Merging unit based solution for Full switchyard digitization

Leandro de Marchi Pintos – GE Renewable Energy, Brazil

Adriano Oliveira Pires – GE Renewable Energy, Brazil
Rodrigo Donadel – GE Renewable Energy, Brazil
Elias Bencz – GE Renewable Energy, Brazil

1 Introduction
The use of Ethernet protocols in substations had great impact on copper wires reduction, mainly between
the switchyard and the relay room. With the subsequent formulation of the IEC 61850 standard, a level of
interoperability has been achieved between devices from different manufacturers that no other protocols
couldn’t provide (e.g., Modbus or DNP). This is possible because the IEC 61850 standardized not only how
information is transmitted through communication protocols, but also the methods for data acquisition and
IED self-description, providing an application point of view on top of these elements. In this context, this
standard becomes a key in the digital substations and in the implementation of smart grids to improve the
reliability and safety of the electrical system, while reducing the engineering, maintenance effort and
facilitates protection and control tests in substations [1].
An important concept for the digitization of substations is the virtualization of equipment in the format of
several Logical Nodes that represents the main functions performed by the devices. Virtualization provides
access to information from real devices to other equipment [2]. While the primary devices do not have
technology to provide a digital interface directly, the concept of Merging Unit was conceived as the robust
device to be installed in the switchyard and to be responsible for making the interface between the physical
and digital worlds performing the virtualization of the primary equipment.
Following IEC 61850, the functionality of each equipment can be modeled by one or more logical nodes
(LNs), and each LN must contain the information produced and used by a single domain-specific application
function [3]. A Merging Unit virtualizes voltage transformers with the LN TVTR, current transformers with LN
TCTR, circuit breakers (monitoring and control) with LN XCBR, circuit switches (monitoring and control) with
LN XSWI in addition to enabling the virtualization of transduced sensors.
Once digitalized, the signals of all these devices can be organized in datasets and made available by
different protocols as stablished by the IEC 61850 standard (Sampled Values, GOOSE, Report Control
Block and MMS) [4], [5]. Since this standard recommends the interoperability, any device can use the
digitalized data from switchyard regardless of its nature or manufacturer.
This article discusses the switchyard equipment modeling strategies, in particular circuit breakers, circuit
switches and instrument transformers, showing in detail devices as Merging Unit that can digitize primary
data, including specific mechanical behaviors of each of these devices. To clarify the exposed models, a
use case is presented based on a practical situation in the control of a circuit breaker and circuit switches
of a transmission line in a substation with a transmission line bay. In this test scenario, the Merging Unit
measures the signals from Analog Test Sets representing the primary equipment and virtualizes all data for
the protection relays.

2 IEC 61850 modelling

2.1 Acquisition: TVTR and TCTR

The decentralized analog acquisition is modeled through the logical nodes TCTR (Current Transformer) and
TVTR (Voltage Transformer).
Table 1 – Logical nodes TVTR and TCTR.

TVTR TCTR
VolSv AmpSv Sampled value
VRtg ARtg Rated voltage / Rated current
Rat Rat Winding ratio of an instrument transformer/transducer
Voltage and current values are sampled at a configurable sample rate (usual 4.000 or 12.800 for 50Hz and
5.800 and 15.360 for 60Hz) and then sent through Ethernet using the Sampled Values (SV) protocol [5] to
the subscribers process these data. Using the decentralized acquisition is possible to use relays not directly
connected to the current transformers (CTs) and voltage transformers (VTs), it can be possible to share the
acquisition among relays and other monitoring devices without overloading transformers as well as add
other devices with no change on the wiring.
For SV subscribing, the standard IEC 61850 defines that both subscriber and functions that will use these
signals declare it as external reference. It allows other tools to check the equipment configuration files and
identify the data flow within the substations.

2.2 Processing: PTOC and PTRC

A classic example is the overcurrent protection function which IEC 61850 models by the logical node PTOC.
It is indicated below some of the modeled objects:
Table 2 – Overcurrent protection function objects modeled by IEC 61850 (PTOC).

PTOC Description
Status
Str Start
Op Operate
Settings
TmACrv Operating Curve Type
StrVal Start Value
TmMult Time dial multiplier
DirMod Directional Mode
Inherited Settings
InRef1 Reference
InRef2
...
InRef#

It is worth mentioning that the meaning of the InRef objects is provided by the manufacturer in a descriptive
way in the properties of each element. It is possible that each InRef associated with a current or voltage
coming from the SV, but it is not standardized. Anyway, the purpose of this model is to provide the
abstraction represented in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Logical elements abstraction according to IEC 61850.

