How Efficient are Your Testing Processes?
Use Objective Indicators to Measure Your Testing Efficiency
One of the most pressing questions that many companies in the energy sector are grappling with is how to deal with increasing testing demand. Testing all the parameters of electromechanical protection relays used to be the standard approach, but that's no longer an option for today's protection devices. In addition to a huge rise in the number of different parameters on modern digital protection relays, significantly more of them are in use than ever before. Yet despite the current shortage of skilled workers, all of these protection relays still need to be tested.
Boosting Efficiency Thanks to
Modern Testing Solutions
Testing technologies have continued to evolve alongside the protection relays. The latest testing solutions make it easier than ever to boost testing efficiency, such as the CMC range of test sets working in combination with Test Universe, RelaySimTest, and the Protection Testing Library (PTL). It is possible now to test a significantly larger number of assets without needing any more time, while defined performance indicators serve as an objective way of quantifying untapped potential. Depending on the initial situation, significant gains in efficiency can be achieved, as demonstrated by these two examples:
Saudi Electricity Company
SEC reduced the testing time it spends during commissioning new substations by 70 percent, despite having no previous knowledge of our testing solutions. Our Engineering Services team passed on all the needed basics in the space of just one week.
IEB Colombia
IEB reduced its testing time by a whopping 80 percent. It only took four CMC test sets, Test Universe, and the PTL to carry out testing on 5,000 protection relays across 23 substations at the second-largest oil refinery in Columbia.
Relevant Indicators for
Protection Relay Testing
While the latest testing approaches can reduce the workload involved by up to 80 percent, performance isn't the only relevant factor here. The standard of testing quality is also crucial when it comes to evaluating the protection testing, because the higher the quality of the testing, the more reliable the overall system will be—which reduces expensive outages.
Examples of key performance indicators:
- Test depth
- Test coverage
- Test repeatability
- Test performance
These indicators then make it significantly easier to gage the available potential for improvements, for example: where would it make sense to test in greater depth to continue making the protection system more reliable? To what extent is it possible to reduce the current testing effort? What impacts in terms of costs can be expected?
Increasing Efficiency
Step by Step
The first step always consists of determining the current situation, which means defining the key indicators you want to measure. For this purpose, it is helpful to analyze your test processes and the labor involved to generate a clear overview. Once you've determined the current situation, you can then develop, try out, and evaluate different measures through pilot projects, for example.
But which areas offer the greatest potential? When it comes to protection testing, standardization, automation, and the use of versatile testing solutions are generally an effective means of increasing efficiency and quality.
Standardization: The more standardized your assets and test equipment are, the greater the level of automation that can be achieved. Standardization therefore has a direct impact on your ability to boost efficiency.
Automation: Using test plans to automate all recurring test steps not only significantly increases testing performance but also improves the quality of the test results. The resulting reduction in testing time generates significant savings over the life cycle of the asset.
Testing solution: The combination of a versatile test set and matching software paves the way to standardization. But that's not all—it also serves as a lever for automation, because you can carry out more tests using the same device on an automated basis.
Defined indicators give you an objective way of telling which approach would make most sense in the relevant situation. Once you have clear figures on your potential savings, you'll likely find it much easier to make difficult decisions as well.
Throughout the entire process, it helps to have a trusted partner by your side who can provide advice and support. The Engineering Services Team at OMICRON not only has the necessary expertise but also years of experience to streamline your processes. Together, we develop concepts to support you with your current challenges in the energy transition.
What can we do for you?
We’re here to listen to your challenges and help you find solutions.
