GE

Grid Solutions

MEETING EVOLUTIONARY CHALLENGES:

Strategies for Maintaining Grid Reliability

… with the Multilin Universal Relay Platform

Industry White Paper

Introduction
For more than 120 years, GE has been an industry leader in advanced
protection and control solutions for utility and industrial applications. First
introduced in 1997, the Multilin Universal Relay (UR) established a new
standard for protection and control devices. As the industry’s first platform-
based, modular relay with protection, monitoring, control and advanced
communications in a single device, the UR provides asset and power system
reliability for critical applications.
Modern relays offer more protection and control capabilities at less cost,
reduced maintenance requirements, and advanced communications
functionality, enabling enhanced protection schemes and wiring
simplification. The UR in particular represents a generational leap forward by
simplifying device configuration while offering application flexibility through
common hardware and software across the entire platform. In addition, the
platform offers a unique modular design that simplifies device management
activities such as upgrades or expansion.
Utilities and industrial operators must have a relay lifecycle strategy in place
to ensure the health of the devices and the reliability of the power system. If
you have an earlier generation UR device (i.e.: a device that has been in service
for 10 or more years), this paper will guide you through key considerations for
a maintenance strategy and demonstrate how the UR provides a platform
that minimizes typical device upgrade costs.
Building an Effective Relay Maintenance Strategy
Several factors must be considered when designing maintenance or upgrade
requirements for fleets of early generation UR relays. Environmental and
electrical conditions, relay applications, and component age – combined with
fast-evolving technology, new regulatory requirements and changing industry
demands – all contribute to the need for effective planning.
The first step in creating a maintenance strategy is to conduct an audit of
all existing devices in your fleet, starting with the age of each relay. As a
guideline, devices 10 years or older could be assessed for upgrade.
Next, consider the operating environment and electrical stresses that a
relay may have been subjected to in its operating life. Individual device
lifespans vary depending on the operational environment and how the relay’s
THE UR’S UNIQUE DESIGN
ALLOWS YOU TO UPGRADE
EXISTING HARDWARE
TO THE LATEST VERSION
WITHOUT ALTERING PANEL
LAYOUTS OR ENGINEERING
DRAWINGS
2 Strategies for Maintaining Grid Reliability with the Multilin Universal Relay Platform
internal components react to it. In particular, harsh environments, extreme
temperatures, chemical exposure, and high electrical stress caused by
sudden increases or decreases in load can all lead to accelerated electronic
component aging (including resistors, capacitors, transistors, or diodes
mounted to a printed circuit board).
Lastly, conduct a visual inspection of each device. Review documentation from
your company’s local reliability coordinator or any other regular maintenance
reports from the teams that work with these relays to catch any signs of
handling damage, corrosion or other physical issues.
The Value of Upgrading your Fleet of GE Multilin URs
Once you’ve audited your fleet and determined which devices are eligible
for an upgrade, the next step would traditionally be to identify the correct
replacement relay. This often requires extensive re-engineering time as
well as panel modification and rewiring, creating higher costs and greater
downtime.
However, with the UR platform, these expenses can be mitigated. The
UR was designed with a unique modular architecture and a future proof
communication backbone. This flexibility permits replacement of modules
without disturbing existing wiring, and the unique design allows you to
upgrade existing hardware to the latest version without altering panel layouts
or engineering drawings.
In addition, the UR has continuously evolved over time to keep pace with
changing industry trends in protection, communications, monitoring, cyber
security, and regulatory requirements.
Application of IEC 61850 brings a new engineering process to utilities. With
the assistance of suitable software tools, the ideal engineering process is
automated as much as possible.
Advancements in Protection
With power systems and schemes becoming more complex, protection
devices must be more powerful, offer greater application flexibility, and
