Leading power and automation group ABB has launched the new System 800xA MIDAS Library, an application that enables engineers who operate automated mines to rapidly troubleshoot the electrical system through an enhanced substation control and monitoring environment from the control room.
Image credit: www.abbaustralia.com.au
According to the press release by ABB, this remote substation monitoring allows the plant team to solve problems safely away from the electrical substation, thus reducing the time for electrical fault diagnosis and problem solving.
The library works within ABB’s System 800xA, which is a platform for monitoring and controlling a wide range of automated industrial processes. It is based on the International Electrotechnical Commission’s 61850 standard, which creates a common language for automated substations and power distribution systems. This means that technologically advanced mines around the world will be able to take advantage of MIDAS’s capabilities.
The application gives plant technicians better information about the state of their electrical systems and allows them to remotely control and correct those systems. An operator using the MIDAS library will be able to monitor the whole of a mine’s electrical infrastructure from a single software package, with analytics presented in real time using a graphic interface that is both comprehensible and intuitive.
The application’s capability to diagnose faults without going on site means greater safety for workers, and its capability to rapidly diagnose, discover and fix the root cause of the problem reduces disruption to the working of the mine, thus lowering operational costs of running it. It also reduces the cost of training and spare parts as processes and power automation can be one by one common system.
“The MIDAS Library also makes it simple for engineers to deal with intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) for protection and control of the electrical system. A right-click of the mouse brings up a full suite of technical information, including manuals, information on the device’s parameters and its role in the wider system. And as the IEDs can be connected to the automation system by Ethernet, one team can control substations in many different and distant locations,” it says in the press release.
