Time Synchronization Unit and Its Use in Power Plants

Synchronization as the word suggests actions occurring at the same time or together, the same basis forms the fundamental foundation of a Time Synchronization Unit where the action is the alternating electric currents. Time Sync Units are of many types; GPS Master clocks, Digital Display Units, Time Distribution Racks, Sequential Event Recorders etc.

To understand better what and how a power plant or power grid works, we need to break it down to a smaller system, for example a DG set. A DG Set essentially converts mechanical power into electrical power. The relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor creates an electrical current.

How Power Plants and Power Grids work?

Replicating a small DG set into a large power plant, we get the same output in larger volumes. All the power generated through these power plants is gathered into power grids which in turn goes through the process of ‘power distribution’ for industrial and domestic uses. A Power Grid is an interconnected network of suppliers and producers that buy and sell. In a synchronous grid all the generators run not only at the same frequency but also at the same phase, each generator maintained by a local governor.

A Time Sync Unit comes into picture at this level, with the primary job of maintaining frequencies. The generation of power can be streamlined and controlled but the use of power varies; a household with working parents and school going children is bound to consume more power in the early hours of the day with a sudden splurge of power requirement. At the cleaning hours, a household has a washing machine, dryer and vacuum cleaner running on power at the same time, leading to increased consumption.

These everyday examples help us in understanding that the distribution of power has to be systematically controlled and managed and this job is done by a Time Sync Unit. A Power Station is operated by operators with various levels and verticals of functions, one of the functions is to start and stop the generators based on requirements.

How a Time Sync Unit works and its application

Time Sync Units of modern times come with very high accuracy and are able to remove human error by allowing a lot of operations to be controlled automatically thus removing the function of doing tasks at the exact time. The Time Sync Units in modern times use GPS satellites and the precise synchronization they offer, because the precision required by Time Sync Units can be of about 10 milliseconds.