11.

KONFERENCA SLOVENSKIH ELEKTROENERGETIKOV – Laško 2013

CIGRÉ ŠK C1-05

SWITCHGEAR MONITORING SYSTEM-ASSISTANCE IN

MAINTENANCE AND CALCULATION OF THE COSTS

Ana Mik
Končar-Electrical Engineering Institute
anamik@koncar-institut.hr

Krešimir Meštrović
Končar-Electrical Engineering Institute
kmestro@koncar-institut.hr

Mario Dujmović
Hrvatska Elektroprivreda d.o.o.
Mario.dujmovic@hep.hr

Abstract – The biggest concerns of the new generation of managers in electric power industry, especially in the
private enterprises, are the costs. On the open market where the customers can choose between two or more
energy providers it is also very important to assure a safe and reliable electrical energy delivery. Because of that
it is important to find the best balance between the maintenance costs and the operational safety of the
equipment in the transformer stations.
On-line switchgear monitoring technique has become a driver for remarkable improvements in both reliability
and cost efficiency (condition based maintenance). It provides constant insight into the state of the switchgear
apparatuses: circuit breakers, disconnectors, earthing switches and instrument transformers.
Based on the collected data intelligent application makes analysis and gives information about the state of the
equipment i.e. if there is a problem with the condition of the equipment or if the problem could arise in the
future. If the failure nevertheless happens, system gives the proposal for the solution. Also based on the
information switchgear maintenance plan can be made, together with the investment plan and calculation of
future costs.
Installation of the switchgear monitoring system provides longer life span and helps managers in decision
making process.

Keywords: Switchgear, Monitoring system, Expert system, Life cycle cost calculation

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CIGRÉ ŠK C1-05

I. INTRODUCTION The bay monitoring system (Končar-BMS) has been

developed in the Končar-Electrical Engineering
Monitoring systems are changing the usual way of Institute in order to evaluate the state of monitored
maintenance: they represent the transition from high voltage apparatuses and equipment at any time
periodic maintenance to the condition based [1], and bring the right decision regarding the
maintenance. Based on the data obtained from necessary maintenance activity and further
monitoring system it is easy to get an insight into the exploitation.
condition of the equipment. How wide the insight into The monitored values are compared with the values
the state of the equipment is, depends on the values from diagnostic testing (reference values). If there is a
that are monitored i.e. on the type of the monitoring deviation between those two values and if that
system which is also associated with the cost of the divergence is greater than a certain threshold, the
monitoring system. Price of the monitoring system system alerts the users and depending on the alarm,
depends on the sensors which are used for monitoring. provides tips for the troubleshooting.
For example, monitoring of the state of the Sulphur Circuit-breaker monitored values are:
hexafluoride (SF6) is the most expensive because of • Status: circuit breaker close/open, trigger,
the high price of the sensors. Most of the monitoring lockout,
systems are modular. Therefore it is important to find • Phase voltage,
the right balance between the price of the monitoring • Main circuit current,
system and the benefits which can be achieved by • Close coil and trip coil currents,
using the monitoring system. • Control circuit voltage,
• Motor current,
II. SWITCHGEAR MONITORING SYSTEM • Frequency and duration of motor operation,
• Contact and/or drive travel,
• Switching times (opening, closing, close-open),
Monitoring systems provide on-line continuous
• Hydraulic drive pressure,
insight into the condition of the equipment. High
• Oil loss in hydraulic cylinder,
voltage switchgear monitoring system monitors a

• Spring drive tension.

various values of the switchgear apparatuses: circuit
breakers, disconnectors, earthing switches and
instrument transformers. The observed values are
collected from the sensors and saved in the database. Those quantities give the information about current
By accessing the data from the user interface, analysis state of the circuit breaker mechanism and motor and
and presentation of all phenomena and conditions of his readiness for performing future operations.
the system is carried out. Analysed results are Beside values obtained from the sensor directly, there
presented in both graphical and numerical form. are values which are calculated by mathematical
Switchgear monitoring system can be installed to methods.
monitor the apparatuses of the air insulated
switchgear (AIS) and also to monitor the gas insulated By using calculation from the values above the
following values are obtained:
• Main and control circuits operating times,
switchgear (GIS). On the equipment containing SF6

