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This presentation discusses ten ways the Real-Time Automation Controller (RTAC) family

of product can provide a complete integration solution for your system.

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The SEL RTAC family of products began with the SEL-3530 RTAC as a 3U 19-inch rack-

mounted controller with up to 33 serial ports, 8 digital outputs, and 24 digital inputs. The

RTAC gives you the ability to concentrate data and convert protocols, provides secure

remote access to connected intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), and includes a powerful

IEC 61131 logic engine. You can program custom applications using structured text, a

continuous function chart, or a ladder diagram to create custom schemes to meet your

particular automation needs.

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The RTAC can operate as a mini master within a wide area control or supervisory control

and data acquisition (SCADA) network. The RTAC gathers information, makes decisions,

and issues controls to IEDs within its operating zone, such as within a substation, while still

interacting with other devices on the SEL ICON or other wide-area network (WAN)

infrastructures.

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A distribution automation (DA) system implemented using an RTAC adds additional

capabilities to your protective relays. Once the relay has detected a system fault and has

operated, the DA system springs into action. The first action the DA system takes is to

determine where on the power system the fault lies and which devices (breakers, reclosers,

or motor-operated switches) can be operated to isolate the fault. Then the DA system

determines how to restore power to loads outside the isolated fault location and

reconfigures the power system accordingly.

The distribution automation controller (DAC) never attempts to restore an unfaulted

downline load if it cannot confirm a successful isolation of the fault adjacent to that load.

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The RTAC can combine IED data from any port and convert data with the built-in client

and server protocols. These protocols include SEL Fast Message, SEL ASCII, DNP3

Serial, DNP3 local-area network (LAN)/WAN, Modbus® RTU, Modbus TCP, MIRRORED

BITS® communications, LG 8979, and IEEE C37.118 for synchrophasors. Tags can easily

be converted between protocols using the tag processor in ACSELERATOR RTAC®

SEL-5033 Software, allowing for seamless system integration.

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To protect critical assets, make the SEL-3530 or the SEL-3530-4 RTAC the secure access

point into your substation or plant.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) central authentication and role-based user

authentication, access logs, and secure engineering access are implemented via Secure

Shell (SSH). Security tags can be mapped into SCADA reports or syslog for industry-

leading integration of security. The RTAC can communicate with IEDs to monitor

transformer temperature, breaker wear, and other nonoperational data to make smart

decisions and issue automatic controls in asset management schemes.

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Pre-event data gathered by the RTAC are used to build up-to-date contingency scenarios,

taking into account line loading, available capacities, critical loads, and a predefined load-

shedding pool. In addition, the RTAC can include predictive data such as what conditions

are created when a load is diverted or shed. Consequently, it can include a tap position or

capacitor bank energization states in the load-shedding recipe. When an event occurs, the

load-shedding recipe is executed, proactively shedding or diverting the load and adjusting

equipment to compensate for the changes so that the entire operation is done in one pass.

Contingency-based load shedding can be something fairly simple that you can program

yourself, or it can be a very advanced and powerful customized system provided by the

SEL Engineering Services Division.

As an alternate, an operator can detect a fault happened, determine the best rerouting

option, and issue commands from SCADA. This could take hours because the operator first

needs to know the event occurred, research the state of the system at that time, and

potentially send out crews to do the switching.

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You can automatically detect, filter, and collect event data from connected SEL relays.

Fault location, fault current, and other data are populated into tags for easy retrieval through

SCADA protocols. You can automatically collect events through the RTAC with

ACSELERATOR TEAM® SEL-5045 Software.

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The RTAC stores up to 30,000 Sequence of Events (SOE) and alarm records to nonvolatile

memory. The advanced web server filtering options are used to drill down to a specific

IED, category, priority, or even a customized search string. Web server filtering also

includes support for wildcards (i.e., the * matches any character in a string). Choose

Download CSV to save the SOE log to the computer in comma-separated value (CSV)

format.

Optionally, configure an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connection to connect a

remote computer to the RTAC logger database to retrieve SOE and alarm records through a

remotely connected computer.

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You can order the RTAC to support IEC 61850, including Manufacturing Message

Specification (MMS) client and IEC 61850 Generic Object-Oriented Substation Event

(GOOSE). The RTAC supports up to 150 RX and 150 TX sessions, allowing control

system automation with many substation IEDs. The task processing rate is user-

configurable as fast as 1 millisecond, supporting faster automation when fewer devices are

connected.

The GOOSE and MMS datasets are configurable so that you can map only the data you

need to send, or exchange entire tag structures that include the tag value plus time stamp,

quality, time quality, and so on. This flexibility is provided so the control system can be

engineered according to the available bandwidth of the communications network.

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You can design custom automation logic to control your system with ACSELERATOR

RTAC, or monitor system performance using the prepopulated device tags. You can scale

values and create logic equations in a flexible IEC 61131 configuration environment by

applying integrated tools. Complex math and logic calculations are performed on data

within the RTAC using the built-in IEC 61131 logic engine with a continuous function

chart, ladder diagram, or structured text.

