Rapid Capture & Control

Quasar's RCC application provides two functions:

Rapid Capture - high-speed capture of electrical parameters with a given number of seconds before, and after a trigger event. Trigger events may be under/over frequency or voltage.
Control - sending a digital output trip and/or restore signal to control devices on the back of a trigger event.

RCC meets the regulatory requirements of the New Zealand and Australian generation markets.

Overview

The RCC application combines high-speed monitoring, recording and presentation in a graphical format along with the raw data. Frequency triggers are sampled at high-speed every ½ cycle to initiate an event capture. At the conclusion of the event the event capture report is sent via email. RCC has the ability to store multiple events on the meter in the short-term should the email communications be interrupted.

A typical report would include:

High resolution capture of Power, Voltage and Current against Frequency
Low resolution capture of Power, Voltage and Current against Frequency
High and low resolution summary of event capture

High Resolution Capture

High Resolution
6 seconds pre event trigger
65 seconds post event trigger
0.02 second intervals

Low Resolution Capture

Low Resolution
6 minutes pre event trigger
16 minutes post event trigger
4 second intervals

RCC Features

Parameters Recorded

A range of parameters are recorded including; Frequency, kW total, kvar total, kVA total, VII ab, VII bc, VII ca, I a, I b, I c, V1 THD, V2 THD, V3 THD, V unbal.

Rate of Change

The capture of events can be governed by whether the rate of change exceeds a configurable rate. An example of the typical rate of change is 0.05Hz/sec.

No Volt Disable

Detection of loss of voltage can disable event captures. This prevents unnecessary events recorded during a generator going offline for instance.

Manual Capture

Manual captures can be used to perform studies of generator performance in terms of spinning reserve response or for a load shed capability assessment.

Initiation can be from the front panel of the meter, a user with the ION software, via a digital input from a PLC, or via DNP or Modbus communications from an RTU. The RCC application detects this manual capture and will perform in the same way as if it was triggered from an excursion.

Power Quality Recording

Power Quality features of the ION meters can also be utilised such as waveform recording, IEC-61000-4-30 reporting, and Harmonic analysis. These waveforms can then be viewed with the reporting features of the ION software. The waveforms can be captured as an output from a Frequency related event, or can be captured as the result from a Power Quality related event.

Alert Emails

An alert email can be sent to indicate events immediately. A further email is also sent with the event capture report which charts the data and identifies whether the capture originated from a voltage event, frequency event or manual capture.

Excursion Zoom

This feature highlights the excursion on an additional set of charts with much of the pre and post data removed to allow for greater clarity.

Multi-Meter Aggregation

This option allows for the aggregation of data from multiple ION meters equipped with RCC to provide a total system or station response to the event.

ION Meters and Software

The RCC licenced application is sold on a per-meter basis and uses Schneider Electric’s high-end power meters combined with the powerful ION software. RCC is a configured package setup by our factory-trained engineers, that combines ION meter frameworks, software frameworks, diagram screens, templates and reporting.