Summary
The original vision of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) was of intelligent assets communicating their state and conditions to centralized software applications that would aggregate, perform analytics, identify risks, and intelligently
direct human action. One major issue with this vision is that existing capital assets were not “smart.” To obtain equipment condition data one either had to add new sensing to the asset or draw sensor data (if it existed) from the installed automation systems.
Thus, much of the early work in the IIoT area focused on “large machines that spin”; capital-intensive rotating equipment, such as large motors, engines, generators, turbines, compressors, etc. This equipment was usually already equipped with some condition monitoring instrumentation or could be retrofitted relatively easily, making this critical data available. But when it came to passive or non-rotating assets (such as electrical switchgear) the IIoT model did fit as well. Even though such equipment might be absolutely mission-critical to a factory, plant, airport, or data center, it remained largely unmonitored and invisible.
Today, a new generation of switchgear embeds far more sensing capability and includes built-in connectivity that facilitates higher level applications for advanced control, data aggregation, and analytics.
New Sensing Technology
In the recent past some MV switchgear has included sensing capability (mainly for temperatures and currents). What makes the latest products new and different is the high level of sensing built right into the equipment, and the reasons for this additional sensing. The additional sensing is complementary to the switchgear controls. The new sensors make
measurements that are indicators of critical component and overall switchgear condition and reliability. The new sensing is specifically targeted to provide performance indicators of both mechanical and electrical properties. Furthermore, these measurements are made not only during maintenance but continuously and with every switchgear operation.
The nearby table provides a list of some of the measurements available within the newest equipment designs. But a couple of examples will better illustrate the potential value provided by this new wealth of information.
First, in any piece of electrical switchgear, the tripping chain components are the most critical. These deliver the protective function. In MV switchgear, this chain consists of a trip coil, which in turn triggers a mechanism. The mechanism mechanically opens the vacuum interrupter contacts, which stop current flow and extinguish any electrical arcing. Even if the trip function is actuated by an electrical fault only once during the roughly 40-year life of the switchgear, proper operation at that single moment is most imperative. The issue with existing switchgear is that while some electrical measurements were available continuously, the performance of the critical mechanical components of the trip chain were only measured during scheduled maintenance (if then). The data required to assess the overall performance of the switchgear was not available any other way except through offline maintenance and testing.
By contrast, state-of-the-art equipment measures the speed of the tripping mechanism with each operation, regardless of whether the operation is planned or protective. At a local level this information provides an indication of the health of the mechanism. But the same information can be historized and aggregated to enable more conclusive trending, condition assessment, diagnosis, and predictive maintenance.
A second example of new sensing is the measurement of the erosion gap of the vacuum interrupter contacts. Over time and multiple high-current operations, these contacts can erode slightly. But given the high currents and power involved, even small levels of erosion (less than 1 mm) can be quite significant. Now equipment can measure the mechanism’s position, alignment, and the erosion of the interrupter contacts. Again, this is information about the circuit breaker condition that would only be available during offline maintenance for conventional switchgear. The measurements are made after each operation, providing a measured and validated indication of the switchgear’s condition.
An important point regarding new sensing capability is that it has been designed to focus on the most critical measurements, not merely those that are easy to obtain. The switchgear design should add sensing to specific areas that have been shown by history to be the main sources of switchgear problems. Thus the new sensor data is directly relevant to equipment health and performance. Even more value can be derived by historizing, aggregating, and analyzing this data, regardless of whether this is done by the owner-operator or done through a managed service by an equipment OEM.
Safety through Digital and Remote Operation
一個最重要的運營安全和convenience consideration is the ability to perform equipment operations from a safe distance. Electrical equipment injuries represent a serious health and safety issue. There are thousands of electrical accidents annually, and 5 to 10 arc flash incidents per day in the US alone. These incidents can be devastating to workers’ health, and also expensive. OSHA estimates that medical care for arc flash injuries can cost over $1 million. That is in addition to equipment damage, power outages, lost business, and potential regulatory actions.