support the latest communications technologies. The Multilin UR advanced
protection algorithms are designed to meet the challenges utilities and
industries are facing, with respect to maintaining power system reliability,
operational efficiency and security. Major platform enhancements include
a 400MHz CPU (eight times faster operating speeds than previous versions,
supporting protection functions such as fast distance), and a digital signal
processor (DSP) to address changing performance requirements including
the need to perform complex functions required for wide area monitoring
schemes. DDR2 RAM and 1GB of flash memory (five times more than previous
models) have been added for extended device life functionality.
The power supply has been redesigned to be fully backward compatible using
only one electrolytic capacitor (for high voltage power supplies), providing
increased power, reliability and efficiency, and extending module life. This
change significantly reduces the use of components that may be more
likely to fail, ensuring greater device reliability and life. All URs now include
power supply voltage rail monitoring, internal temperature monitoring (CPU
and power supply modules), higher electrostatic discharge and transient
immunity, providing comprehensive device health monitoring. This in turn
ensures operators can identify environmental conditions that may affect
relay life and/or performance.
Advancements in Communications
With the continued evolution of communication protocols, the need for
devices with more intelligent, redundant communications functions has
increased. This includes the introduction of IEC 61850 and the growing trend
of greater connectivity in order to support situational awareness of every
device within the substation.
From being one of the first microprocessor relays with embedded Ethernet
communications to becoming one of the first to adopt UCA 2.0 and now IEC
61850 Edition 2 communications, the Multilin UR gives utilities and industrial
operators consistent, reliable access to critical devices for both system
configuration and power system data analysis and control purposes.
To ensure reliability of communications between devices and control centers,
the 7.0 firmware version and above of the UR all have three independent
and addressed Ethernet ports that support IEEE 1588 V2 precision time
synchronization with 1 μs accuracy. The UR also supports Parallel Redundancy
Protocol, and when configured for this type of architecture, two of the three
Ethernet ports are used with the third acting as an independent port.
In addition, inter-relay communication modules have replaced LED
transceivers with laser class optical transmitters and provide automatic gain
control to compensate for the natural fractional loss in optical output power
with time. Modules include added LED indication for C37.94 diagnostics
to simplify maintenance and commissioning. New IRC modules variants
were also added, allowing a broader range of communications medium
applications such as direct-fiber and multiplexer.
Simplified Upgrade
The UR’s modular platform allows simplified upgrade through in-field retrofit.
This solution allows you to avoid relay replacement, panel modifications and,
in many cases, re-wiring and re-testing. The unique modular design allows
for easy upgrade and retrofit without disturbing existing wiring, an option not
offered by other vendors. Simply draw out aged relay modules and install new
modules - no reconfiguration wiring is required. Because no wiring tests are
needed, training and labor time required for commissioning goes from hours
to minutes. The EnerVista™ setup software facilitates file conversion and set
point comparison for easy file modifications.
Upgrade can be completed with limited service, maintenance and outage costs,
providing an average savings of up to 50% over a traditional retrofit project.
(Based on the estimated time and costs associated with the completion of the
set of tasks typically required for relay upgrade. This includes device validation,
updating or creation of new engineering standards, removal and installation of
the relays and the final commissioning and testing of the new device.)
Upgrade Recommendations
Upgrade is recommended for UR devices 15 years and older, and optionally as
a prudent fleet management investment for devices 10 years of age and older:
UR version 3.x to 6.x CPUs map to the following UR v.7 CPUs:
RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED UR 7
UR 3 CPU MODULE
UR 4-6 CPU CPU MODULE

