Substation Integrated Automation System

The substation integrated automation system leverages advanced computer technology, modern electronic techniques, communication technologies, and information-processing methods to reconfigure and optimally design the functions of secondary equipment in substations—including relay protection, control, measurement, signaling, fault recording, automatic devices, and remote-control systems. It serves as a comprehensive automation system that monitors, measures, controls, and coordinates the operational status of all substation equipment. By enabling seamless information exchange and data sharing among the system's components, the substation integrated automation system effectively carries out substation operation monitoring and control tasks. This system has replaced conventional secondary equipment in substations, significantly simplifying the secondary wiring layout. As a result, substation integrated automation not only enhances the safe and stable operation of substations but also reduces operational and maintenance costs, boosts economic efficiency, and ensures high-quality power supply for end-users—making it a crucial technological solution in today’s power infrastructure.

The integration of functions is its most distinctive feature, setting it apart from conventional substations. It is built on computer technology, leverages data communication as its primary means, and aims for seamless information sharing.

Basic Characteristics

1) Integrated functionality implementation. Substation integrated automation technology has evolved based on microcomputer technology, data communication technology, and automation techniques. It integrates all secondary equipment within the substation—excluding primary equipment and AC/DC power supplies.

2) The system features a modular design. Digitizing protection, control, and measurement devices—achieved through the use of microcomputers equipped with digital communication capabilities—enables seamless integration of individual functional modules via a communication network. This setup facilitates the easy expansion of interface modules as well as efficient information sharing. Additionally, the modular architecture simplifies the configuration of comprehensive automation system modules in substations, allowing flexibility to accommodate various project structures, including centralized, decentralized, and distributed approaches, such as centralized panel-based configurations.

3) Structural distribution, layering, and decentralization. The integrated automation system is a distributed system, where subsystems such as microcomputer-based protection, data acquisition and control, and other intelligent devices are all designed with a distributed architecture. Each subsystem may feature multiple CPUs working independently to perform different functions, collectively forming a comprehensive, highly coordinated, and organically integrated system.

4) Operation monitoring becomes screen-based. After the substation achieves comprehensive automation, operators—whether on-site with staff or operating remotely—are no longer physically present inside the substation itself. Instead, they either work from the main control station or the dispatch center, where they monitor and manage the substation’s equipment and transmission lines in real time via color-screen displays, ensuring all aspects of operation and surveillance are handled seamlessly.

5) Communication networks are becoming localized and fiber-optic-based. Computer local area network technology and optical fiber communication technology are widely applied in integrated automation systems.

6) Intelligent operation management. Intelligence is not only reflected in conventional automation features but also in the ability to perform online self-diagnosis and transmit the diagnostic results to a remote central control center.

7) Measurement displays are digitized. A microcomputer monitoring system is employed, replacing conventional pointer-type instruments with CRT monitors. Manual transcription of records is now handled by a printer instead.