The PTRC element presented is the Trip conditioning and is used to group several operations to command
the circuit breaker (XCBR) opening in an unified manner. Note that it is not necessary to detail which of the
elements belong to each equipment, from IEC 61850 perspective this is not relevant.
The blue arrow represents Sampled Values being transmitted by the device is usually placed close to CTs
and VTs performing acquisition and modeling these instrument transformers.
The green arrow represents the substation events transmitted by Generic Object Oriented Substation
Events (GOOSE) messages (IEC 61850-8-2). In the same way the SV publishes the information to other
system devices in a standardized manner, the information contained within the GOOSE message package
are also standardized and independent of manufacturer.

2.3 Control Abstraction through IEC 61850

The elements that indicate opening or closing within the Pos (switch position) object are classified as
controls for implementing a layer of operation of the data model through GOOSE or MMS messages. For
data types that are not classified as control, it is not possible to have a communication mechanism that does
some action in the data model. With the control elements it is possible to implement mechanisms for
selecting and confirming the action through communication with external devices without a physical signal.
The MMS control modeling is described below in Table 3 with emphasis on the elements Oper, SBO and
Cancel.
It is worth mentioning that GOOSE messages represent the status signals on the network and although
more complex objects are necessary, it can behaves similarly to MMS commands [6]. The Table 4 details
the information of the Op element of the PTRC (or PTOC) and the Pos element of the XCBR. emulating the
control mechanism generally operated through MMS [7].
Table 3 – Oper, SBO and Cancel MMS modelling.

Status
Origin Origin
Stval Status
T When was the last Change
stSeld Is selected
opOk Operation Ok
tOpOk When the operation will be performed
Configuration
Oper Operate
SBO Select Before Operate
Cancel Cancel

Table 4 – IEC 61850 control signals [8].

OP (ACT)
General Three-phase indication
PhsA Phase A Trip indication
PhsB Phase B Trip indication
PhsC Phase C Trip indication
T Second Trip time indication
originSrc Trip Signal Origin
operTmPhsA
operTmPhsB Operation Time for Phase A, B and C. Is used for point on wave switching
operTmPhsC
Pos (DPC)
Origin Command origin
stVal Status value of the data
T Timestamp of the last change in one of the attribute(s)
stSeld The controllable data is in the status "selected"
 Indication that an operate command for a controllable data object has been
opOk
evaluated and accepted
The time stamp with the time, when an output of a controllable object is activated
tOpOk
following a control command. When the operation will be performed

The diagram in Figure 2 shows the mechanism used in direct operation - without selection or even without
direct feedback. Feedback can be implemented to identify circuit breaker Trip failure for example, but
whoever requested the opening does not need to receive confirmation.

Figure 2 – Message flow between PTOC operation and XCBR control.

2.4 Operation: XCBR and XSWI

As mentioned before, the circuit breaker (XCBR) and the circuit switch (XSWI) are similar and some of its
elements are shown below in Table 5.
Table 5 – XCBR and XSWI common elements.

Status
LocKey Local or remote key
Loc Local control Behavior
disc Discrepancy
Controls
Pos Position
BlkOpn Block Opening
BlkCls Block Closing

The three-phase discrepancy element (disc) is used by IEC 61850 when a three-phase set of circuit
switches or circuit breakers is modeled as single-line, so it indicates that the phases are not in the same
state. Three-phase XCBR or XSWI are added to the model also represent the states of another 3 XCBR or
XSWI present in the model and thus provide a three-phase interface to single-phase sets.

3 Application cases
Considering the application cases of the use of measurement equipment for monitoring the switchyard in
substation topologies, some examples are the single bus topology, double bus, single sectioned bus, main
and transfer bus, double breaker-double bus, breaker-and-a-half and ring bus.
As a reference case for this work, it is considered a transmission line bay of a 115-13.2kV substation with
breaker-and-a-half bus topology, with a typical configuration of a circuit breaker per phase and two circuit
switches per circuit breaker. In this architecture, all primary devices can be digitalized by a single device
through analog inputs, digital inputs and digital outputs, including special outputs for actuation in circuit
breakers, and abstraction by logical modeling as explained in the previous sections.
The simplified single-line diagram of the electrical system used for tests is shown in Figure 3. This system
is based on the substation where the Merging Unit is used to measure three-phase analog signals of current
and voltage as well as digital signals for monitoring and controlling one circuit breaker and two circuit
switches. Figure 3 describes the network connections such as Process and Station Bus. Only part of the
system was assembled in the laboratory due to the limitations arising from the unavailability of equipment
to simulate the complete scenario of a real substation. In this way, all the digital signals used were generated
through GOOSE messages. The measured signals are published on the network and are subscribed by the
protection relay and a digital fault recorder.
In Figure 4 and in Figure 5 are shown the Merging Unit configuration files exposing how the physical
connections are assigned within the logic of the XCBR logical node. It is possible to assign to the logic of
XCBR and XSWI both digital inputs and GOOSE messages, as well as other elements of the logic of XCBR
and XSWI and signals modeled by SIMG signals (logic node for supervision of the gas insulation medium,
as occurs in Gas Insulated Substations - GIS) and SIML (logical node for the supervision of the liquid
insulation medium).

