FREJA and SMRT Digital Twin high fidelity simulator

The Super Digital Twin can be used to simulate complex scenarios involving multiple feeders and phases. For instance, it can be used to test busbar protection with a high number of analogue channels. 

The Super Digital Twin (Super DT) provides a virtual test set with additional analogue signals and binary outputs. This expanded capacity allows for more intricate and complex testing scenarios that may not be feasible in physical testing.

The manufacturer of the physical twin should create the digital twin because they possess the unique knowledge and expertise required to virtualise their own intellectual property and configuration files accurately. This enables them to replicate the behaviour, settings, and logic of their physical product in a digital format. By creating the digital twin themselves, manufacturers ensure that the virtual counterpart closely mirrors the real-world behaviour of their product. This alignment allows for effective reuse of configuration data on-site with real equipment, promoting consistency and accuracy between the physical and virtual versions of the product.

The SIPROTEC DigitalTwin environment imports the generated COMTRADE file. It establishes a virtual connection between the relay's inputs and the test set’s outputs, allowing engineers to assess the relay's behaviour based on the simulated data. 

A validated test file refers to a test file that has undergone thorough testing and verification to ensure that it performs the intended test accurately. In essence, a validated test file reliably and precisely replicates the test conditions and scenarios or which it was created. These files provide engineers with the advantage of using pre-validated test scenarios which can be executed from the physical twin for accurate testing, leading to streamlined and consistent testing processes.  

In virtual testing, the relay inputs receive digital signals stored in a specific COMTRADE file format. These signals are then processed by the Digital Twin relay, and the responses are analysed using event recorders, disturbance recorders, or the relay's Human Machine Interface (HMI).

Open loop testing is conducted to evaluate and verify various aspects of relay performance and operation. It enables assessment even without interaction between the Digital Twin relay's binary outputs and the Digital Twin test sets binary inputs. 

By employing digital twins, the need for extensive physical testing during factory acceptance testing is diminished. This results in significant time and resource savings while maintaining a high level of accuracy in the testing process.

Virtual commissioning involves conducting tests virtually, rendering subsequent on-site commissioning tests a subset of these virtual tests. This streamlined approach enhances the testing process and reduces the need for physical presence and on-site interventions. 

To function effectively, digital twins of protection relays and relay test sets must share the same data. This data exchange is typically facilitated through software tools to ensure accurate and seamless information transfer between the virtual counterparts.

 In the realm of power system protection testing, digital twins are functional replicas of physical components, such as protection relays and relay test sets. Digital twins enable engineers to conduct virtual relay protection testing, creating a digital environment where a wide range of testing scenarios can be simulated without the need for physical presence or hardware. This technology facilitates precise evaluation, validation, and enhancement of protection systems while mitigating the limitations of traditional physical testing methods.  

Yes, a Megger digital twin license and Siemens license are required. 

At the moment, the following relay test sets are available as digital twins: SMRT1, SMRT46, SMRT410, FREJA546, and FREJA549.  

Also available is the Super Digital Twin (Super DT). The Super DT is not a single physical instrument, but a combination of daisy-chained FREJA/SMRT devices to reach the current and voltage channels offered by the Super DT (see the FAQ about Super DT). 

Digital Twins in power system protection testing offer advantages such as efficient and accurate virtual testing, reduced need for physical presence, and cost-effective testing processes. They enable engineers to validate protection systems without the constraints of physical testing.