Use of information technology in modern relay design

The information technology age has had a dramatic affect upon the techniques and disciplines employed in modern relay design, development and proving. As recently as seven to ten years ago microprocessor relays were written in pseudo code and frequently contained very small programs, (typically 2K) whereas today´s modern multi microprocessor relays often have relatively large programs (typically 1M). This change of scale is only possible by the adoption of high level software languages and other information technology design tools which have progressively become available at affordable prices. This document aims to highlight some of these information technology tools and techniques which greatly assist the relay design and development engineer with the design, development, simulation, evaluation and proving of protective relays. The tools discussed are: 3D modelling, sterolithography, PCB design layout, EMC design tools, electronic circuit modelling, electric system modelling and automatic test equipment