SEL Virtual Meter

The SEL Virtual Meter transforms continuous waveform streaming data into actionable metering quantities, power quality indicators, and warning notifications to solve difficult power system problems.

Key Features and Benefits

• Easily Visualize Data: View waveform data and calculated quantities graphically in real time by using the Monitoring or Operations application.
• Faster Calculations: Take advantage of faster update rates, with all meter quantities updating every 1/2 cycle.
• Meter Aggregation: Use custom calculations to aggregate multiple metering points, simplifying meter data management.
• Power Quality Notifications: Generate notifications based on real-time power quality conditions to quickly and easily identify disturbances.
• Simplify Compliance: Satisfy all your power quality compliance requirements with a single metering device, including IEC 61000-4-30, IEC C37.118, IEEE 519-2018, IEEE 2800, NERC PRC-002-2, and NERC PRC-028-1.

Diagram Description: A system overview illustrating virtual metering. It shows a wind turbine and a power plant connected to a substation containing an RTAC, SEL-2240 Axion, SEL-735, and SEL-T35 devices. These devices feed continuous waveform data to a 'Virtual Metering' block, which processes harmonics, power, synchrophasors, voltages and currents, frequency, and sequence components. The processed data is then displayed on a computer monitor.

One Software, Two Flexible Solutions

Monitoring software comes in two ordering options to meet your application and budget. The following table lists the applications and solutions provided in each software package. These package options can also be purchased as part of the Power Quality or Energy and Power Monitoring software bundle. Refer to the SEL Synchrowave Instruction Manual for details on application features and calculation specifics.

Virtual Meter provides all your power quality metrics in a simple software solution. The following features are provided to meet or exceed the IEC 61000-4-30 requirements:

• Two-hour aggregation
• Power frequency
• Magnitude of the supply voltage
• Flicker
• Supply voltage interruptions, dips, and swells
• Supply voltage symmetrical components
• Voltage harmonics
• Voltage interharmonics
• Rapid voltage change (RVC)
• Magnitude of current
• Current symmetrical components
• Harmonic currents
• Interharmonic currents

Continuous Waveform Recording

Never miss a disturbance again by recording continuous waveform streaming data. Export the data directly to COMTRADE or CSV without the limitations of trigger-based events. Get more out of the data with archiving, virtual metering, load profile trending, subsynchronous oscillation detection, equipment failure analysis, and more.

Diagram Description: Two line graphs are presented. The top graph, labeled 'Current', shows the current magnitude over time for three phases (Building PhaseA, Building PhaseB, Building PhaseC) in shades of teal. A significant disturbance is visible around the 07:01:38 mark. The bottom graph, labeled 'Voltage', similarly displays voltage magnitude over time for the same three phases, also showing a disturbance at the same time point.

Power Quality Monitoring

• Visualize real-time waveforms and export recordings directly to COMTRADE at its native sample rate.
• Measure and record fundamental and rms current, voltage, power, power factor, and frequency.
• Aggregate multiple metering point measurements into a single combined quantity.
• Perform fast acquisition load profile recording at variable rates.
• Measure harmonic magnitudes and phase angles for voltage and current.
• Measure total harmonic distortion (THD), interharmonics, and harmonic groups.
• Identify voltage monitoring to identify sags, swells, and interruptions.
• Identify rapid voltage changes.
• Calculate maximum instantaneous, short-term, and long-term flicker.
• Calculate symmetrical components.
• Calculate synchrophasors.

Disturbance-Driven Notifications

Generate notifications with advanced detection algorithms to identify oscillations, voltage sag, swell, and interruption (VSSI) events, instrument transformer failure, and other power system disturbances. Create custom notifications driven from calculated signals exceeding the defined magnitude and time thresholds to identify anomalies unique to your application.

Diagram Description: The interface shows a 'Notifications' panel on the left, listing an event 'PhaseA.Current.Magnitude.30Hz.Oscillation.Magnitude' with a 'High Alert (150.000)' status. The main area displays three plots: 'Current Waveform' showing a clear oscillation, 'Current 30Hz Oscillation Magnitude' showing the peak magnitude of the oscillation, and 'SSO Bit' indicating 'None' for pickup. These plots illustrate the detection and analysis of power system disturbances.

Real-Time Visualization

Quickly and easily create personalized dashboards that feature the data most important to you. View your data as time-series trends, phasor diagrams, numeric tables, histograms, bar charts, and more.

Diagram Description: Multiple graphical representations of power system data are shown. A 'Voltage Magnitude' time-series plot, a 'LDP - Phase Current Max' time-series plot, a histogram of 'Three-Phase Power' distribution, a bar chart of 'Current Harmonic Magnitudes' with a total power value displayed, a polar plot of 'Phasors' for voltage and current, and a gauge for 'Three-Phase Power Factor'. These visualizations provide comprehensive insights into power system performance.

Virtual Metering

High-Accuracy Remote Metering

Take advantage of SEL high-accuracy measurement devices, including the SEL-735, SEL-T35, and SEL Axion, to calculate metering quantities from continuous waveform streaming data. This includes fundamental and rms voltage, current, and power values, as well as frequency, one-cycle harmonics, and power factor. Add virtual meter quantities to a load profile recorder to help identify trends.

Diagram Description: Several plots illustrate virtual metering data. 'Voltage RMS' and 'Current RMS' are shown as time-series line graphs. 'Voltage' and 'Current' are also displayed as time-series line graphs. 'Current Harmonics' are listed with specific values. 'Three-Phase Power' is shown with a total value. Additionally, polar plots for 'Voltage Phasors' and 'Current Phasors' are presented, offering a comprehensive view of electrical parameters.

