Abb Technology Ag

Abb Schweiz Ag

Abb Research Ltd.

Hitachi Energy Switzerland Ag

Abb Technology Ltd

Hitachi Energy Ltd

Abb Power Grids Switzerland Ag

Wolfgang Wimmer

Michael Obrist

Stephan Gerspach

Ganesh Kulathu

Hubert Kirrmann

Thomas Werner

Martin Nykvist

Hadeli Hadeli

Gunnar Hilpert

Otmar Görlitz

Jean-Charles Albert Tournier

Thanikesavan Sivanthi

Christian Frei

Senthil Kumar Sundaram

Arinjai Gupta

Hermann Spiess

Theo Widmer

Vivek Gopalakrishnan

Sasi Kumar

Alex Gygax

Stefan Ramseier

Claudio Honegger

Dominique Graber

Jan Schutter

Stefan Meier

Wladyslaw Stawiski

Diogenis Papaevangelou

Willem Otto Van Der Wal

Heinz Brodbeck

Peter Rietmann

Xiaobing Qiu

Allen Notter

Martin Israel

Otto Van Der Wal

Frank Hohlbaum

Tetsuji Maeda

Otmar Goerlitz

Jean-Charles Tournier

Jean Servoz

Federico BÜCHIN

Volker Vetter

A method and an access unit for accessing an industrial communication network are provided. An access unit has first ports connected to the communication network and at least one second port. The access unit is configured to pass data traffic between nodes of the communication network through the access unit in a first operational state of the access unit. The access unit is configured to pass data traffic to a test node via the at least one second port and/or allow test data to be injected into the communication network via the at least one second port in a second operational state of the access unit.

Method and access unit for accessing industrial communication networks

A method and device for configuring an intelligent electronic device, IED, hosting a logical node instance are provided. Incoming signals of the IED are bound to inputs of a function, the function being performed by the logical node instance in operation of an industrial automation control system, IACS. To bind the incoming signals to the inputs of the function, a computing device determines, based on an input data template of the logical node instance, which data is required by the logical node instance to perform the function. The computing device determines, using process related information of the IACS, source IEDs of the IACS that provide the data required by the logical node instance to perform the function.

Method, device, and computer program for configuring an intelligent electronic device

The invention relates to a method for analyzing an abnormal event in an industrial automation and control system, IACS, comprising the following steps: identifying the abnormal event; detecting a root cause of the abnormal event; and generating a notification if the root cause is not a user activity and, if the root cause is a user activity, evaluating the possible impact on the IACS caused by the abnormal event, and generating a notification if the evaluation of the possible impact does not match a predefined list of allowable behavior. The present invention also relates to a corresponding system and corresponding computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media having computer executable instructions for performing the steps of the method.

Detection of abnormal configuration changes

An IEC 61850 Network Control Center (NCC) server is provided at a gateway intelligent electronic device (IED) of a Substation Automation (SA) system. The NCC server serves, via the MMS/TCP/IP part of IEC 61850, process data from substation Intelligent Electronic Devices IEDs to a NCC. The NCC server uses functional names for gateway Logical Nodes (LN) corresponding to substation LNs. The functional names are devoid of any reference to a substation IED related name of the substation LNs, but can be automatically translated to substation IED related names in case of changing SA communication and substation IED architecture. Thereby, functional names as defined by the substation section within a SCD file of the SA system are used for the communication link between the gateway IED and the NCC.

IEC 61850 substation gateway

The present application is concerned with a method for loading configuration data to a first Intelligent Electronic Device IED in a Substation Automation SA system, wherein the SA system included a second IED connected to the first IED via a communication network. The method includes: determining a first SID for the first IED by means of a neighbour ship relation, wherein the neighbour ship relation is predefined and indicative of a relative arrangement of the first and second IED in the communication network; assigning the first SID to the first IED; and obtaining first configuration data corresponding to the first SID, and loading the first configuration data to the first IED. The Global Identification GID of the first IED may be determined from the communication network, and the first SID can be linked with the GID of the first IED. The present application concerns also an active IED for configuration of a new or replaced IED in the substation system, according to the above mentioned method.

Method for automated configuration of an IED

The present invention is concerned with simplified configuration as well as supervision and testing of load restoration functions in high or medium voltage substations of electrical power transmission or distribution networks. The invention takes advantage of the fact that all information for load restoration is available from a standardized configuration representation and from dynamically observable events. Specifically, the IEC 61850 Substation Configuration Description (SCD) file includes the substation single line, the bus bar or breaker failure protection functionality related to it, and the way how reclosing commands can be conveyed for the restoration process. A load restore function or load transfer application observes the execution of a protection trip function and the concurrent connection state of the bays to bus bars in order to automatically restore the power flow across a failed bus bar segment to a parallel healthy bus bar segment.

