University and Prosoft-Systems Will Reduce the Number of Accidents in the Electric Power Industry

10:08, April 22, 2022

The key to success is intelligent algorithms for processing synchronized vector measurements

Researchers at Ural Federal University will be able to significantly reduce the risk of accidents in the Russian electric power industry. The developed power system control system will make this possible. Its peculiarity is the application of intelligent algorithms for processing synchronized vector measurements. The university's industrial partner, Prosoft-Systems, allocated 20 million rubles for scientific research in this area. The project is implemented within the framework of the Ural Interregional Research and Education Center "Advanced Industrial Technologies and Materials".

The project is aimed at improving the quality of power system management, reducing the time required to make the necessary decisions and, consequently, reducing the severity and cascading of accidents. The system will help reduce damage to consumers from accidents that regularly occur in power systems by improving the accuracy and efficiency of emergency control algorithms. The transition to a new information and measurement framework will help in this. While traditional measurements only measure the effective values of electrical parameters, vector measurements can measure instantaneous values and phases of such parameters, the mutual location of currents and voltages in relation to each other.

"Here we are already talking about synchronized vector measurement. Previously, measurements at points in the power system were taken at different points in time. This made it very difficult to calculate electrical parameters. For example, in one place the voltage was 220 kV, and in another place it was 198 kV. But it was almost always at different points in time, and the measurement was based on the potential difference. This means that the resistance of the wire was calculated based on the current strength. But this method is not very accurate, because it is much more efficient to know the potential difference at the same moment in time. Such more accurate data allows you to manage the power system more efficiently and minimize possible damages," notes Sergey Kokin, project supervisor, deputy director for science and innovations at Ural Power Engineering Institute of Ural Federal University.

According to Andrey Pazderin, head of the Department of Automated Electric Systems, before this project such systems were mostly used in the 220-500 kilovolt ultrahigh voltage networks. However, now there is a prospect to use them in medium and low-voltage grids.

"For example, if we design a device for 110-135 kV substations, the sales volume can increase dramatically. If there are six 500 kV substations in the Sverdlovsk Region, and about thirty 220 kV substations, there are already seven hundred 110 kV substations. As for the even less powerful 10 kV substations, there are about 6 thousand of them in Ekaterinburg alone and 50-60 thousand in the region. The consumers of such devices will be system operators at the high voltage level - Rosseti PJSC, as well as their structural subdivisions and supply companies," says Andrey Pazderin.

Sergey Kokin adds that the project makes a great contribution to solving the issue of import substitution. There are about a dozen manufacturers of such systems in the world, and the development of the Ural scientists can seriously compete with them. By September 2022, the scientists are planning to develop algorithms and prototypes of the new system. Then Prosoft-Systems specialists will finalize and implement them.

The news article was translated by UrFU International Marketing Office
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