CIBANO 500 CB MC2 CB TN3 Article Nordic Testing OMICRON Magazine 2015 ENU PDF
CIBANO 500 CB MC2 CB TN3 Article Nordic Testing OMICRON Magazine 2015 ENU PDF
CIBANO 500 CB MC2 CB TN3 Article Nordic Testing OMICRON Magazine 2015 ENU PDF
Application
Nordic testing
Reliable and comprehensive troubleshooting
for circuit breakers
Since its market launch in 2013 customers all over the world have
started to use CIBANO 500 to test their circuit breakers (CBs).
So have EB Elektro AS in Hokksund, Norway. During a mainte-
nance job for one of their customers they found a severe failure
in a CB before any further damage could occur. For EB Elektro AS
CIBANO 500 has once again proven its benefits.
EB Elektro AS is a leading Scandinavian com- the new concept of CIBANO 500, I became
pany for developing, producing and install- curious and asked for a product demonstra-
ing high-voltage devices. Odd Tangen works tion,“ Odd Tangen remembers. “It turned
as a service engineer in the service section of out that the overall concept of CIBANO 500
CB installation, commissioning and main- did a good job of meeting my expectations.“
tenance. In 2012 he saw the necessity for So he ordered the device. “This was a good
a new CB testing instrument. He started to decision on my part as CB testing became so
research the market. “In 2013 I heard about much easier,“ Odd Tangen confirms.
The timing measurement already showed abnormal fact that the instrument can measure contact timing,
timing in one phase of a CB during a close operation travel, static and dynamic contact resistance, coil cur-
and Odd Tangen and his team became suspicious rent, minimum pick up and undervoltage condition
(Fig. 1.). They received further unusual results dur- with the same wiring setup,“ summarizes Odd Tangen.
ing the static and dynamic resistance measurements “This helps me to save a lot of time during my daily
(Fig. 2). The C, O, and CO operation showed closing work, because I don’t need to change the wiring sev-
times that changed in the same phase. eral times as with other test systems,“ he adds. “Anoth-
er great feature is the built-in power supply, because
Gas analysis confirms measurements it gives me independence from a station battery.“
After the measurements with CIBANO 500 an SF6 gas
analysis was done. Different parameters including
dew point, gas volume, SO2 level, and gas pressure
were tested. The results of the gas analysis were really
bad. Especially the SO2 content was abnormally high.
“The gas literally stank,“ remembers Odd Tangen. “This
was additional proof that something was definitely
wrong with one phase.“ The next step was to take the
CB out of operation and replace it with a spare unit.
“It took us four days.“ The defective CB was brought
into a workshop where it was dismantled. Soon the
reason for the failure was found. “A flashover in the
main contact carrier due to loose parts was detected,“ Fig. 1: Timing measurement during a close
operation shows failure in blue phase.
Odd Tangen explains.
Valuable partner
Since his first practical experiences with CIBANO 500 in
2014 Odd Tangen has been in close cooperation with
OMICRON’s development team. He is always giving the
team his valuable feedback for product enhancements.
“What I personally like most about CIBANO 500 is the Fig. 3: Dynamic resistance measurement after repair.
to cut down the wiring effort to a minimum, which you remove the wiring again. With other equipment
greatly reduces the testing time and probability of you need to do the wiring twice or even three times.
measuring errors. I especially like this aspect of it very I would say you save 50 % of your time when you use
much, because it pays off every day of my working life. CIBANO 500 in such a case.
Can you somehow quantify the time-saving you Are there any general trends you see in circuit
have achieved by using CIBANO 500? breaker testing?
In order to respond to this correctly, I need to split up Looking into the future I am sure that we will see more
the answer. For the smaller breakers from 12 to 24 kV and more cost-effective maintenance based on condi-
you can save 20 to 30 % of time. Normally these break- tion monitoring as customers become more and more
ers are easily accessible and the wiring is no problem. critical of time-based maintenance.
In general you have a CB with ganged pole operation