Synchrophasor improvements include multicast streaming using IEC 61850- T, U, or V. If 2 serial

A E
90-5 and extended to 6 phasor measurement units (PMUs) in the N60 ports required UR6 E
including protection and metering class.
C J or L T or U

Advancements in Monitoring
As demands on existing infrastructure continue to increase and focus on D K or M T or U
device lifespan grows, the UR provides additional monitoring to assess the
health and performance of the relay and the asset it is protecting. Redundant
measurements and calculation of analog values, a CT/VT module with Figure 1: CPU modules for UR 3 and 4-6 can be easily mapped to UR7 CPU modules.

program memory and static coefficients monitoring ensure safe and reliable
operation. The CT/VT module has redesigned noise filtering and better noise
When upgrading the CT/VT module, version 3.x to 6.x CT/VTs would
immunity to strengthen reliable operation.
map to the following v7 CT/VT module:

RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED UR 7
Advanced Cyber Security Tools UR 3 CT/VT
UR 4-6 CPU CT/VTDSP
The UR platform gives the user the ability to control local and remote access,
8A 8F or 8L 8L
dual-permission access controls to mitigate insider threats, and provides a
supervisory factor for stronger authentication. The UR also exceeds NERC/CIP
8B 8G or 8M 8M
password requirements. Using alpha-numeric passwords, the CyberSentry™
option provides role-based access control with five roles - administrator,
8C 8H or 8N 8N
supervisor, engineer, operator, and observer. Unauthorized access alarms can
be triggered for as few as two incorrect password attempts in two minutes. A
8D 8J or 8R 8R
security audit trail keeps a history of setting changes, and the event record stores
both local and remote login data using Syslog and Radius server configuration
capabilities. Achilles certified by Wurldtech, UR relays have been thoroughly Figure 2: Use this mapping to determine which UR7 CT/VT is required to upgrade UR3
tested to ensure they offer maximum defense against cyber-attacks. and UR4-6 CT/VTs.

Strategies for Maintaining Grid Reliability with the Multilin Universal Relay Platform 3
Upgrading is Easy - Steps to Success

Summary For more information on Site Services, please visit:

The life expectancy of an electronic device, such as a digital relay, is
dependent on the individual components used, the circuit design of the
device, and the environment in which the relay operates. Evolving industry
needs and technologies also play a critical role.
http://www.gegridsolutions.com/multilin/support.aspx#prodserv
GE Technical Support
GE contact information for product support is as follows:

As the Multilin UR platform continues to evolve in response to changing GE Grid Solutions

industry conditions – such as increased cyber security needs, changing 650 Markland Street
regulatory requirements, and the introduction of IEC 61850 Edition 2 – GE’s Markham, Ontario
goal is to provide the best support. Canada L6C 0M1

The upgrade to new modules from existing version 3 modules is the fastest,
most cost effective way to upgrade a protection system, providing enhanced
features and an extended warranty. Our technical support engineers can
assist with the following:
• Fleet management: Audit, assess, and provide recommendations on
implementing the best product upgrade program to ensure optimal site
productivity, reliability, and efficiency.
• Arrange on-site field service for audit of the existing installed base
• Provide an account of all installed GE products in the substation
• Recommend and propose customized product
upgrade programs
• Transition from existing UR versions to later hardware and firmware versions
• Recommend alternative products (hardware and
firmware versions)
Telephone: (905) 927-7070 (worldwide),
1 800 547 8629 (North America),t
+34 94 485 88 54 (Europe)
Fax: (905) 927-5098 (worldwide)
E-mail: multilin.tech@ge.com (worldwide), multilin.tech.euro@ge.com (Europe)
http://www.gegridsolutions.com/multilin/
About the Author
Matthew Leyba has been an Application Engineer with GE Digital Energy Multilin
since 2014. Prior to joining GE, Matthew was with Public Service Company of
New Mexico as the Manager of Protection and Controls, Tri-State Generation and
Transmission as a Protection Engineer, and Public Service Company of New Mexico
as a Protection and Controls Engineer. He received his Bachelor and Master of
Science in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University. He is a licensed
Professional Engineer in New Mexico.

• Settings conversions including design upgrades

GEGridSolutions.com

GE and the GE monogram are trademarks of General Electric Company.

GE reserves the right to make changes to specifications of products described at any

time without notice and without obligation to notify any person of such changes.

Copyright 2016, General Electric Company. All Rights Reserved. GEA-31987(E)

English
161003