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Customers and SEL engineers have programmed many custom applications using the

included IEC 61131 logic engine. The capability to program custom applications removes

functional barriers and gives you powerful tools to design and build custom solutions.

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It is easy to build custom human-machine interface (HMI) displays quickly without the

need for mapping data tags. Because the interface is web-based, no special software is

needed to view HMI displays.

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The SEL-3351 System Computing Platform, SEL-3354 Embedded Automation Computing

Platform, and SEL-3355 Computer in the RTAC family provide a robust solution to meet

all of your data concentration, control, and monitoring needs by combining the powerful

and rugged SEL computing product line with the reliable automation controller platform.

You can get the best of both worlds with the RTAC family by applying the advanced

processing power for applications such as high-speed automation (MIRRORED BITS

communications and IEC 61850 GOOSE), synchrophasor processing, DA, and integrating

data from multiple substations. These security concerns and obsolescence risks associated

with the Microsoft® Windows® operating system (OS) are avoidable because products in

the RTAC family run on an SEL-optimized version of Linux® OS. You can repurpose an

SEL-3351 or an SEL-3354 and avoid hardware rewiring and reinstallation by simply

upgrading existing computers to SEL RTAC functionality. Running SEL software and

hardware on one platform allows you to take advantage of SEL reliability and ten-year

warranty.

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The RTAC HMI provides an easy way to visualize data and create custom diagrams to

monitor and control your system. The HMI, viewable from a web browser, allows access

for multiple users and at multiple locations. The following members of the RTAC family

have integrated videos ports: SEL-3351 RTAC, SEL-3354 RTAC, and SEL-3355 RTAC.

With these units, you can attach a monitor and quickly view the HMI and SOE data without

any additional computers.

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The RTAC family has many form factors to choose from, all at extremely competitive

pricing. The SEL-3530, which is configured with 33 serial ports, full I/O complement, an

HMI, and all available protocols, is a quarter of the price compared with a similarly

configured competing product. In addition, there are no recurring license fees associated

with the RTAC or settings software. The SEL-3505 Automation Controller starts at only

$799.

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The RTAC family of products offers powerful and flexible automation capabilities for any

environment or application.

The following table provides a comparison of products in the SEL RTAC family:

Capability SEL-3505 SEL-3505-3 SEL-3530-4 SEL-3530 SEL-2241

Axion™ SEL-3355

Processor 333 MHz

PowerPC

333 MHz

PowerPC

533 MHz

PowerPC

533 MHz

PowerPC

533 MHz

PowerPC

2.7 GHz

Intel® Core™

i7 dual or

quad core

Random-

access

memory

(RAM)

512 MB 512 MB 512 MB 512 MB 512 MB 4 GB

Flash

memory

storage

2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 4 GB 2 GB

Solid-state

drive (SSD)

options of 30,

60, 120,

250 GB

Ethernet

ports

2

(3 is a future

option)

2 2 3 2 2, PCI slot

expandable

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Capability SEL-3505 SEL-3505-3 SEL-3530-4 SEL-3530 SEL-2241

Axion™ SEL-3355

Serial ports

2 EIA-232/

EIA-485,

2 EIA-232

3 EIA-232/

EIA-485

4 EIA-232/

EIA-485,

2 EIA-232

17 EIA-232/

EIA-485

(33 optional)

2 EIA-232/

EIA-485,

2 EIA-232

2 EIA-232

PCI slot

expandable

Internal

dial-up

modem

Optional None None None None None

Power input 9–36 Vdc 9–36 Vdc

24 Vdc,

48/125 V,

250 V

24 Vdc,

48/125 V,

250 V

24 Vdc,

48/125 V,

250 V

24 Vdc,

48/125 V,

250 V

EtherCAT®

(SEL Axion)

compatible

No No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Web-based

HMI None None Optional Optional Optional Optional

Integrated

IEC 61131

logic engine

Yes, up to

4 ms task

cycle

Yes, up to

4 ms task

cycle

Yes, up to

1 ms task

cycle

Yes, up to

1 ms task

cycle

Yes, up to

1 ms task

cycle

Yes, up to

1 ms task

cycle

Contact I/O 1 in, 1 out 8 in, 3 out 1 in, 1 out

1 in, 1 out

(24 in, 8 out

optional)

1 in, 1 out

(many I/O

options

available)

1 in, 1 out

EtherCAT® is registered trademark and patented technology, licensed by Beckhoff Automation GmbH, Germany.

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You can remotely control substation apparatus from a central location with the

SEL-3505-3. Motor-operated disconnects (MODs) are mounted on poles and used for

automated sectionalizing. The compact size of the SEL-3505-3 fits well into these small

cabinets and provides reliable, remote operation of the switch.

The contact outputs are used to transmit alarms that convey the severity of the alarm. SOE

records contain all information regarding the process variables that can be used for analysis

or archiving purposes.

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Reduce the learning curve and reuse proven solutions by choosing from the SEL RTAC

family for all your automation requirements. The SEL RTAC family provides a common

software configuration interface, an HMI, and a web-based interface to provide you with

commonality and ease of use, no matter which hardware form factor you choose for your

individual applications.

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