COMTRADE UTILITY

The COMTRADE Utility works with the OSIsoft PI System to provide powerful analysis and display tools for processing device disturbance files supporting the IEEE C37.111 COMTRADE and PQDIF formats. The COMTRADE Utility turns PI into a powerful disturbance analysis system and file archive that simplifies and manages the storage of disturbance data, events and files. The COMTRADE Utility retrieves device files automatically then historizes the COMTRADE data by extracting the individual measurements from the files and associating the data and event to the underlying power system asset using PI AF and PI Event Frames for display and analysis using standard PI tools like ProcessBook V3 or Excel using DataLink. PI tags can be automatically generated if desired. The complete COMTRADE file can be stored in the PI archive in its entirety as an annotation enabling the original file to be restored for audit purposes or for off-line analysis outside of PI.

Overview

• The COMTRADE Utility for the OSIsoft PI System™ allows digital data records from COMTRADE or PQDIF file
• to be historized into the PI Server™ enabling the PI System™ to be used as a complete disturbance archive for both
• the data and the files.
• The COMTRADE Utility can automatically transfer disturbance files from devices via IEC 61850 or FTP, extract the
• data from the COMTRADE file, historize the information as an individual PI point for each channel of data and,
• optionally, store the entire COMTRADE file to a PI Event Frame™ so that the original data can be reproduced for
• audit trail purposes.
• Once the COMTRADE data has been historized, the information becomes available to any of the powerful data
• presentation and analysis functions
• available in the OSIsoft PI System™. This enables the detailed event data from the COMTRADE file to be analyzed
• without being constrained by the COMTRADE file format. 

FEATURES

• Enables PI with disturbance, waveform, transient, and any other sub-second data stored in IEEE COMTRADE files supporting the C37.111 and PQDIF formats
• Connects disturbance data to the underlying power system assets using PI AF and PI Event Frames
• Simplifies and centralizes the management of disturbance records by storing the original COMTRADE data in the PI archive along with the real-time tag data resulting in structured time-based access to all disturbance data for faster response to audits and faster access to your critical disturbance data
• Extracts the individual data elements from the COMTRADE file and historizes the data by entering the data into the PI archive enabling display and analysis of the COMTRADE data within the PI environment using ProcessBook V3, Excel DataLink, and other compatible analysis tools
• Can be configured to automatically create PI tags when historizing COMTRADE files
• Can automatically retrieve, store, and historize COMTRADE files directly from devices using either FTP or IEC 61850 without manual intervention
• Can invoke PI Notifications when files are processed to support fast response to power system faults
• Can export any data from the PI System into a COMTRADE file for information exchange with other systems
• Import data from disturbance files based on the COMTRADE and PQDIF formats into the PI Server™ based on interactive, scheduled or programmatic invocation
• Support for both FTP and IEC 61850 (using AX-S4 61850 available separately) file transfer to retrieve files from devices
• Ability to store and retrieve the raw disturbance files used during processing via PI Event Frames™
• Ability to automatically create PI Tags for data found in the disturbance files as an option
• Support for the COMTRADE (1991 & 1999) and PQDIF (2003) file formats; support for future versions available under maintenance
• Example provided to use PI Notifications™ to trigger COMTRADE file retrieval and processing
• Support for exporting data from the PI archive into a COMTRADE file for any PI data, even if it was not imported into PI via a COMTRADE import

BENEFITS

• Enables detailed power system event data from COMTRADE files to be easily historized in the PI Server™ for analysis and long term archiving
• All data is stored in the standard PI Server™ format allowing users to analyze and report on power system events with the powerful and flexible tools offered by OSIsoft
• Detailed audit trail information is provided, including when the data was generated, retrieved, and archived; to help meet regulatory requirements and to more effectively perform forensic analysis on past events