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This presentation discusses ten ways the Real-Time Automation Controller (RTAC) family

of product can provide a complete integration solution for your system.

The SEL RTAC family of products began with the SEL-3530 RTAC as a 3U 19-inch rackmounted controller with up to 33 serial ports, 8 digital outputs, and 24 digital inputs. The
RTAC gives you the ability to concentrate data and convert protocols, provides secure
remote access to connected intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), and includes a powerful
IEC 61131 logic engine. You can program custom applications using structured text, a
continuous function chart, or a ladder diagram to create custom schemes to meet your
particular automation needs.

The RTAC can operate as a mini master within a wide area control or supervisory control
and data acquisition (SCADA) network. The RTAC gathers information, makes decisions,
and issues controls to IEDs within its operating zone, such as within a substation, while still
interacting with other devices on the SEL ICON or other wide-area network (WAN)
infrastructures.

A distribution automation (DA) system implemented using an RTAC adds additional


capabilities to your protective relays. Once the relay has detected a system fault and has
operated, the DA system springs into action. The first action the DA system takes is to
determine where on the power system the fault lies and which devices (breakers, reclosers,
or motor-operated switches) can be operated to isolate the fault. Then the DA system
determines how to restore power to loads outside the isolated fault location and
reconfigures the power system accordingly.
The distribution automation controller (DAC) never attempts to restore an unfaulted
downline load if it cannot confirm a successful isolation of the fault adjacent to that load.

The RTAC can combine IED data from any port and convert data with the built-in client
and server protocols. These protocols include SEL Fast Message, SEL ASCII, DNP3
Serial, DNP3 local-area network (LAN)/WAN, Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP, MIRRORED
BITS communications, LG 8979, and IEEE C37.118 for synchrophasors. Tags can easily
be converted between protocols using the tag processor in ACSELERATOR RTAC
SEL-5033 Software, allowing for seamless system integration.

To protect critical assets, make the SEL-3530 or the SEL-3530-4 RTAC the secure access
point into your substation or plant.
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) central authentication and role-based user
authentication, access logs, and secure engineering access are implemented via Secure
Shell (SSH). Security tags can be mapped into SCADA reports or syslog for industryleading integration of security. The RTAC can communicate with IEDs to monitor
transformer temperature, breaker wear, and other nonoperational data to make smart
decisions and issue automatic controls in asset management schemes.

Pre-event data gathered by the RTAC are used to build up-to-date contingency scenarios,
taking into account line loading, available capacities, critical loads, and a predefined loadshedding pool. In addition, the RTAC can include predictive data such as what conditions
are created when a load is diverted or shed. Consequently, it can include a tap position or
capacitor bank energization states in the load-shedding recipe. When an event occurs, the
load-shedding recipe is executed, proactively shedding or diverting the load and adjusting
equipment to compensate for the changes so that the entire operation is done in one pass.
Contingency-based load shedding can be something fairly simple that you can program
yourself, or it can be a very advanced and powerful customized system provided by the
SEL Engineering Services Division.
As an alternate, an operator can detect a fault happened, determine the best rerouting
option, and issue commands from SCADA. This could take hours because the operator first
needs to know the event occurred, research the state of the system at that time, and
potentially send out crews to do the switching.

You can automatically detect, filter, and collect event data from connected SEL relays.
Fault location, fault current, and other data are populated into tags for easy retrieval through
SCADA protocols. You can automatically collect events through the RTAC with
ACSELERATOR TEAM SEL-5045 Software.

The RTAC stores up to 30,000 Sequence of Events (SOE) and alarm records to nonvolatile
memory. The advanced web server filtering options are used to drill down to a specific
IED, category, priority, or even a customized search string. Web server filtering also
includes support for wildcards (i.e., the * matches any character in a string). Choose
Download CSV to save the SOE log to the computer in comma-separated value (CSV)
format.
Optionally, configure an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connection to connect a
remote computer to the RTAC logger database to retrieve SOE and alarm records through a
remotely connected computer.

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You can order the RTAC to support IEC 61850, including Manufacturing Message
Specification (MMS) client and IEC 61850 Generic Object-Oriented Substation Event
(GOOSE). The RTAC supports up to 150 RX and 150 TX sessions, allowing control
system automation with many substation IEDs. The task processing rate is userconfigurable as fast as 1 millisecond, supporting faster automation when fewer devices are
connected.
The GOOSE and MMS datasets are configurable so that you can map only the data you
need to send, or exchange entire tag structures that include the tag value plus time stamp,
quality, time quality, and so on. This flexibility is provided so the control system can be
engineered according to the available bandwidth of the communications network.

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You can design custom automation logic to control your system with ACSELERATOR
RTAC, or monitor system performance using the prepopulated device tags. You can scale
values and create logic equations in a flexible IEC 61131 configuration environment by
applying integrated tools. Complex math and logic calculations are performed on data
within the RTAC using the built-in IEC 61131 logic engine with a continuous function
chart, ladder diagram, or structured text.

