Reduce Outage Duration with Rapid Fault Detection
Faults on transmission lines can cause significant outage times over a large geographical area if the faults are not detected, isolated, and repaired as quickly as possible. These transmission outages result in lost revenue for the utility and lost power for the consumer. Conventional techniques used to detect and isolate permanent transmission faults frequently require closing breakers into a fault multiple times, particularly when there are multiple transmission taps between breakers. This time-consuming process inflicts harsh fault transients on the power system and often requires the restoration crew to patrol multiple transmission line sections as they look for the root cause of the fault.
Improving Transmission Reliability with Smart Tap®
Smart Tap® by Southern States, LLC is an innovative fault detection and diagnosis technology that quickly and correctly identifies the faulted transmission line section. This improves transmission line reliability, reduces transmission line outage area and duration, extends the life of power system equipment, and saves the repair and restoration crew valuable time and energy.
When Smart Tap® Units are Applied at Each Tap Location:
If a transmission network has four taps between breakers, as illustrated in the picture above, there are nine possible sections where a fault could occur. Applying Smart Tap® units at each tap location results in the following solution:
- The fault is detected by the breakers, which then trip either sequentially or simultaneously by a transfer/pilot scheme.
- If the fault is momentary, the breakers will reclose and restore power. Using the Smart Tap® data, the repair and restoration crew may travel directly to the faulted section and eliminate the source of the fault and prevent similar faults from happening again.
- If the fault is permanent, the breakers will trip immediately after closing back into the fault.
- Using Smart Tap® data, the operator or repair crew may operate the correct switch to isolate the fault, restore power to the remainder of the line, and find the root cause of the fault.
Smart Tap® & ICS® Technology
Smart Tap® functions perfectly with Southern States Intelligent Circuit Sensor (ICS®) which provides real time waveform captures and has digital algorithms for fault and distance detection.
The ICS® consists of:
- Patented electronic current sensors that require no batteries
- Receiving module
- Substation hardened digital computer
Additionally, Smart Tap® can provides this direction information to SCADA through a local RTU and SCADA communication network. Direction indicators can be displayed on the SCADA diagrams, helping to guide the operator through the sectionalizing switching steps.
Smart Tap® & ICS® Technology
Smart Tap® functions perfectly with Southern States Intelligent Circuit Sensor (ICS®) which provides real time waveform captures and has digital algorithms for fault and distance detection.
The ICS® consists of:
- Patented electronic current sensors that require no batteries
- Receiving module
- Substation hardened digital computer
Additionally, Smart Tap® can provides this direction information to SCADA through a local RTU and SCADA communication network. Direction indicators can be displayed on the SCADA diagrams, helping to guide the operator through the sectionalizing switching steps.
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Smart Tap®
