is expected to rise in the future due to the high
growth in all areas of life. Delivering the electrical power to the
consumers has to be secured from any power failure that can affect
its operations. An electrical power system must keep the continuity
of these operations without any sever breakdown [2]. Hence, it
comes the importance for providing the maximum protection to these
electrical power systems which plays a very significant role to
ensure the high availability of the electrical power without
interruptions whether it is a serious interruption or negligible
[3].
Protective relaying devices are critical for power grids in
order protect it from any type of faults. Electrical faults occur
when there is an abnormality in the current passing through the
electrical power system due to a short circuit or an open circuit
occurred in that system [4]. The protective equipment used in the
electrical power system protection is called switchgear. Switchgear
consists mainly of two parts; protection components and control
components. Protection components consists of protective relays,
circuit breakers, fuses, isolators, and lighting arrestors as these
components are responsible for isolating the faulty zone from the
rest of the power system providing the full protection during fault
conditions. Control components consist of control panels, current
transformer (CT) and voltage transformer (VT) which are used to
monitor the current and the voltage respectively in the system and
step them down in case of abnormality occurs in the power system.
Protective relays are basically used to send a signal received from
the monitoring devices CTs or VTs to the circuit breakers in order
to open the circuit to protect the entire system and isolate it
from the faulted area [4]. These protective devices are placed in
one place called substation.
13th International Engineering Research Conference (13th EURECA
2019)AIP Conf. Proc. 2233, 030009-1–030009-11;
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0001584
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1992-6/$30.00
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An electrical substation essentially consists of a number of
incoming and outgoing power carriers that are connected to one or
more common bus/busbar, which is a metallic conductor that collects
the electrical power at one location [5], by circuit breakers,
disconnectors, and instrument transformers. The electrical
substations play an important role in the protection of electrical
power systems as the protection equipment such as protective
relays, current transformers (CTs), voltage transformers (VTs) are
all installed together with the circuit breakers and disconnectors
which can perform the switching operations [6]. The system
grounding is also established in the electrical substations. Hence,
it comes the important role of the protective relaying system in
the electrical substations since these devices consist of all the
major components parts of the electrical power system. However,
these electrical substations require an extremely precise design
process which provide all the schematic drawings of these
substations in very detailed [7].
A complete drawing of schematic diagrams for the power system
protection of a grid has to be designed correctly including the
protection and control components alongside the other major
components of the grid. Thus, designing a system of protective
relaying devices is a very precise and complicated process as
selecting the right device is very significant as each different
electrical power system requires certain level of protection, and
every single wire in the system must be connected exactly in the
correct place.
At the present time, the design process of the protective
relaying system is done through computer-aided design software such
as AutoCAD. However, this design process is very time-consuming
even though is done on computers. The process of designing a single
protection panel for a protective relaying system, which contains
all the protective relaying devises and the interconnections of
these devices with other devices, may take several days up to weeks
to be finished depending on how much the voltage level of that
system as the higher the voltage level of the system the more
complex its design becomes. Hence, the importance of solving this
issue lies by finding an effective way for fixing this problem of
time-wasting. The solution can be found by creating a framework
that can generate the full design of the protection panel based on
what the user would select of inputs for the system. Nonetheless,
AutoCAD provides users with a very special feature as it allows
them to customize tools that can automate the repetitive tasks
which can greatly help reducing the time-wasting issue. Therefore,
developing a customized tool in AutoCAD that can combine all the
manual and time wasting design procedures could definitively solve
this issue.
METHODOLOGY
Materials
To develop a plugin for AutoCAD, C# .NET is the programming
language that is used to write the codes for the plugin. C# .NET is
one of the languages that supports Microsoft .NET framework that
can work with AutoCAD .NET Application Programming Interface (API),
which allows to create customized tools for AutoCAD. The
programming codes will be written in Visual Studio, which is a
source-code software that is developed by Microsoft and can support
developing .NET languages.
Understanding the Object Model of AutoCAD
AutoCAD has a hierarchical structure of how it works which
elaborates the way that the document is created, which represents
the sheets of the schematic drawings of the panels, and how it
creates a block and access its attributes. By understanding this
hierarchical structure, the algorithm needed for creating the
plugin should follow the approach that will be used for developing
the programming codes. Figure 1 shows the hierarchical structure of
AutoCAD.
