The OMICRON Museum documents 100 years of protection testing
The OMICRON Museum offers customers, visitors and employees interesting insights into the early days, as well as the development of protection and test engineering over the last 100 years. It shows by different exhibits the technical progress that has been made, from the first portable testing kit – which was actually a regular suitcase filled with apparatus – all the way through to the microprocessor-controlled, intelligent testing systems currently in use. Today's state-of-the-art technology is still based on the pioneering technological work of days gone by. However, modern devices have become smaller, more powerful and easier to use. Walter Schossing who is a recognized expert in the field of protection and an authority on the history of protection and testing technology, has volunteered to manage the Museum.
The portable test kit
The first protection relays were constructed in the early 20th century. Development of the testing and measurement solutions required for this also began at around the same time. To be able to perform tests on relays, complex testing circuits with heavy auxiliary equipment had to be set up (voltage and current transformers, control chokes, measuring equipment), which took a great deal of time. To facilitate easier and faster testing, engineers quickly developed a portable testing case that was capable of performing the same tests as the large and heavy equipment used previously.
A new standard in the field of measurement and testing technology
The introduction of digital protection relays and high-precision measuring transducers also required new approaches to testing. OMICRON's innovative hardware and software solution was originally only designed for testing measuring transducers. However, further development steps soon made it possible to test the most diverse of protection relays (distance relays, overcurrent relays, frequency relays), which set a new standard in the field of measurement and testing technology. With this new development, OMICRON assumed the role of market leader within a very short space of time.