JP7709907B2 - Digital protection relay device and display method for digital protection relay device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a digital protection relay device having a display using an LED (Light Emitting Diode), and a display method for the digital protection relay device.

Patent document 1 describes a digital protective relay that aims to allow the user to easily check the input state without using an expensive display. Patent document 1 describes that "in a digital protective relay equipped with a display that displays the input state of current and voltage, the relay is equipped with an arithmetic circuit that calculates a quadrant number on a specified characteristic diagram, which is a value indicating the input state, and the display is composed of an LED that can display the quadrant number, and displays the quadrant number using data indicating the quadrant number output by the arithmetic circuit as an input."

JP 2010-279183 A

The digital protective relay described in Patent Document 1 has an LED that can display the quadrant number, and is capable of displaying only the quadrant number calculated internally. Therefore, it is not possible to display lowercase alphabetic characters or symbols such as "φ" that are frequently used in monitoring and protecting power systems. Thus, in the past, there was a limit to the state display expression by the LED on the digital protective relay device. Therefore, in order to check detailed information about the state of the power system and the digital protective relay device, it was necessary to connect an external device such as a notebook PC (Personal Computer) or tablet terminal to the digital protective relay device. Furthermore, in the past, when an operator performed setting operations on a digital protective relay device that only had a simple display device, it was necessary to connect an external device to the digital protective relay device and check the contents displayed on the screen of the external device before setting it.

In addition, if an abnormality was detected in the digital protection relay device, it was necessary to connect an external device to confirm the nature of the abnormality and perform recovery work. The operator had to carry the external device to the digital protection relay device and connect it to the digital protection relay device, which made the confirmation and recovery work time-consuming and laborious.

In recent years, there has been a strong demand for smaller and cheaper digital protection relay devices. However, LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) and general-purpose LEDs divided into segments are thick. In addition, displays that occupy a large amount of the surface area of the associated circuit board prevent the miniaturization of the digital protection relay device housing itself and the circuit boards mounted inside the housing.

Furthermore, products that combine a display and a circuit board, such as LCDs and VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) fluorescent tubes, are expensive and costly, and therefore cannot be used in digital protective relay devices. For this reason, the information that operators could obtain from digital protective relay devices was previously limited to simple information such as LED on/off status and phenomenon numbers. As a result, it was not possible to directly read detailed and diverse information expressed in letters and symbols from the digital protective relay device.

Digital protection relay devices are also expected to operate for long periods of time, for 15 years or more. For this reason, displays are also required to have a long lifespan that will not reach the end of their lifespan during operation of the digital protection relay device. For example, LCD displays are sold in a form in which a dedicated microcomputer for controlling the LCD (hereafter abbreviated as "dedicated microcomputer"), memory for storing data, and an LCD are all mounted on a board (hereafter referred to as "LCD module"). In other words, it is common to use the LCD, dedicated microcomputer, memory, etc., already mounted on the board.

In addition, many of the semiconductors used in LCD modules are consumer products and are not designed to withstand long-term operation like digital protection relay devices. On the other hand, if an LCD module is manufactured using industrial-grade semiconductors, it will have to be custom-made, which will further increase the price. As such, it has traditionally been difficult to achieve both a wide range of expression and a long lifespan in digital protection relay devices.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above situation, and aims to provide a digital protective relay device and a display method thereof that at least achieves both the display of a wide variety of information and a long life, without using a display device that requires a large space inside the housing or an expensive display device.

In order to solve the above problems, a digital protective relay device according to one aspect of the present invention is a digital protective relay device that protects a power system, and includes a display device having multiple surface-mounted LEDs, and a display control unit that calculates the content of information to be displayed on the display device based on input information, generates a lighting signal that controls the lighting pattern of the multiple surface-mounted LEDs, and outputs the lighting signal to the display device.

In addition, a display method of a digital protective relay device in one aspect of the present invention is a display method of a digital protective relay device that protects a power system, and includes a process in which the digital protective relay device calculates the content of information to be displayed on a display having multiple surface-mounted LEDs based on input information, and a process in which the digital protective relay device generates a lighting signal that controls the lighting pattern of the multiple surface-mounted LEDs based on the content of the calculation, and outputs the lighting signal to the display.

According to at least one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a digital protective relay device and a display method thereof that can at least display a wide variety of information while having a long life, without using a display device that requires a large space inside the housing or an expensive display device.
Problems, configurations and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a digital protection relay device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a method for lighting characters on an LED character display of the digital protection relay device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an LED lighting signal table used when lighting an LED character display of a digital protection relay device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a schematic front view showing an example of a lighting method for an LED character display using an LED lighting pattern according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example (1) of a character represented by lighting five LEDs arranged vertically and five LEDs horizontally according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example (2) of a character represented by lighting five LEDs arranged vertically and five LEDs horizontally according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example (3) of a character represented by lighting five LEDs arranged vertically and five LEDs horizontally according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a digital protection relay device for switching on and off an assembly of surface-mounted LEDs at high speed according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 13A to 13C are diagrams showing examples of the contents of an LED lighting signal for realizing a character lighting method for an LED character display according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 13A to 13C are diagrams showing examples of displays on an LED character display when lighting of a group of surface-mounted LEDs according to a third embodiment of the present invention is switched on and off at high speed. 13A to 13C are diagrams showing examples of switchable menu displays using an LED character display according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

Below, examples of embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this specification and the accompanying drawings, components having substantially the same functions or configurations are designated by the same reference numerals and duplicate descriptions will be omitted.

