Summary
CYMTCC is a specialized software tool developed by CYME (Cooper Power Systems / Eaton) for creating Time Current Characteristic (TCC) curves and performing coordination studies in electrical power systems. It is widely used by power engineers, utility companies, industrial plant managers, and protection system designers to ensure that protective devices in a network, such as circuit breakers, fuses, and relays, operate in the correct sequence during fault conditions. CYMTCC provides an efficient environment where engineers can visualize device characteristics, adjust settings, run coordination simulations, and analyze fault currents to achieve protection reliability.
The purpose of CYMTCC is to prevent equipment damage, minimize outage duration, and ensure safe energy distribution while keeping the system economically designed. With its strong graphical interface, extensive device libraries, and powerful calculation engine, CYMTCC is considered one of the most reliable and user-friendly tools for modern power protection coordination studies.
Understanding Time Current Coordination
Time Current Coordination refers to the method of ensuring that protective devices in a power system trip in a layered sequence during abnormal operating conditions. Every electrical network, whether industrial, commercial, or utility-scale, contains protective devices at different levels. The main idea of coordination is to ensure that the protective device closest to the fault trips first, preventing unnecessary power interruption to the rest of the system. For example, if a fault occurs at the last branch of a distribution network, a fuse or relay near that location should operate before the main feeder breaker.
CYMTCC helps engineers plot TCC curves that show how fast each device responds under different levels of current. By comparing curves on a common graph, engineers adjust settings to avoid overlap and ensure proper selectivity. This results in minimizing power outages, reducing equipment downtime, extending the life expectancy of equipment, and improving overall system stability.
Ensuring Selectivity and Protection Reliability
CYMTCC allows engineers to ensure that protective devices operate selectively and in the proper order. This helps isolate faults efficiently without causing large-scale shutdowns. Selectivity is crucial in industries where power reliability affects safety and productivity, such as hospitals, manufacturing plants, data centers, and utility distribution networks.
Improving Safety in Electrical Networks
Protection systems are designed to limit damage from overloads, short circuits, and unexpected failures. CYMTCC ensures that these protection systems are configured properly so that system elements such as transformers, motors, cables, and generators remain within safe operation limits. The software helps avoid conditions like cascading failures, overheating, arc flash hazards, and unnecessary breaker trips.
Supporting Regulatory and Standard Compliance
Electrical systems worldwide must follow protection coordination standards such as IEEE, IEC, NFPA, NEC, ANSI, and utility-specific regulations. CYMTCC supports compliance by providing precise data visualization and reporting functions that verify coordination decisions. Engineers can generate formal coordination reports for regulatory audits and project documentation.
Utility Distribution Networks
Utility engineers use CYMTCC to coordinate feeder relays, reclosers, and fuses in medium and high-voltage distribution systems. Proper coordination ensures reliability during storm conditions, line faults, switching operations, or load transfers. CYMTCC helps maintain service continuity while minimizing customer outages and preventing large-area blackouts.
Industrial Power Systems
Industrial facilities such as oil refineries, steel plants, power stations, mining complexes, and chemical processing plants depend heavily on uninterrupted power. CYMTCC is used to manage the coordination of MCC breakers, motor protection relays, transformer protection, and feeder systems. This ensures that only the faulted equipment is isolated without disturbing the entire production process.
Renewable and Microgrid Installations
With the increasing penetration of solar farms, wind parks, and microgrids, protection coordination has become more challenging due to bidirectional power flow and varying short-circuit levels. CYMTCC supports microgrid protection scenarios by allowing dynamic analysis of multiple operating modes. This helps designers maintain system stability under changing load and generation conditions.
How CYMTCC Enhances Protection Design Workflow
CYMTCC improves engineering efficiency by simplifying the workflow of creating TCC diagrams and coordinating devices. Engineers can import one-line diagrams and system fault data from CYME Power Engineering Software or other analysis tools. Once the system is mapped, the software automatically identifies device interaction and provides visual curve overlays to analyze selectivity. Engineers can adjust time dial settings, pickup levels, and instantaneous trip points interactively. The ability to compare multiple devices on the same graph helps identify coordination conflicts quickly. CYMTCC also enables multiple scenario analysis, such as maximum fault, minimum fault, cold load pickup, and emergency switching states. The ability to print, export, and document studies in professional report format helps project communication between consultants, utilities, contractors, and commissioning teams.
Advantages of Using CYMTCC
CYMTCC offers several advantages that make it a preferred choice in power system protection engineering. It reduces the time required for coordination studies by providing automated calculation tools and easy parameter adjustment options. The software increases design accuracy by using validated device libraries and real-world manufacturer data. Its visual interface makes learning and using the software intuitive even for beginners. For complex networks, CYMTCC provides enhanced visibility into protection reliability. The program supports long-term system planning by allowing engineers to save coordination templates and reuse project data in future system upgrades. CYMTCC also strengthens safety practices by ensuring that coordination decisions are based on precise data rather than assumptions.
Installation and Technical Requirements
CYMTCC is available for Windows-based operating systems and is designed to run efficiently on mid-range hardware. The system requirements are modest, allowing it to function well even in field laptops and standard engineering workstations. The installation process is straightforward and includes device libraries, documentation templates, and user guides. CYME also provides training, technical support, and periodic software updates to maintain compatibility with new equipment models and standards.
