Manufacturing - Endeavor Business Media
Sponsored by:
Manufacturing - Endeavor Business Media

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Is Your Electrical Distribution System Smarter Than You?

KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • The electrical industry is moving away from centralized systems toward distributed distribution.
  • Integrating smart technology into electrical distribution facilities yields significant benefits.
  • Smart technology contains built-in knowledge gathering to support ROI business cases.
  • ABB’s smart technology reduces cost and improves the efficiency and safety of electrical distribution.

Traditional electrical distribution systems often rely on manual, on-site operation and local response in the event of abnormal conditions. As systems have advanced to include remote operation capabilities and safety improvements, these ever-evolving “smart” technologies have been integrated into distribution equipment such as lighting panels, power panels, motor control centers (MCCs), breakers, switches, and switchgear.

 

ABB designed and developed the SACE® Emax 2 and Tmax® XT low voltage power and molded case smart breakers to enable smart facility design and implementation. The circuit breaker lines are part of the ABB ReliaGear™ Smart Power Distribution platform for improved safety, efficiency, maintainability, reliability, and sustainability of distribution systems.

Is Your Electrical Distribution System Smarter Than You
Over the years, electrical distribution systems evolved to include some remote operation capabilities and improvements in protection scenarios. Today, “smart” technology has worked its way into distribution equipment delivering improved safety, efficiency, maintainability, reliability, and sustainability. Learn about the benefits of incorporating smart technologies so you won’t be left in the dark.
Download Summary PDFOpens in a new window.

Speakers

Tommy Northcott
PE, CRL, CMRP, Senior Power Engineer
and Branch Manager
Jacobs Technology Inc.
Mike Dutoit
Product Marketing Manager, Low Voltage Power and Insulated Case Circuit Breakers
ABB

Context

Tommy Northcott explained electrical distribution trends and how smart technology in distribution facilities can lower cost, increase efficiency, and improve safety. Mike Dutoit shared information about ABB’s smart breakers and how the “All-in-One” design supports smart facilities.

The electrical industry is moving away from centralized systems toward distributed distribution.

While energy sources and the reach of electricity distribution have evolved over the years, major components of the distribution system have not experienced much radical design change. Traditionally, power transmission and distribution systems consist of large generation plants that use some form of fuel, coal, gas, nuclear, or hydro to generate electricity.

 

In a traditional system, a centralized point of generation is repeatedly split into multiple circuits as the electricity moves closer to end users. These systems are mostly passive, with limited means of communication between devices and little internal regulation, and are frequently labeled “dumb” — a disadvantage in an ever-advancing industry.

Although the traditional system is the primary standard of electrical generation and distribution worldwide, distributed generation (or distributed distribution) leverages renewable resources, is smaller in scale, and is located on-site with the end user. These increasingly popular “micro grids” or “nano grids” are less dependent on a utility provider and minimize carbon footprint.

 

Distributed distribution facilities can be isolated and standalone or work in tandem with the utility grid. Most are connected to the grid to ensure reliable access to electricity, while some are integrated with other local systems to make a group of interconnected micro grids more reliable. Solar power is the most common source of distributed generation.

Integrating smart technology into electrical distribution facilities yields significant benefits.

A foundational characteristic of a smart facility is the capability to monitor power usage and the status or health of the system, at virtually any location on the electrical system, within the facility. Smart monitoring tools further enable the use of data in real time to find and automatically correct inefficiencies in the system.
Traditional systems require more automation to maintain service.
Distributed distribution systems continue to evolve into larger capacity and increased complexity.

All systems need to become “smarter” to maintain high levels of reliability, sustainability, and safety.

Smart devices allow access to monitoring and control operations from anywhere, anytime.

Smartphone technology, combined with the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), is fomenting evolutionary leaps in electrical distribution system capabilities. Applying smart industrial IoT technology to distribution equipment enables data to be precisely collected, displayed, and analyzed, allowing facility managers to make proactive decisions or program automated actions based on system variables.

 

In large facilities, remote capabilities enabled by smart devices provide operational efficiencies and personnel safety benefits. In a traditional system, an operator has to be physically present at each device to operate or connect to it to monitor its status and health. In a smart facility equipped with sensors, smart relays, and other smart devices connected to the IoT or the cloud, the system and associated data can be accessed and controlled remotely.

 

Smart facilities are designed to integrate the electrical distribution system into the smart system to enable seemingly endless configurations that reduce cost, improve safety, minimize carbon footprint, and more. 
Examples of the multitude of possible applications include:

Remote access and control

In a complex R&D test facility project, smart technology was incorporated into the facility design so the lead facility engineer was able to remotely configure and start up the test facility from a smartphone app before commuting to the facility. Upon arrival, the facility had already ramped up to the desired test conditions, maximizing test time during that shift. Smart facilities such as this also support lights-out operations to reduce staffing requirements or avoid personnel exposure to hazards.

Self-healing facilities

With smart capability for automation and control built into the equipment, smart facilities can be programmed to be self-healing. Sensors can pinpoint the precise location of faults, allowing the system to quickly determine which breakers to automatically open or close to isolate the fault while minimizing the outage impact. Systems can also determine whether there are alternate power sources that can be switched over, improving impact on uptime and facility efficiency, and reducing personnel exposure to potential hazards.

Using logic

The ability to add logic functions to switchgear plays an important role in energy savings and sustainability. Equipment can be programmed to sense when renewable energy is available and switch appropriate loads to renewable sources, thus minimizing the use of traditional utility power.

