ION Power Quality Analyser on a Backup Generator Supply

[conradvr_hexeis]

Hi all,

When using an ION power quality analyser to monitor a Backup Generator MSB one issue is you will have extended 'voltage outages' by design, as the MSB bus is only live when the generator is running.  Hexeis is interested to know what others have done to the ION  Sag/Swell modules to enhance the reporting of Generator Sag/Swell/Outage events.

To date Hexeis has left the Sag/Swell module in the factory default setup i.e. always enabled.  This means that the voltage outages are long when running a Power Quality Summary report.  One idea is to disable the Sag/Swell module after an outage is longer than a set period, but the impact on the reports/alarms and SOE viewer will need to be tested.

Note that the IONs' control power is always connected to a UPS power supply.

Regards

Conrad

[Charles_Murison · Accepted solution]

Hello @conradvr_hexeis ,

Be very careful with enabling/disabling modules when alarm is active.

When a meter detects a sag, the module with write an event to say sag/swell started. However if the module is disabled or a setting on the meter is changed, there is no sag/swell end event. PME is looking for this end event to determine if the alarm is currently active or not. So by disabling the module PME will get a sag start event however never see a sag end event and will have a constant active alarm in the view.

May have a better time in the report side of things to "ignore" sag/swell events with a duration greater than x. How to do this I do not know, could be a change to store procedure or new custom report or something else completely.

Regards,

Charles

[conradvr_hexeis]

Thanks Charles.  That was one of the side effects of using enable/disable that we wanted to check.  The other option we are planning to test is dynamic control the Nominal Voltage Input to force an end of event.

Man goal is to simply make the data more relevant and easy to use for the users so potentially some post processing as you have noted may be the answer.

Regards

Conrad

[DanL]

RE: "left the Sag/Swell module in the factory default setup i.e. always enabled"

just FYI, the factory default in the framework/template design was intentionally changed in all V2.0 and later frameworks (for the product lines you tagged) so that SagSwell (and all other PQ metrics requiring additional setup) are disabled.

Of course you need to be running a firmware with the same version or higher to use these frameworks (2018 Q4 and later)

[Grant_IPACS]

@conradvr_hexeis i would love to know what the answer is as well, right now the only choices you have are about choosing what data you wish to ignore (and potentially miss the recording of) if you start / stop alarms & recording in framework.

Would be terrific if schneider could make up a recommended 'standby generator' framework for the purpose.

its like asking who you favourite kid is! (sort of)

[Tom_Stevenson]

@DanL - do you know of any graceful means to exit the disturbance in the framework, or is this report side as @Charles_Murison suggests?

@Kevin_Huang 

[DanL · Accepted solution]

I am not aware of any meter-side negative effects resulting from disabling the SagSwell module via it's Enable setup register. This can be done via setup menu on the display or using ION protocol over communications.

The display's alarm entry for the SagSwell is moved from the "Active alarm" to the "Historical alarm" list (if it was previously active as described above)

The effects on any software or external reporting may be different if the software is keying off particular event log entry sequences that result from this configuration change.

[Grant_IPACS]

@DanL so it it user entry 'enable / disable' via dialog only, or can we do it via a local Dig Input?

[DanL]

The "SS1 Enable" setup register can be configured easily with the Setup menu on the meter display and with ION Setup configuration wizards.
If you leave the setup register set to "Enabled", you can still disable the module with a customized framework configuration to use the "Enable" input of the SagSwell module linked to any source you configure it for. NOTE: Neither the display nor the ION Setup configuration wizard can be used for custom configurations.

[Charles_Murison · Accepted solution]

Hello Dan,

Sadly the issue is not meter side but in PME software. The software is queuing off entries in the meter's event log that are not created under certain conditions.

Regards,

Charles