An Introduction to Substation Maintenance

If your organization runs with the support of a sub-station, you will obviously require periodic maintenance. Timely maintenance ensures that your sub-station operates efficiently, securely, and a in a manner that makes it reliable. Think of it as just one of those things that just needs to be done.

You see, after a point in time, a range of problems can affect your sub-station, especially in terms of reliability and performance If these issues are ignored, you can end up facing breakdowns and even safety issues. To make things worse, you’ll have to foot the costs that come with these issues.

So, your best bet at avoiding trouble is to carry out regular maintenance.

There are generally two phases in which sub-station maintenance is carried out – Primary Testing and Secondary Testing.

Primary Testing

Some of the most important components in a sub-station are the circuit breakers and the transformers. With time and continued operation, these components experience wear and tear, which can only be kept in check through regular maintenance.

One of the things that happens in the primary testing phase is that you’ll have the circuit breakers tested. They will be analyzed to identify the possibility of abnormal operations. If anything is identified, your circuit breakers will undergo preventive maintenance to prevent the issue.

Some of the parameters that will be checked as part of the process are poles synchronism, open/close timing, coil condition, and contact resistance etc.

Apart from circuit breaker testing, you will also have transformer testing. Power transformers play a critical role in substation operations. If they fail, you could be looking at substantial losses. Transformers experience tremendous thermal stress and various other electrical stresses. So, a routine test is necessary to keep things going.

This will include measuring winding resistance and turn ratio, assessing recovery voltage, observing the polarization index, and measuring short-circuit impedance.

Secondary testing

Secondary testing is done to ensure that a protection scheme provides the expected level of performance. Here, secondary injection tests will be conducted at intervals to assess relays, wiring, the performance of the secondary equipment, protection panels etc.

It can also include overcurrent testing, distance testing, testing of frequency and voltage protections, reclose schemes etc. This is apart from the testing of wiring, burden, polarity, and control/protection circuits.

At Industrial Tests, we offer a comprehensive Substation Maintenance Program. To know more, visit our Substation Maintenance Page.