Figure 3 – Power System used as basis of the tests.

Figure 4 – XCBR Closing logic used in the Merging Unit.

 Figure 5 – XCBR Opening logic used in the Merging Unit.

In this application the three-phase representation of the circuit breaker (XCBR4) is used and the activation
of the signals is carried out by GOOSE messages subscribing (XCBR1 to 3 are the single-phase modeling).
The GOOSE inputs numbers were set accordingly to the tests. For the operation of the system, it is essential
to use the following signals from the circuit breaker and the two circuit switches: Pos [ON] (closed position
corresponding to the CB52a signal in the ANSI standard - American National Standards Institute), Pos [OFF]
(open position that corresponds to the CB52b signal in ANSI standard), BlkOpn (Block Open operation),
BlkCls (Block Closing operation), OpCls (Closing Operation that corresponds to the Closing Command),
OpOpn (Opening Operation that corresponds to the Opening Command) and OpTr (only in XCBR and
corresponds to the circuit breaker trip command).

3.1 Test Scenario

Based on what was previously shown, the scenario in Figure 6 was designed in laboratory to evaluate the
interoperability of the protocols and the equipment of the system. The scenario consists on one grandmaster
clock for synchronization via Precision Time Protocol – PTP (IEEE 1588v2) and via unmodulated IRIG-
B004, a digital fault recorder with one remote acquisition module, a manageable switch, a Merging Unit and
a protection relay with a process bus card. There is no physical measurement by wiring between the relay
and the Merging Unit, so all data received by the relay is via fiber optic since the Merging Unit publishes
sampled values and GOOSE messages over the network. The analog measurement equipment is wired
with the same three-phase analog signals as the merging unit.
 Figure 6 – Test architecture.

The protection relay publishes via GOOSE message the Protection Trip Conditioning (PTRC.Op) signal to
open the three-phase circuit breaker when a fault is simulated on the system. The digital fault recorder
RPV311 is used to monitor all data during the tests (digital and analog data included) and to compare the
analog signals measured by the Remote Acquisition module RA332 with the SV published by the merging
unit MU320E. The link between RA332 and RPV311 is made through fiber optic using proprietary protocol
and it is represented by the Link DFR. The same current threshold is configured on the digital fault recorder
and on the protection relay to trigger the Fault Record and the Trip signal, respectively.
The protection relay subscribes to the Merging Unit with the measurement of Sampled Values and GOOSE
messages. The relay is configured to trigger the protection due to an overcurrent so that this event initiates
the opening/closing logic of the circuit breaker (XCBR) and the circuit switches (XSWI).
The industrial managed switch S20 is used to segregate the Ethernet network traffic through the use of the
virtual local area network (VLAN). Among the network messages segregated by the switch are Sampled
Values, GOOSE, PTP sync signal, TCP / IP and MMS. Then, the same physical links are used for Station
and Process buses: On station bus are the TCP/IP, MMS, GOOSE and PTP and SV on the process bus.
The transmission time of messages on process bus is crucial for protection and synchronism systems, for
this reason these messages are prioritized on the network by the use of QoS on the S20 switch.
The GNSS clock is used to synchronize the equipment used for testing. The test equipment is synchronized
according to the recommendations of the technical report IEC61850-90-4 using the PTP Power Profile 2017.
The equipment synchronized via PTP are the merging unit, the protection relay and the Test Set. The digital
fault recorder is synchronized using the IRIG-B004 protocol using the same clock.
The Test Set is used to digitally simulate the circuit breaker and circuit switches operation as well as the
dynamics of all signals involved with the operation of the simulated electrical system. In addition to the
steady-state signals, overcurrent must be applied to trigger the relay and the digital fault recorder.
Regarding the digital signals used in the test, it should be noted that there is an interdependence in the
operation between the circuit switches and the circuit breaker of the system: The circuit switches cannot be
opened or closed when the circuit breaker is closed, that is, it is prohibited to disconnect circuit switch when
the system is operating under load (circuit breaker closed). This operating logic is carried out in the
automation of substations and prevents the occurrence of Arc-Flash during the maneuvering operation, thus
preventing damage to the switchyard equipment. These interlocks in the operation of the circuit switches
are considered by inserting the circuit breaker position signal (XCBR.Pos) in the opening (XSWI.BlkOpn)
and closing (XSWI.BlkCls) blocking signals of the circuit switches.