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Customers and SEL engineers have programmed many custom applications using the
included IEC 61131 logic engine. The capability to program custom applications removes
functional barriers and gives you powerful tools to design and build custom solutions.

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It is easy to build custom human-machine interface (HMI) displays quickly without the
need for mapping data tags. Because the interface is web-based, no special software is
needed to view HMI displays.

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The SEL-3351 System Computing Platform, SEL-3354 Embedded Automation Computing


Platform, and SEL-3355 Computer in the RTAC family provide a robust solution to meet
all of your data concentration, control, and monitoring needs by combining the powerful
and rugged SEL computing product line with the reliable automation controller platform.
You can get the best of both worlds with the RTAC family by applying the advanced
processing power for applications such as high-speed automation (MIRRORED BITS
communications and IEC 61850 GOOSE), synchrophasor processing, DA, and integrating
data from multiple substations. These security concerns and obsolescence risks associated
with the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) are avoidable because products in
the RTAC family run on an SEL-optimized version of Linux OS. You can repurpose an
SEL-3351 or an SEL-3354 and avoid hardware rewiring and reinstallation by simply
upgrading existing computers to SEL RTAC functionality. Running SEL software and
hardware on one platform allows you to take advantage of SEL reliability and ten-year
warranty.

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The RTAC HMI provides an easy way to visualize data and create custom diagrams to
monitor and control your system. The HMI, viewable from a web browser, allows access
for multiple users and at multiple locations. The following members of the RTAC family
have integrated videos ports: SEL-3351 RTAC, SEL-3354 RTAC, and SEL-3355 RTAC.
With these units, you can attach a monitor and quickly view the HMI and SOE data without
any additional computers.

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The RTAC family has many form factors to choose from, all at extremely competitive
pricing. The SEL-3530, which is configured with 33 serial ports, full I/O complement, an
HMI, and all available protocols, is a quarter of the price compared with a similarly
configured competing product. In addition, there are no recurring license fees associated
with the RTAC or settings software. The SEL-3505 Automation Controller starts at only
$799.

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The RTAC family of products offers powerful and flexible automation capabilities for any
environment or application.
The following table provides a comparison of products in the SEL RTAC family:
Capability

SEL-3505

SEL-3505-3

SEL-3530-4

SEL-3530

SEL-2241
Axion

SEL-3355

Processor

333 MHz
PowerPC

333 MHz
PowerPC

533 MHz
PowerPC

533 MHz
PowerPC

533 MHz
PowerPC

2.7 GHz
Intel Core
i7 dual or
quad core

Randomaccess
memory
(RAM)

512 MB

512 MB

512 MB

512 MB

512 MB

4 GB

Flash
memory
storage

2 GB

2 GB

2 GB

4 GB

2 GB

Solid-state
drive (SSD)
options of 30,
60, 120,
250 GB

Ethernet
ports

2
(3 is a future
option)

2, PCI slot
expandable

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Capability

SEL-3505

SEL-3505-3

SEL-3530-4

SEL-3530

SEL-2241
Axion

SEL-3355

Serial ports

2 EIA-232/
EIA-485,
2 EIA-232

3 EIA-232/
EIA-485

4 EIA-232/
EIA-485,
2 EIA-232

17 EIA-232/
EIA-485
(33 optional)

2 EIA-232/
EIA-485,
2 EIA-232

2 EIA-232
PCI slot
expandable

Internal
dial-up
modem

Optional

None

None

None

None

None

Power input

936 Vdc

936 Vdc

24 Vdc,
48/125 V,
250 V

24 Vdc,
48/125 V,
250 V

24 Vdc,
48/125 V,
250 V

24 Vdc,
48/125 V,
250 V

EtherCAT
(SEL Axion)
compatible

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Web-based
HMI

None

None

Optional

Optional

Optional

Optional

Integrated
IEC 61131
logic engine

Yes, up to
4 ms task
cycle

Yes, up to
4 ms task
cycle

Yes, up to
1 ms task
cycle

Yes, up to
1 ms task
cycle

Yes, up to
1 ms task
cycle

Yes, up to
1 ms task
cycle

1 in, 1 out

1 in, 1 out
(24 in, 8 out
optional)

1 in, 1 out
(many I/O
options
available)

1 in, 1 out

Contact I/O

1 in, 1 out

8 in, 3 out

EtherCAT is registered trademark and patented technology, licensed by Beckhoff Automation GmbH, Germany.

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You can remotely control substation apparatus from a central location with the
SEL-3505-3. Motor-operated disconnects (MODs) are mounted on poles and used for
automated sectionalizing. The compact size of the SEL-3505-3 fits well into these small
cabinets and provides reliable, remote operation of the switch.
The contact outputs are used to transmit alarms that convey the severity of the alarm. SOE
records contain all information regarding the process variables that can be used for analysis
or archiving purposes.

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Reduce the learning curve and reuse proven solutions by choosing from the SEL RTAC
family for all your automation requirements. The SEL RTAC family provides a common
software configuration interface, an HMI, and a web-based interface to provide you with
commonality and ease of use, no matter which hardware form factor you choose for your
individual applications.

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