REF: MUS038 Released : April 2009

Megger supports IEC 61850 for protective relay testing

Protective relay installations that are based on IEC 61850, the new international communication standard for electricity substations, can now be tested easily and conveniently with Megger’s popular and versatile MPRT test set.

To provide a comprehensive and dependable test solution for installations and relays that use this important new standard, Megger has introduced an IEC 61850 option for the MPRT, together with the new MGC (Megger Goose Configurator) software package.

The MGC software allows users to import parameters from configuration files in SCL (Substation Control Language) format, and use them to configure the MPRT test set to subscribe to pre-selected GOOSE (Generic Object Oriented Substation Event) messages. Data from the received messages is assigned to the binary inputs of the test set, so that the messages effectively take the place of hard-wired connections to the binary outputs of the relays.

This arrangement provides for both manual and automatic relay testing, using either the integral Touch View Interface (TVI) of the MPRT test set, or Megger’s AVTS software relay testing software.

The MGC software can also be used to assign the binary outputs of the MPRT to GOOSE messages to allow the simulation of circuit breaker status. In addition, the TVI can be used to perform high-speed trip and reclose timing tests, and fully automatic testing is supported using test files created in Megger’s AVTS relay testing software package.

Among the many other functions available with the IEC 61850-enabled MPRT test set are high speed trip and reclose timing testing via the AVTS Dynamic Control feature, and manual high-speed timing tests using the Touch View Interface, for which the MPRT fully satisfies the timing requirements of the IEC 61850-5 standard, Type 1A, Class P 2/3.

All existing Megger MPRT protective relay test sets can be upgraded to provide IEC 61850 support, while retaining their full functionality for testing conventional relay installations.

Further information:
Elsa Cantu, Megger Limited
4271 Bronze Way, Dallas,
Texas 75237-1019 USA
Tel: 1-800-723-2861                          
Fax: 1-214-331-7399
Email: elsa.cantu@megger.com

Press enquires:
Amanda Price, Fresh Public Relations Ltd
12 Church Street, Kidderminster, DY10 2AA
Tel: +44 (0) 7875 029458               
Fax: +44 (0) 1562 844202
Email: amanda@freshpublicrelations.co.uk