Abstract
The main components of an advanced measurement system based on synchrophasor technology for the monitoring of power systems are the phasor measurement unit (PMU), which represents the ‘sensor’, and the phasor data concentrator (PDC), which collects the data forwarded by PMUs installed on the field. For the purpose of extending the benefit of synchrophasor technology from transmission grids to distribution networks, different projects are seeking to use low-cost platforms to design devices with PMU functionalities. In this perspective, in order to achieve a complete synchrophasor-based measurement architecture based on low-cost technologies, this work presents a PDC design based on a low-cost platform. Despite the simplicity of the considered hardware, advanced PDC functionalities and innovative control logics are implemented in the prototype. The proposed device is characterised by several experimental tests aimed at assessing its performance in terms of both time synchronisation and capability of managing several PMU data streams. The feasibility of some additional functionalities and control logics is evaluated in the context of different possible scenarios.
Highlights
The main components of the synchronised distributed measurement systems used in power network monitoring systems that are based on synchrophasor technology are phasor measurement units (PMUs) and phasor data concentrators (PDCs) [1]-[4]
Synchrophasor technology is becoming an important tool for operators to monitor electric systems over a wide area in real time
With the aim of exploring the possibilities for synchrophasor-based monitoring architectures, this paper has presented a prototype of an active PDC developed with low-cost hardware
Summary
The main components of the synchronised distributed measurement systems used in power network monitoring systems that are based on synchrophasor technology are phasor measurement units (PMUs) and phasor data concentrators (PDCs) [1]-[4]. Commercial PDCs suitable for WAMSs allow for the management of hundreds of incoming streams, and their cost is in the order of thousands of dollars These devices can implement mathematical functions (power calculations and evaluations of sequence components) and other utility functions, such as alarms, that are specific for electric substations [6]. In [18], an active low-cost PDC that is suitable for distribution networks and is based on the most common SBC, the Raspberry Pi [19], is presented and characterised in terms of synchronisation accuracy (provided by the global navigation satellite system [GNSS] receiver) and computational burden (in terms of the number of manageable data streams). An overall delay characterisation is performed to show the relationship between measurement device configuration, input data latency, and processing time
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