21 research outputs found
Development of the future generation of smart high voltage connectors and related components for substations, with energy autonomy and wireless data transmission capability
The increased dependency on electricity of modern society, makes reliability of power transmission systems a key point. This goal can be achieved by continuously monitoring power grid parameters, so possible failure modes can be predicted beforehand. It can be done using existing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Internet of Things (10T) technologies that include instrumentation and wireless communication systems, thus forming a wireless sensor network (WSN). Electrical connectors are among the most critical parts of any electrical system and hence, they can act as nodes of such WSN. Therefore, the fundamental objective of this thesis is the design, development and experimental validation of a self-powered IOT solution for real-time monitoring of the health status of a high-voltage substation connector and related components of the electrical substation. This new family of power connectors is called SmartConnector and incorporates a thermal energy harvesting system powering a microcontroller that controls a transmitter and several electronic sensors to measure the temperature, current and the electrical contact resistance (ECR) of the connector. These measurements are sent remotely via a Bluetooth 5 wireless communication module to a local gateway, which further transfers the measured data to a database server for storage as well as further analysis and visualization. By this way, after suitable data processing, the health status of the connector can be available in real-time, allowing different appealing functions, such as assessing the correct installation of the connector, the current health status or its remaining useful life (RUL) in real-time. The same principal can also be used for other components of substation like spacers, insulators, conductors, etc. Hence, to prove universality of this novel approach, a similar strategy is applied to a spacer which is capable of measuring uneven current distribution in three closely placed conductors. This novel IOT device is called as SmartSpacer. Care has to be taken that this technical and scientific development has to be compatible with existing substation bus bars and conductors, and especially to be compatible with the high operating voltages, i.e., from tens to hundreds of kilo-Volts (kV), and with currents in the order of some kilo-pm peres (kA). Although some electrical utilities and manufacturers have progressed in the development of such technologies, including smart meters and smart sensors, electrical device manufacturers such as of substation connectors manufacturers have not yet undertaken the technological advancement required for the development of such a new family of smart components involved in power transmission, which are designed to meet the future needs.La mayor dependencia de la electricidad de la sociedad moderna hace que la fiabilidad de los sistemas de transmisión de energía sea un punto clave. Este objetivo se puede lograr mediante la supervisión continua de los parámetros de la red eléctrica, por lo que los posibles modos de fallo se pueden predecir de antemano. Se puede hacer utilizando las tecnologías existentes de Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (1CT) e Internet de las cosas (lo T) que incluyen sistemas de instrumentación y comunicación inalámbrica, formando así una red de sensores inalámbricos (WSN). Los conectores eléctricos se encuentran entre las partes más críticas de cualquier sistema eléctrico y, por lo tanto, pueden actuar como nodos de dicho VVSN. Por lo tanto, el objetivo fundamental de esta tesis es el diseño, desarrollo y validación experimental de una solución IOT autoalimentada para la supervisión en tiempo real del estado de salud de un conector de subestación de alta tensión y componentes relacionados de la subestación eléctrica. Esta nueva familia de conectores de alimentación se llama SmartConnector e incorpora un sistema de recolección de energía térmica que alimenta un microcontrolador que controla un transmisor y varios sensores electrónicos para medir la temperatura, la corriente y la resistencia del contacto eléctrico (ECR) del conector. Esta nueva familia de conectores de alimentación se llama SmartConnector e incorpora un sistema de recolección de energía térmica que alimenta un microcontrolador que controla un transmisor y varios sensores electrónicos para medir la temperatura, la corriente y la resistencia al contacto eléctrico (ECR) del conector. De esta manera, después del procesamiento de datos adecuado, el estado de salud del conector puede estar disponible en tiempo real, permitiendo diferentes funciones atractivas, como evaluar la correcta instalación del conector, el estado de salud actual o su vida útil restante (RUL) en tiempo real. El mismo principio también se puede utilizar para otros componentes de la subestación como espaciadores, aislantes, conductores, etc. Por lo tanto, para demostrar la universalidad de este enfoque novedoso, se aplica una estrategia similar a un espaciador, que es capaz de medir la distribución de corriente desigual en tres conductores estrechamente situados. Hay que tener cuidado de que este desarrollo técnico y científico tenga que sea compatible con las barras y "busbars" de subestación existentes, y sobre todo para ser compatible con las altas tensiones de funcionamiento, es decir, de decenas a cientos de kilovoltios (kV), y con corrientes en el orden de algunos kilo-Amperes (kA). Aunque algunas empresas eléctricas y fabricantes han progresado en el desarrollo de este tipo de tecnologías, incluidos medidores inteligentes y sensores inteligentes, los fabricantes de dispositivos eléctricos, como los fabricantes de conectores de subestación, aún no han emprendido el avance tecnológico necesario para el desarrollo de una nueva familia de componentes intel