• Contact travel and contact velocity during

gas it is the most important to monitor the values
which are indicators of the change of the gas. In this
way, the leakage of the SF6 gas can be prevented. closing and making operations,
Because the SF6 is the greenhouse gas, the switchgear • Arc integral (I2t) during making operations.
monitoring system can be considered as the
environmentally friendly product. These quantities are a good indicator of circuit
breaker wear which has to be remedied to prevent the
catastrophic consequences. Arc integral is a good
indicator of the breaking chamber remaining lifetime.
By observing coil current trip [2] it is also possible to
make a conclusion about the circuit breaker health.
The trip energy is stored in a latched spring
mechanism. After the trip command, the trip coil
becomes energized. The trip coil plunger motion can
be characterized by the current flowing through the
actuating trip coil [3]. The resulting trip coil current
signature provides a chronological record of the
operating sequence and timing associated with the
various breaker components during trip operation.
By comparing coil current curve with the reference
Figure 1. Switchgear monitoring system-interface curve (Figure 2.), important information about the

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CIGRÉ ŠK C1-05

state of the circuit breaker can be obtained. If there is • Switching times (make, closing).
a discrepancy between these curves it is possible to For disconnector the following values are calculated:
accurately determine which part of the circuit breaker • Main contact arms opening and closing time,
mechanism is damaged. • Travel and angular velocity of main contact
The difference between those two curves can be arms.
obtained by two ways: by finding the characteristic
points on both curves regarding the time and value of All these values are good indicators of the failures in
current and observing the differences between them. disconnector mechanism.
Second way is to find the grey zone by calculating the Instrument current and voltage transformers
area between curves. monitored quantities are:
There are two approaches in selecting the curves that • Hydrostatic pressure from which is calculated
are going to be compared. One way is to determine hydrostatic pressure at 20°C,
the referenced curve, which can be the first recorded • Main circuit current,
curve that was taken by putting the monitoring system • Main circuit voltage.
in operation or specified by the manufacturer. Then
this referenced curve is compared with other curves. Earthing switch monitored quantity is:
• Status close/open.
Another approach is to compare the two consecutive
curves.
In circuit breaker and GIS measured values of the
insulator sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) are:
• SF6 temperature,
• SF6 dew point,
• SF6 density,
• SF6 pressure.

From those values the following values are

calculated:
• SF6 pressure at 20°C,
• SF6 percentage.

From the measured values of SF6 temperature,

pressure and density, SF6 percentage is calculated
which can warn about the leakage of the SF6 gas.
Figure 2. Trip coil current signature Leakage has to be stopped before the contamination
of the environment. Also, decreased percentage of SF6
Figure 2. shows trip coil current grey zone with can affect the ability of current interruption.
specific points which are:
1 Beginning of the movement of the circuit The above parameters are monitored through all three
breaker operating mechanism phases and they may be presented by single amount or
2-3 Plunger trip by their wave forms.
3-4 Plunger strikes the latch mechanism
4-5 Plunger is stopping the movement Except from the alarms which are alerting that the
5 Plunger strikes buffer measured value is out of the range, system provides
6 Change of the coils inductance insight in trends, which is a good tool for monitoring
7 Main contacts open of the changes in values through time (Figure 3.). It
8 Auxiliary contacts open can also be used to compare the data, for example,
9 Trip coil de-energised between phases.

Coil current grey zone [4] provides insight into the

deterioration of a circuit breaker. This is innovative
method for supervision of the circuit breaker and its
condition.

Disconnector monitored quantities are:

• Status: disconnector close/open, trigger,
• Motor current,
• Contact travel, and

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CIGRÉ ŠK C1-05

employees of the factories which develop

and produce high voltage apparatuses.

The development of the expert system is based on the

Bayes decision theory. The use of this method is
typical for the modelling of the expert system based
on the knowledge of the experts from the specific
field of interest.

