Wednesday

During this half-day workshop, participants will be introduced to the 'next level' approach to human performance. Known as Practicing Perfection^®, this approach was detailed in the recently published EPRI Report, Human Error Reduction: An Implementation Guide (Report #1019687).

Drawing upon his experiences of working with electrical power generation, transmission, and MEP vendors and firms during the last six years, Tim Autrey (author of the EPRI Report) will provide a guided tour through the basics of how to achieve long term sustainable human performance enhancement in any organization. Specifically, Tim will cover a variety of subjects related to team and individual performance from moving beyond old paradigms to viral accountability.

In your routine testing specification you are asked to perform testing of current transformers (CT's). The NETA acceptance specifications require testing of ratio, polarity, excitation, and circuit burden. An experienced technician will test these features and complete the report. But have you ever wondered why the tests were needed? This half day seminar will focus on the current transformer construction, type, properties and other aspects of the CT. You will learn the method used to determine the purpose of the CT, what constitutes a metering or protection class CT, the definition of each CT class, and how to test and evaluate the results of a CT test.

There is an ongoing requirement to improve operational reliability of large power distribution systems and frequently, pressure to extend operations between scheduled maintenance periods for medium-voltage (MV) switchgear. As insulation breakdown and flashover represents a high percentage of metal-clad switchgear faults, early detection of insulation degradation is critical.

In service assessment by the application of diagnostic techniques can provide confidence in the continuing safety and reliability of switchgear. Use of detection, location and monitoring of partial discharge activity provides very valuable information to effectively identify equipment at risk of failure.

Equipment failures result not only in loss of supply and consequent disruption to production but also represent a danger to operational staff in the area. The process of non-intrusively surveying switchgear for partial discharge activity using electromagnetic and ultrasonic principles detects both continuous and intermittent discharge activity from both ‘visible' surface sites and ‘invisible' sources internal to insulation components.

Hand-held non-intrusive equipment enables regular use by staff entering substations and continuous monitoring systems utilizing state of the art signal processing and analysis enable permanent monitoring of critical MV switchboards.

The presentation will discuss the techniques and equipment together with examples of findings from switchgear installations throughout the US.

This session will examine the proper sampling techniques, sample containers, tests performed on transformer oils, the diagnostic value of each test and how to evaluate the quality and condition of the fluid for transformer dielectric fluids. We will also examine how dissolved gas analysis (DGA) and furans are used to evaluate transformer faults and the operational condition assessment of transformers.

This half day seminar reviews how testing science and practices have evolved. For example, automated testing, end-to-end testing, the outsourcing of projects to contractors and consultants, and the impact of regulatory agencies have all affected relay testing. 

We then show how we can take a comprehensive, scientific approach to address these challenges. Our goal is to increase the safety and reliability of protection schemes. As a basis, we will examine a one-line of a utility/industrial intertie using a short transmission line with current differential protection, a step-down delta-wye transformer with differential protection, feeder protection, and motor protection. By examining each application, we show how to develop a plan to successfully commission these relay schemes with certainty.

Surveys have shown that stator and rotor winding insulation failure account for about 50 percent of motor failures in motors rated 2300 volt and above. Thus, to improve motor reliability and move to on-line predictive maintenance for motors, tools are needed to assess the condition of the windings. There are on-line test methods that have gained popularity with ac induction motor maintenance specialists. This paper discusses the failure mechanisms of medium- voltage motors and examines the online tests for which windings and types of machines the test is effective, setup, interpretation, and limitations.