3.2 Communication
The interaction among the system equipment is as follows:
• The Merging Unit measures the digital and analog signals applied by the Test Set. These data are
digitalized and published on the network, which are subscribed by the protection relay and by the
digital fault recorder using the manageable switch as communication mean;
• The protection relay receives the Sampled Values and GOOSE signals published by the Merging
Unit, then this data is processed and the result is sent back to the network;
• The Merging Unit subscribes to the GOOSE messages from the relay, which contains Trip and
blocking signals.
Due to the large number of digital inputs and outputs necessary for the tests, the digital signals used to
control and monitor the status of the circuit breaker and circuit switches were operated using a specific
software of the Test Set manufacturer. This software is used to simulate the electrical system and to perform
the interaction between all equipment by GOOSE messaging.
The objectives of the tests are to apply an overcurrent to the electrical system in such a way that the
protection relay triggers the instantaneous overcurrent function 50 (PIOC) with the consequent opening of
the circuit breaker. Thus, signals in steady state are applied until the moment of application of the fault; the
relay identifies this anomaly in the system and triggers the operation of the PIOC protection function.
Therefore, the trip conditioning signal (PTRC) is issued by the relay, this signal is subscribed by the Merging
Unit which in turn send the circuit breaker opening command via the XCBR.OpnCol signal (“Open Coil”). If
there is no active blocking signal to prevent the circuit breaker from opening, the opening should occur.
This entire operation is carried out through the digitization of switchyard signals: all analog signals are
applied to the Merging Unit and the digitalized data are sent to the control room via optical fiber. Inside the
control room, both GOOSE and Sampled Values messages are processed by the protection relay, then it
returns the operating commands to the Merging Unit via GOOSE signals, such as opening and closing the
circuit breaker.

4 Results
The 115-13.2kV electrical system shown in Figure 3 was modeled using the software RelaySim Test from
Omicron to perform the tests. A 100km transmission line was set and the transformation ratios 1000/5A for
CTs and 115kV/115V for VTs. Faults were applied to 50% of the transmission line length. The device
“MU320 R4” interacts with the digital signals sent by the circuit breaker “CB”, circuit switch 1 “SW1” and
circuit switch 2 “SW2” by receiving the status signals and sending opening and closing commands via
GOOSE. Likewise, the “MU320 R4” is measuring the analog signals of the current transformer “CT” and the
voltage transformer “VT”. The blue boxes “GOOSE SW1”, “GOOSE CB” and “GOOSE SW2” models the
interaction between the open/closed status signals of the circuit breaker and circuit switches via GOOSE
messages. Those models also receive Trip (opening) and Close (closing) signals from the Merging Unit.
The “Local Command” and “XCBR Blocking” boxes are virtual equipment inserted to simulate the activation
/ deactivation of the Local Command signal and the blocking signals used in the overall logic. The blocking
signals used for the opening blocking (XCBr.BlkOpn) and the closing blocking (XCBR.BlkCls) of the circuit
breaker are the signals SIMG.InsBlk (Insulation gas not safe – block device operation) and SIMG.InsAlm
(Insulation gas critical), respectively.

Figure 7 – RelaySim test electrical system used for testing.

All test signals are monitored by the digital fault recorder. Then, it is possible to subscribe to a greater
amount of GOOSE signals than the software capacity. RelaySim Test can only control/monitor the signal
involved with the status and control of switches opening and/or closing. The digital fault recorder monitors
the GOOSE messages published by the merging unit and by the protection relay as XCBR.OpnCol and
PTRC.Op, respectively.

4.1 Overcurrent with circuit breaker tripping

In this test scenario, the equipment is operating normally without any blocking signal on. The results are
shown in Figure 8 and represent the test signals through oscillography generated by the digital fault
recorder. In the upper part of the figure are the primary values of voltage and current published by MU320E
(SV).

Figure 8 – Circuit breaker trip due overcurrent.

