Analysis of asset health : an approach to monitoring and diagnostics for medium voltage circuit breakers

Abstract

The Medium Voltage Electric Industry is a very conservative and risk adverse sector that has undergone very little change in the past 30 years when compared to other technologically dependent activities; this reality is rapidly shifting. The advent of cost-effective and reliable telecommunications, coupled with the drastic price decrease of wireless communication and sensing technologies, are steering the industry towards an information based era that is generically known as smart-grid. With an emphasis on medium voltage circuit breakers, the purpose of this thesis was to identify sensor technology and analytics that will allow electric utilities in North America-primarily the United States-to assess the health of their equipment and utilize this information for maintenance operational decisions. The main areas of research included in this work were the market context for medium voltage circuit breaker Monitoring & Diagnostics solutions, the financial justification for such applications, and the technical merit of multiple sensor technologies and associated analytics. The findings of this research helped support the development of an advanced Monitoring and Diagnostics kit currently deployed at a customer site as part of a pilot demonstration program. The prototype system provides real-time monitoring and trending information for six reactor-switching 15 kV circuit breakers. The completion of this thesis, and successful development of the advanced Monitoring and Diagnostics kit, was the result of the collaborative effort of a small interdisciplinary team assembled to identify smart-grid opportunities in the medium voltage space. This work took place at ABB's Medium Voltage Headquarters in the United States.