January-March 2006

Issued by : EBG - Electrical Systems & Equipment, LARSEN & TOUBRO LIMITED, Powai Works, Mumbai 400 072

Prospect / Retrospect
Selection of Protocol
Whenever a new product/system is introduced, there are many claims of its advantages over the existing products/systems. The claims even go to the extent of criticising the existing product supplied till date by the same suppliers. It is happening even with the introduction of new communication protocol - IEC 61850. For more than four years now, different manufacturers are discussing about IEC 61850 communication protocol and its advantages. The products are still to be made available commercially. At the same time, industry, in the excitement of new system, has started demanding the products with this protocol. Are we ready for this change? What should be the consideration for selection, application and its use? Users, while selecting the option, have also to keep in mind the existing communication protocols they have standardised on, in their plants. Use of telecommunication / Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) for monitoring & control is comparatively new in Indian industry. DCS based controls are well proven and are in use for more than two decades. Specific application, such as integration of IEDs with DCS, to optimise the cost of communication network, is also a major factor in this decision. In this issue of L&T Current Trends, we have tried to review only one aspect of this evaluation. Readers are welcome to share their views, experiences etc. with the editorial team. Specific queries on this subject can be sent to the email address mentioned on the last page.

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FEATURE

Communication Protocols
- Mr. Gagan Kapoor

These days technology advancement and availability of state of the art communicable intelligent devices have shifted industries towards integrated power distribution & control systems. Integration in any plant depends upon its application and the philosophy of operation of the plant. If categorized broadly, plants can be calssified as - Process Plant or Utility. Control & monitoring philosophy of both the types of plants is different. In a Process Plant, the Distributed Control System (DCS) is the master or centralised controller and in utility systems its Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition System (SCADA) acts as Master or Plant Controller. In the Process Plant e.g. Oil and Gas industries, Steel, Alumina refineries, Dairy industries, Cement Plants etc., requirements of DCS are specific. e.g.: Data acquisition related to the status of all pumps, conveyors, compressors, valves, actuators, sensors, flow meters, level switches, gas analysers, vibration meters and many other instrumentation signals required for the process. Data acquisition of all the electrical equipment associated with the pumps, conveyers, valves, fans etc. Control of all the equipment Logic formation as per process

philosophy and control of logic The DCS requires continuous polling of data at defined intervals. It needs so because the process logic defined in the DCS for a process is formed with a chain of analog and digital data of equipment. This polling process can be sequential, with some time grading function, and fail safe functionalities. It requires system to work on priority /interrupt based communication system. Hence, in case of emergency, control commands can be executed on top priority and feedbacks can be obtained fast. In order to achieve priority for commands/interrupt, the data polled is absolutely minimum and in small packets. On account of the above philosophy, we can say that a communication system/protocol used in a process plant must have the following features : Continuous polling Data packets should be available in small size, may be 128 bytes to 256 bytes, sufficient to equip a DCS for its functionalities The system prefers master/ slave communication methods Interrupt driven communication system Faster polling of IEDs in switchgear Flexibility of future addition of equipment

Long Lifecycle Intrinsic safety Reliable communication system/protocol Deterministic nature True Interoperability Cost effective Since DCS is more on to taking signals form field devices, protocol/communication systems are referred as fieldbuses. DCS communication can be categorised as field signals/ sensor signal data acquisition & control and electrical equipment data acquisition & control. Worldwide accepted and trusted protocol/field buses for DCS are : Modbus RTU Profibus-DP There are some other standards like Foundation Field Bus. But here, we shall talk about protocols/ field buses supported by IEDs used in field devices/sensors as well as Electrical Systems like Integrated Motor Control System (IMCS) and IEDs used in the power system utilised by Process Plant. Some of the features which are common in both the protocols and reason why these are used in DCS worldwide are : Modbus as well as Profibus follow the philosophy of continuous polling and data acquisition in small packets i.e. bits.

