INTELLIGENT ELECTRONIC DEVICE CONFIGURATION VERIFICATION

• US 20090070051A1
• Filed: 10/23/2008
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Energy Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Ltd.)
• Inventors: VETTER, Claus, Kuc-Dzierzawska, Aleksandra, Sipowicz, Jakub, Frei, Christian, Obrist, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,532,944 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/57
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00028 involving the use of Internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00034 the elements or equipment being or involving an electric power substation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/16 Electric power substations
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/18 using switches, relays or circuit breakers, e.g. intelligent electronic devices [IED]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

A Substation Automation testing tool for IEC 61850 compliant substations is disclosed. It is concerned with the verification of the configuration of a first Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) that is part of a Substation Automation (SA) system and that has initially been configured to perform measurement, protection and/or control functions in accordance with a substation configuration specification. Configuration information is first read from an internal server of the first IED and transformed according to a dedicated data model. Related information is then read from e.g. a second IED that has initially been configured to perform the same functions as the first IED, or from a Substation Configuration Description (SCD) file, and likewise transformed. The transformed data is then compared in order to identify discrepancies or inconsistencies and to resolve errors introduced by the IED configuration process.

Claims

1. A method of verifying the configuration of a first Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) that is part of a Substation Automation (SA) system, comprising:

reading first configuration information about the first IED from the first IED,

transforming the first configuration information according to a dedicated data model,

reading second configuration information about the first IED,

transforming the second configuration information according to the dedicated data model, and

comparing the transformed first and second configuration information.

2. The method according to claim 1, comprising reading the second configuration information from a second IED that has the same functions as the first IED.

3. The method according to claim 1, comprising reading the second configuration information as standardized substation-specific data from a Substation Configuration Description (SCD) file describing the configuration of the SA system.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the standardized substation-specific data is described according to the standard IEC 61850.

5. A configuration consistency verifier for Substation Automation (SA) systems, comprising:

means for reading and transforming first configuration information about a first IED of the SA system stored on an internal server of the first IED,

means for reading and transforming second configuration information about the first IED from a second source, and

means for comparing the transformed configuration information from the first IED and the second source.

6. A method of verifying the configuration of an electronic device of a substation automation system, comprising:

reading first configuration information about the electronic device from the electronic device;

transforming the first configuration information based on a dedicated data model;

reading second configuration information about the electronic device;

transforming the second configuration information according to the dedicated data model;

comparing the transformed first and second configuration information; and

identifying discrepancies or inconsistencies to resolve errors resulting from the configuration process.