Distributive Computer Control Design for Electric Utility

Computerized control system have brought a new challenge to manufacturing and service industries in the world. The consistency, flexibility, and the real time control of computer assisted devices have lead electric utility companies to further consider the use of computers in their plants. Since the mid-'70s, creative engineers have sought ways of using computerized system to better control, maintain and monitor the functions of electric utility companies. An example of such computerized control may be the usage of microprocessors to control substations. The use of computers to control and monitor the normal activities was first used by manufacturing firms. These computers often used to monitor machine tools and tend to form a pyramidal control system. The pyramidal control structure or the hierarchial computer system is often divided into four levels. These levels include: 1) Corporate Computer, 2) Factory Computer, 3) Center Computers, 4) Cell/Remote Computers. In these hierarchical structure, information flows in two directions. Process monitoring information, and other operational data are passed upward. through each level of computer system, and at each step bulk information direction, commands are passed down from the corporate computer throughout the rest of the processing structure. This paper presents a layout for a hierarchial computer system for a utility power plant. The paper also discusses the domain and the components of each level of the proposed system.