ABB 1MRK000157-VBR00: High-Reliability Internal PCB Card for Substation Relays

Description

Parameter

Technical Principles and Innovative Values

• Innovation Point 1: Tight Reference Buffering for High-Accuracy Protection.​ The 1MRK000157-VBR00​ integrates precision voltage-reference and buffering stages that clean up the SMPS-derived rails before they reach the analog-front-end ADCs and binary opto drivers. This reduces rail ripple to <10 mVpp, directly contributing to the 670-series relay’s class-X accuracy under heavy EMI—something generic third-party “compatible” boards often fail to replicate.
• Innovation Point 2: Mechanical Keying Prevents Mis-Insertion.​ Like all 670-series internal PCBs, the ABB 1MRK000157-VBR00​ uses ABB’s molded guide-key system. The board physically cannot be seated in the wrong slot or reversed, eliminating the “fried board on first power-up” risk that plagues universal replacement cards.
• Innovation Point 3: Zero-Configuration Swap.​ Because the 1MRK000157-VBR00​ carries no firmware and no parameter store, replacement is truly plug-and-play. There is no need to reconnect PCM600 or worry about application-version mismatches—the host relay’s CPU board retains all settings. This is a deliberate design philosophy in ABB’s 1MRK spare ecosystem: internal ancillary PCBs are “dumb” by design so that sparing is simple.

Application Cases and Industry Value

Case 1 – Hydroelectric Plant, Norway:​ A 250 MVA generator-step-up transformer is protected by a RET670. During a scheduled relay health check, the station engineer noticed the DC/DC auxiliary current on the 1MRK000157-VBR00​ rail was trending 8 % high. Rather than wait for a planned outage, they kept the relay in service and staged a spare ABB 1MRK000157-VBR00​ PCB. At the next minor outage (a turbine guide-vane seal replacement, 4-hour window), the swap was done. Post-replacement thermography showed the new board running 11 °C cooler than the aged one. The plant estimated that having the correct spare on-site avoided a forced outage that would have cost ~€180 k in spilled generation.Case 2 – Utility Service Centre Stocking Strategy:​ A national TSO in Asia standardized on stocking the top 12 high-turnover 1MRK PCBs—including the 1MRK000157-VBR00—at each regional depot. Before this, they’d order a whole relay for any internal fault, tying up CAPEX and warehouse space. After switching to PCB-level sparing, spare-holding value dropped by ~62 %, and mean time to repair (MTTR) on relay internal faults went from “order → 3 weeks → install” to “depot → next-day → 30-min swap.” The 1MRK000157-VBR00​ became one of the most-rotated SKUs because VBR stress correlates with frequent DC-system transients (switchyard switching, lightning).

Related Product Combination Solutions

The ABB 1MRK000157-VBR00​ lives inside a 670-series relay chassis alongside several sibling PCBs; here are the usual companions:

• ABB 1MRK000156-xxxx​ – Often the CPU/communication board of the same relay (host for the VBR).
• ABB 1MRK000158-xxxx​ – Typical power-supply (SMPS) PCB for 670 series; the 1MRK000157-VBR00​ buffers the rails that this board produces.
• ABB RED670 / RET670 / REC670 / REM670​ – The host IED chassis that accepts the 1MRK000157-VBR00.
• ABB PCM600​ – Engineering tool used to verify relay health post-PCB swap (though no download is needed for VBR, a quick “Go/No-Go” check is standard).
• ABB 1MRK000173-xxxx​ – Binary input board (another common internal PCB in the same chassis, often replaced alongside VBR in older units).
• ABB 1MRK000181-xxxx​ – Analog input / auxiliary board, sibling in the 670 internal stack.
• ABB SPAJ 140C / REF615​ – Lower-tier relays where a similar sparing philosophy applies, though different PCB codes.