First Embodiment
First, the configuration of a digital protection relay device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a digital protection relay device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
The illustrated digital protection relay device 100 is configured to include an LED character display 101, a protection control calculation unit 102, a non-volatile memory 103, an operation unit 104, an input converter 105, an A/D conversion unit 106, an output circuit 107, and an input/output terminal 108. For example, the operation unit 104 may include a plurality of push-type operation switches.

Analog signals of current and voltage of the power system that is the object of protection and control by the digital protection relay device 100 are input to the input converter 105 inside the digital protection relay device 100 via the input/output terminal 108. The input converter 105 converts the input high-level analog signals of current and voltage into low-level signals that can be recognized (processed) by the electronic circuit of the A/D conversion unit 106, and inputs them to the A/D conversion unit 106. The A/D conversion unit 106 converts the analog signals input from the input converter 105 into digital signals, and inputs the digital signals (current signals and voltage signals) to the protection control calculation unit 102.

The protection control calculation unit 102 is composed of a microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as "microcomputer") and includes a processor 301 and a non-volatile built-in memory 302, for example, as shown in FIG. 2. The processor 301 reads out a software program that realizes the functions of the digital protection relay device 100 according to this embodiment from the built-in memory 302 or the non-volatile memory 103, and deploys the program in a RAM (random access memory) (not shown) for execution. The protection control calculation unit 102, which includes the processor 301 and the built-in memory 302, is used as an example of a computer that controls the operation of the digital protection relay device 100.

The protection control calculation unit 102 monitors whether there are any abnormalities in the current and voltage values of the digital signals obtained from the input converter 105 and the A/D conversion unit 106. Normal current and voltage information is stored in the non-volatile memory 103 as setting value information (values for implementing protection control or alarm). The protection control calculation unit 102 compares the current and voltage of the digital signal input from the A/D conversion unit 106 with the setting value information read from the non-volatile memory 103, and executes processing according to the comparison result. If the protection control calculation unit 102 detects an abnormality in the current or voltage from the comparison result, it outputs an output signal to the output circuit 107. Then, the output circuit 107 that has received the output signal outputs a cutoff command signal to an external cutoff device via the input/output terminal 108.

The protection control calculation unit 102 also calculates the contents of the information to be displayed on the LED character display 101 based on input information such as information on the current and voltage of the power system and the operation signal output by the operation unit 104. The protection control calculation unit 102 then generates a lighting signal that controls the lighting pattern of multiple surface-mounted LEDs (chip LEDs) based on the results of this calculation, and outputs the lighting signal to the LED character display 101. The LED character display 101 displays information that indicates the state of the power system, information on the protection functions of the power system, and the like.

The LED character display 101 is configured with multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 arranged vertically and horizontally as shown in FIG. 2. For example, the size of the surface-mounted LEDs ranges from a very small size of about 1.0 mm x 0.5 mm to a size of several mm x several mm, but all of them are small and can be considered point-like. The surface-mounted LEDs 304 are small, and even if multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 are arranged vertically and horizontally, the thickness and mounting area are not compressed, so it is possible to make the digital protection relay device 100 smaller than conventional devices. The number of surface-mounted LEDs 304 arranged in the LED character display 101 is changed depending on the number of characters required and the size of the characters.

In addition, when the operator operates the operation unit 104, the LED character display 101 displays the setting value information stored in the non-volatile memory 103, the input voltage and current values, and information for setting the digital protection relay device 100 (for example, see FIG. 11).

An example of information to be displayed on the LED character display 101 is the numerical values of the input value information of voltage and current that is input to the protection control calculation unit 102 via the input converter 105 and A/D conversion unit 106. The input value information requires units such as "mA", "A", "V", "π", and "φ". Therefore, in order to directly display the input value information on the digital protection relay device 100, it is necessary to express these units.

In addition, the digital protection relay device 100 performs settings and operation checks on the device itself. For this reason, the digital protection relay device 100 allows an operator to perform these tasks by operating the operation unit 104. The digital protection relay device 100 displays setting information consisting of alphabets and Greek letters, numbers, and symbols on the LED character display 101, and uses the operation unit 104 to perform command transitions, decisions, numerical input, etc., to set the operating conditions of the device, check the set information, etc. Hereinafter, in this specification, when there is no distinction between alphabets, Greek letters, numbers, and symbols, or when they are referred to collectively, they will be referred to as "characters" or "information."

Next, a method for displaying information by lighting the surface-mounted LED 304 provided on the LED character display 101 in the digital protection relay device 100 will be described with reference to Figures 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a method of lighting characters on the LED character display 101 of the digital protection relay device 100.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an LED lighting signal table used when lighting the LED character display 101 of the digital protection relay device 100.

In the digital protection relay device 100, the protection control calculation unit 102 and the LED character display 101 are connected by a signal line 303. Here, as an example, the LED character display 101 is configured with a total of 25 surface-mounted LEDs 304, 5 vertically and 5 horizontally. In this specification, the state in which such a plurality of surface-mounted LEDs 304 are arranged together is referred to as an assembly 305 of a plurality of surface-mounted LEDs 304.

