OREANDA-NEWS. June 19, 2015. GE’s Digital Energy business (NYSE: GE) today launched its MultilinTM 845 Transformer Protection System, part of the company’s industry-leading Multilin 8-Series platform of protective relay devices, which includes the 850 Feeder Protection System and the 869 Motor Protection System.

Helping customers to better manage the performance and longevity of their critical power and distribution substation transformers, GE’s Multilin 845 protection system offers an integrated approach to both electrical and dissolved gas analysis (DGA) transformer monitoring and diagnostics, enabling comprehensive asset management—the first solution in the industry to do this. Utilizing standard substation communications, the 845 communicates directly with GE’s Kelman DGA composite and multiple gas monitoring devices to collect, trend and analyze a transformer’s electrical characteristics and fault gasses, providing power system engineers and operators with improved situational awareness on the health of a transformer. Through easy-to-read dashboards and reports, the 845 provides actionable information and analytics, enabling operators to reduce the time required for post-fault analysis.

“Aging electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure can greatly affect the resiliency and reliability of transmission and distribution networks as well as power intensive, mission-critical applications such as oil and gas and process industries,” said Bala Vinayagam, product line leader for GE’s Digital Energy business. “In the developed world, the average power transformer is more than 30 years old, meaning they are nearing the end of their lives. Couple this with a changing electrical landscape, where significant events such as overloading and irregular loading are becoming more frequent, and it is easy to see the amount of stress that these critical transformers are under.”

These factors often can lead to costly equipment damage or failure and system downtime. Power system operators and asset managers need solutions that provide them with actionable information and enable them to take a proactive maintenance approach to extend their assets’ life, while at the same time maintaining power system reliability and stability.

Utilizing field-proven protection algorithms, GE’s Multilin 845 Transformer Protection System enables users to customize protection to ensure optimized transformer performance. Further improving the system’s flexibility, Multilin 8-Series devices support the latest in communications technologies, including IEC 61850 Edition 2 and IEC 62439 Parallel Redundancy Protocol, simplifying inter-relay communications and substation visibility. 

The Multilin 845 Transformer Protection System also incorporates advanced cybersecurity features including RADIUS, SYSLOG, authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA), enabling utilities to comply with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and critical infrastructure protection (CIP) standards. 

The 845, like all other products in the Multilin 8-series, is backed by GE’s 10-year warranty—a program for most GE-manufactured protection, control and substation automation products sold by GE’s Digital Energy business. With an ongoing commitment to delivering world-class products that help utility and industrial customers deliver power efficiently and reliably, GE is extending its warranty terms to assure customers around the world of its continuous commitment to quality and innovation.

All GE protection, control and substation automation products adhere to rigorous quality processes, certified to International Standard Organization 9001:2008 standards, encompassing the entire product development process from product design and testing to manufacturing and customer support.

GE’s Digital Energy business is a global leader in transmission and distribution solutions that manage and move power from the power plant to the consumer. Its products and services increase the reliability of electrical power networks and critical equipment for utility, industrial and large commercial customers. From protecting and optimizing assets such as generators, transmission lines and motors, to delivering analytic tools to help manage the power grid, GE’s Digital Energy business delivers industry-leading technologies to solve the unique challenges of each customer. For more information, visit http://www.gedigitalenergy.com/.