NOJA Power Recloser Controllers Updated to IEC 61850 Edition 2.0

Australian Switchgear engineering firm NOJA Power today confirm the update to IEC 61850 Edition 2.0 for the RC series Recloser Controllers.

This functionality upgrade is available through a firmware upgrade for field deployed RC-10, RC-15 and RC-20 models. New supplied units will be shipped with this capability, unless earlier firmware versions are specified.

Background

NOJA Power Recloser Controllers (RC-10/15/20) have long supported IEC 61850 Edition 1 Server and Goose Publisher and Subscriber functionality.

In 2020, the end-of-life for Edition 1 Conformance was reached. All future devices needed Edition 2 conformance.

However, Edition 1 devices are not considered obsolete or non-conforming to IEC 61850. Edition 1 legacy devices remain usable in systems where the Clients and other Servers can inter-operate with Edition 1.

Edition 2 made several changes and clarifications that had been required from Edition 1 experiences. This includes additional Logical Nodes and Data Objects which extend the domain from which 61850 can operate.

These updates take IEC 61850 from a Substation-focused view to wider applications such as DER and Hydro.

Edition 2 also addresses many Technical Issues (TISSUES) which arose in the Edition 1 lifetime.

NOJA Power Relay Controllers (RC)

NOJA Power Relay controllers, starting with RC-10/15, have been updated to work with Edition 2.0.

The Basic IEC61850 functionality is unchanged. The model in IEC 61850 that represents the Relay Controller’s (RC) internal functions using 61850 Logical Nodes and Data Objects is structurally unchanged, with some minor changes that don’t alter the modelling overview.

The ICD file that describes the Template of the Relay Controller is updated for Edition 2 and provides namespace information to the RC to operate as Edition 2 (Namespace: 2007B).

This template is used for configuring specific IEDs as CID files.

The NOJA Power RC unit will also continue to operate as Edition 1 when being used with an Edition 1 ICD or CID.

The changes made are deliberately a minimal set that conform to Edition 2.0, to allow the RCs to be part of a working Edition 2 system.

No new logical nodes (LN) have been added to the RC specifically for Edition 2.

“IEC 61850 continues to emerge as the preferred protocol for digital substations,” says NOJA Power Group Managing Director Neil O’Sullivan.

“Where our products are required to seamlessly integrate to those digital substations, we can do that now with IEC 61850 Edition 2 compliance.”

Technical Changes

Edition 2 functionality changes in the RC include:

• Name sizes are extended from 65 characters to 129 max. (64 IED/LD, 64 DO/DA + 1). More flexibility with IEC 61850 names.
• Functional Names (ldName) rather than standard system names are possible for Logical Devices. This permits users to name LDs for their own system functionality if needed (for example “Area1Bay1Switch2”).
• Error Codes and Add Cause information for Controls: some values have been added or revised and are supported as required.
• Edition 2 Quality Processing for Reporting and Goose publications: If the Logical Node (LN) Behaviour (Beh) attribute is not ON then data is reported from this LN with the INVALID quality bit set. Beh is derived from Mod in the Parent LD and LN. ON or OFF is supported for Mod/Beh in RC-10/15/20. As required, Mod, Beh and Health DAs are always valid.
• Edition 2 Goose subscriptions: If a Goose Subscription is timed out, then for LogicVar1-32 targets (internal Booleans in VAR_GGIO5) the Quality reported by the 61850 model for that data will be invalid.

Conclusion

NOJA Power Relay Controllers will now support IEC 61850 Edition 2.0 or 1.0, depending on the CID file supplied. The modelling is unchanged but the added features give more flexibility to be used in a system with other Edition 2 devices.