Load restoration in a high or medium voltage substation

The present invention is concerned with Process Control systems including a client IED and a plurality of server IEDs connected to an Ethernet communication network. A protocol analyzer tool connected to the communication network captures messages directed to the client IED and assigns, from a standardized configuration representation of the PC system comprising the logical data flow definitions, a server or source IED to each captured message. A client IED independent way of diagnosing a cause of client overload problems is provided by analyzing statistically the captured messages. Such statistical approach allows identifying any operating server or source IED sending, on average, more messages than during a preceding period or more messages than calculated.

Communication configuration analysis in process control systems

The invention supports and promotes testing of Substation Automation (SA) functions involving intermediary Logical Nodes (LN) in SA systems of operating substations, specifically with minimized impact on the substation and/or the SA system and without having to completely deactivate or isolate entire parts of the substation. A test is set up by defining at least one input LN where the test scenario input signals will be applied, and by determining output LNs where expected output values shall be observed. Based on the data flow between LNs as defined in the System Configuration Description (SCD) file a test preparing tool automatically determines all intermediary LNs logically arranged between these input and output LNs. The intermediary LNs and the IEDs that are affected by the function test are identified and subsequently marked for 'test' or 'simulation' mode.

Testing of a substation automation system

Exemplary embodiments provide substation automation systems for operating a high or medium voltage substation for an electric power transmission or distribution network. The substation automation system includes a multitude of secondary devices, which transmit and receive data from/to each other via multicast packets. The secondary devices include packet filters, which are adapted to be set up dynamically during the runtime of the substation automation system, in order to update the rules for forwarding multicast packets received from the station bus system to the application running on the secondary devices.

Substation automation system with dynamic multicast filter

A method, an engineering tool, and a computer program element for analyzing a communication of secondary devices in a Substation Automation System for a substation are disclosed. The secondary devices are connected to a communication network for controlling an industrial process, which industrial process can include a plurality of operational aspects of primary devices. Sender secondary devices are configured to send data packets, which can include a multitude of data objects, to predetermined receiver secondary devices via the communication network, wherein the data packets transmitted via the communication network are captured, a functional interrelation or operational aspect of the secondary devices and the primary devices is retrieved from an SCD-file representing the formal configuration of the substation is retrieved, and the secondary devices are grouped according to the retrieved operational aspect and a time sorted graphical representation of the data objects, the secondary devices and the operational aspects is generated.

Analyzing data communication in a process control or substation automation system

A method and a system for power management for a plant electrical network are provided. The power management system over a plant-wide communication network includes both concepts of hierarchical level and distributed level power management using multiple controllers. At least one controller in the power management system is configured for power management in a first local process area within the plant electrical network and is capable to communicate with at least a second controller configured for power management in a second local process area within the plant electrical network over the communication network.

Method and system for power management

An exemplary method and system are disclosed for coordinated transfer of control in a substation system having IED or logical devices/servers using GOOSE messages with preconfigured data models with logical nodes containing one or more data objects including private data objects (DO) connected in the substation communication network. The method for transfer of control can be illustrated for hot-standby device management and for other applications such as logical isolation of merging unit in a substation and load sharing between IEDs. The method can be used for devices that do not have MMS stack.

Method for transfer of control between devices in a substation system and a device thereof

A device validates reachability of nodes of a communication network of an industrial automation and control system. The device includes a collector module configured to update a data set including discovered dataflow information by detecting direct neighbor nodes having a physical connection to a selected node, and updating the data set by adding the selected node and those direct neighbor nodes which have configured logical network constraints matching logical network constraints of the selected node. The device includes a repeater module configured to repeat the selecting of a direct neighbor node in the data set and directing the collector module to update the data set using the selected direct neighbor node. The device includes a validation module configured to validate reachability of nodes of the network by comparing the data set with a data set including designed dataflow information which defines reachability requirements for nodes of the communication network.

Validating reachability of nodes of a network of an industrial automation and control system

A method and sum alarm server are disclosed, which generate a sum alarm for alarms of a process control system for an industrial plant. The method includes identifying alarms described by a configuration description for the industrial plant; assigning each identified alarm to a plant level; assigning each identified alarm to an alarm category based on an alarm type retrieved from the configuration description; and deriving a sum alarm per alarm category and at a selected plant level from all alarms assigned to the alarm category and assigned to the selected plant level or to any plant level below.

Generating sum alarms in process control

A process of implementing, or engineering, topology-dependent functions based on a formal description of the Substation Automation system, includes performing a topology analysis of the current single line state. A topology interpreting implementation replacing complex topology analysis logics can include the project specific static single line topology and the connection to the real process state data. All information can be delivered in an IEC 61850 conforming SCD file. The interface description for controlling and monitoring the load transfer application can be generated automatically from the SCD file.

Implementing substation automation load transfer function

Growing community of inventors

Rietheim, Switzerland

Wolfgang Wimmer