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FIGURE 1. Hierarchical structure of AutoCAD
FIGURE 2. Flowchart of the research methodology
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Developing the Algorithm for the Back-end of the Plugin
First: Accessing the Document
Based on the hierarchical structure of AutoCAD, the plugin
should open AutoCAD application in order to implement changes on
the schematic drawings. Then, the plugin should access the
documents that contain the schematic drawings of the panel. Among
all the documents, the plugin should identify a single document
that is needed to be accessed. The format of the selected document
should end with (.dwg) which is the AutoCAD format of the schematic
drawings documents or files.
Second: Finding the Targeted Block
Once the document is accessed by the plugin is done, a couple of
blocks are found inside the documents, which represents the
components and the elements found in the schematic drawings of the
panel. The plugin should then look for the block of the targeted
component that needs to be accessed its attributes.
FIGURE 3. Set of blocks of a single schematic drawing document
in AutoCAD
Third: Updating the Attributes of the Targeted Block
When the plugin detects the targeted block, it should open the
editor that allows accessing the attributes of the block. The
attributes are the data that is consisted for each element of the
panels’ components. Then, the attributes can be updated based on
the options that will be provided by the plugin. Figure 4 shows the
list of attributes that pops up when a block is selected in the
schematic drawing document.
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FIGURE 4. List of attributes of a single block of schematic
drawing of a panel
Developing the Graphical User Interface for the Front-end of the
Plugin
First: Creating the Main Window
The graphical user interface (GUI) represents the front-end for
the back-end of the plugin. The front-end can be developed using
Microsoft Visual Studio. It provides the necessary tools that helps
build the graphical user interface of the plugin. It also has the
ability to integrate the front-end with the back-end to build fully
functional program. For the front-end of the plugin, a main window
should be created to provide the user a list of options to choose
what component needs to be updated
FIGURE 5. Developing the main window using Microsoft Visual
Studio
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Second: Creating the Sub Windows
Each component will independent window from the other. The
window will provide the user the list of changes that will be
applied in the schematic drawings. The changes will be implemented
in the database of the backend. Thus, the user will not need to
apply a change in the schematic drawing manually as all the changes
will be implemented automatically in multiple buttons to perform
the work with only a single click.
FIGURE 6. Developing the sub windows using Microsoft Visual
Studio
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Opening the Plugin inside AutoCAD
The plugin was installed in AutoCAD menu in order to open it
quickly and save time for the user instead of opening it manually
through AutoCAD commands which takes time and it is required to
perform it every time the user opens AutoCAD. Figure 7 shows where
the plugin was installed in AutoCAD menu under OpenDWG option,
which is a list that was created to add the plugin inside. The name
of the developed plugin is DWG Generator.
FIGURE 7. AutoCAD main interface shows the new dropdown menu
created for the plugin
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Opening the Main Window
Once the plugin was opened from the dropdown menu, the main
window popped up inside AutoCAD interface. Inside the main window,
there were two dropdown menus created for two different voltage
level of panels; one for 11 kV panels and the other one for 33kV
panels. Under each dropdown menu, there are the types of panels
that can be selected based on their purpose as for now there is
only type of panel which is protection and control panels. Under
the type of panel menu, there is the list of components that are
chosen based on the requirements of the user. The list of
components consists of two types of relay; overcurrent (O/C) and
earth fault (E/F) protection relay, and other one is line
differential protection relay. Under each type of protection relay,
there are the list of manufacturers for each type. Each
manufacturer has its own models. Thus, the users would have the
variety of choices to select for their panels based on their
requirement.
FIGURE 8. Main window of the plugin
Opening the Sub Window
The sub window is the window which contains the list of
component elements that can selected and then generated after it is
done. The component which can be selected are O/C and E/F
protection relay and line differential protection relay. Each relay
has different manufacturers, and each manufacture has different
models of the same relay type. For instance, there two manufacturer
for O/C and E/F protection relay; Siemens and Schneider Electric.
Both have a component that performs the same function, but each one
differs from the other one in terms of internal layout. The
internal layout of each relay model consists of multiple ports each
one serves a specific function depending on the requirements of the
users. These ports are represented as block inside the AutoCAD
schematic drawings of the panels. The ports have their own
specifications which are represented as the attributes of the
block. The specifications of the ports are interchangeable which
means that whenever there is a change in the specifications, the
user must look for the port where it is found in the schematic
drawings sheets and update the attribute of block that represents
the specification of the port that should be changed. Figure 9
shows the internal layout of Siemens Internal layout of Siemens O/C
and E/F protection relay. The layout represents the function
diagram of relay ports. Each port serves a function based on the
user’s requirements. The functions are interchangeable among the
ports. For instance, the function (CB Fail) can be found in a
specific port in one panel, but it can be found in another port in
the same type of panel due to the different requirement of the
users. Thus, updating the schematics drawing should done
manually.