The signal lines 303 are made up of 25 lines, [D00] to [D24], and each signal line 303 is connected to one surface-mounted LED 304. In other words, each of the 25 signal lines 303 is individually connected to one of the 25 surface-mounted LEDs 304. By inputting a lighting signal from the protection control calculation unit 102 to each of the signal lines 303, the surface-mounted LEDs 304 are turned on, and the LEDs are transitioned from an off state (off in the upper right corner of Figure 2) to an on state (on in the lower right corner of Figure 2).

The surface-mounted LEDs 304 to be lit can be selected by changing the signal line 303 that inputs the lighting signal depending on the content to be displayed. As shown in the LED lighting signal table 200 (see FIG. 3), the signal line 303 that inputs the lighting signal is selected according to the surface-mounted LEDs 304 to be lit, and the lighting signal is input to the surface-mounted LEDs 304, causing the surface-mounted LEDs 304 at the corresponding LED coordinates to light up. Information is displayed on the LED character display 101 (when lit) by lighting the surface-mounted LEDs 304 required to express information.

Figure 3 shows an example of the LED lighting signal table 200 when displaying the alphabet "A". The LED lighting signal table 200 has the following items: "Signal line", "Corresponding LED coordinates", and "Lighting signal". "Signal line" is an item that indicates the identification information of the signal line 303 ([D00] to [D24]).

"Corresponding LED coordinates" is an item that indicates the coordinates (position) of each surface-mounted LED 304 in a group 305 of multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the corresponding LED coordinates of the bottom row (fifth row from the top) of the group 305 shown in FIG. 2 are "0" to "4" from the right, the corresponding LED coordinates of the row above that (fourth row) are "5" to "9" from the right, the corresponding LED coordinates of the center row (third row) are "10" to "14" from the right, the corresponding LED coordinates of the row above that (second row) are "15" to "19" from the right, and the corresponding LED coordinates of the top row (first row) are "20" to "24" from the right. The corresponding LED coordinates "24" to "0" correspond to the signal lines "D00" to "D24", respectively.

The "lighting signal" is an item that stores information (e.g., flag information of 0 or 1) that instructs each surface-mounted LED 304 to be turned on or off, with the value being "0" for off and "1" for on.

The contents of the "corresponding LED coordinates" and "lighting signals" in the LED lighting signal table 200 are the same as the contents of the lighting pattern data 402 in the information 400 shown in Figures 4 to 7 described below. The LED lighting signal table 200 may be created for each representation character and stored in the built-in memory 302. By storing at least the correspondence between the "signal line" and the "corresponding LED coordinates" in the built-in memory 302, the protection control calculation unit 102 can create the LED lighting signal table 200 by referring to the lighting pattern data 402 for each representation character.

In this way, the digital protection relay device 100 is capable of displaying a variety of letters, numbers, and symbols using multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 by selecting the surface-mounted LEDs 304 to be lit. By providing multiple LED character displays 101 (assemblies 305 made up of multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304) according to the number of characters and content to be displayed, it is also possible to display multiple characters and even more complex information. Display control for multiple assemblies 305 will be described in detail in the third embodiment described below.

As described above, the digital protection relay device 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is configured to include a display (LED character display 101) having multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 arranged vertically and horizontally, and a display control unit (protection control calculation unit 102) that calculates the content of information to be displayed on the display based on input information, generates a lighting signal that controls the lighting pattern of the multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304, and outputs the lighting signal to the display.

The digital protection relay device 100 according to the first embodiment configured as described above arranges surface-mounted LEDs 304 vertically and horizontally and controls the lighting of the surface-mounted LEDs 304. This makes it possible to display a wide variety of information (letters, numbers, symbols) that could not be expressed by LEDs divided into segments, without using displays that require a large space inside the housing or expensive displays.

In addition, in this embodiment, even in terms of durability over long-term operation, a graphic display such as an LCD module, which has poor component reliability, is not used, and industrial specification components can be used for the surface-mounted LEDs 304 and the driving (control IC) semiconductors, ensuring a long life. Furthermore, in this embodiment, by realizing compactness and low cost while meeting the long life requirements and making it possible to display a wide variety of information, the long-term operational convenience of the digital protection relay device 100 can be significantly improved.

In addition, LCD modules have characteristics such as a faint display in low-temperature environments, which creates problems with visibility reliability. Displays used in digital protective relay devices that protect and control power systems are also required to have reliable visibility. In this regard, this embodiment does not use a graphic display, but instead displays information using an assembly 305 composed of multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304, thereby ensuring a long life and high reliability in visibility.

In addition, according to this embodiment, the operator can perform setting operations on the digital protection relay device 100 and read input information and setting information stored in the digital protection relay device 100 without connecting an external device to the digital protection relay device 100. Therefore, in this embodiment, the information that can be obtained directly from the digital protection relay device 100 is significantly increased, and the range of direct operations that can be performed on the digital protection relay device 100 without using an external device can be greatly expanded. This makes it possible to reduce the effort and time required for these operations.

In addition, in the digital protection relay device 100 according to the second embodiment, the lighting control of the surface-mounted LEDs 304 is performed using the protection control calculation unit 102 for performing protection control, which is the original function of the digital protection relay device 100. That is, in the digital protection relay device 100, the display control unit (corresponding to the protection control calculation unit 102 when performing display control) is shared with the protection control calculation unit (corresponding to the protection control calculation unit 102 when performing protection control) that performs calculations for the protection control of the digital protection relay device 100.

