Utilities are doing too much breaker maintenance
- Reliability Consultant, Wynnewood, PA (United States)
Many breaker failures occur after the breaker has been torn down for maintenance because some error was made in reassembling it. Utilities now can get a better understanding of circuit breaker reliability as the result of a worldwide survey conducted by the International Conference on Large High-Voltage Electric Systems (Cigre) of the reliability of circuit breakers 63 kV and above. The most significant finding is that the rate of major failures have dropped drastically with the introduction of modern SF[sub 6] breakers (from 1.58 to 0.67 per 100 breaker-years). But the rate of minor failures - such as gas leaks, which require maintenance and add to the operating cost - has increased by 30%. Incorrect maintenance causes far fewer failures in modern breakers, simply because they have to be torn down less frequently. Only 15% as many major failures and 77% as many minor failures can be attributed to incorrect maintenance. The failure to open or close on command are still the dominant major-failure modes of circuit breakers. 4 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 6671835
- Journal Information:
- Electrical World; (United States), Vol. 208:12; ISSN 0013-4457
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
42 ENGINEERING
CIRCUIT BREAKERS
COST
FAILURES
MAINTENANCE
RELIABILITY
TESTING
COMPILED DATA
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
SULFUR FLUORIDES
DATA
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT PROTECTION DEVICES
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
PUBLIC UTILITIES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
240301* - Power Transmission Lines & Cables- Power Cables- (1990-)
420202 - Engineering- Protective Structures & Equipment
426000 - Engineering- Components
Electron Devices & Circuits- (1990-)