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E-Installation 2/2014 | Cover story Reliable power supply for the digital factory Electrical power distribution of tomorrow Professor Berger studied electrical engineering and design at TU Dresden and wrote his doctoral thesis on the modeling and simulation of low-voltage switchgear. After more than 12 years of industry experience as head of applied research at Klöckner Moeller GmbH in Bonn, he was appointed professor in the Electrical Equipment and Systems Department at TU Ilmenau in 2003. He is a member of the International Council on Large Electric Systems (Conseil International des Grands Réseaux Électriques, CIGRE) and the Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies (Verband der Elektrotechnik, Elektronik und Informationstechnik, VDE), head of the ETG/ITG Department of Contact Behavior and Switching, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the VDE’s Power Engineering Society (Energietechnische Gesellschaft, ETG), and a member of the Electrical Engineering / Information Technology sector committee of the German national accreditation body (Deutsche Akkreditierungsstelle GmbH, DAkkS). Internationally, he represented Germany in the International Advisory Group for International Conferences on Electrical Contacts. Siemens AG / A. Kradisch Univ. Professor D r.-Ing. Frank Berger Cover story | E-Installation 2/2014 Intelligent systems, networking, and digitalization – these are the key topics in discussions today. But the networked factory with automated production processes also poses new challenges for electrical power distribution. We spoke about this with Professor Frank Berger of the Department of Electrical Equipment and Systems in the Electrical Engineering and Information Technology Faculty at TU Ilmenau. Professor Berger, digitalization in production is making great strides forward, especially in Germany. More and more automation components with their own “intelligence” are being networked together – in some cases over the Internet – and autonomously managing production. Yet for all the independence and “intelligence” of these systems, they do not work without electricity. What does this new scenario mean for power distribution? Frank Berger: In networked production, which controls and regulates processes virtually independently, the locations to which electrical energy must be supplied, and the times when it is needed, change constantly during production. Production machines are flexibly turned on and off and dynamically regulated in terms of their process control. That means the electrical power supply and distribution must be designed to be flexible, and it must be able to be adapted to current needs at any time. Depending on the local conditions and opportunities, this can be accomplished through flexible busbar systems or cables with cable carriers, for example. In terms of devices, there will be new challenges, such as for circuit breakers, but also for the planning and communicating over the Internet. The configuration of electrical systems in necessary structures would then be general. New connection techniques available. It is about huge amounts of will likely become necessary due to data that need to be prioritized. Data higher demands regarding the electri- with short-circuit and diagnostic mescal loads, ambient conditions, and sages, for example, must always be number of cycles. In the future, with transmitted, and other information evermore transmission paths with nu- has a lower priority. In addition to new merous contact points, greater joule data regimes, many new distributed losses may occur. The probability of a energy systems are needed as well. fault may rise, even as the reliability of This also results in a great deal of comthe individual components increases. munication between the switching This means a great deal of information and protection equipment. In some must be determined about the electri- cases, this must be carried out in real cal power supply and the electrical time. network, which requires more sensors, A diverse array of control and reguwhich in turn also require their own lation processes needs to be adpower supply in some cases. dressed, and this must be accomAnother trend can be seen with plished with high availability and secuplug-in connectors, for example. In rity. With Totally Integrated Power the future, these should have electri- (TIP) and solutions for smart grid recal switching capacity, similar to elec- quirements, Siemens has laid a solid tromechanical switching devices. This foundation for further developments will make it possible to implement tool in this area. changes on robots under electrical In order to transport energy from A load during the production process. to B with minimal losses, in the future In general, through automating and the use of DC voltage cables could be increasing the flexibility of manufac- an option for low voltage. These have turing processes, distributed electrical lower losses than cables carrying AC loads (tools, machine tools) and dis- voltage. Another trend is the intercontributed power generators also need nection of conventional three-phase to be controlled and regulated again current systems with DC power distriand again with regard to their avail- bution systems. Standardized interability and energy costs. faces and modules are necessary for these coupled AC/DC networks. So energy management is the catchphrase? What does power distribution need Frank Berger: It isn’t just a catch- to look like to be ready for the phrase, but I will get to that later. Pro- future? What trends can already be duction should always be organized in recognized today or are already in an energy-efficient and cost-effective implementation? manner. Constant change and rapid Frank Berger: In the production proreactions during highly flexible pro- cess, each function must be safeduction also mean a high volume of guarded individually and in interaction data streams for wired or wireless with the system. For this, devices need transmission of information. In harsh to be able to troubleshoot themselves. industrial environments in which cur- When switches are installed in a parrents are connected, plant owners ticular location, they need to detect must reckon with high electromag- how many times a fault current occurs, netic interference caused by current for example – even when production couplings and switching operations, is reorganized. After