Product category:
Wireless data transmission
News Release from: Viola Systems | Subject: Arctic IEC-104 Gateway
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 June 2006
Wireless power distribution control
ABB and Viola Systems team up to introduce a new wireless solution for power utilities to save costs and improve distribution management in Finland
ABB Distribution Automation introduces a new solution to more efficient distribution management A GPRS-based Arctic IEC-104 Gateway adds efficiency to fault restoration and maintenance at utility sites
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 19 Mar 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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The product is jointly specified with Viola Systems, a leader in industrial-grade wireless M2M (Machine-to-Machine) connectivity solutions.
The Koillis-Satakunta Power Utility in Finland needed to remotely control a large number of disconnector stations scattered over a wide and challenging geographical area.
The GSM data delivered poor usability with high price tag.
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"Viola and ABB offered us a total end-to-end solution that is both secure and always-on, yet easy to use," says IT Manager Jari Hakala from Koillis-Satakunta Power Utility.
Remote controlled disconnector stations divide the network into smaller, more manageable sections.
They disconnect faults, re-route the power supply, and perform scheduled outages controlled by a network control system, ie ABB MicroSCADA Pro system.
In the case of a network failure, the fault is first located by means of the ABB Open++ Opera DMS 600, a high-level distribution management software that runs on top of MicroSCADA-technology.
"A section subject to scheduled maintenance and repair can now be separated from the distribution network at minimum effort, thanks to the disconnector stations remotely controlled via the Arctic IEC-104 Gateway," says Aimo Rinta-Opas, Operations Manager of Koillis-Satakunta Power Utility.
The Arctic IEC-104 Gateway is an industrial-grade serial-to-GPRS gateway featuring IEC-101 to IEC-104 protocol conversion, a built-in firewall and VPN technology for secure communication.
The Arctic IEC-104 Gateways can be delivered preconfigured to make the installation and deployment a lot easier.
The on-site installation at a disconnector station takes less than 30 minutes.
"First, a SIM card is inserted into an appropriate SIM slot, then an external antenna is attached, and finally 12 V power cables are connected.
And that's all," explains Hakala.
The ABB DTU Control Cubicle holds all the required equipment for retrofitting remote control capability to the installed disconnectors.
This includes the ABB REC523 unit that actually controls and monitors the disconnectors.
After the installation has been completed the Arctic IEC-104 Gateway automatically creates a secure VPN tunnel to the Viola M2M Gateway located at the Network Control Centre.
The distribution network of Koillis-Satakunta Power Utility covers a large area, over 100 km in diameter, in a hilly terrain with numerous lakes and rivers.
Substations, disconnectors and transformers are scattered over the area and are often located in difficult to reach places.
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