At SPS IPC Drives 2018, Aucotec will focus on its new engineering solution for the automated, IEC-compliant description of digital substations. According to IEC 61850, the configuration and structures of the protection and control technology must be carried out in SCL (Substation Configuration Language) format, but many engineering tools are having difficulty setting standards efficiently and understanding neutral SCL. The solution now combines electrical engineering planning with standard-compliant substation description with unprecedented efficiency.
Cooperation with the IEC-61850 expert H&S
The objective is that planners do not have to juggle with different manufacturer-specific tools, each of which can only cover one system level of substation automation, many years ago Aucotec teamed up with the Dortmund system house H&S. Their neutral configuration tool SCT (Substation Configuration Tool) based on SCL has now been integrated even more deeply into Aucotec's data-centered Engineering Base (EB) cooperation platform. The coupling now goes deep into the plant structure. Previously, information on the high-voltage devices could "only" be exchanged online at single-line level.
Control technology automatically configured
With the deepening of the coupling, EB recognizes the Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). The IID file (Instantiated IED Description) for configuring the control technology is automatically created in EB by its simple graphical connection with the individual devices. The time-consuming collation and formulation of the XML definitions for the control level is completely eliminated. The planners do not have to be able to "speak" XML or be IEC 61850 experts. EB's IID file configurator provides SCT with the normative data that is archived there securely for the future. Thus it complements EB's DCS portal as a further "synapse" to EB's "plant brains" of control technology which, as a bridge from plant design to control system programming, is also Aucotec's trade fair focus for SPS IPC Drives.
Consistently standardized
"By the synchronous coupling of EB and SCT, energy distributors can significantly advance network expansion," says Michaela Ott, Product Manager at Aucotec. Data no longer has to be entered redundantly. "Thanks to consistent standardization, plant manufacturers and operators now only need one system configuration tool, which means less training and maintenance," says Ott. The process chain would thus become significantly more consistent, from the overview circuit diagram to the engineering details of the devices. This not only avoids adjustment errors, but also saves time and money.
