Controlling Regulators using TVD Connectors

TVD Connectors can be used to provide a link between data streams in a Time Series Database (TSDB) and a Regulator. The data stream profiles can be used as an input to the connected regulator object to control the regulator either directly or indirectly.

Direct control of regulators

TVD connectors can be set up to use TSDB data streams to model a regulator under manual control. To use TVD connectors to directly control the status of a regulator:

Set the connected object to be the regulator link (using the TVD Connector Connected object type and Connected object id fields).
Set Connection usage to Input
Set Input attribute to the appropriate control type

The values provided by the TSDB data streams are used to control the regulator and will replace RTC controls for the regulator if RTC is present. RTC, if available, will be used at timesteps where the output from the TSDB data streams is null.

Note that the Output units type field must be set correctly before an Input attribute can be selected, as only input attributes that match the selected unit type are displayed.

Regulator output units

The output units required for different regulator types are listed below:

Regulator type	Regulated variable	Unit type
All pumps	On - off
Variable speed pump	Discharge	Q - Flow
Variable frequency drive pump	Speed	WN_AV - Rotation speed
Variable limiting discharge orifice	Maximum discharge	Q - Flow
Variable crest weir	Crest level	Z - Height above datum
Variable width weir	Width	L - Length
Variable height gate (sluice gate or penstock)	Vertical opening	Z - Height above datum
Variable radial sluice	Opening (in degrees)	ANGLE - Angle

Indirect control of regulators

TVD connectors can be set up to use TSDB data streams to indirectly control a regulator. The data streams provide the values to be used in RTC Tables.

To use TSDB data streams to indirectly control the status of a regulator via RTC:

Set the Connected object type field of the TVD connector to hw_rtc
Set the Connected object id field to the relevant RTC table. The reference should take the form RegulatorID.TableName for tables defined in regulators in the RTC, or TableName for tables defined in the Global section of the RTC.
Set the Input attribute field to INPRTCOUT

The values provided by the TSDB data streams are used to replace the referenced table values.

Indirect control example

The following example shows how to adapt RTC control to use indirect control to set telemetry values for the height of a sluice gate, falling back to RTC when telemetry values are not available.

The table below displays the details of the RTC components required to control the flow through the sluice gate by using an incremental controller to control the setting of the sluice gate opening.

The steps required to use telemetry data to control sluice gate opening are described below.

Component	Name	Parameters	Effect
RANGE 1	LowFlow	Range type: Q - flow Location link: 120.1 Minimum: Maximum: 0.010	Defines Link 120.1 as a control conduit with a maximum value of 0.010 m3/s Show me
RANGE 2	HighFlow	Range type: Q - flow Location link: 120.1 Minimum: 0.040 Maximum:	Defines Link 120.1 as a control conduit with a minimum value of 0.040 m3/s Show me
CONTROLLER	Controller	Type: INC Measurement Interval: 300	Defines that REGULATOR increments should be carried out every 300 s Show me
RULE 1	LowFlow	Condition: LowFlow Type: CTRL Controller: Controller Fixed: 0.020 m	If the flow in Link 120.1 is less than 0.010 m3/s, increment sluice gate setting by 0.02 m Show me
RULE 2	HighFlow	Condition: HighFlow Type: CTRL Controller: Controller Fixed: -0.020m	If the flow in Link 120.1 is more than or equal to 0.040 m3/s. decrements sluice gate setting by 0.02 m Show me

Using TSDB data streams to control sluice gate opening

To use telemetry values where available to control sluice gate opening, falling back on the original RTC rules when there are no telemetry values:

Set up an observed data stream, sluice_height, to control the height of the sluice gate when there are data stream values available. Show me
Set up a second data stream, use_rtc_indirect, containing a value of -999, for example, at a time before the simulation is to start. Do not set a Data interval.Show me

Edit the RTC so that the sluice_height data stream is used when values are available and the original RTC rules are used when a value of -999 is encountered. Show me