In this embodiment of the above configuration, by using surface-mounted LEDs 304, it is possible to select a long-life (and highly reliable) microcontroller and control IC (see FIG. 8, for example) without using a dedicated microcontroller for display control that is mounted on the board together with the LCD as in an LCD module. In other words, in this embodiment, unlike an LCD module, there is a high degree of freedom in the semiconductors that can be used for the microcontroller and control IC (Integrated Circuit), making it possible to use industrial semiconductors (long-life, highly reliable) for the microcontroller and control IC.

However, the present invention does not exclude a configuration that includes a display control unit (microcomputer) that controls the lighting of the LED character display 101 (multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304) in addition to the protection control calculation unit 102 for performing protection control, which is the original function of the digital protection relay device 100. Even if the protection control calculation unit 102 and the display control unit are configured separately, the same effects as those described above can be achieved.

Second Embodiment
As described in the first embodiment, it is necessary to control the lighting of a large number of surface-mounted LEDs 304 in order to display information obtained from the digital protective relay device 100 as characters, numbers, and symbols. In the second embodiment, a preferred display method for realizing, in one protection control calculation unit 102, a display control function for controlling the display function of the LED character display 101 and a protection control calculation function for performing calculations for controlling the protection function of the power system will be described.

Conventionally, graphic displays such as LCD modules have been displayed by implementing a high-performance microcomputer for display control, which controls the operation of the LCD module, etc. As such, graphic displays require a high-performance microcomputer for display control, which increases the cost of the components and takes up mounting space on the board.

As explained in the first embodiment, the principle of controlling the lighting of the multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 used in the present invention is simple. Therefore, it is possible to have the protection control calculation unit 102, which performs calculations for protection control, which is the original role of the digital protection relay device 100 shown in Figure 1, control the lighting of the multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 provided in the LED character display 101.

When the protection control calculation unit 102 controls the lighting of the surface-mounted LEDs 304, it is not necessary to separately mount a microcomputer for LED lighting control, which makes it possible to reduce costs and save space. However, when there are a large number of surface-mounted LEDs 304 for which LED lighting control is performed, the calculation performance of the protection control calculation unit 102 is used to control the lighting of the surface-mounted LEDs 304, and the performance related to the protection control calculation, which is the original role of the digital protection relay device 100, decreases. Therefore, in the second embodiment, by using the configuration described below, the decrease in the calculation performance of the protection control calculation unit 102 due to the lighting control of the surface-mounted LEDs 304 is suppressed.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing an example of a lighting method of the LED character display 101 using an LED lighting pattern according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, in order to solve the problem of a decrease in the calculation performance of the protection control calculation unit 102, an LED lighting pattern for the characters, numbers, and symbols to be displayed on the LED character display 101 is determined. Information 400 about the LED lighting pattern is stored in the built-in memory 302 or non-volatile memory 103 provided inside the protection control calculation unit 102. The protection control calculation unit 102 is configured to read out information 400 about the LED lighting pattern of the characters to be displayed from the built-in memory 302 or the like, and display the characters on the LED character display 101. In this embodiment, the description will be given on the assumption that the information 400 about the LED lighting pattern is stored in the built-in memory 302. When the information 400 is stored in the built-in memory 302, the processor 301 can read out the information 400 at a faster speed than when the information 400 is stored in the non-volatile memory 103.

As shown in FIG. 4, the way in which characters, numbers, and symbols that need to be displayed in the digital protection relay device 100 are represented by lighting multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 is determined in advance, and the information 400 is saved in the built-in memory 302 using an external device or the like. The saved information 400 includes representation characters 401, lighting pattern data 402 for each character, and LED lighting patterns 403. The LED lighting patterns 403 are images showing the appearance of the surface-mounted LEDs 304 when they are actually lit based on the lighting pattern data 402, and correspond to the types of representation characters 401. The lighting pattern data 402 is information showing the LED lighting patterns (lighting signals for each corresponding LED coordinate) that light up according to the LED lighting patterns 403.

For example, when it becomes necessary to display "A" as information on the LED character display 101, the processor 301 reads out the lighting pattern data 402 of the display character "A" from the built-in memory 302 of the protection control calculation unit 102. The processor 301 then inputs the read lighting pattern data 402 of "A" as lighting pattern 404 to the LED character display 101, thereby lighting up the surface-mounted LED 304 with the specified LED lighting pattern "A".

Next, an example of an LED lighting pattern using surface-mounted LEDs 304 arranged five vertically and five horizontally for a character to be displayed is shown in FIG. 5 to FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example (1) of a character expressed by lighting up surface-mounted LEDs 304 arranged five vertically and five horizontally according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example (2) of a character expressed by lighting up surface-mounted LEDs 304 arranged five vertically and five horizontally according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example (3) of a character expressed by lighting up surface-mounted LEDs 304 arranged five vertically and five horizontally according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 shows examples of LED lighting patterns for the uppercase alphabet characters "A" through "Z" as characters to be displayed. Figure 6 shows examples of LED lighting patterns for the lowercase alphabet characters "a" through "z" as characters to be displayed. Figure 7 shows examples of LED lighting patterns for the Arabic numerals "1" through "0", various symbols "(" through "_", and Greek letters "φ" through "π" as characters to be displayed.

In this way, by creating the characters to be displayed and the lighting patterns of the surface-mounted LEDs 304 to be lit, storing the lighting patterns in the built-in memory 302, etc., and reading them out to control the lighting, it is possible to control the lighting of a large number of surface-mounted LEDs 304 without using a large amount of the calculation performance of the protection and control calculation unit 102.

