SKB EP at the Final Contest on Substations’ Equipment Maintenance and Repair in FGC UES

8 august 2017

In June and July the qualification contests on repair of equipment of 220-1150 kV substations were held in branches of FGC UES (reports on the results of qualification contests in MES (backbone electric grid) of Center and MES (backbone electric grid) of Siberia); in the period from July, 31 till August, 3 the final contest was held in Zheleznovodsk City on the base of MES of Sout.

Eight teams took part in the final contest: MES of South; MES of West Siberia; MES of the Urals; MES of North-West; MES of Center; MES of Siberia; MES of Volga, and MES of East.

The teams were to go through seven stages to demonstrate their professional skills in maintenance of the column-type SF6 circuit breakers of HPL-245 type; in maintenance and adjustment of a drive of the bulk-oil circuit breaker of U-220 type; in maintenance of a RNDZ-220 disconnect switch; in providing the first aid to the suffered from electric shock; in suppressing the fictitious fire on the oil-filled equipment. They were also to demonstrate the knowledge of rules, guidelines and norms now in force.

According to the contest’s program, three stages out of seven were devoted to maintenance of substation equipment using special-purpose analyzers manufactured by SKB EP. One of the main criteria of evaluation was ability to appropriately use those devices. SKB EP specialists took part in the contest as experts and arbitrators and participated in the exhibition that was organized in parallel with the contest. Company exhibited its new developments, namely, a MIKO-10 portable microohmmeter, a  high-precision MIKO-21 microohmmeter, an advanced MIKO-9 milliohmmeter, and some other well-proven devices.

Throughout the stages of the contest the participants showed interest towards new developments of the Company, could perform tests themselves and check the declared functions of devices.

At Stage 3 the teams were to perform maintenance of SF6 column-type circuit breaker of HPL-245 type with a BLG-1002A drive manufactured by АВВ Company. The task was to measure time characteristics using PKV/M7 analyzer (without using the travel and speed transducers), and transient resistance of the main contacts.

PKV/M7 operation in the final contest of PAO FSK EES on the HPL-245 (ABB) circuit breaker.
Reference to video of SKB EP channel at Youtube: https://youtu.be/O13VNGQEh74

According to the requirements of this stage, for measuring the transient resistance the teams were to use a universal MIKO-2.3 analyzer of SKB manufacture. Measurement current for HPL-245 circuit breaker must be no less than 200А, whereas MIKO-2.3 ensures the current of up to 1000A, which proves the adequacy of the device to measurement requirements.

MIKO-2.3 operation in the final contest of PAO FSK EES on the HPL-245 (ABB) circuit breaker
Reference to video of SKB EP channel at Youtube: https://youtu.be/siSLAkepy8I

State 4 of the contest suggested adjustment of a drive of a 220 kV bulk-oil circuit breaker of U-220 type, and measurement of travel and speed characteristics by PKV/M7 analyzer. For passing this stage the teams were to give a detailed description of the procedure of preparing the circuit breaker and the analyzer for measurements. They were also to measure the travel of main contacts prior to their touch at circuit breaker switching on with the help of a jack, and check of a trip-free release mechanism. They were to demonstrate their ability to analyze the obtained digital and graphic data to determine the delay in the main contacts travel start, travel of the main contacts from the moment of their opening to the moment of current tripping of a shutoff solenoid.  

At Stage 5 (repair of a disconnect switch and vibro-acoustic control of a stick-pedestal insulator) they were to measure transient resistance of contact connection of a disconnect switch. The teams could use microohmmeters of any manufacturer, including microohmmeters of SKB EP manufacture.

On the last day of the contest the SKB-EP specialists held a master-class for all the teams: they demonstrated methods of DP21 angular travel transducer installation on the pole and drive of a high-voltage circuit-breaker of HPL-245 type; demonstrated peculiarities of interpreting the readings of speed characteristics and operations of a closing and opening buffer on the graphs.   All the participants noted importance of the data of demonstrative tests as subsequent contest (work on HPL-245 circuit breaker) included the requirement to install the angular travel transducers for taking readings of speed characteristics. During the master-class the participants submitted the results of their diagnosis using PKV analyzers and discussed the questions arisen.

Upon termination of the contests the organizers summed up the results, identified the best team at each stage and, certainly, the winner.  According to the results of the contest, a team of MES (backbone electric grid) Center became a third-place winner, a team of MES (backbone electric grid)Urals became a second-place winner, and a team of MES  (backbone electric grid) Siberia became the winner of the inter-regional contest held by FGC UES.

Our congratulations to the winners!