Component	Name	Parameters	Effect
RANGE 1	LowFlow	Range type: Q - flow Location link: 120.1 Minimum: Maximum: 0.010	Defines Link 120.1 as a control conduit with a maximum value of 0.010 m3/s (as original RTC) Show me
RANGE 2	HighFlow	Range type: Q - flow Location link: 120.1 Minimum: 0.040 Maximum:	Defines Link 120.1 as a control conduit with a minimum value of 0.040 m3/s (as original RTC) Show me
RANGE 3	Time	Range type: T-time	Time range to be used as input to Sluice opening table Show me
TABLE 1	tblSluice	Input Range: Time Output Measurement: Length Type: Linear Input/Output grid: Time vs Length	Defines the relationship between time of simulation and the opening of the sluice gate. The records in the table will be supplied by the sluice_height or use_rtc_indirect data streams set up in Step 1 and Step 2. Show me
RANGE 4	Normal	Range type: VAR- variable value Location Definition: tblSluice (TABLE 1) Minimum: -900 m	Defines a normal range where values provided for tblSluice by the TVD connector are greater than -900. (This will be when values are available from data stream sluice_height.) Show me
RANGE 5	NoData	Range type: VAR - variable value Location Definition: tblSluice (TABLE 1) Minimum: -1000.000 m Maximum: -900.000 m	Defines an erroneous range where values provided for tblSluice by the TVD Connector are between -1000 and -900. (This will be when values are not available from data stream sluice_height and are provided by data stream use_rtc_indirect.) Show me
RULE 1	Normal	Condition: Normal (RANGE 4) Type: POS Setpoint Variable: tblSluice (TABLE 1)	If the tblSluice values provided by the data streams are greater than -900, the sluice opening will be controlled by tblSluice. (Data stream sluice_height values will control the sluice opening) Show me
CONTROLLER	Controller	Type: INC Measurement Interval: 300	Defines that REGULATOR increments should be carried out every 300 s (as original RTC) Show me
LOGIC 1	Inc	Operator: AND Condition 1: NoData (RANGE 5) Condition 2: LowFLow (Range 1)	Check for tblSluice values in the NoData range and flow in Link 120.1 less than 0.01 m3/s Show me
RULE 2	Inc	Condition: Inc (LOGIC 1) Type: CTRL Controller: Controller Fixed: 0.020 m	If tblSluice values provided by data streams are in the NoData range and the flow in Link 120.1 is less than 0.010 m3/s, increment sluice gate setting by 0.02 m Show me
LOGIC 2	Dec	Operator: AND Condition 1: NoData (RANGE 5) Condition 2: HighFLow (Range 2)	Check for tblSluice values in the NoData range and flow in Link 120.1 more than than 0.01 m3/s Show me
RULE 3	Dec	Condition: Dec (LOGIC 2) Type: CTRL Controller: Controller Fixed: -0.020m	If tblSluice values provided by the data streams are in the NoData range and the flow in Link 120.1 is more than 0.040 m3/s. decrements sluice gate setting by 0.02 m Show me

Set up a TVD connector linking the data streams to the RTC table. Show me
- Input units type: set to L
- Input A: set to #sluice_height i.e. the values read from the datastream connected to telemetry
- Input B: set to #use_rtc_indirect i.e. the -999 value. Input B will be used when there are no data values for Input A.
- Connected object type: set to hw_rtc
- Connected object id: set to tblSluice (the dropdown contains a list of RTC tables)
- Input attribute: set to INPRTCOUT

The input to the TVD connector is a series of telemetry values from Input A. When there are no values from Input A, the -999.0 value from Input B will be used. These values are used as an input to tblSluice in the RTC control.

When there are Input A values available, the Input A data stream values will be used to control the sluice gate opening via the RTC table tblSluice.

When the values from Input B are used, the original RTC control rules will be used to control the sluice gate.