NOJA Power remote RC-10 cubicle HMI panel improves operator comfort and safety

Electrical switchgear engineers NOJA Power today announces the availability of a remotely-mounted HMI panel connected by fibre optic cable to the RC-10 cubicle used to control an OSM range Automatic Circuit Recloser (ACR). The remote panel option allows operators to configure several ACRs from a single 19-in rack in a safe and climate-proof control room.

In substation applications, multiple NOJA Power ACRs are used on the incoming and outgoing medium-voltage electricity distribution feeders to protect transformers and other valuable equipment. The ACRs’ RC-10 cubicles are installed on substation mounting frames. If a substation engineer is required to configure all the ACRs at a substation, it can take time to move to each cabinet, the worker is exposed to the weather and operates in close proximity to hazardous voltages.

The NOJA Power RC-10 cubicle remote HMI panel allows control of the ACRs to be transferred to a single 19-in rack (a wall-mount option for the HMI panel is also available) that can be installed in the substation control room built to house SCADA communications equipment and protection relays. Each HMI panel is connected to its respective RC-10 cubicle via an interference-immune fibre optic cable and powered from a 12-V DC power supply provided with the remote HMI panel kit.

The remote HMI panel provides several benefits, including:

• Allowing substation technicians and engineers to work in an enclosed facility protected from the weather and hazardous voltages (which is particularly important during emergencies when members of staff could be on site for many hours);
• Centralising the control and configuration of all of a substation’s ACRs - saving time;
• Allowing substation technicians and engineers to take notes or operate a computer in a comfortable environment where there is access to network information.

“The remote HMI panel for the RC-10 cubicle allows substation engineers and technicians to operate substation ACRs from the safe and relatively pleasant environment of the facility’s control room instead of having to venture out into the yard where the weather and danger from high voltages make the job much more demanding,” says Neil O’Sullivan, NOJA Power’s Managing Director.

“There are some productivity gains too because the worker can configure the ACRs from a single locations rather than having to walk around the substation to each ACR’s control cabinet,” adds O’Sullivan.

NOJA Power has produced a user guide*- which details how to install the remote HMI panel and power supply, and how to connect it to the RC-10 cubicle via a fibre optic cable and two modems.