JDSU (Milpitas, California) has announced that its 16-bit Optically Powered Data Link (OPDL-16) subsystem has successfully passed government testing in China. Working in conjunction with Zhuhai Cheng-Rui Electric Power Company Ltd., JDSU incorporated the OPDL-16 as the power and data delivery system to demonstrate the benefits of an all- fiber, digitally based electrical current measurement system.
As new power transmission grid construction accelerates rapidly in China to keep up with the industrial growth in the country, many utility providers are selecting digital rather than analog measurement techniques to monitor delivered electrical current levels. Power companies are finding that optically based digital systems are less expensive to install and more environmentally friendly. They eliminate the need for instrument transformers that are generally filled with oil or SF-6 gas for insulation purposes. Installation of these traditional types of transformers is cumbersome and they run the risk of explosion and leakage of harmful chemicals into the surrounding environment.
"We expect rapid growth of optically powered current measurement systems in China's expanding electric utility market," said Xiao-Li Xu, general manager of Zhuhai Cheng-Rui Electric Company. "We believe all-fiber digital measurement systems have now reached the economical level and achieved the reliability required to support the future development of Chinese and other Asian electric power markets. We look forward to further collaboration with JDSU to serve this expanding market."
Photonic power enables current measurement and protection in transmission and distribution grids operating at 100 kV to 500 kV. The current transducer used for current measurement is fully isolated from ground potential by virtue of the non-conductive nature of the fiber-based power and data delivery system.
