More Transparency in Railway Power Systems: ibaFOB-H Integrates Converter Station Data Into the iba System

Continuous process data is generated in railway converter stations, providing valuable insights into the behavior of power supply systems. For operators, this data forms the basis for monitoring, fault analysis, and maintenance activities. With ibaFOB-H, iba AG introduces a new high-performance interface card that makes this data available for high-resolution acquisition and analysis within the iba system.

The ibaFOB-H supports connectivity to Hitachi MACH systems. To achieve this, the interface card reads the address database stored in the MACH system and makes the contained process variables available in ibaPDA. Users can conveniently select the required signals and acquire them without additional engineering effort. If changes to the address database are detected, ibaPDA can automatically reload the configuration and continue data acquisition using the updated information. As a result, relevant control system information is immediately available for analysis, monitoring tasks, and root-cause investigations of faults and disturbances.

Data transmission is performed via a robust fiber-optic connection. In ibaPDA, signals can be recorded with an acquisition time base of up to 10 μs. This enables detailed analysis of even very fast and transient processes. Operators gain valuable insights into the behavior of their systems and can derive targeted optimization and maintenance measures based on reliable high-resolution data.