System in Process Plant

Typical signals required in DCS: - Status - 3-4 Analog parameters - Commands

profiles of different functionalities in a device e.g. Reading the Inputs, Control etc. Modbus has function codes defining the same and Profibus has SAPs defining the same. Logic development becomes very easy by utilizing these. On the other hand, Utility automation differs in terms of application. For a switchyard or a High Voltage substation, there is no requirement of defining any process which is essential in the case of DCS. Only the status of various electrical equipment and the exhaustive data of the IEDs associated with them, is required at the SCADA. We can say that feature of a communication system / protocol for SCADA requires : Data availability in either continuous polling mode or event driven Large amount of data availability Disturbance analysis Data logging Event Logging Interoperability Fast speed of communication Long lifecycle Reliable communication system Deterministic nature This application involves extensive data transfer. In such systems, controls are

Modbus and Profibus both are intrinsically safe. Control functionalities are effectively achieved. Master /Slave topology. Field devices / sensors and numerical relays / IEDs are available in Modbus RTU and Profibus-DP. Modbus RTU Data size Baud rate 256 byte

Modbus and Profibus both are deterministic in nature Modbus is accepted worldwide as a protocol in DCS and all the DCS suppliers have expertise on integration of the protocol. Whereas, Profibus has acceptance mainly in most European DCS suppliers. Modbus and Profibus both have Profibus-DP 244 bytes

9.6 kbps/19.2 kbps -1500m 38.4 kbps -500 meters

9.6/19.2/93.75kbps-1200 m 187.5 kbps - 600meters 500 kbps -300 meters 1.5 mbps - 200 meters 5 mbps -100meters 12 mbps - 50 meters 127 Redundancy cannot be provided at all levels Master/Slave Daisy Chain, Ring, Tree STP, FO Cable Yes, Profinet

Maximum devices in node Redundancy Communication method Network topology Physical media Comm with Ethernet

254 Redundancy can be provided Master /Slave Daisy Chain, Ring, Tree STP, FO Cable Yes, Modbus/TCPIP

System in Utilities
SCADA

Typical data required in SCADA: - Status - All Analog/Digital parameters - Data Logging - Event logging - Disturbance records

Once this standard is tested its going to be very useful for the Switchyard and HV substation as it has overcome some of the limitations of previous Standards/ protocol, provided vendors follow this standard as it is being developed and becomes truely interoperable. Conclusion : Summarising, if the requirements of DCS or SCADA are compared, it can be seen that Modbus, Profibus can meet both the requirements. However, if the protocol designed for utility industry is to be used for Process Plants, a compromise needs to be done on the effectiveness of the system. The communication system/ protocol selection and usage depends mainly on the application, its acceptability among the higher level of automation system supplier, capability of giving user the information/data required, its proven reliability and a trust of long lifecycle with deterministic approach. A Process Industry with its intelligent switchgear will prefer Modbus RTU / Modbus TCP/IP or Profibus-DP protocol. On the other hand, utility industry can select, an IEC or DNP3.0 or Modbus TCP/IP protocol based system depending upon the application need. Both have to keep the economics and reliability/safety in consideration.

Line protection relays

Bay controllers

rarely exercised from the Supervisory System. For such controls, there is no sequential operation and hence, data transmission takes priority (which is done in large packets). Hence, data transmission speed is faster. Various protocols used for the Switchyard or high voltage substations are IEC 60870-5-101, DNP3.0 and Modbus TCP/IP. Users from Utility sector are well aware of these. Another new standard IEC 61850 is under development and will soon be released. IEC61850 standard talks about Ethernet based communication network and system in power substations. This standard necessitates an inboard Ethernet port on the IEDs/Relays etc. It will communicate on 10/100MBPS on Ethernets standard IEE 802.1. The standard gives thrust on interoperability. However, its

implementation and application is limited to EHV transmission line and switchyard bay controllers/ relays. The standard requires complete hardware platform change of the IEDs as it calls for 100MBPS Ethernet processor and implementation of object oriented approach. Thus, SCADA based protocols in Process Industry control application, where, IMCS/IPCS exists e.g. oil & gas, steel, cement and even in captive power plants, is a big question mark. Even in utilities, the availability of new IEDs due to new hardware design for meeting the standard in reality, practical problems of integration with existing devices followed by sensors and other field devices, data size, dependence on some hardware, integration acceptance among all suppliers and the economics of Integration are the issues to be addressed.

For further details on this subject, please contact: EBG - Electrical Systems & Equipment, Larsen & Toubro Limited, Saki-Vihar Road, P.O. Box 8901, Powai, Mumbai 400 072 Fax: 022-5505 1553 * E-mail: [email protected] Printed by Printania Offset Pvt. Ltd.,D 20/21, Shalimar Industrial Estate, Matunga (East), Mumbai 400 019. Tel.: 2407 7996/ 8866/4540 Fax : 2402 4703 Email: [email protected] The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the management of Larsen & Toubro Limited. The contents of this magazine should not be reproduced without the written permission of the Editor. Not for sale-only for circulation among the customers. Editorial Coordinators : R. S. Mahajan, Neelam D. Kotnis, EBG-ESE, Powai .

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