However, the ability to interact with MV electrical equipment from a safe distance mitigates many safety hazards, including arc flash.
Switchgear should support a versatile Human Machine Interface (HMI), which can be operated from many locations on many devices. The HMI should be assessable from an enclosure-mounted panel display. But where preferred, the same interface should be mirrored via wireless network onto a handheld tablet or even a cellular handset.
這使得操作進行欺詐venient location and one that is at a safe distance from the equipment itself. Operations supported should include racking, switching, and monitoring of switchgear status and conditions. Through this remote capability, next generation switchgear can enhance operating practices, making them both safer and faster. All the day-to-day operations of the equipment, whether it be visual inspection, documentation, operation or racking of a circuit breaker, can be done through these digital operations.
IIoT Integration Value
工業物聯網(IIoT)是美國e of sensor data from connected assets and machines to enhance and transform industrial products, manufacturing operations, business processes, and even business models. Also called the “Industrial Internet” or Industry 4.0, IIoT uses the power of smart equipment and real-time analytics to derive value from data that has previously been hidden within industrial operations. The philosophy behind IIoT is that smart machines and systems are better than people at capturing and analyzing data in real-time and communicating important information that can drive more effective business decisions.
In order to aggregate, manage, and derive value from smart equipment, IIoT requires some form of architecture that abstracts heterogeneous equipment and enables data and analytics to serve multiple use cases and applications, rather than just one. Most IIoT architectures have three layers:
- Devices and/or connected equipment
- Edge Control/Computing
- Analytics and Applications (often using cloud computing)
Besides sensing, connectivity is a vital property of new equipment designs. Connected products enable both local integration and the aggregation of data from many devices in one or multiple installations. The aggregated data feeds analytics that provide value on a broader level.
The “Edge” layer is really a spectrum of hardware and software. In most cases connected product data is aggregated and managed at the edge. In some cases where latency is a consideration or where data is too high-volume to transport (e.g., video streams), analytics and applications may be performed at an edge computing node rather than in a data center or cloud.
The Applications and Analytics layer brings cloud-level scale to data storage, analytics, and other large scale applications. This layer is often cloud-hosted, and even if not, it often uses the same software and tools as cloud computing.
Examples of New Value
Not every electrical installation will want or need all these higher-level IIoT applications and services. But let’s highlight some examples of the ways that an IIoT enabled installation delivers benefits and is complemented by these solutions.
- Operators and maintenance personnel use a nearby HMI to operate the gear from a distance, keeping them safe from arc flash hazards while reducing the time required for operations.
- Operating personnel can use the nearby HMI to check switchgear health metrics and indications without performing maintenance on the unit.
- Maintenance personnel use switchgear health metrics rather than fixed schedules to plan switchgear maintenance activities, providing more uptime for the infrastructure.
- 評估和maintenan所有者接收條件ce recommendations from power system experts based on historical performance data for an infrastructure located at a very remote location that is too costly to staff. This enables their own support staff to focus on critical work and support multiple sites rather than being dedicated to a single site. These assessments and recommendations come from a subscription service.
- Local equipment HMIs can become part of the overall SCADA capability for the site. This HMI enables local and/or remote equipment operation and provides visibility to equipment status and condition.
Smaller Footprint for Smaller Capital Expenditure
Besides embedded sensing and intelligence, the new designs can result in significantly reduced space requirements for both new installations and retrofits. The space savings with these designs can be as much as 20-30 percent smaller versus conventional switchgear.
For new installations, the reduced space for electrical infrastructure means that more of the building space can be dedicated to the mission itself rather than to the supporting infrastructure. For very high-cost structures (e.g., offshore
installations) space costs can be very high and space savings identified during the design phase have a huge value because they reduce the overall size of the structure. Modular power equipment designs (such as those used in E-houses for data centers) also benefit from a smaller switchgear footprint. This yields a smaller E-house module footprint, reduced supporting structure, and easier transportation to the site.