Feasibility study on thermal energy harvesting for low powered electronics in high-voltage substations
Electronic devices combining sensors, wireless
communications, and data processing capability allow easing
predictive maintenance tasks in many applications. This paper
applies this approach in power connectors for high-voltage
electrical substations, which are transformed into smart
connectors. Such connectors are often linked to tubular
aluminum bus bars, whose temperature increases due to the
Joule losses generated by the combined effect of the electrical
resistance and the electric current. Since the human
intervention must be minimized, an energy harvesting system
is required to supply the electronics of the smart connectors.
To this end, a thermoelectric module (TEM) is used to
transform heat power into electrical power. Since the voltage
provided by the TEM is very low, a suitable power converter is
used to supply the electronics of the smart connector. This
work analyzes the effect of the various parameters that affect
the power generated by the TEM when placed on a substation
bus bar. Experiments have been carried out by placing a TEM
with different configurations on different types of bus bars for
diverse operating conditions.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Low-cost online contact resistance measurement of power connectors to ease predictive maintenance
© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting /republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other worksWith the increasing use of sensors and wireless communication systems, predictive maintenance is acquiring more and more importance to assess the condition of in-service equipment. Predictive maintenance presents promising cost savings, as it allows minimizing unscheduled power systems faults, which can have very costly and catastrophic consequences. Early stage detection of power system failure requires acquiring, monitoring, and periodically analyzing the condition of the elements involved, such as high-voltage power connectors, since they are critical devices which are often located in key points of power systems. This paper proposes a low-cost online system to determine the contact resistance of high-voltage direct current (dc) and alternating current (ac) power connectors, to determine their health condition in order to apply a predictive maintenance plan. The contact resistance is considered as a reliable indicator of the connector's health condition. However, it cannot be directly measured, and the applied strategy differs between dc and ac power systems. The experimental results show a maximum uncertainty of 4.5%, thus proving the accuracy and feasibility of the approach presented in this paper, since the proposed limit of acceptable resistance increase is 20%. This approach can also be applied to many other power systems' elements.Postprint (author's final draft
On-line resistance measurement of substation connectors focused on predictive maintenance
To detect faults in their early stage in a substation, it is
necessary to monitor, measure and analyze periodically the
health condition of the electrical connectors, which are among
the most critical devices in such installations. To do so, the
electrical connector has to be combined with low-cost intelligent
electronic devices (IED), including different sensor types and
microcontrollers with wireless capabilities. Such an electrical
connector is referred as SmartConnector. Using the data
collected by the IED, it is possible to estimate accurately the
current condition of the electrical connector in real-time, which
in turn will determine the expected faults in the substation
before a major failure occurrence. The electrical resistance plays
a key role to determine the current health condition, and
therefore to estimate the remaining lifetime of the electrical
connector. The electrical resistance of a high-voltage substation
connector is calculated in real-time using different methods
proposed in this work, by using an analog-bipolar Hall effect
sensor and an instrumentation amplifier. Experimental results,
when compared with the standard 4-wire Kelvin method, show
an error of less than 10%. Although the proposed methods have
been validated for substation connectors, they can be applied to
many other types of hardware with electrical contacts.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Real-time wireless, contactless and coreless monitoring of the current distribution in substation conductors for fault diagnosis
