Close
Forgotten Password?
Login?
Register Me
Home
About
Contact
More
More
Network Operators
Funding Timeline
LCNI Presentations
Annual Innovation Summary
Funding Documents
Document Templates
Events
Login
Home
About
Contact
Network Operators
Funding Timeline
LCNI Presentations
Annual Innovation Summary
Funding Documents
Document Templates
Events
Project Details
R
eport
pt
P
rint
rn
D
ownload
/L
Save
Share
Share
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Electricity Distribution
Project Details
Documents
Ideas for future projects?
Nov 2020
Electricity Distribution
GIS temperature monitoring
Reference:
NIA_UKPN067
Status:
Live
Start Date:
Nov 2020
End Date:
Jun 2022
Funding Licencee(s):
UK Power Networks, Eastern Power Networks, London Power Networks and South Eastern Power Networks
Contact:
Kelvin Lee & Ayodele Ogunjumo
Click here to send a question to the contact.
Funding Mechanism
Network Innovation Allowance
Research Area:
ED - Network improvements and system operability
Core Technology(ies):
Asset Management, Environmental, Health and Safety, Maintenance & Inspection and Measurement
Estimated Expenditure:
£327,000.00
Introduction:
UK Power Networks owns and operates Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS), and some of them use Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as an electrical insulator. SF6 is an extremely good electrical insulator, is not poisonous to humans and has other advantageous engineering properties. However, SF6 is a potent greenhouse gas. Managing potential leaks of SF6 is increasingly important with the UK working to meet its Net Zero targets, and for UK Power Networks’ to meet its own environmental targets.
There is a large population of GIS on the network that are legacy models and no longer supported by manufacturers. However, they are still in good condition. One example is F35 GIS made by Areva (now GE).
It has been identified that enhanced monitoring of this asset could be beneficial in identifying developing faults. For example, if localised heating caused by loose connections in circuit breakers could be monitored, the asset could be switched out and maintained before failure occurred.
Objectives:
The objectives of the project are to:
· Test whether or not the DTS fibre technology can detect temperature changes as small as 0.5 degree Celsius outside of a chamber containing SF6 subjected to heating
· Correlate changes in temperature to the pressure of SF6 gas in a controlled environment
· Test a 132kV system in a live environment which aims to ascertain the relationship between load and temperature, and prove that sensible alarm levels can be configured to effectively discount heating effects due to load only and highlight heating due to incipient failure
· Prove that the integration and remote access of condition data will not be an issue during Business-As-Usual
The desired outcome of the project is to prove whether or not DTS fibre technology is a sensible solution to predict the presence of abnormal heating/hot spots in GIS in order to prevent disruptive failure.