COMTRADE Utility

by SISCO, Inc.

Providing a Unified Enterprise View of Power System Disturbances

Solution Overview

Electrical power transients and power quality issues emerge instantly and disappear as quickly. As a result, SCADA systems and operations can not capture detailed event data. Without access to this data, companies cannot respond immediately to events or understand the impact of events on assets. The COMTRADE Utility from SISCO automatically detects the creation of transient disturbance information. It then acquires and stores this information with high fidelity in the PI System so the PI System becomes a permanent centralized repository of integrated event and operational data, giving an enterprise one “true” view of the system.


The SISCO COMTRADE Utility reduces the time needed to acquire disturbance information so companies can be more efficient and effective in resolving problems. Relevant business users can receive real-time notifications of events and perform immediate analysis. Within Asset Framework, disturbance data is associated to the impacted assets so event information can be utilized for CBM analysis and asset lifetime calculations.

Solution Approach

The SISCO COMTRADE Utility automatically acquires industry standard disturbance COMTRADE and PQDIF files from customer devices. It creates a representation of the events in the PI System’s Event Frames. Event Frames are then used to create a centralized repository that archives disturbance files for a permanent record of the events for future analysis. Once the information is acquired, the COMTRADE Utility uses PI System capabilities to generate notifications for newly detected events, backfill information, and correlate the event to assets using Asset Framework (AF). The information from the files can even be used to create and populate new or existing PI Tags. The source of disturbances can be any device or repository that supports COMTRADE or PQDIF files. These devices are typically Digital Fault Recorders (DFRs), protection relays, and meters. The detected events (i.e. Event Frames) are then automatically associated to impacted assets within AF so that events to be analyzed on an asset basis instead of disturbance source basis. By capturing event data in this context, events can be used as part of condition-based maintenance programs or asset lifetime calculations.

At-A-Glance

Features

  • Enables PI System with disturbance, waveform, transient, and any other sub-second data stored in IEEE COMTRADE files supporting the C37.111 and PQDIF formats
  • Connects disturbance data to the underlying power system assets using PI AF and PI Event Frames
  • Can be configured to automatically create PI tags when historizing COMTRADE files
  • Can automatically retrieve, store, and historize COMTRADE files directly from devices using either FTP or IEC 61850 without manual intervention
  • Extracts the individual data elements from the COMTRADE file and historizes the data by entering the data into the PI archive enabling display and analysis of the COMTRADE data within the PI env
  • Simplifies and centralizes the management of disturbance records by storing the original COMTRADE data in the PI archive along with the real-time tag data

Benefits

  • Automate event acquisition
  • Generate event notifications
  • Integrate event data with operational data
  • Relate events to assets
  • Exchange synchrophasor information with other (non-PI) systems

PI System Requirements

SISCO COMTRADE Utility, PI System, Asset Framework (AF), Notifications, Event Frames, PSA Server

Solution Type

Condition Based Maintenance, Energy Management

Industry

  • Power Generation
  • Transmission & Distribution

Business Impacts

Optimize Processes, Increase Asset Health & Uptime

Category

Applications for the PI System