Parallel conductors are found in electrical transmission and distribution systems including large ampacity feeders or loads. However, current unbalance often occurs, especially in alternating current systems. This non-regular current distribution causes overheating and premature ageing, facilitating the occurrence of failures. Therefore, a fault diagnosis system is a must, which can be performed by monitoring in real-time the individual currents flowing through the conductors. In this paper a setup including three parallel aluminum conductors of large cross section, a spacer and two terminal substation connectors is analyzed. A real-time, wireless, coreless and contactless system based on three low cost Hall effect sensors is proposed, which is also easy to install. Experimental results, which include fourteen cases, comprising thirteen fault modes and a well installed set, prove the suitability and potential of the proposed approach, since it allows a correct real-time detection of all analyzed faulty conditions as well as the detection of currents exceeding the thermal rating of the conductors.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Sobre la viabilidad de la señalización con Grassmann múltiples y su comparación con técnicas coherentes
This master thesis deals with the practical aspects of implementation of signaling based on Grassmann Manifold and its performance when compared with coherent MIMO techniques, not only in open-loop but also in closed loop.Esta tesina aborda los aspectos prácticos de implementación de la señalización basada en Grassmann Manifold y sus prestaciones al compararse con técnicas MIMO coherentes, no sólo en bucle abierto sino también en bucle cerrado.Kadechkar, A. (2016). Sobre la viabilidad de la señalización con Grassmann múltiples y su comparación con técnicas coherentes. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/80470.TFG
Development of the future generation of smart high voltage connectors and related components for substations, with energy autonomy and wireless data transmission capability
Tesi en modalitat de confidencialitat, amb diferents seccions encriptadesThe increased dependency on electricity of modern society, makes reliability of power transmission systems a key point. This goal can be achieved by continuously monitoring power grid parameters, so possible failure modes can be predicted beforehand. It can be done using existing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Internet of Things (10T) technologies that include instrumentation and wireless communication systems, thus forming a wireless sensor network (WSN). Electrical connectors are among the most critical parts of any electrical system and hence, they can act as nodes of such WSN. Therefore, the fundamental objective of this thesis is the design, development and experimental validation of a self-powered IOT solution for real-time monitoring of the health status of a high-voltage substation connector and related components of the electrical substation. This new family of power connectors is called SmartConnector and incorporates a thermal energy harvesting system powering a microcontroller that controls a transmitter and several electronic sensors to measure the temperature, current and the electrical contact resistance (ECR) of the connector. These measurements are sent remotely via a Bluetooth 5 wireless communication module to a local gateway, which further transfers the measured data to a database server for storage as well as further analysis and visualization. By this way, after suitable data processing, the health status of the connector can be available in real-time, allowing different appealing functions, such as assessing the correct installation of the connector, the current health status or its remaining useful life (RUL) in real-time. The same principal can also be used for other components of substation like spacers, insulators, conductors, etc. Hence, to prove universality of this novel approach, a similar strategy is applied to a spacer which is capable of measuring uneven current distribution in three closely placed conductors. This novel IOT device is called as SmartSpacer. Care has to be taken that this technical and scientific development has to be compatible with existing substation bus bars and conductors, and especially to be compatible with the high operating voltages, i.e., from tens to hundreds of kilo-Volts (kV), and with currents in the order of some kilo-pm peres (kA). Although some electrical utilities and manufacturers have progressed in the development of such technologies, including smart meters and smart sensors, electrical device manufacturers such as of substation connectors manufacturers have not yet undertaken the technological advancement required for the development of such a new family of smart components involved in power transmission, which are designed to meet the future needs.La mayor dependencia de la electricidad de la sociedad moderna hace que la fiabilidad de los sistemas de transmisión de energía sea un punto clave. Este objetivo se puede lograr mediante la supervisión continua de los parámetros de la red eléctrica, por lo que los posibles modos de fallo se pueden predecir de antemano. Se puede hacer utilizando las tecnologías existentes de Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (1CT) e Internet de las cosas (lo T) que incluyen sistemas de instrumentación y comunicación inalámbrica, formando así una red de sensores inalámbricos (WSN). Los conectores eléctricos se encuentran entre las partes más críticas de cualquier sistema eléctrico y, por lo tanto, pueden actuar como nodos de dicho VVSN. Por lo tanto, el objetivo fundamental de esta tesis es el diseño, desarrollo y validación experimental de una solución IOT autoalimentada para la supervisión en tiempo real del estado de salud de un conector de subestación de alta tensión y componentes relacionados de la subestación eléctrica. Esta nueva familia de conectores de alimentación se llama SmartConnector e incorpora un sistema de recolección de energía térmica que alimenta un microcontrolador que controla un transmisor y varios sensores electrónicos para medir la temperatura, la corriente y la resistencia del contacto eléctrico (ECR) del conector. Esta nueva familia de conectores de alimentación se llama SmartConnector e incorpora un sistema de recolección de energía térmica que alimenta un microcontrolador que controla un transmisor y varios sensores electrónicos para medir la temperatura, la corriente y la resistencia al contacto eléctrico (ECR) del conector. De esta manera, después del procesamiento de datos adecuado, el estado de salud del conector puede estar disponible en tiempo real, permitiendo diferentes funciones atractivas, como evaluar la correcta instalación del conector, el estado de salud actual o su vida útil restante (RUL) en tiempo real. El mismo principio también se puede utilizar para otros componentes de la subestación como espaciadores, aislantes, conductores, etc. Por lo tanto, para demostrar la universalidad de este enfoque novedoso, se aplica una estrategia similar a un espaciador, que es capaz de medir la distribución de corriente desigual en tres conductores estrechamente situados. Hay que tener cuidado de que este desarrollo técnico y científico tenga que sea compatible con las barras y "busbars" de subestación existentes, y sobre todo para ser compatible con las altas tensiones de funcionamiento, es decir, de decenas a cientos de kilovoltios (kV), y con corrientes en el orden de algunos kilo-Amperes (kA). Aunque algunas empresas eléctricas y fabricantes han progresado en el desarrollo de este tipo de tecnologías, incluidos medidores inteligentes y sensores inteligentes, los fabricantes de dispositivos eléctricos, como los fabricantes de conectores de subestación, aún no han emprendido el avance tecnológico necesario para el desarrollo de una nueva familia de componentes inteliPostprint (published version
Feasibility analysis of bluetooth 5 for real-time data transmission in high-voltage AC and DC substations
In the past, there have been some practical experiments to study the effect of radio interference and high impulse noise affecting some selected wireless communications protocols in substation environments. However, in the technical literature there are no practical studies to analyze the effect of such interferences in Bluetooth low energy (BLE) or Bluetooth 5 wireless communications. Hence, a suitable Bluetooth 5 system-on-chip module has been proposed for implementation in electrical substations. Correspondingly, a Raspberry Pi 3 (Central) was chosen to act as a gateway. The wireless connectivity between these two elements was tested under very intense corona conditions, which were generated by means of a controlled needle-to-plate corona air gap. The corona discharges were conducted by using high-voltage AC, positive DC and negative DC generators. Different experiments were conducted by changing the distance between wireless device and the corona region. Experimental results presented in this work shows the high immunity level of Bluetooth 5 in front of corona discharges, thus ensuring a suitable behavior of this wireless system in substations.Peer Reviewe
Feasibility analysis of bluetooth 5 for real-time data transmission in high-voltage AC and DC substations
In the past, there have been some practical experiments to study the effect of radio interference and high impulse noise affecting some selected wireless communications protocols in substation environments. However, in the technical literature there are no practical studies to analyze the effect of such interferences in Bluetooth low energy (BLE) or Bluetooth 5 wireless communications. Hence, a suitable Bluetooth 5 system-on-chip module has been proposed for implementation in electrical substations. Correspondingly, a Raspberry Pi 3 (Central) was chosen to act as a gateway. The wireless connectivity between these two elements was tested under very intense corona conditions, which were generated by means of a controlled needle-to-plate corona air gap. The corona discharges were conducted by using high-voltage AC, positive DC and negative DC generators. Different experiments were conducted by changing the distance between wireless device and the corona region. Experimental results presented in this work shows the high immunity level of Bluetooth 5 in front of corona discharges, thus ensuring a suitable behavior of this wireless system in substations.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft