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Modernization of Complete Switchgears With Tavrida Electric Reclosers

Today, few publications devoted to the problems of the electric power industry do not touch upon the concept of "SMART GRID," which literally translates as "smart grid. This concept implies a new technology for controlling the power system, starting from the energy producer and ending with its end consumers.

Modernization of Complete Switchgears

That is why the first term "SMART" is also regarded as an acronym for "Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology," and why we will use the term "SG" instead for short. The tasks solved by "SG" are traditional - energy saving and uninterrupted energy supply. Such tasks were set before, but the possibilities of its realization with the advent of such means of communication as the Internet have become truly revolutionary.

As an example of today's application of SG, Denmark is the most illustrative. In that country, 20% of its electricity is generated by wind turbines. But the wind is a fickle substance, and as it gets stronger, the load on thermal power plants decreases proportionally, and when the wind dies down, the opposite process takes place. This adjustment and its optimization, i.e. the optimal control of the power system is carried out using a remote data transmission system. Another example is based on the varying cost of energy over the course of a day. In the "golden billion" countries this has caused a boom in the production of "SMART GRID" household appliances. When you load the washing machine and press the "START" button, you see on the display: "I suggest you start at 2 a.m. - it will be half the price". Dual-rate meters (day-night) with display of the balance on the screen, the balance of the user's meter on the display of the operator of the power supply company and the ability to implement disconnections for non-payment are from the same series.

Principle of SMART GRID operation Fig. 1. Principle of "SMART GRID by Tavrida Electric" operation

Many other examples of "SG" realization can be found in publications devoted to this topic, but let's, besides the aspect of energy saving, consider its other side - the desire for uninterrupted power supply to consumers. Fig. 1 shows an example of a city ring power supply system.

The principle of SMART GRID working Fig. 2. The principle of "SMART GRID".

All the TP (transformer substations) are powered from the left side, and each of the "three" cells in them (two - the connection of the ring cable and one - a transformer) is equipped with automatic quick-acting circuit breakers, controlled by the command of the system computer. When an emergency situation occurs anywhere in the "ring" the computer collects information from the participants, which on a domestic level can be represented in the form of a question: "Did you miss the short-circuit current?". The same Fig. 1 shows the answers of the participants in the process. After analyzing the answers, the computer commands the circuit breakers to reconfigure the network, as shown in Fig. 2.

The whole process takes no more than 0.1 second, and not only does none of the consumers lose power, but they don't even feel a failure. Cross-connection substations advocated by TAVRIDA ELECTRIC solve the problem of uninterruptible power supply as effectively as the system described above.

The following statement is obvious: apart from communication networks, which have enormous possibilities, without appropriate switching devices "SG" will remain only in theory. A legitimate question arises: "Are there electrical apparatuses for the implementation of "TECHNOLOGY" today, fast, maintenance-free, remotely controlled?" In the medium voltage class, the answer is positive. Such apparatuses have existed for 20 years and appeared before the idea of "SMART GRID" appeared - these are vacuum circuit breakers of series BB/TEL.

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