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Electric utilities with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems have comprehensive control over transmission-level equipment and gain control over distribution-level equipment through distribution automation.
FREMONT, CA: Modern control and automation techniques will save resources, protect the environment, and improve citizens' health and safety, all while enhancing the quality of life. Energy distribution automation automates functions such as electric power generation and switching, real-time load shifts, outage monitoring and management, over-and under-voltages, and power factor correction by combining digital sensors and switches advanced control and communication technologies.
An increasing number of energy operators are using the cloud to manage energy delivery remotely. Performance tracking, data analytics, visualization, fault identification, diagnostics, and portfolio energy management are available across their software platforms. These automation systems can monitor various variables in real-time and analyze historical data to modify devices for energy management while adhering to government regulations and tariff policies.
By connecting equipment data to the cloud, real-time analytics can be run to decide the best course of action. Advanced distribution automation (ADA) provides intelligent control over electrical power grid functions at the distribution stage and beyond. Electric utilities with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems have comprehensive control over transmission-level equipment and gain control over distribution-level equipment through distribution automation. Higher availability, serviceability, predictive maintenance, and fault identification, isolation, and mitigation are all benefits of energy delivery automation.
Energy Automation System
The design of an energy automation system involves layers for management, control, and the field. The management layer manages and regulates energy delivery from a single point of control, recording and optimizing data as required. Problems are identified in real-time, allowing urgent action to be taken. The control layer is responsible for the hardware-level equipment control. Intelligent sensors and actuators gather data and perform tasks at the field layer. Outage time, hot-running machines, circuit-breaker trips, and flickering and blinking lights can all be reduced or eliminated using sensor and control systems integrated with the distribution system.
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Technology Enabler
Depending on the communication network section, distribution automation (DA) systems use a combination of wired and wireless communication media. Hardware and software advancements have allowed remarkable advances in intelligence, networking, and power.
It manifests itself in the field through controllers, sensors, I/Os, and actuators. A programmable logic controller (PLC), a motor/motion controller, or a distributed control system (DCS) using specialized processors and microcontrollers are examples of controllers. Temperature, humidity, vibrations, opens, and shorts are all measured by sensors, which can be optical or analog. Actuators can regulate the flow of energy, temperature, humidity, and other variables. Sensors and actuators communicate with the control center through wired or wireless gateways. Batteries or wired DC voltages, usually in the 5-V to the 24-V+ range, are used to power them.
The controller collects inputs from field sensors, processes them, and controls the appropriate actuators. Internal processors in today's sensors and actuators allow them to make simple decisions locally rather than escalating to the controller, which improves throughput and reaction time.
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