Six Reasons to Upgrade to the RC-10-200

The RC-10-200

The RC-10-200 is a special build of the NOJA Power RC-10 Recloser Controller, facilitating connection to legacy 200 series OSM Reclosers. These 200 series OSM Reclosers were originally shipped with the RC-01 controller, and until now, they were only controllable by the RC-01.

Over the OSM Recloser series 20 years of service, the march of technological innovation has brought a myriad of new functionality to the RC-10.

The release of the RC-10-200 unlocks all the RC-10's features for OSM 200 series installations, made possible by a simple control cubicle only changeover installation, replacing the RC-01 controller.

The installation can either use the existing control cable together with an adaptor, or a full replacement of the control cable which could be supplied with the RC-10-200.

For both cases, the OSM Recloser’s current sensors are automatically shorted in the tank when the cable is disconnected. This facilitates changeovers of the controller without necessitating a feeder outage.

A video demonstrating the changeover process is available here: RC-10 to OSM200 Series Retrofit

Many valuable capabilities of the OSM Recloser are unlocked with the upgrade to an RC-10-200. Here are six commonly cited field reasons for executing the upgrade.

“The RC-10 200 series control cubicle allows our customers to enjoy the latest benefits and functionality of our current generation products, as well as extending the life of existing assets and renewing warranty on equipment where the warranty has expired,” says NOJA Power Group Managing Director Neil O’Sullivan.

1. Access to Power Quality Monitoring

Worldwide proliferation of distributed energy is well documented. Australia has among the highest rates of solar and inverter based asynchronous generation. With the growth of distributed generation, power quality monitoring on distribution feeders becomes more important. Failure to detect power quality issues can cause premature equipment failure and degradation in network reliability.

The RC-10-200 allows engineers to measure power quality metrics such as Harmonics, Sags and Swells and Interruptions using their existing OSM Recloser primary plant. This provides engineering data to prevent premature equipment failure, saving distribution network operators outages and costly equipment damage.

2. Access to Broken Conductor and NPS Protection

The RC-10-200 brings an extensive list of new protection features to the OSM Recloser system. When upgrading from the RC-01, the engineers gain access to Negative Phase Seqeunce Protection and Broken Conductor detection. These protection techniques allow utility engineers to protect against floating conductor discontinuity faults, which go undetected by schemes relying only on Overcurrent and Earth Fault.

Adding NPS or Broken Conductor protection to an overhead protection scheme provides a safety benefit and risk mitigation for the dangerous case of broken conductors which are not in contact with an earth plane.

3. Standardisation on a Single Software Package

Users of the RC-01 generation of NOJA Power OSM Recloser Controllers are familiar with the “Telus” control and management software. For utilities that use both RC-10 and R-C01 controllers, two separate software systems are required.

Upgrading to the RC-10-200 allows utilities to standardise on the control and management software for the RC-10: “CMS”. This reduces IT maintenance burden and centralises all field data in a single application.

4. Access to Cybersecurity Features

Global engineering trends in cybersecurity for power grids has motivated a design shift in intelligent electronic devices towards standards based cybersecurity features. NOJA Power’s RC-10-200 has cybersecurity based functionality, such as DNP3-SA Secure Authentication Protocol, tiered user access and password control.

Upgrading to the RC-10-200 provides engineers with a way to address cybersecurity risk in legacy equipment.

For more information on Cybersecurity practices for distribution networks, NOJA Power has an overview document for electrical engineers available here.

5. Access to Cogeneration Features

Similar to the addition of Power Quality features, the RC-10-200 has many features for the protection and control of cogeneration/distributed energy resources. These include Rate of Change of Frequency, Voltage Vector Shift, and Direction Power Protection. Upgrading RC-01 sites to the RC-10-200 unlocks these features and increases the capacity for the network to safely host more renewable energy sources.

6. Extend the service life of field assets

A unique advantage of the OSM Recloser is the lack of active electronics in the tank. This increases reliability of the high voltage section of the system, and keeps sensitive electronics well protected in the controller itself.

Conclusion

Upgrading an OSM Recloser with RC-01 installation to the RC-10-200 brings a new warranty for this control system, making proactive replacement of the controller with a new warranty plausibly more cost effective than a run-to-failure model. Some users with large fleets of RC-01 controllers have elected to retire half of the fleet, replacing these with RC-10-200’s and committing the retired devices as spares for maintenance of the remaining RC-01s. This practice optimises for cost benefit, while prioritising feature upgrades for feeders that need more modern protection and power quality monitoring.

A brochure highlighting the capabilities of the RC-10-200 is available here.

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