Automating actions

Automatically de-energizing detected unused loads and/or areas of a facility reduces energy losses and reduces overall environmental impact. The same functionality can detect when loads are needed again and automatically restore power. Smart lighting and hazard minimization, both based on movement or RFID-enabled employee badges, help reduce cost and improve safety.

Taking advantage of connectivity

Next-generation breakers and switch gear offer Bluetooth connectivity, which allows electrical workers to stay outside of the arc flash boundary of electrical equipment while connecting to it with a smartphone to safely monitor real-time status, set parameters, and check measurements.

Arc Fault Protection System REA 10
Smart technology can also be expanded for use with micro grids. Improved electrical energy storage technologies allow end users to switch to stored energy from the micro grid during a utility’s higher-cost peak hours, with additional savings from the option to charge the energy storage device with renewable resources. In a smart micro grid, the smart control system can learn power usage patterns, compare patterns against peak pricing schedules, and then control usage to minimize the cost of utility power and determine times when it is beneficial to use stored energy to power other needs.
“As renewable energy generation technologies continue to improve … smart technologies will need to be used to monitor in real time the available renewable energy capacity compared to the facility demands. With the use of algorithms and machine learning technology, the smart grid can make power usage decisions based on peak hours, usage trends, and load shedding of inefficient loads to improve overall efficiencies and reduce utility bill overhead costs.”
— Tommy Northcott, Jacobs Technology Inc.

Smart technology contains built-in knowledge gathering to support ROI business cases.

Tracking efficiencies and energy use
By design, smart technology tracks gained efficiencies and renewable energy use to assess ROI progress and aid in predictive maintenance improvements, which can drastically reduce the overall cost of electrical maintenance programs.
Streamlining operations and improving safety
With the built-in data tracking capability of smart technology, facility managers can streamline their facility power system operations to minimize their overall operating costs, as the asset health monitoring feature in many smart devices aids in planning maintenance tasks based on actual equipment health needs, rather than time-based frequency. Smart systems also contribute to improved personnel safety by allowing for more remote monitoring and operations, which drastically reduces personnel exposure to electrical hazards.
Enabling possibilities and flexibility
Every facility will have unique priorities that drive which smart capabilities are most beneficial, but the flexibility and possibilities enabled by smart technology are reshaping the electrical industry. Further, the addition of smart technologies is not limited to new projects or facilities. Many options can be retrofitted into existing systems and equipment to incrementally make improvements, and are modular to accommodate future changes.

ABB’s smart technology reduces cost and improves the efficiency and safety of electrical distribution.

ABB ReliaGear Smart Power Distribution is an innovative cloud computing platform designed to monitor, optimize, and control the electrical distribution system. As part of the ReliaGear family, the SACE Emax 2 and Tmax XT low voltage power and molded case circuit breaker lines were designed and engineered around the “All-in-One” innovation concept, embedding protection, measurement, logics, and connectivity within the design of the breaker, rather than relying on additional external components.

ABB’s smart breakers reduce the need for complex PLC programming by adding the ability to embed logic and perform custom logic by combining information obtained from the circuit breaker with programmable inputs and outputs. This ensures continuous power and system operation.

 

The ABB Ekip Touch Trip Units are the brains of the circuit breakers, utilizing an industrial-grade touchscreen HMI for easy navigation. They are offered in different versions to meet the needs of various applications. The platform is designed to evolve over its life cycle, facilitating upgrades through downloadable digital packages without replacing trip units or purchasing additional hardware.

ABB breakers are easy to integrate into automation and energy management systems by providing high-accuracy measurements and three levels of connectivity to share critical data from ABB breakers to the facility system, including:

Bluetooth local connection

When securely paired with the ABB Epic app, users have a smart and intuitive way to install, commission, and access independent data from the circuit breaker while being safely away from the front of the equipment using their mobile device.

Native communication protocols

Native communication protocols for remote supervision and control utilize dedicated plug-and-play modules without the need for additional converters. ABB supports using two different protocols simultaneously, or redundancy of a single protocol. The Emax 2 and Tmax XT families share a single register mapping for each protocol to simplify integration into a supervisory system.

Cloud connectivity

ABB Ability™ Energy and Asset manager is a cloud-based platform for monitoring and managing facilities’ electrical distribution systems from anywhere and provides key data to analyze and optimize energy usage.

 

ABB’s embedded ATS solution simplifies the design of a traditional ATS system from approximately 34 cables to only three cables, reducing engineering time and points of failure that come with complex ATS schemes, without compromising service continuity for critical power applications.

Additional Resources

Is Your Electrical Distribution System Smarter Than You?
Over the years, electrical distribution systems evolved to include some remote operation capabilities and improvements in protection scenarios. Today, “smart” technology has worked its way into distribution equipment delivering improved safety, efficiency, maintainability, reliability, and sustainability. Learn about the benefits of incorporating smart technologies so you won’t be left in the dark.
Is Your Electrical Distribution System Smarter Than You?

Tommy Northcott explained electrical distribution trends and how smart technology in distribution facilities can lower cost, increase efficiency, and improve safety. Mike Dutoit shared information about ABB’s smart breakers and how the “All-in-One” design supports smart facilities.

 

 

Download Summary PDFOpens in a new window.
The Future of Smart Power Distribution

Discover how the new line of ReliaGear smart power distribution products utilizes smart design and smart technology to simplify every level of protection for your project.

 

 

 

 

 

Learn MoreOpens in a new window.