Automated fault analysis: From requirements to implementation

This paper discusses implementation of systems for automated processing and analysis of data recorded in substations during faults. Substation fault data is captured by various intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) such as digital fault recorders, digital protective relays, circuit breaker recorders, etc. Equipment in today's substations is provided by various vendors and comes in different vintages. System protection engineers, for example, have to deal with different IED product versions, diverse data collection and viewing software, and variety of proprietary and non-proprietary data formats. This paper illustrates how to bring together internal needs and requirements defined by a given utility, available standards and recommendations developed by professional organizations, as well as the requirements imposed externally, for example, standards defined by North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).