Communicating with power grids.

A new family of Industrial IoT gateways for Smart Grid applications has been launched by HMS Industrial Networks. The Anybus SG-gateways enable communication between industrial applications and energy protocols. This communication is the very basis for the so called “Smart Grid” where power plants and energy equipment are interacting with industrial applications. The SG-gateways are yet another example of how HMS realizes the Industrial Internet of Things.

The new SG-gateways enable communication between industrial devices running Modbus, PROFIBUS, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, or M-Bus and energy protocols (IEC61850 and IEC60870-5-104). This means that a power plant control room which is using the IEC protocols, can connect to industrial devices such as generators, drives, filters and protection equipment.

Since these gateways can act both as a master and slave, it is also possible to connect Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) which communicate over IEC-standards, to industrial networks, allowing them to be controlled by PLCs from e.g. Siemens, Rockwell or Mitsubishi.

The Anybus SG-gateways can also be used to enable remote control and management of electrical equipment in power grids. Data is sent over Ethernet or the 3G cellular network using the telecontrol protocols, after which the data can be presented by a software application in the power plant control room.

Different versions – same configuration
The Anybus SG-gateways are available in different versions for handling various industrial networks and communication standards. These include I/O, Modbus, PROFIBUS, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, or M-Bus. All versions use the same web-based configuration tool where commands are dragged and dropped, allowing for a quick and easy installation. No additional engineering tools are needed, only a standard browser.

“The Anybus SG-gateways are very powerful tools for handling the conversion between energy and industry standards," says Niklas Selander, Product Manager at HMS Industrial Networks. “The Smart Grid can offer substantial energy savings and optimizations and there is a great demand in the market to create smarter energy solutions. But to make the Smart Grid come true, you need communication between the complex IEC protocols and the industrial world. Our new SG-gateways solve that problem. We already have a number of big industrial customers using the solution.”