As described above, in the digital protection relay device 100 according to the second embodiment, the display control unit (protection control calculation unit 102) includes a storage unit (built-in memory 302 or non-volatile memory 103) that stores user-recognizable lighting patterns that represent letters, numbers, and symbols as lighting patterns of the multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304. The display control unit is configured to read out a lighting pattern that corresponds to the result of calculating the contents of the information to be displayed on the display unit (LED character display unit 101) from the lighting patterns stored in the storage unit, and to generate a lighting signal that controls the read-out lighting pattern.

The digital protection relay device 100 according to the second embodiment configured as described above does not include a dedicated microcomputer for controlling the display, and is configured to simply read out the lighting pattern data 402 stored in the built-in memory 302 or the like and output it to the LED character display 101, even when the protection control calculation unit 102 is made to perform LED lighting control. As a result, in this embodiment, the protection control calculation unit 102 does not need to perform advanced LED lighting control calculations. Therefore, lighting control of the multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 provided in the LED character display 101 can be performed without impairing the protection control calculation performance of the protection control calculation unit 102.

Third Embodiment
In the first and second embodiments, it is possible to express letters, numbers, and symbols by arranging a large number of surface-mounted LEDs 304 and controlling their lighting. However, by simultaneously lighting a plurality of assemblies 305 consisting of a plurality of surface-mounted LEDs 304, the power consumption of the digital protection relay device 100 increases. In addition, the number of signal output pins for outputting a lighting signal from the protection control calculation unit 102 is limited. For example, when one surface-mounted LED 304 is connected to one signal line 303 (see FIG. 2), the number of surface-mounted LEDs 304 whose lighting can be controlled is small. Therefore, in the third embodiment, the display of different assemblies 305 of surface-mounted LEDs 304 is switched at a predetermined time interval.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a digital protection relay device 100 for switching on and off an assembly of surface-mounted LEDs 304 at high speed according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
8, in this embodiment, in order to realize suppression of power consumption and lighting control of many surface mount LEDs 304 with a small number of signal lines, the surface mount LEDs 304 to be lit are lit in multiple batches at high speed for each character. This reduces the number of surface mount LEDs 304 that are lit at one time, suppressing power consumption and enabling lighting control of many surface mount LEDs 304 with limited signal lines 303.

Figure 8 shows an example of an LED character display 101 capable of displaying six characters by arranging six collective arrangement LEDs (groups 305) in which surface-mounted LEDs 304 are arranged in a matrix of five vertical and five horizontal rows to display one character. The LED character display 101 is composed of a total of 150 surface-mounted LEDs 304. The LED character display 101 lights up the surface-mounted LEDs 304 based on the LED lighting signal output by the protection control calculation unit 102.

Figure 9 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of an LED lighting signal that realizes a character lighting method of an LED character display 101 according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The LED lighting signal contents 900 shown in Figure 9 are composed of 32-bit information. The LED lighting signal contents 900 have the items of "bit", "transmission signal", and "transmission order". Each piece of information (number) indicated by the "bit" corresponds to the corresponding LED coordinate in Figure 3. "Transmission signal" information (0 or 1) is set for each bit. (1) to (4) indicated in the "transmission order" represent the order of the 8-bit LED lighting signal 806 output by the protection control calculation unit 102.

Of the 32 bits, bits 0 to 24 are information (corresponding to the lighting signal in Figures 3 and 4) that instructs turning on/off each of the 25 surface-mounted LEDs 304 that make up the group 305. Bits 25 to 30 are information that switches the lighting characters (groups 305). By switching the content of the information in bits 25 to 30, the lighting of the six groups 305 connected to the signal lines indicated by [25] to [30] in Figure 8 is switched. The 31st bit is unused.

The LED lighting signal 806 is output from the protection control calculation unit 102 via the signal line 303 (see FIG. 2) in four separate 8-bit increments to the LED lighting circuit 802 and the lighting character switching circuit 803. The LED lighting circuit 802 and the lighting character switching circuit 803 receive the four 8-bit LED lighting signals 806 (LED lighting signals (1) to (4) in FIG. 9) and temporarily store the received bit information. The LED lighting circuit 802 and the lighting character switching circuit 803 can be configured using a flip-flop circuit, for example.

The LED lighting circuit 802 receives the switching control signal 805 output from the switching control signal generation circuit 801, and outputs a 25-bit LED lighting signal 807 to each group 305 of the LED character display 101 based on four 8-bit LED lighting signals 806. The LED lighting circuit 802 generates the 25-bit LED lighting signal 807 using the LED lighting signals (1) to (4) [24:0] in FIG. 9.

The lighted character switching circuit 803 also receives the switching control signal 805 output from the switching control signal generating circuit 801, and outputs a 6-bit lighted character switching signal 808 to each group 305 of the LED character display 101 based on the four 8-bit LED lighting signals 806. The lighted character switching circuit 803 generates the 6-bit lighted character switching signal 808 by using, in particular, the LED lighting signal (4) [30:25] in FIG. 9.

The LED character display 101 lights up the surface-mounted LEDs 304 of the target assembly 305 according to the 25-bit LED lighting signal 807 received from the LED lighting circuit 802 and the 6-bit lighting character switching signal 808 received from the lighting character switching circuit 803.

