Thomas Brown Controls
Services

Power management and generator control systems

TBC engineers the control authority and sequences between mains supplies, generators, switchgear, metering, PV, BESS and third-party controllers so the complete electrical system behaves predictably in normal and failure conditions.

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Operating philosophy

Operating scenarios we define before testing

The important part of a power-management design is agreeing exactly what happens as sources become available or unavailable, breakers change state and the site moves between normal, standby and degraded operation.

  • Mains healthy, mains failure and automatic generator demand
  • Generator available, transfer, synchronising and bus-coupler operation
  • Load shedding and staged restoration against available capacity
  • Failed starts, unavailable sources, breaker failures and recovery behaviour
Normal supplyPreferred sources, breaker positions and automatic control conditions kept explicit.
Source lossGenerator demand, source proving and transfer actions sequenced around actual availability.
CapacityLoad priorities, shedding and restoration coordinated with the power that is available.
Degraded operationFailed starts, trips, communications loss and unavailable equipment given defined fallback responses.
Renewable integration

PV and BESS coordinated with standby generation

Renewable and stored-energy systems introduce additional sources, export limits, control authority and failure scenarios. TBC coordinates these interfaces with the wider power-management philosophy.

  • Solar PV integration with mains and standby generation
  • BESS charging, discharging and availability interfaces
  • Generator and BESS interaction
  • Metering, power monitoring and third-party controller interfaces
PVGeneration availability and operating constraints incorporated into source logic.
BESSState, availability and power commands coordinated with system demand.
MeteringReal-time power information used for load decisions and monitoring.
InterfacesResponsibilities between PLC, generator controller, inverter and switchgear defined explicitly.
Testing

Failure scenarios proved before energisation

Power-management FAT and site testing prove source changes, breaker commands and feedback, synchronising, load response and abnormal conditions as a complete operating system rather than as separate devices.

  • Software simulation and staged FAT
  • Generator, mains and breaker sequence testing
  • Load shedding and restoration proving
  • SAT, integrated systems testing and site commissioning
Normal operationSource selection, breaker sequencing and automatic control.
TransitionsMains failure, generator operation, source return and restoration.
Abnormal operationFailed starts, trips, unavailable sources and communications loss.
EvidenceTest results, defects, retests and final revisions kept traceable.
Related engineering

Power management is a coordination problem before it becomes a PLC problem.

Switchgear, generator controllers, metering, PV, BESS and site loads all have their own states and limitations. TBC defines the control authority and interfaces between them before those rules are implemented and tested.

Functional designSource priorities, breaker sequences, load rules and failure responses written into a testable philosophy.
PLC engineeringPMS logic structured around the agreed operating and degraded modes.
FAT, SAT & commissioningSource changes, failures, load response and restoration proved as complete scenarios.
Control systems integrationInterfaces between switchgear, generator controls, metering, PLC/SCADA and third-party power equipment coordinated around defined control authority.

Have a generator, switchgear or load-management sequence to define?

Share the SLD, protection or generator information and the required operating philosophy and TBC can define the controls, interfaces and testing scope.

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