Automated Testing of HVDC Control & Protection Systems : A study on Automated Regression Testing

Abstract: Testing is an important activity when developing a system. Testing requires resources in terms of time, labour and money. By correctly automating the tests, the development time may either be shortened or there will be a possibility to run more tests. ABB in Ludvika has developed MACH, a control & protection system for HVDC (high power electrical transmission over long distances) applications. During development of the control & protection system for each HVDC project, which are all unique, the system is today tested manually, which takes considerable time.This thesis project studies the possibility of automating parts of the MACH system tests, by investigating current testing procedures, the control & protection system itself, and how a test tool may interact with the system. Using this information a test framework, aimed towards test automation, was created, and a simple test execution tool was developed. A new test case, a combination of multiple smaller test cases, ranon the system using the test execution tool.The outcome proves the proof of concept of automating parts of the system tests.The economics and the scope of the automated testing however, is dependent on how automation is implemented.