The switching control signal generating circuit 801 is connected to the protection control calculation unit 102 by a signal line, and receives a switching timing signal 804 output from the protection control calculation unit 102. The switching timing signal 804 is a signal that indicates the switching timing of the output of a flip-flop circuit (not shown) provided in each of the LED lighting circuit 802 and the lighted character switching circuit 803. The switching timing signal 804 also functions as a signal that resets the bit information held by the flip-flop circuit. The switching timing signal indicates the timing (time interval) for switching the display of each assembly 305 composed of multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 shown in FIG. 9, and in this embodiment, it is n [ms] (see FIG. 10). Then, the switching control signal generating circuit 801 outputs a switching control signal 805 for controlling the switching operation of the LED lighting circuit 802 and the lighted character switching circuit 803 to each flip-flop circuit based on the switching timing signal 804.

In the LED lighting signal content 900 at a certain time, the 25th bit in the "display character selection" is "1". In addition, the character represented by the "LED lighting signal" is "A" (see Figures 2 to 4). Therefore, as shown in Figure 8, the group 305 of surface-mounted LEDs 304 (first character 1001) connected to the signal line indicated by [25] is selected.

The above-mentioned switching control signal generating circuit 801, LED lighting circuit 802, and illuminated character switching circuit 803 can be configured, for example, by a control IC, which is an ultra-small electronic circuit.

Next, a display example of the LED character display 101 when the illumination of the assembly 305 of surface-mounted LEDs 304 according to the third embodiment of the present invention is switched on and off at high speed will be described with reference to FIG. 10.

Figure 10 is a diagram showing an example of the display on the LED character display 101 when the illumination of the assembly 305 of surface-mounted LEDs 304 according to the third embodiment of the present invention is switched at high speed. The upper part of Figure 10 shows an example of a visual image 1000 when the characters displayed on the LED character display 101 are switched one character at a time. The lower part of Figure 10 shows an example of an image of the LED illumination switching for each character.

As an example, to display the final visual image 1000, a group 305 of surface-mounted LEDs 304 for six characters (grouped arrangement LEDs) is shown switching the characters displayed at intervals of n [ms]. Each group 305 for six characters is the first character 1001 to the sixth character 1006. The first character 1001 "LED not lit", the second character 1002 "P", the third character 1003 "U", the fourth character 1004 "T", the fifth character 1005 "E", and the sixth character 1006 "S" are displayed in time division order. Switching through the first character 1001 to the sixth character 1006 completes one cycle, and one cycle has a period [ms/cycle] of n [ms] x m [characters].

Although FIG. 10 shows how the displayed characters are switched in the order of the first character 1001 to the sixth character 1006, the order in which the displayed characters are switched is not limited to this. By setting the switching time n [ms] to a predetermined short time, the human eye will see all six characters (five characters are actually lit in FIG. 10) as if they were lit due to an afterimage. Therefore, it is possible for the user to recognize the display content "SETUP" shown in the visual image 1000. The switching time n [ms] is determined in advance by experiment, simulation, etc., and is stored in the built-in memory 302 or the non-volatile memory 103.

As described above, in the digital protection relay device 100 according to the third embodiment, the display (LED character display 101) has a plurality of assemblies 305 each made up of a plurality of surface-mounted LEDs 304, and the display control unit (protection control calculation unit 102) controls each of the assemblies 305 each made up of a plurality of surface-mounted LEDs 304 to light up in sequence at a time interval equal to or less than a predetermined value (e.g., n [ms]) based on the result of calculating the content of the information to be displayed on the display. In this way, by lighting up the plurality of assemblies 305 in sequence at a time interval equal to or less than a predetermined value, the user can view the information such as a plurality of characters displayed on the display without feeling uncomfortable.

Furthermore, according to the digital protection relay device 100 of the third embodiment, a group 305 (grouped LEDs) of surface-mounted LEDs 304 to be lit for each character is selected, and the group 305 to be lit is switched, so that the group 305 lit at one time is one character's worth of group. Therefore, the current consumption of the digital protection relay device 100 can be the current consumption required to light the surface-mounted LEDs 304 that make up the group 305 for one character. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in power consumption of the LED character display 101 of the digital protection relay device 100.

In addition, by switching the group 305 of surface-mounted LEDs 304 to be lit, the number of signal lines 303 used by the protection control calculation unit 102 can be reduced. This makes it possible to control the lighting of many surface-mounted LEDs 304 arranged on the LED character display 101 with a small number of signal lines 303.

[Modification of the third embodiment]
In addition, in the digital protection relay device 100, the display control unit (protection control calculation unit 102) may control the lighting time of a specific group 305 among multiple groups 305 composed of multiple surface-mounted LEDs 304 to be changed.

By making the transition time of a particular character (the time from displaying one character to displaying another character), for example the time it takes to transition from the sixth character 1006 to the first character 1001, shorter than the transition time of the other characters, the lighting time of the sixth character 1006 becomes shorter, and the character appears darker than the other characters. Conversely, by making the transition time longer, the lighting time of the character becomes longer, and the character appears brighter than the other characters.

In this way, in the digital protection relay device 100, by adjusting the lighting time (transition time) of each character (assembly 305 of surface-mounted LEDs 304), it is possible to adjust the brightness of the letters, numbers, symbols, etc. displayed on the LED character display 101. Therefore, for example, it is possible to highlight part of the display information on the LED character display 101, thereby achieving a wider range of expression.

