The protection system is the most critical part of an energy network. A failure of any part of this can lead to significant safety issues and cost penalties. Fault recorders were originally developed to monitor the operation of protection and this is still one of its main functions.
Most modern protection relays include some form of recording but there are good reasons why a separate fault recorder should be used for monitoring this important function.
Analysing every operation ensures that protection settings are optimised and voltage dip durations are minimised.
Sub.net records, analyses and emails a report on each protection operation. The report summary includes –
- Fault type
- Faulted feeder
- Fault level
- Clearance time
- Fault impedance
- Ambient temperature
The report also includes an event classification and priority that is used to control the number of reports sent. The report includes RMS and waveform graphs and tables of key measurements, limit excursions and contact changes (SER).
The system can capture a complete 4 shot re-closer sequence as a single event. If the asset condition function is being used the breaker and battery measurements are also included in the report. For power quality the voltage dip characteristics are shown.