IED FOR, AND METHOD OF ENGINEERING, AND SA SYSTEM

• US 20110257806A1
• Filed: 06/30/2011
• Published: 10/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ABB Power Grids Switzerland AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Ltd.)
• Inventors: Richter, Stefan, Werner, Thomas, Tournier, Jean-Charles
• Application Number:
  US13/173,924
• Publication Number:
  US 20110257806A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/292
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/201 Multicast operation; Broadcast operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/35 Switches specially adapted for specific applications

Abstract

Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) for Substation Automation (SA), such as bay units or substation PCs, are equipped with a Central Processing Unit CPU that includes a first processing core dedicated and configured to execute Protection and Control applications, and a second processing core, or network core, dedicated and configured to handle or decode network communication traffic. The network core performs computationally expensive pre-processing and/or post-processing functionality on top of the 9-2 communication stack. A plurality of network cores or a plurality of network interfaces may be provided to cope with the expected amount of IEC 61850 9-2 traffic.

Claims

1. An Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) for Substation Automation (SA), wherein the IED is configured to receive and process IEC 61850 9-2 network messages over a substation communication network, the IED comprising:

a Central Processing Unit (CPU) that includes a first processing core and a network core,

wherein the network core is configured to handle IEC 61850 9-2 network traffic for the IED.

2. The IED according to claim 1, wherein the network core is configured to perform at least one of pre-processing and post-processing of the network messages.

3. The IED according to claim 1, wherein the CPU comprises a plurality of network cores configured to handle IEC 61850 9-2 network traffic.

4. The IED according to claim 3, wherein the IED is configured to allocate a network message to one of the plurality of network cores based on a source address of the network message.

5. The IED according to claim 3, comprising:

a single network interface configured to be connected to the substation communication network and to allocate a network message to one of the plurality of network cores.

6. The IED according to claim 3, comprising:

a plurality of network interfaces configured to forward a network message to a predefined one of the plurality of network cores, the plurality of network interfaces configured to be connected to a switch of the substation communication network, the switch being configured to allocate network messages to one of the network interfaces.

7. The IED according to claim 1, wherein the IED comprises a Station PC, and

wherein the first processing core is configured to execute, based on the network messages received, at least one of busbar protection functions and backup protection functionality for a multitude of bays.

8. A method of engineering an Substation Automation (SA) system with an Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) configured to receive and process IEC 61850 9-2 network messages over a substation communication network,

wherein the IED comprises a Central Processing Unit (CPU) which includes a first processing core and a network core, the network core being configured to handle IEC 61850 9-2 network traffic for the IED, and

wherein the method comprises:

assigning, based on at least one of a size of the SA system and an estimated amount of network traffic received by the IED, a plurality of network cores to the IED; and

configuring an allocation of network messages to the plurality of network cores.

9. The IED according to claim 2, wherein the CPU comprises a plurality of network cores configured to handle IEC 61850 9-2 network traffic.

10. The IED according to claim 9, wherein the IED is configured to allocate a network message to one of the plurality of network cores based on a source address of the network message.

11. The IED according to claim 9, comprising:

a single network interface configured to be connected to the substation communication network and to allocate a network message to one of the plurality of network cores.

12. The IED according to claim 9, comprising:

a plurality of network interfaces configured to forward a network message to a predefined one of the plurality of network cores, the plurality of network interfaces configured to be connected to a switch of the substation communication network, the switch being configured to allocate network messages to one of the network interfaces.

13. The IED according to claim 3, comprising:

a single network interface configured to be connected to the substation communication network and to allocate the network message to one of the plurality of network cores.

14. The IED according to claim 1, wherein the first processing core is dedicated and configured to execute Protection and Control applications of the IED in the SA system.

15. The method according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of network cores are configured to handle IEC 61850 9-2 network traffic.

16. The method according to claim 8, comprising:

allocating a network message to one of the plurality of network cores based on a source address of the network message.

17. The method according to claim 8, comprising:

allocating a network message to one of the plurality of network cores via a single network interface of the IED which is connected to the substation communication network.

18. The method according to claim 8, comprising:

allocating a network message to one of the plurality of network cores via a plurality of network interfaces, which are each configured to forward a network message to a predefined one of the plurality of network cores, the plurality of network interfaces being connected to a switch of the substation communication network, the switch being configured to allocate network messages to one of the network interfaces.

19. The method according to claim 8, comprising:

executing Protection and Control applications in the first processing core.

20. The method according to claim 8, wherein the IED comprises a Station PC, and

wherein method comprises:

executing, in the first processing core, at least one of busbar protection functions and backup protection functionality for a multitude of bays based on the network messages received.