Fourth Embodiment
By displaying uppercase/lowercase alphabetical characters, numbers, symbols, etc. on the LED character display 101, it is possible to display simplified setting information of protection functions on the digital protection relay device 100. In the fourth embodiment, a method for performing setting operations and referring to setting information, etc. using the LED character display 101 based on an input operation by an operator to the operation unit 104 in the digital protection relay device 100 will be described below.

Figure 11 is a diagram showing an example of a switchable menu display using an LED character display 101 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. Figure 11 shows an example of setting information provided in a digital protection relay device 100, which is configured from the first to fourth hierarchical levels.

[Settings]
In this embodiment, the initial display 1100 displays "SETUP.""SETUP" is a display mode for performing various settings of the digital protection relay device 100. From here, the operator presses the operation unit 104, for example, an operation switch with a "→" symbol, to transition to the display of the second hierarchical level 1101. When transitioning to a different item within the same hierarchical level, the display item is transitioned by operating an operation switch with a display such as "↑" or "↓." In the second hierarchical level 1101 in the figure, it is possible to set test-related settings and date and time.

When transitioning from "SETUP" on the first level (initial display 1100) to the second level 1101, "CHECK" is displayed, and a setting display appears for switching between manual and automatic inspection modes. To switch inspection modes, the operator can press an operation switch or the like marked with the "→" symbol to transition directly to the inspection mode setting display 1102 on the third level, where settings can be made. In the setting operation, the operator can select either "AUTO", which represents automatic inspection, or "MANUAL", which represents manual inspection, by switching between these displays, and then operating an operation switch or the like marked with a positive sign such as "OK", to set the inspection mode.

When "CHECK" on the second hierarchical level 1101 is displayed, the operator can press an operation switch or the like bearing the symbol "↓" to transition to "TEST". Furthermore, when "TEST" is displayed, the operator can press an operation switch or the like bearing the symbol "→" to transition from "TEST" to the test setting display 1103 on the third hierarchical level. By selecting "DOTEST", which was displayed first on the test setting display 1103, and then operating the operation unit 104 to "confirm", it is possible to perform a test of the digital protection relay device 100.

In addition, in the test setting display 1103, when "DOTEST" is displayed, the operator can press an operation switch marked with the "↓" symbol to move to a phase for setting the conditions for testing the digital protective relay device 100, and input any numerical value, character, etc. For example, after specifying the character position with the "←" and "→" operation switches, the "↓" and "↑" operation switches can be operated to switch between and input the expression characters defined in Figures 5 to 7 in order. In the example of Figure 11, the test objects are short-circuit selection relays or earth fault selection relays "50L" and "50M", and the setting value is set to 10 times the rated load voltage (or rated load current) "×10".

In addition, after transitioning from "TEST" to "TIME" in the second hierarchical layer 1101, transition occurs from "TIME" to the date setting display 1104 in the third hierarchical layer. In the date setting display 1104, it is possible to set the date when the setting operation of the digital protection relay device 100 was performed. Furthermore, transition occurs from "YEAR", "MONTH", and "DAY" in the date setting display 1104 in the third hierarchical layer to the fourth hierarchical layer 1105, where it is possible to set the values of each item.

[Information reference]
Furthermore, when referring to information set in the digital protection relay device 100, an operation is performed to transition from "SETUP" in the initial display 1100 in the first layer to another item, and "STATUS" is displayed in the information reference display 1106. Then, from the state in which this "STATUS" is displayed, a transition is made to the second layer 1107, and operations such as "↑" and "↓" are performed, so that it is possible to refer to information such as values and input value information set in the digital protection relay device 100, and date. For example, in the example of FIG. 11, information such as the operating condition of the protection function is "10.0 A", the setting target is "RELAY", its type is "51_IS", the current load current is "2.5 A", the current time "TIME" set in the digital protection relay device 100 is "2021", etc. are displayed.

As described above, the digital protection relay device 100 according to the fourth embodiment includes an input device (operation unit 104) that accepts input operations by an operator as one piece of input information. The display control unit (protection control calculation unit 102) is configured to control the lighting of a plurality of assemblies 305 composed of a plurality of surface-mounted LEDs 304 based on the input operation by the operator on the input device, to display a character string used for the setting operation on a display (LED character display unit 101), and to execute settings related to the protection function of the digital protection relay device based on the content of the displayed character string and the content of the input operation on the input device.

The display control unit (protection control calculation unit 102) is also configured to control the lighting of a plurality of assemblies 305 consisting of a plurality of surface-mounted LEDs 304 based on the operator's input operation on the input device, and to display text on the display that represents information related to the protection function of the power system.

By displaying letters, numbers, and symbols in the digital protection relay device 100 configured as described above, operations such as setting operations, test execution operations, and confirmation of setting information of the digital protection relay device 100 can be performed directly using the digital protection relay device 100. In other words, these operations, which were previously performed by connecting an external device such as a laptop PC to the digital protection relay device 100, can now be performed easily. As a result, this embodiment can reduce the effort and time required to set up the digital protection relay device 100 and confirm information, making it possible to greatly improve the convenience of the digital protection relay device 100.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various other applications and modifications are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention as described in the claims. For example, the above-described embodiments are detailed and specific descriptions of the digital protective relay device and its display method in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and are not necessarily limited to those that include all of the components described. It is also possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the components of another embodiment. It is also possible to add components of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. It is also possible to add, replace, or delete other components from part of the configuration of each embodiment.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned configurations, functions, processing units, etc. may be realized in part or in whole in hardware, for example by designing them as integrated circuits. As the hardware, a broad processor device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) may be used.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the signal lines (including control lines and information lines) are those that are considered necessary for the explanation, and not all control lines and information lines in the product are necessarily shown. In reality, it can be considered that almost all components are connected to each other.

