Development of an Industrial IoT Based Monitoring System for Voltage Regulators

The increase in electronic loads connected to electrical network became relevant requirements of the quality of supply. Among the equipment used in the power distribution system stands out regulators medium voltage installed over the grid to maintain voltage levels within indifferent operating range of the oscillations. Therefore, the quality of supply has become a priority and the implementation of technologies that allow transforming conventional electrical distribution networks into intelligent ones is strategic for Distribution Operation Centers (COD) to perform remote interaction with the equipment, in this case, with a power regulator. medium voltage. In this context, this article demonstrates an IoT (Internet of Things) solution for monitoring and controlling medium voltage regulators, through the use of LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) networks, integrating this equipment with the concepts of Smart Grid (SG). The complete development of the project is presented, including the study of the communication protocol DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol 3), responsible for the exchange of information, between the hardware system and the voltage regulator, the communication system being through the Sigfox and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), transmitting the regulator data to supervision software. Validation of communication hardware and software with the medium voltage regulator, occurred with bench tests in expressive periods and, after installation in the field, the experiment was validated by reading and recording parameters, such as number of maneuvers, voltage and mains current, obtained directly from the voltage regulator.