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UPC researchers create a system that prevents power surges, takes remote meter readings and manages demand

An intelligent controller for more reliable power supplies

The Terrassa Industrial Electronics Group has developed a system for improving the safety and reliability of power supplies from the electrical grid. Its purpose is to protect transformer stations from power surges, regulate power supplies during peak times and prevent power cuts in emergency situations.

01/12/2010

The system, developed by a team led by Josep Balcells on the Terrassa Campus of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), is based on intelligent controllers called concentrators. Located in transformer stations, they will centralize information about the state of the power grid in real time and will also make it possible to put a sophisticated remote communications system in place between transformer stations, substations and subscribers via a low voltage network that uses the power line communications (PLC) system.

The concentrators have predictive modeling software that is able to detect temperature rises in transformers, making it possible to anticipate possible emergency situations. Furthermore, they read and process data from power grids, meters and the QNA quality control system, enabling the smart management of subscribers’ demand by temporarily cutting off their power supply if they have requested this service.

As Barcells explained, “Utility providers will be able to offer subscribers the possibility of reducing part of their consumption at peak times, and therefore the rate they pay, and the power freed up can be transferred to the subscribers who most need it”. That is, electricity companies will be able to manage consumption by regulating power flows to ensure the stability and quality of supplies, and thus avoid power cuts and surges on power grids.

In parallel, the team from the UPC’s Terrassa Campus has developed new controllers for static var compensators (SVC), active power line conditioners (APLC) and static synchronous compensators (STATCOM). Using these systems, it is possible to regulate power flows in real time and balance out supply and demand on low- and medium-voltage power grids.

The system will also provide companies with objective data about the state of a power grid’s component parts. This will improve the maintenance of components and enable more effective decisions about their replacement to be taken, thus preventing equipment from becoming obsolete or being replaced prematurely.

It has been planned to start manufacturing and selling this technology, which in Catalonia will be undertaken by the company Circutor, in early 2011. The first pilot concentrator units—a simplified version of the online meter reading system—are currently being installed before implementing the design of additional functions for protecting the transformer and managing demand.

The Crisálida project

The Terrassa Industrial Electronics Group has worked with the Center for Technological Innovation in Static Converters and Actuators (CITCEA), the Telematic Services (SERTEL) research group from the UPC’s Department of Telematics Engineering, the companies Circutor and Iberdrola, and several companies from the Basque group Ormazabal.

This research falls within the framework of the Crisálida project on the National Strategic Consortia for Technical Research (CENIT) program, which is funded by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. The aim is to come up with a new design for low-voltage (up to 36kV) power grids by 2015. The remit of the project is to guarantee greater safety to people and property, a lower environmental impact and a safer power supply of a higher quality.

Besides the research conducted by the UPC’s research group, work has been carried out in other related fields such as safe dielectric materials, the comprehensive management of information, automation, telemanagement and communications, and the typographies of distribution networks.

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