Intelligent power substations monitoring through computerised imaging

The development of an on-line distributed monitoring system for power substations was presented in the 1995 APSCOM Conference. The on-line distributed information system is used for monitoring the conditions of HV transmission system equipment in substations, such as status of each circuit breaker (CB) together with important operational parameters which are not available via existing SCADA. Each group of CBs is monitored by a standalone microcontroller which is interconnected with all other microcontrollers inside the substation using a local area network with a baud rate of 9600. A substation for the new Hong Kong international airport was constructed, thus revealing the shortfalls of the existing system because the substation there had been too remote from the maintenance people and more important, it is treated as a critical substation supplying power to the airport. The engineers in charge of transmission need to know not only the real-time status of equipment but also the security and fire safety of the substation. The idea of using remote vision for substation monitoring is employed. Furthermore, personnel in other organisations, such as Airport Authority, Fire Services Department and other departments within China Light and Power Company Ltd. (CLP) need to gain access to the information. Therefore, the system is extended onto the information superhighway, Internet for global access