Monitor and Control Reclosers

The most widely used application of Telemetric products is recloser monitoring and control because of the widespread communications availability and the cost effectiveness of the solution. Telemetric solutions provide immediate control, status and notification of recloser operations to reduce outage durations and improve efficiencies for field crews and dispatch personnel.

Benefits of Automating Reclosers

• Minimizing outage Duration
  
• Reduce Costs
  
• Improve Customer Satisfaction
  
• Optimize Usage of Field Crews and Dispatch Personnel

Features

• Monitor recloser status points, such as a trip and lockout event, and automatically notify dispatch personnel. Notifications are sent upon alarms or events via pager, email or voice and can be sent to multiple individuals.

• Assist repair crews with the ability to provide open and close commands by supervisory remote control of the recloser.

• Offers real time status of all the inputs/outputs of the recloser:
  - open/close state of recloser contacts
  - high and low voltage readings (AC powered models)
  - time of the events
  - presence of AC voltage (outage monitoring)
  - recloser malfunction indication
  - local/remote or hot line tag switch status
  - total count of recloser operations

• Provide control and status of the recloser from a Web application or your SCADA system with SCADA-Xchange.

• Wireless communication is widely available (even in remote rural areas), and the cost effective cellular data services begin at $6 per month and utilizes the existing public cellular data network, leveraging an existing infrastructure that is accessible nationwide.

Application Details

The MicroRTU works with any recloser model with digital I/O or analog inputs such as the Cooper 4C. Current MicroRTUs are configured with up to 6 digital inputs, 4 analog inputs and 6 AC or DC output relays.

The MicroRTU can also be configured to monitor status and report load current on Cooper hydraulic reclosers. The reclosers Copper W and Cooper L must be equipped with the necessary options which are available on new units or as retrofit kits.

The DNP-RTM works with reclosers that support DNP3 via a serial connection, and can monitor up to 99 DNP points and notify if these points change. Intelligent report by exception allows customers to select smaller data service plans minimizing operating expenses with:

• User defined exception events
• User scheduled times
• Updates on demand via SCADA or web application

Installation is made easy with a custom wiring harness or integration kit. Once installed, devices are immediately accessible using the secure web application or via SCADA.

All devices come with access to a secure web application that enables configuration of the rules for establishing notifications. For example, upon a lockout event, send an email to outage@utility.com.

The device will delay for 1 to 240 seconds after the first trip change before calling, allowing the device to record any additional close-trip operations prior to reporting. The Web application can be configured to send notifications upon momentary trip-close operations or only when the recloser has tripped to lockout.

On AC powered MicroRTUs, a backup battery provides operating power during outages. After the outage report has been sent, if no further input activity is detected for one minute, the battery will automatically be turned off and the device will remain off until AC power is restored. Alternatively the battery can be programmed to remain on, permitting control actions to continue. A typical battery can last 12-48 hours before requiring recharge (life of the battery depends on load, battery size and environmental conditions).