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FIGURE 9. Internal layout of Siemens O/C and E/F protection
relay
Hence, the sub window was created to automate the implementing
the change of the ports for each function instead of doing
manually. In the sub window, each function has multiple ports to
choose for the schematic drawings. Once the user chooses one option
for a specific function, the change will be implemented instantly
without the need to open the file that contains the schematic
drawing of that function. Figure 10 shows the sub window for the
ports selection of the relay functions.
FIGURE 10. Internal layout of Siemens O/C and E/F protection
relay
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Testing the Plugin
To test the plugin, certain functions were chosen, each function
can be implemented to the ports that can be used for that function.
For instance, the function (Trip Circuit Supervision) can be
assigned to any of the four ports options found in Siemens relay as
shown in Figure 9. The function requires two ports to be utilized
in Siemens relay according to the requirements of the protection
and control panel design. The ports are found in one of the
schematic drawing sheet as shown in Figure 11.
FIGURE 11. The two ports dedicated for trip circuit supervision
function
There are four options available for selecting the ports for
this function as it can be seen in Figure 10 of the sub widow of
the plugin. Instead of the old ports, when the new options were
selected to update the ports, both options were implemented in the
targeted schematic drawing sheet that contains the ports needed to
be changed as shown in Figure 12.
FIGURE 12. The updated new two ports of trip circuit supervision
function
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When the selection was done successfully, a message appeared in
the AutoCAD command line showed that the ports of the function was
updated successfully in the specified schematic drawing sheet as
shown in Figure 13.
FIGURE 13. The message that shows the successful process of
updating of the ports in the specified schematic drawing sheet
Comparison between the manual drawing and automated drawing
TABLE 1. Comparison of the time it takes to generate a schematic
drawing manually and automatically Manual Drawing Automated
Drawing
Single Sheet 2 minutes 4 seconds Single Panel 3 hours 2 minutes
Entire Project 5 days 3 hour
As it can be observed from Table 1 above, there is a significant
improvement when the generation for the schematic drawing of
protection panels of 33kv was done automatically using the plugin
over the manual way. That is because all the manual works had been
converted into a plugin that can create all schematic drawings in a
few clicks using the buttons in the graphical user interface (GUI)
that are pre-programmed to perform all the processes of the manual
design.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the AutoCAD plugin was developed to generate
schematic drawings of high voltage substation particularly 33kV
substation. The developing process was divided into two stages;
first stage was on developing the algorithm for the back-end of the
plugin while the second stage was on developing the graphical user
interface for the front-end of the plugin. In the first stage of
developing the plugin, the algorithm was derived based on the
hierarchical structure of AutoCAD, which showed of how AutoCAD
operates and processes. In the second stage of developing the
plugin, the interface was created in such a way it could present
all options in a single interface. Both the back-end and front-end
were integrated to create the full functional plugin. The plugin
was tested for automatic generating schematic drawings. The test
was done based on the one of functions of a specific type of relay
models, which is a main component of the protective relaying
system, that was provided to be used for 33kV substation. The
function chosen to test had multiple options of ports. The ports
were provided in the plugin. Once an option of ports was selected,
the plugin implemented the changes instantly in the schematic
drawing sheet, where it contained the ports that needed to be
updated, without the need to open the schematic drawing document in
AutoCAD.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The project is supported through the Taylor’s Research Grant
Scheme (TRGS) Project (TRGS/MF1/1/2017/SOE/007). The authors would
like to express their sincere gratitude and appreciation to PSI
Incontrol Sdn. Bhd for the technical support offered and providing
what the project required of consultation and database.
REFERENCES
1. T. Gonen, Electrical Power Transmission System Engineering:
Analysis and Design, Third Edition. CRC Press,2015.
2. S. Khan, Power System Protection. Shahriar Khan, 2013.3. R.
P. Singh, Switchgear and Power System Protection. PHI Learning Pvt.
Ltd., 2009.4. L. Hewitson, M. Brown, and R. Balakrishnan, Practical
Power System Protection. Elsevier, 2004.5. Y. G. Paithankar and S.
R. Bhide, Fundamentals of Power System Protection. PHI Learning
Pvt. Ltd., 2011.6. “Electrical Bus-Bar and its Types,” Circuit
Globe, 16-Jul-2016. [Online]. Available:
https://circuitglobe.com/electrical-bus-bar-and-its-types.html.
[Accessed: 19-Jun-2019].7. P. Schavemaker and L. van der Sluis,
Electrical Power System Essentials. John Wiley & Sons,
2017.
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