PRESS
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2017
Marketing contact:
Martin Van Der Linde
Tel : +61 7 3907 8777
Fax : +61 7 3399 6777
[email protected]
www.nojapower.com.au
Automation Unconstrained:
Absolute Control
An Exploration into Distributed IEC 61499 Algorithms in
Recloser Controllers
Many years ago, in the dawn of the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) age,
control systems engineers dreamed of a platform wherein their design efforts
could be effortlessly passed from controller to controller. Despite many years
of automation, a universally adoptable standard has eluded the systems
engineer. Progression through standards has been rapidly accelerated
through the course of the last few decades, driven by the dramatic
proliferation and penetration of general computer networking. Experts have
been molded in a generation which has witnessed their entire adult lives
around the effects of computers. This level of understanding of systems
networking, in a case of different systems playing nicely together, is the
inspiration for the definition of the IEC 61499 Standard. For the very first
time, this technology has been made available in the realms of auto-reclosers,
as the NOJA Power RC10 Recloser Controller debuts this technology.
Founded in the heartlands of industrial control, IEC 61499 is an event based
PLC standard for control design aimed at portability and simplicity. Driven by
the requirement that function block based applications can be developed and
deployed across multiple platforms, the control systems engineer has finally
been granted access to portability. Running on an IP network backbone,
suddenly these control systems engineers not only have the capacity to
design local controls within a single controller, but are given the freedom to
deploy an application across an entire network. This function has been
deployed in the NOJA Power RC10 controller and it has been called Smart
Grid Automation but in essence SGA is IEC 61499 in a recloser disguise.
IEC 61499 allows for publishing and subscribing to information across an
entire network. From a NOJA Power RC10 perspective, controllers are now
equipped with the capacity to interact with each other in a complete
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automation scheme. If a utility engineer wanted to interlock a protection
group setting across an entire feeder worth of reclosers, a single change could
be mirrored by each device along the network. If a specific need for fire risk
mitigation settings arose on a particular day, a single change at one device
could be automated to propagate through all devices in a secure, verified
network. By isolating small IP networks of reclosers away from the internet
and automating routine tasks, utilities greatly reduce the scope for risk as
control need only be designed once and executed across a controlled area.
NOJA Power recloser integrated into the substation control system
Finally, SGA applications need not be constrained to the NOJA Power RC10
recloser controller itself or reclosers in general either. The key mantra of IEC
61499 is portability, which also implies that an RC10 can now speak the same
language as any other device which supports IEC 61499. Integration into
complex control systems, substation design or PLC plant automation is
entirely within the realms of possibility today. If a manufacturing plant built
on IEC 61499 PLC control demands an increase to supplied energy power, the
PLC could issue a command to the alternative supply feeder recloser outside
the facility to close and increase power supply to the network. If a
manufacturer senses a mechanical fault within the PLC system on their
production line an emergency trip command could be sent to this very same
recloser outside the building to mitigate risk of equipment damage. At the
very least, energy usage data can be collected from the recloser outside the
building, which can be published to the PLC system inside the building for
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manufacturing performance information.
Whilst NOJA Power has been a first-mover in the deployment of IEC 61499 in
smart grid equipment, it would be naïve to think that they would be the last.
Given the extensive support, documentation and literature available from the
IEC 61499 user group for this standard it would be logical that other
intelligent network devices begin to utilise this capability. The beauty of the
implementation results in greater interoperability, where simple function
blocks can interact with each other over a Local Area Network. This standard
allows for a greater list of equipment to work together to develop crossplatform automation. The integration capabilities are extensive, where
intelligent metering devices could share information with upstream breakers,
or where motor control centers could share information with the upstream
supply for harmonic monitoring or intelligent current inrush restraint.
“We would like to congratulate the IEC 61499 User Group for their vision to
provide manufacturers with an automation and control platform which can
be adopted to provide distributed automation,” says NOJA Power Group
Managing Director Neil O’Sullivan. “The level of portability and
interoperability between multiple intelligent network devices unlocks a far
greater scope of control and design capability for engineers in the field. With
such a clearly defined standard, integration of IEC 61499 based automation is
greatly simplified across complex networks of control.”
To date, the SGA implementations are only starting to scratch the surface of
what is possible with SGA and the NOJA Power RC10 controller. By giving the
tools of design to the talented individuals who are at the coal face of
protection and automation design a new era of innovation can be unlocked.
The NOJA Power RC10’s implementation of IEC 61499 dubbed SGA is
changing the face of network automation, providing reliability, risk mitigation
and performance that control systems engineers have been dreaming of since
time immemorial.
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