Schweitzer Engineering Lab Inc- Apple Inc - An ecosystem is greater than the sum of the devices- It is the Tech Industry Mantra.

Schweitzer Engineering Lab Inc- Apple Inc - An ecosystem is greater than the sum of the devices- It is the Tech Industry Mantra.

After spending a few years dissecting with a harsh lens almost every SEL relay made, firmware as old as 15 years, 15,000 SEL relay events, and 600 relays, I came to the following conclusion:

SEL is not just a relay company, an automation company. They are a tech company hidden in the power industry; They are similar to Apple inc: Brilliant ecosystem made for data, data, and data.

1-???SEL relays can communicate with another SEL relay- Just like iPhones send iMessages

For those who do not own iPhones, iPhones have a proprietary communication channel called iMessage. You do not need phone service to send iMessages to another iPhone.

SEL relays have a proprietary communication protocol called Mirrored Bits. Many SEL relays can communicate among themselves without inputs or outputs. There are no auxiliary relays, no extra contacts needed, and no inputs or outputs necessary. The communication occurs via a serial cable wired into the ports of the relays.

Mirrored bit communication is quick and secure, just like iMessage communication. Funny enough, iMessage texts are colored blue, and Sel Mirrored Bit communication serial cables are blue.

Take a look at the 2 events reports below (white and black event/relay). A trip occurred in a facility that produces power for Amazon data centers.

Both relays trip, not because they saw an anomaly to their respective zone, but because they both received a Mirrored Bit communication (RMB3A) from 1 relay upstream somewhere in the substation.

RMB3A means Received Mirrored Bit 3A. The 2 relays received a command from the same relay upstream, ordering them to trip.

The digital data of both relays also show TMB1A. TMB1A means Transmit Mirrored Bit 1A. The white and black relays were each sending TMB1A.

Both relays trip within milliseconds. The orange time cursors on both events are placed at the trip assertions; it shows the time. The white relay tripped at 4:32:30.868666666, and the black relay at 4:32:30.867666666. That number format means Hour:Minute: Second. Seconds. There was a difference of 0.001 s (1 millisecond).

As soon as RMB3A asserts, the trip asserts instantaneously. The digital data of both relays show an additional command order from another relay, RMB2A. It asserts about 5 cycles after the trip.?

That word bit stayed asserted until an operator came on-site to check the health of the system and hit reset. You can only restart the equipment if you reset it; Essentially, RMB2A assertion is a lock-out system without external wiring, input, or output.

Earlier I stated that Mirrored Bit communications occur via a serial cable between the 2 relays that communicate; However, the white and black relay did not have a cable attached to the relay from which they took a direct order to trip.

It came from a middleman: RTAC (Real-Time Automation Controller), SEL 5045 (Team Software), SEL 2411 (Programmation Automation Controller)- Essential that is what I nicknamed "SEL cloud." Sounds Familiar? Apple iCloud

2-???RTAC, Team software, 2411- The "SEL Cloud" works similarly to Apple iCloud

SEL has several equipments that create a "cloud" when wired together: RTAC, 2411, and communication processors linked with the ACSELerator Team software.???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

• A 351 relay saves 23 events at the standard length. When installing the SEL cloud, I saw 1,400 events stored from 1 relay. It looks like an iCloud drive on a mac with almost infinite storage space.????????????
• You no longer need to access the relay to retrieve an event. All the events are stored outside the relay?on a drive in your network. It looks like the iCloud website, where you can access all the files without a mac or an iPhone.
• ?You can program the SEL cloud so that you receive an email or text notification on your cell phone whenever an event occurs in the relay.

3-???Capture of Data from "SEL Cloud"- All apple devices connected to iCloud

SEL relay automatically captures and stores events when there are faults or anomalies you programmed to capture.

If there are no faults or anomalies, the user can send a trigger command (TRIG) or a pulse (PUL) command to capture and store data.

I captured 15 SEL 351 relay data when the power system was perfectly healthy using the TRIG command; I was lying in bed and doing everything remotely. Moreover, look at the time when the capture occurred:

-?????Some events show an identical time to the nanoseconds.

-?????Some events are spaced within milliseconds.

