Modern substation control and communication have revolutionized the ability to troubleshoot system faults and mis-operations. Event fault records and documenting every input and output provide invaluable information to help answer the question, “What happened?” However, there are hundreds of thousands of systems with legacy equipment. These systems can present seemingly baffling challenges that could necessitate several attempts (test and try) …
Properly installed and maintained medium-voltage cable is highly reliable, and when properly installed, there is little or no maintenance to be performed. Yes, you should keep the terminations clean, and yes, you can perform a periodic VLF with tan delta or partial discharge test to trend degradation over the years. However, in my experience, the No. 1 reason cables fail …
Electrical power systems, regardless of the industry (utility substations, industrial metal-clad switchgear, hospitals, data centers), are built with crucial auxiliary systems. These systems are dependent on each other to ensure these power users have electrical systems that are safe and reliable. The DC battery system might be one of the more critical of these systems. DC batteries provide power to …
“It’s faster for us to put on the 40-calorie suit to rack breakers out than it is to use the remote racking system,” the customer said — and I wanted to add, “Yes, the remote racking system bought for your safety at a significant investment from your company.” But I did my best to hide my dismay and took the …
“What are you doing here?” asked the manufacturer’s testing representative. “We are doing start-up of the gear, and your work seems redundant.” Redundant? That depends on what each of us is responsible for checking. That depends on who is going to ensure that all the known potential failures get checked and as needed, corrected. As an industrial or commercial buyer, …