Fast Acquisition Load Profile Trending

The Load Profile application aggregates signals by using various functions including minimum, maximum, average, change-over-interval (COI), end-of-interval (EOI), count, sum, rms, and cubic root mean (CRM). The Load Profile application enables calculations as fast as 50 ms with intervals as long as 2 hours. Export the data directly to a CSV or COMTRADE format.

Diagram Description: A screenshot of the 'SEL Meter Calculations' interface shows the 'Load Profile Recorder' configuration. It details 'LDP Channels' with 'Input Quantity' (e.g., IA.RMS, IB.RMS), 'Function' (e.g., AVG, RMS), 'Acquisition Rate' (e.g., 0.05, 0.1), and 'Enabled' status, allowing users to configure data logging parameters.

Virtual Disturbance Monitoring

Identify VSSI and rapid voltage changes with up to a half-cycle resolution and record them indefinitely. The application generates events that capture data for the duration of the disturbance. Settings include customizing trigger thresholds, hysteresis, and dynamic voltage base.

Diagram Description: The 'SEL Event Express' interface displays event details for a virtual disturbance. It includes an Event ID, Filename, Station Name, Device ID, Trigger Time, Frequency, and Sample Rate. Two primary plots are shown: one displaying 'Amps' over time for three phases (IA.RMS, IB.RMS, IC.RMS) and another displaying 'Volts' over time for three phases (VA.RMS, VB.RMS, VC.RMS), indicating a voltage sag event. A 'SAGB' indicator is also present.

Flicker and Harmonics Monitoring

Monitor and record harmonic values as high as the 100th order with individual harmonic magnitudes and angles as well as THD. Calculate 200 ms interharmonics as component, group, or subgroup for IEC 61000-4-30 compliance. Calculate 1-cycle harmonics for fast THD calculations. Export the waveforms into COMTRADE format and import them into SEL-5601-2 SYNCHROWAVE Event Software for additional waveform analysis.

Monitor maximum instantaneous and short-term flicker values. Trend flicker with LDP application for variable long-term flicker. Flicker is an indicator of fluctuation of voltage magnitude in the 8–10 Hz frequency band. Flicker can interfere with the human eye and brain from flickering light bulbs and affect sensitive electrical equipment.

Diagram Description: Two plots are presented. The top plot, 'IA 1CYC THD', shows the Total Harmonic Distortion percentage across various frequencies (Hz). The bottom plot, within the 'SEL DataExport' interface, displays a bar chart labeled 'Harmonics Measurements' representing the current magnitude for 'MFG_2440_BLDG_1_2.T35_PHASEA.CURRENT' across frequencies (Hz).

Virtual PMU

Calculate IEEE C37.118 synchrophasors from the continuous waveform streaming data. This includes voltage phasors, current phasors, frequency, and rate-of-change of frequency (ROCOF) at a rate of 50 or 60 Hz. Visualize and compare the data easily alongside other phasor measurement units (PMUs) in your system.

Application Examples

Synchrowave Virtual Meter supports the following SEL continuous waveform streaming devices:

• SEL-735 Power Quality and Revenue Meter with Continuous Waveform Streaming protocol
• SEL-T35 Time-Domain Power Monitor
• SEL RTAC with the SEL-2242-42 AC Protection Module

Power Quality Monitoring and Troubleshooting

View continuous waveform streaming data to capture all disturbances without programming pickup triggers. Use monitor applications, such as Virtual Disturbance Monitor, Signal Monitor, or Oscillation Monitor, to quickly and easily identify power quality related disturbances. Use the Oscillation Monitor to trigger on oscillations bins up to the Nyquist rate of the signal. Use the signal monitor to create notifications based on defined thresholds and pickup times for any signal in the software. Time-align the notifications to power system operations to identify trip operations, system faults, and equipment schedules.

Characterize Data Center Loads

Measure, identify, and visualize rapid power fluctuations and voltage oscillations commonly observed at data centers involved in AI training and inference.

Diagram Description: A line graph labeled 'Three-Phase Power' shows power (MW) over time. It highlights periods of high power consumption labeled 'Prompt Phases' and 'Token Phases', indicating rapid power fluctuations characteristic of data center loads.

Identify Subcycle Transients

Record waveform streaming data to identify and visualize subcycle transients not detected by triggered event captures. Compare cycle-by-cycle waveform data to detect sudden abnormal waveshapes, voltage and current transients, and rapid voltage changes.

Diagram Description: Two plots are presented. The top plot, 'Voltage Monitor', shows voltage magnitude over time, clearly indicating a sharp, short-duration transient event. The bottom plot, 'Voltage Waveform', provides a detailed view of the voltage cycle-by-cycle, highlighting a subcycle transient and rapid voltage changes.

Technical Support

We appreciate your interest in SEL products and services. If you have questions or comments, please contact us at:

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
2350 NE Hopkins Court
Pullman, WA 99163-5603 U.S.A.
Tel: +1.509.338.3838
Fax: +1.509.332.7990
Internet: selinc.com/support
Email: info@selinc.com

© 2025 by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.

Content subject to change without notice.

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SCHWEITZER ENGINEERING LABORATORIES, INC.
2350 NE Hopkins Court Pullman, WA 99163-5603 U.S.A.
Tel: +1.509.332.1890 Fax: +1.509.332.7990
selinc.com info@selinc.com

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