In retrofit applications, fitting the new equipment into the existing space is essential to avoid the capital cost and operational nuisance of building additional infrastructure space. Designing with smaller-footprint equipment can also “create” spare space in rooms that are now full.
In both cases, owner-operators also benefit from the higher reliability that an intelligent infrastructure can deliver, especially one that can indicate potential problems during normal operation and thus direct maintenance resources proactively to the area of greatest need.
High Endurance Design
Intelligent equipment is a hugely important design innovation. However, equipment designs that will perform well beyond what is expected are another key to both quality and reliability. The widely accepted ANSI requirements are that MV switchgear be designed for 10,000 operations at zero load. The latest modern equipment with embedded monitoring can go far beyond this requirement, and is designed for up to 30,000 operations at full rated load. This provides solid evidence that the electromechanical system will work reliably during its operating life. End users should look for evidence that new equipment has been designed to go beyond regulatory requirements.
Such design criteria may seem unrealistic. No electrical infrastructure should ever experience anywhere near this number of interruptions, even over a lifespan of several decades. But the fact that a design is capable of meeting a higher standard is evidence for the ruggedness and quality of the design, and evidence that it will provide superior service during the less rigorous demands of a normal equipment lifetime.
Schneider Electric SureSeT, EvoPacT, and EcoStruxure Power
Two recent products of Schneider Electric illustrate all of these trends. One is EvoPacT, a medium voltage vacuum circuit breaker with significant embedded sensing. The second is SureSeT, a new line of MV switchgear which extends the sensing and connectivity of EvoPacT. Both are examples of the new generation of such equipment – incorporating far more sensing and connectivity, and delivering new levels of reliability and value to owner-operators.
EcoStruxure is Schneider Electric's interoperable IIoT architecture and platform that extends from Industry to Data Centers, Infrastructure, Buildings, and even homes. EcoStruxure is divided into three main layers; 1) Connected Products, 2) Edge Control, 3) Applications, Analytics and Services.
EvoPacT and SureSet switchgear form part of the EcoStruxure Connected Products layer. While this layer adds significant value, asset owner-operators also need to understand how the upper layers of the EcoStruxure Power stack can further enhance the value of intelligent equipment, and how they can further transform operations and maintenance. Higher level EcoStruxure products and services enable further improvement and transformation to the electrical infrastructure and to the critical operations that it supports.
Bringing the IIoT to Electrical Switchgear
What clearly is the trend for critical infrastructure equipment is to replace “invisible” equipment with more modern equipment that can measure and report its own condition, and also make the same information available to analytic applications that support predictive maintenance, high availability, and other types of optimization.
Schneider Electric’s combination of the self-sensing EvoPacT circuit breaker in the SureSeT line of MV switchgear, which in turn meshes with its ExoStruxure Power applications, is an excellent example of how the IIoT vision is now extending further into critical equipment that formerly could not be examined while it was operating.
Schneider Electric’s higher-level software products such as EcoStruxure Asset Advisor are examples of leveraging equipment health data and, through analytics and/or artificial intelligence, providing recommendations on asset health or even power efficiency. Employing human domain experts allows end users to benefit from both analytics and the best human expertise in detecting problems. This moves them towards predictive maintenance.
ARC Recommendations
- Evaluate electrical infrastructure investments based on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) rather than just Installed Cost.
- Estimating TCO will require that maintenance costs and reliability of the assets are both part of the evaluation.
- Assign a value to connected equipment that enables new and safer operating and maintenance practices.
- Make sure that you assign capital costs reflecting the sizes and area footprints of equipment.
- For intelligent equipment, evaluate your options for remote asset condition monitoring and managed services for predictive maintenance. These can contribute to reduced TCO.
- Evaluate digitally transformed future O&M possibilities, not just the costs of your current O&M practices.
ARC Advisory Group clients can view the complete report atARC Client Portal
If you would like to buy this report or obtain information about how to become a client, pleaseContact Us
Keywords: IIoT, Equipment Health, EvoPacT, Metal-Clad Switchgear, MV, Sensing, SureSeT, Schneider Electric, ARC Advisory Group.