Circuit Breaker Testing Around the World
Listen to our respective mini podcast series
In our circuit breaker testing series, experts from different regions of the world involved in circuit breaker testing talk about what is important to them in their daily work. Our guests come from North America, Europe, Oceania and the middle East and Africa region. Our host is Stefan Achberger, a circuit breaker testing expert within OMICRON.
In the first episode, Stefan speaks with Charles Sweetser, an OMICRON electrical apparatus testing expert in the United States, who has many years of experience testing circuit breakers. Charles describes how the preference for circuit breakers in North American has evolved to favor dead tank technology at higher voltage levels. He explains the types of tests performed on them to get essential information about their performance and insulation integrity, even when testing time is limited. He also offers tips for ensuring that measurements can be reliably compared to manufacturer specifications.
In the second episode, Stefan talks to Bastian Wölke, an Electrical Apparatus Testing Expert at Westnetz GmbH, a distribution network operator for electricity and gas based in northern Germany. Bastian has 25 years of experience testing medium-voltage switchgears. He escribes new technologies used in Germany, the commonly used SF6 breakers, modern SF6 alternatives, as well as the future of circuit breaker testing. Lastly, Bastian also gives practical advice for engineers who want to start to perform circuit breaker testing themselves.
In the third episode, Stefan speaks with OMICRON technical support engineers Florian Predl and Tibor Congo from the OMICRON office in Melbourne. Both have many years of power system testing experience down under in Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands. They describe the wide variety of circuit breaker types installed in this region, the environmental challenges there and the types of tests typically used to assess medium- and high-voltage circuit breaker condition. Lastly, they describe how circuit breaker technology changes will influence diagnosis, such as the use of online testing and trending.
In our fourth episode, Stefan talks to Anas Abdulkhader, an expert in primary testing of power systems from the Middle East. He has experience in the testing and installation of Gas-Insulated Switchgear (GIS), the most commonly used switchgear in the region. He goes into the intricacies of various testing procedures used in the maintenance and commissioning of GIS and medium voltage breakers. He talks about routine and advanced testing to evaluate breaker performance under various operating conditions. Moreover, Anas also explains why grounding both sides of GIS breakers is of utmost importance during maintenance.
Additional Energy Talks podcast episodes about Circuit Breaker Testing around the world will follow in addition to our regular episodes related to power system testing – we encourage you to listen in!
Listen to our Circuit Breaker Testing Around the World miniseries (in english):
Energy Talks is an OMICRON podcast series where experts, users and industry peers share their views on various topics related to power system testing.
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