110. Performance Analysis, Calibration, and Testing of Micro Processor based Digital Fault Recorder with Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU)

With the increase interest in the Wide Area Monitoring, Control and Disturbance Analysis, and to minimize the future black outs caused due to the cascade tripping, there is a growing interest in the microprocessor based relays and disturbance recorders to provide an additional Phaser Measurement Unit (PMU) measurement and reporting. The recent IEEE C37.118 standard on the synchrophasors outlines certain stringent requirements in terms of how to precisely measure the phase angle with respect to the global time reference – the coordinated universal time (UTC), and how to report the phasor information. The standard also specifies the Total Vector Error (TVE) allowed in evaluating the phasor for different compliance level to allow interoperability between different vendor PMUs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the calibration, testing and performance analysis of a Micro Processor Based Digital Fault Recorder (DFR) with a PMU. The analysis is carried out as per the C37.118 for different compliance levels. The paper discusses various challenges encountered in calibrating the PMU, and comparative analysis of different manufacturers test set and how to carry out the calibration process. Sources of errors and their effect on the PMU reporting will also be discussed. The DFR described in this investigation is a multi time frame recording system used to monitor electrical power systems. It can record up to 36 analog channels and 64 digital (status) channels and store up to 1000 recordings.