The probability of the failure can be obtained from the

statistical data or from the experience of the experts
Figure 3. Trend of hydraulic pressure from the specific field [8]. If the data is obtained from
the few sources, based on the reliability of the
In gas insulated switchgears metallic defects cause a sources, data is given a certain weight.
reduction in the local dielectric strengths of SF6
systems which can lead to catastrophic consequences
[5]. To prevent such events the ultra-high frequency IV. ASSISTANCE IN MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING
(UHF) technique is applied for partial discharge AND COST ANALYSIS
measurement in gas insulated switchgear.
By observing each of these values, failures can be As the monitoring system stores large amount of data,
foreseen and consequences can be prevented on time. it can be also used for other purposes which can make
substation management easier. For example, based on
the collected data, maintenance schedule can be made.
III. CURRENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE Monitoring system gives us data about the
SWITCHGEAR EXPERT MONITORING SYSTEM instantaneous state of the equipment. Based on that
data, it can be concluded when the maintenance or
In decision making process consulting with the replacement of the specific part is needed. That
experts from the specific field is recommended. Those information is then used to make optimal schedule of
experts or consultants base their advices on the the maintenance personnel and also helps in spare
knowledge, experience and other available sources of parts management (removal of the parts from the
information. There is significant interest in the warehouse and ordering of the new parts). Based on
automation of the human thinking process. Such that, cost calculation and investment plan can be
automated systems, known as the expert systems, made. The goal is to take the monitoring system to a
connect inbuilt knowledge with the available data. higher level i.e. except from the standard technical
The goal is to turn the available data, collected by the analysis to answer also at the most important question
monitoring system, into useful information for the end of the power station management: how high cost will
user. As switchgear monitoring system collects large incur? Because of that the plan is, except for the
amount of data, it is difficult to manage all the conduction of the technical analysis, also to perform
information. The end user should gain only the an economic analysis using methods such as Life
information about what has to be done in order to cycle cost analysis and Decision making. The life
achieve the maximum reliability and availability of cycle cost calculation assists in finding the optimal
the apparatuses. At the moment development team in technologies, configurations and operative strategies.
Končar-Electrical Engineering Institute is upgrading The usage of the life cycle cost calculation on various
the existing switchgear monitoring system to Expert resource strategies results in the decrease of the
monitoring system. The first step in the development maintenance costs considering all relevant parameters.
was creation of the failure database. Data about the It is also very important to choose the optimal
failures of the switchgear apparatuses are gained from maintenance method. Usage of the maintenance
the three resources: strategy based on reliability centred maintenance
1. Data about failures from the CIGRE enquiry leads to the conclusion which part of the equipment is
on reliability of high voltage equipment [6], necessary to repair or replace. If the conclusion is that
[7], the part has to be replaced, new question arises:
should only that part be replaced or the complete
2. Data gained from the simulation in Matlab or
system. The answer to that question gives the
other adequate program, Decision making process.
3. Data obtained from the experts in the field of The goal is to create an effective system which will
the high voltage apparatuses: maintenance help in decision making which will have the cost
personnel of the electricity companies and reduction as a consequence i.e. it will assist in finding

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CIGRÉ ŠK C1-05

the optimal method that minimizes the cost of the [5] W.J. Bergman, “Equipment monitoring
equipment service life and failure risk. selection as a part of Substation Automation”,
IEEE Switchgear meeting, Pittsburgh, 1999

V. CONCLUSION [6] Carvalho A., Cormenzana M. L., Furuta H.,

Grieshaber W., Hyrczak A., Kopejtkova D.,
To prevent the failures and the consequences which Krone J. G., Kudoke, M., Makareinis D.,
can occur, it is necessary to improve the technical and Martins J. F., Meštrović, K., Ohno I., Östlund
physical security of the switchgear, and reduce the J., Park K.-Y., Patel J., Protze C., Runde M.,
likelihood of adverse scenarios. Schmid J., Skog J. E., Sölver C. E., Sweeney
Implementation of the switchgear monitoring system B., Waite F., “Final Report of the 2004 – 2007
provides on-line, continuous insight into the state of International Enquiry on Reliability of High
the apparatuses. It also has the advantage that the Voltage Equipment”, Electra, 264 (2012.)
monitoring can be done from the remote location,
which is particularly important for unmanned [7] Intermediate results from on-going enquiry on
substations. reliability of high voltage equipment, CIGRE,
It is also possible to integrate data of the transformer, Brasil, 2007.
generator and switchgear monitoring system into one
application. In that way is achieved insight into the [8] K. Meštrović, “Postupci određivanja
state of the critical infrastructure important for the pokazatelja pouzdanosti visokonaponskih SF6
production and delivery of the electrical energy to the prekidača”, doktorska disertacija, Zagreb :
end users. With the additional applications like expert Fakultet elektrotehnike i računarstva, 16.05.
system, the maintenance together with the cost 2008., 174 str. Voditelj: Tešnjak, Sejid
calculation becomes easier and more reliable. It can
be concluded that benefits which are gained from the
continuous insight into the condition of the equipment
justify the cost of the investment into the monitoring
system.

REFERENCES
[1] K. Meštrović, M. Poljak, M. Vidović, M.
Furčić, M. Lončar, I. Maras, A. Mik, “New
concept of highvoltage switchgear on-line
monitoring system”, 16th International
Symposium on high-voltage engineering – ISH
2009, South Africa, Cape Town, 24-28 August
2009.

[2] S. Strachan, S. McArthur, J. McDonald, W.

Leggat, A. Campbell, “Trip coil signature
analysis and interpretation for distribution
circuit breaker condition assessment and
diagnosis”, CIRED, 18th International
Conference on Electricity Distribution Turin,
6-9 June 2005

[3] Stephen Beattie, “Circuit breaker condition

assessment by vibration and trip coil analysis”,
Printed and Published by the IEE, Savoy Place,
London WCLR OBL. UK.
[4] M. Stanek, “Model-aided diagnosis for high
voltage circuit breakers”, Doctoral thesis,
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich,
2000.