The PIOC overcurrent protection function is triggered in phases A and B. The relay publishes GOOSE
messages related to this operation which is sequentially received by the Merging Unit as circuit breaker
opening message. This behavior is noticed through the operation of the signal “UR_PIOC_OP”. The circuit
breaker opens (CB52b = True) and after 500 milliseconds the Merging Unit receives a command to close
the Circuit Breaker (CB Close Coil) corresponding to the closing of the Circuit Breaker (CB52a = True).

4.2 Circuit switch opening attempt with opened circuit breaker

The closed circuit breaker signal (XCBR.Pos [ON]) is configured as a blocking signal for opening and closing
the two circuit switches used in the test. In this way, the opening blocking logic (XSWI.BlkOpn) and closing
blocking logic (XSWI.BlkCls) of the circuit switches are activated with the circuit breaker in closed position.
In the test performed, attempts were made to open the two circuit switches (SW1 and SW2) with the circuit
breaker closed (system operating under load). As previously mentioned, there is an interlock logic for this
type of operation (active throughout test period highlighted in Figure 9), and thus the circuit switches cannot
be opened under the interlocking condition.

Figure 9 – Circuit switches opening attempt with circuit breaker closed.

4.3 Circuit breaker opening with blocking signal on

In this case under test, a manual opening command of the circuit breaker is carried out while the opening
blocking condition is on, represented by the SF6 Insulation gas not safe alarm signal (SIMG.InsBlk). As
soon as the gas quality returns to normal levels of operation, due to maintenance operation for gas
replacement or similar procedure, the opening blocking condition goes off and the circuit breaker opening
operation is accepted (CB52b = True) .
 Figure 10 – Circuit breaker opening attempt with blocking signal on.

The dotted line in light blue means that the signal activation on the arrow origin generated the activation of
the signal at the arrowhead.

5 Conclusion
This paper discussed the evolution of the IEC61850 standard, especially in the context of the virtualization
of the switchyard equipment such as instrument transformers, circuit switches and circuit breakers,
presenting philosophies and modeling options for the representation of this equipment.
To assess the effectiveness of modeling, monitoring, protection and control of switchyard devices in a fully
digital environment, use case of application with a transmission line bay with one circuit breaker and two
circuit switches are presented, showing an architecture of devices communicating with each other to perform
the necessary tasks in applications in this type of bay, including equipment for recording the sequence of
events.
The test scenario developed proves that, once the necessary network infrastructure conditions are provided
for reliable communication between devices, the complete virtualization of switchyard equipment using the
IEC61850 standard as a basis is completely feasible and accurately represents all states and sequence of
events expected in the application under analysis.
It is important to note that the device used for the virtualization of switchyard equipment is simple and has
only a few logics of combining binary outputs and inputs, logical or not, to allow a more accurate modeling
of primary equipment, allowing more intelligent devices as relays and bay controllers use data already
digitalized in the switchyard to perform more complex functions.
Finally, the results presented are in accordance with the time standards compatible with current systems
and demonstrate the level of maturity of the technology for digital substations. In addition, digital substation
solutions are advancing more and more towards virtualization, thus allowing the facilities of this approach
to become increasingly clear to the end user, improving maintenance times, test and operation quality and
reducing costs.

6 References

[1] R. Hunt, Process bus: 7 of your most pressing questions answered, GE Grid Solutions, 2019.

[2] International Electrotechnical Commission, "IEC 61850 Communication networks and systems for
power utility automation – Part 7-1: Basic communication structure – Principles and models," 2011.

[3] International Electrotechnical Commission, "IEC 61850 Communication networks and systems for
power utility automation – Part 7-4: Basic communication structure – Compatible logical node classes
and data object classes," 2010.

[4] International Electrotechnical Commission, "IEC 61850 Communication networks and systems for
power utility automation – Part 8-1: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM) – Mappings to
MMS (ISO 9506-1 and ISO 9506-2) and to ISO/IEC 8802-3," 2011.

[5] International Electrotechnical Commission, "IEC 61850 Communication networks and systems for
power utility automation – Part 9-2: Specific communication service mapping (SCSM) – Sampled values
over ISO/IEC 8802-3," 2011.

[6] International Electrotechnical Commission, "IEC 61850 Communication networks and systems for
power utility automation - Part 7-500: Basic information and communication structure - Use of logical
nodes for modeling application functions and related concepts and guidelines for substations," 2017.

[7] International Electrotechnical Commission, "IEC 61850 Communication networks and systems for
power utility automation - Part 7-2: Basic information and communication structure - Abstract
communication service interface (ACSI)," 2010.

[8] International Electrotechnical Commission, "Communication networks and systems for power utility
automation – Part 7-3: Basic communication structure – Common data classes," 2010-12.