Utilities are doing too much breaker maintenance

Journal Article · Thu Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1994 · Electrical World; (United States)

OSTI ID:6671835

Heising, C ^[1]

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1. 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), Journal Name: Electrical World; (United States) Vol. 208:12; ISSN 0013-4457; ISSN ELWOA3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
240301* -- Power Transmission Lines & Cables-- Power Cables-- (1990-)
42 ENGINEERING
420202 -- Engineering-- Protective Structures & Equipment
426000 -- Engineering-- Components
Electron Devices & Circuits-- (1990-)
CIRCUIT BREAKERS
COMPILED DATA
COST
DATA
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT PROTECTION DEVICES
FAILURES
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
MAINTENANCE
NUMERICAL DATA
PUBLIC UTILITIES
RELIABILITY
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR FLUORIDES
TESTING