METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZED CENTRALIZED CRITICAL CONTROL ARCHITECTURE FOR SWITCHGEAR AND POWER EQUIPMENT

摘要

A method of monitoring and controlling a power distribution system (10) is provided. The power distribution system (10) includes a plurality of circuit breakers (16), a plurality of node electronic units (20), and wherein each associated circuit breaker (16) is electrically coupled with each respective node electronic unit (20). The system also includes at least one digital network (22), and at least one central control processing unit CCPU (24) wherein each CCPU (24) includes a first power system global information set, and each CCPU (24) is communicatively coupled to the plurality of node electronic units (20). The method includes transmitting at least one digital message from each node electronic unit (20) to each CCPU (24) over a respective network (22), determining an operational state of the power distribution system (10) from the digital message, and transmitting at least one multicast message from each CCPU (24) to each node electronic unit (20) such that the circuit breakers are operable from each CCPU (24).