It is humanely impossible. How can I send a TRIG signal to 15 relays within the same nanoseconds or milliseconds??When you hit the TRIG command and ENTER on your keyboard, it is impossible to time it to the same nanoseconds; you can't even barely time it to the exact second.

Since I don't want to bore you with the 15 events, I randomly chose 5 to display. You can just read our last article if you need a more detailed understanding of the screenshots. Points to focus on each graph:

1-???The top right part has the term "FDR-X." Graph 1, for example, shows FDR-1, meaning Feeder 1 relay.

2-???There are 4-timestamps on the graph; they are all identical. It is the time when I manually triggered the event. In graph 1, for example, time = 11-hour, 42 min, 37 seconds, 511 milliseconds.

3-???The waveforms show healthy voltages and currents. I add I1 and V1 for the magnitude values (RMS values). For example, in Graph 1, I1 = 98.79A and V1 = 19.60 kV. V1 is phase voltage in Wye/Star configuration. If you need help understanding what V1 and I1 mean, I will write an article that discusses symmetrical components later.

4-???52A shows the breaker was closed. The vector graph shows the phase angle. In Graph 1, the phase angle is 173.36 degrees.

Feeder 1- Time of captured event:?11 hours:42 minutes:37 seconds 511 milliseconds 000 microseconds 000 nanoseconds

I1 = 98.79 A; V1 = 19.6 kV; Phase Angle = 173.36 degrees; S = 3 * I1 * V1 = 5.8 MVA; P = S * cos (173.36) = - 5.76 MW.

Graph 1: Feeder 1 manual triggered of event

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Feeder 2 - Time of captured event: 11 hours:42 minutes:37 seconds 513 milliseconds 000 microseconds 000 nanoseconds. 3 milliseconds different than feeder 1.

I1 = 67.73 A; V1 = 19.64 kV; Phase Angle = 176.57 degrees; S = 3 * I1 * V1 = 4 MVA; P = 4 * cos (176.57) = - 4 MW.

Graph 2: Feeder 2 manual triggered of event

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Feeder 3 - Time of captured event: 11 hours:42 minutes:37 seconds 513 milliseconds 000 microseconds 000 nanoseconds. Exact time as Feeder 2

I1 = 88.32 A; V1 = 19.62 kV; Phase Angle = -172.06 degrees ; S = 3 * I1 * V1 = 5.19 MVA; P = 4 * cos (-172.06) = - 5.14 MW.

Graph 3: Feeder 3 manual triggered of event

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Feeder 7 - Time of captured event: 11 hours:42 minutes:37 seconds 513 milliseconds 000 microseconds 000 nanoseconds. The exact time of Feeders 2 and 3

I1 = 181.69 A; V1 = 20.07 kV; Phase Angle = 162.81 degrees ; S = 3 * I1 * V1 = 10.93 MVA; P = 10.93 * cos (162.81) = - 10.45 MW.

Graph 4: Feeder 7 manual triggered of event

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Feeder 10 - Time of captured event: 11 hours:42 minutes:37 seconds 510 milliseconds 000 microseconds 000 nanoseconds. 1-millisecond difference from Feeder 1

I1 = 102.79 A; V1 = 20.1 kV; Phase Angle = -150.41 degrees ; S = 3 * I1 * V1 = 6.19 MVA; P = 10.93 * cos (-150.41) = - 5.38 MW.

Graph 5: Feeder 7 manual triggered of event

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Conclusion:

99% of its lifetime, a microprocessor relay does "nothing"; it trips only 1% of the time. However, at least 99% of the time, it acquires, analyzes, transfers, and stores data.?

A primary job of a phone is no longer to place calls. A primary job of a relay is no longer to trip.?

It is all about data, data, and data: ease of retrieval, ease of manipulation, giant storage space, acquisition of different types, ease and speed of transfer, and security. Who does that well? Tech Industry

Apple Inc: iPhones, Macs, Air tags, iMessage, iOS, Apps, iCloud

SEL inc: relays, controllers, RTAC, Team software, Quickset,
Synchrowave, Compass, etc.SEL inc: relays, controllers, RTAC, 
Team software, Quickset, Synchrowave, Compass, etc.
        

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