a production adso the electromagnetic compatibility justment, there may be other short- (EMC) requirements of electrical com- circuit levels in a “new” electrical netponents and systems will increase dra- work. This diagnosis is possible using matically. intelligent sensors in the switch and The Fraunhofer Institute for Indus- their ability to communicate, including trial Engineering (Fraunhofer Institut with regard to the diagnosis and prefür Arbeitswirtschaft und Organisa- cise localization and classification of tion, IAO) predicts that in 2020 some faults. Electronic devices ensure fast 50 billion intelligent objects will be response times of the protection 7 E-Installation 2/2014 | Cover story s ystems. Plug-and-play solutions are ideal for quick replacement or exchange of switches. Siemens AG / A. Kradisch The trend toward decentralization in power networks has been in full swing for some time. Power generation sources range from power plants to wind turbines to photovoltaics. What requirements does power distribution need to fulfill here? Frank Berger: For the decentralization of power grids, good solutions have already been developed under the smart grid concept. For factories with their own photovoltaic systems, plant owners can decide whether the power generated will be used in the company’s electrical network. Depending on the requirements, this generated power must be controlled, and a decision must be made regarding whether the power is fed into the production process, the external power grid, or a storage system. In solar cells, the solar radiation is converted into direct voltage, and an inverter converts this voltage into AC. In Germany, DC power supply for low-voltage networks is currently not a focus of consideration. In Finland and Sweden, there is a variety of considerations in this regard. For example, in DC systems there are reduced losses, but there is also no current zero-crossing for the power-off process of the electrical network. This makes it difficult for circuit breakers to clear electric arcs. With photovoltaic systems, arc faults can occur as a fault source. These need to be quickly detected and switched off. This makes reliable differentiation of switching arcs necessary. 8 In the departmental laboratory for switch technology at TU Ilmenau, high-energy electric arcs are generated for test purposes What role does the circuit breaker play, especially the compact circuit breaker, in low-voltage? Frank Berger: A circuit breaker is the central element in the protection of the electrical system. It is installed in what are known as the nodes of the network. A switch in a networked grid that is constantly changing in terms of structure and load must quickly provide, control, and communicate protection and selectivity information in almost real time. It should have a self-configurable trip unit and be able Cover story | E-Installation 2/2014 to reliably detect and differentiate between faults such as short circuits, overloads, and fault arcs, and then trip in response. As a data collector, a circuit breaker should be able to compress and manage data – not just data from the network but also from the production process, as well as data relating to efficient and economical energy production and distribution. In this way, it would be conceivable that the circuit breaker would use sensors to detect a change in the location of production equipment or the frequency of tool changes as well as provide information about the network load and the grid fee settlement. Energy efficiency remains one of the most important issues. What contribution can a sophisticated energy distribution system make here, and how important is the circuit breaker? Frank Berger: This is something I would like to consider from the perspective of energy technology; this as- Siemens AG / A. Kradisch The 3VA molded case circuit breaker from Siemens already work operation, the production process, or the system load should be measured and transmitted to the control and management systems. Another possibility would be the implementation of an intelligent “rate switch” for power management tasks to take advantage of the power provider’s different rates, such as daytime and nighttime electricity rates. performs operationally relevant tasks such as detecting energy data and reporting critical system states to higher-level systems using the overcurrent release, auxiliary switches, and alarm switches. What will a circuit breaker need to do to meet all the requirements in the future? Frank Berger: Circuit breakers should be self-configurable and communication capable. Relevant faults must be detected reliably. Data regarding net- tors). The more of these components the electrical network contains, the more sources of loss there are. Equipment and components must therefore be optimized with respect to power loss reduction, such as through the use of new contact materials and contacting technologies. In summary, it can be said that in an increasingly complex production environment, the power distribution must be continually adjusted to keep pace with the changing requirements of the production process. The more systems present and networked, the higher the probability of faults. Plant owners will have no choice but to record more data and implement diagnostic functions on switchgear for low-voltage and medium-voltage “In terms of devices, there will be new challenges, such as for circuit breakers, but also for the planning and configuration of electrical systems in general.” Univ. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Berger, TU Ilmenau pect is often neglected. There are a wide range of interfaces. In production, electrical power distribution and switching and contact components cause a variety of losses: resistive losses, eddy current losses, hysteresis and remagnetization losses, dielectric losses, and corona losses (the latter occur only at high voltage). Resistive losses occur on busbars, in cables, and at contact points, for example. Hysteresis losses and restraint current losses occur on switching devices (contac- technology. Depending on the level of availability required for the process, the components must have a long service life, offer secure data exchange over the Internet, and eliminate sources of interference – including those stemming from the Internet. Communication on all these levels poses new challenges for standardization work. Professor Berger, thank you for the interview. 9