100...digital protection relay device, 101...LED character display, 102...protection control calculation unit, 103...non-volatile memory, 104...operation unit (operation switch), 105...input converter, 106...A/D conversion unit, 107...output circuit, 108...input/output terminal, 200...LED lighting signal table, 301...processor, 302...built-in memory, 303...signal line, 304...surface-mounted LED (chip LED), 305...assembly, 401...characters, 402...lighting pattern data, 403...LED lighting pattern, 404...lighting pattern, 801...switching control signal generation circuit, 80 2...LED lighting circuit, 803...lighting character switching circuit, 804...switching timing signal, 805...switching control signal, 806...LED lighting signal (8 bits), 808...lighting character switching signal (6 bits), 807...LED lighting signal (25 bits), 900...LED lighting signal content, 1000...visual image, 1001-1006...first character to sixth character, 1100...initial display, 1101...second hierarchical level, 1102...inspection mode setting display, 1103...test setting display, 1104...date setting display, 1105...fourth hierarchical level, 1106...information reference display, 1107...second hierarchical level

Claims (7)

A digital protective relay device for protecting a power system, comprising:
A display having a plurality of assemblies in which assemblies each composed of a plurality of surface mount type LEDs are arranged ;
a display control unit that calculates the content of information to be displayed on the display based on input information, generates a lighting signal that controls a lighting pattern of the surface mount type LEDs of each group , and outputs the lighting signal to the display ;
an input device that accepts an input operation by an operator as one of the input information,
the display control unit controls each of the assemblies formed of the plurality of surface mount type LEDs to be illuminated in sequence at a time interval equal to or less than a predetermined value based on a result of calculating the content of information to be displayed on the display unit;
when a left-right direction is a first direction and an up-down direction is a second direction, the input device is capable of receiving an input operation representing the first direction and the second direction from the operator,
The display control unit, when an input operation in the first direction is performed on the input device, transitions display content by the collection of the plurality of elements on the display from an item in a currently displayed hierarchical level to an item in another hierarchical level, and, when an input operation in the second direction is performed on the input device, transitions display content by the collection of the plurality of elements on the display to another item in the same hierarchical level as the currently displayed hierarchical level.
Digital protection relay device. the display control unit controls lighting of the plurality of groups of the display unit based on an input operation by the operator to the input device, and displays, on the display unit, a character string representing an item of one hierarchical level used for a setting operation;
When the input operation in the second direction is performed in this display state, the display transitions to another item in the same layer.
The digital protection relay device according to claim 1, wherein when an input operation in the first direction is performed while any item in the hierarchy is displayed, a transition is made to an item in the next hierarchy, and settings related to the protection function of the digital protection relay device are performed based on the content of the character string displayed before the transition and the content of the input operation for the item in the next hierarchy . the display control unit controls lighting of the plurality of collections on the display based on an input operation by the operator to the input device , and when an input operation in the second direction is performed with a character string representing an item in one hierarchical level in an initial display being displayed on the display, displays an item representing an information reference as an item in the same hierarchical level on the display;
The digital protection relay device according to claim 1, wherein when an input operation in the first direction is performed in this display state, a character string representing information about a protection function of the digital protection relay device is displayed on the display as an item in the next hierarchy. the display control unit includes a storage unit configured to store lighting patterns representing letters, numbers, and symbols as the lighting patterns of the plurality of surface-mounted LEDs;
The digital protection relay device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the display control unit reads out a lighting pattern corresponding to a result of calculating the content of the information to be displayed on the display from the lighting patterns stored in the memory unit, and generates the lighting signal to control the read-out lighting pattern. The digital protective relay device according to claim 1 , wherein the display control unit changes a lighting time of a specific group among the plurality of groups constituted by the plurality of surface-mounted LEDs. The digital protective relay device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the display control unit is shared with a protection control calculation unit that performs calculations for protection control of the digital protective relay device. A method for displaying a digital protective relay device for protecting a power system, comprising:
The digital protection relay device includes:
A display having a plurality of assemblies in which assemblies each composed of a plurality of surface mount type LEDs are arranged;
a display control unit that calculates the content of information to be displayed on the display based on input information, generates a lighting signal that controls a lighting pattern of the surface mount type LEDs of each group, and outputs the lighting signal to the display;
an input device that accepts an input operation by an operator as one of the input information,
the display control unit includes a process of sequentially lighting each of the assemblies formed of the plurality of surface mount type LEDs at a time interval equal to or less than a predetermined value based on a result of computing the content of information to be displayed on the display unit;
when a left-right direction is a first direction and an up-down direction is a second direction, the input device is capable of receiving an input operation representing the first direction and the second direction from the operator,
The display control unit includes a process of transitioning display content by the collection of the plurality of elements on the display from an item in a currently displayed hierarchical level to an item in another hierarchical level when an input operation in the first direction is performed on the input device, and transitioning display content by the collection of the plurality of elements on the display to another item in the same hierarchical level as the currently displayed hierarchical level when an input operation in the second direction is performed on the input device.
How to display digital protective relay devices.