Pics from the Network.....

[efiste2]

Again hope you guys dont mind me putting these up, some of you may find a modicum of intrest in them, and some may have seen these things many times over.

Changing the insulating oil in a 60 plus year old 33,000V Circuit Breaker rated @ 400A and a short time rating for 3 secs of 13000A.....

The oil tank is lowered from the actual breaker, on the R and L (hidden) of the pic, are the RING SWITCHES (manualy opened & closed only)
rated @ 400A and a short time rating for 3 secs of 13000A



33kv Male contacts roughly 40mm diameter....



The female contacts are hidden in the ARC extinguishing pots (we didnt take them off)



When bolted up, meggared and ductered, the circuit breaker can be manually RACKED in horizontally into the CIRCUIT and BUSBAR bushings, then closed in a pre-historic fashion of manually charging springs and pushing a mechanical button with a clatter and bang that hurts your ears (mechanical clatter and bang!!)



There are still loads of these historic Ring Main Units on the system, and still giving sterling service,
below is its modern day equivalent not a drop of insulating oil and a breaking gap of about 2.5mm!! and all controlled remoteley from a warm air-conditioned office via a PC....not sure if this stuff will see service for 60 years though!!!! (apologies for rough pic)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Changing the insulating oil

PCBs?

The female contacts are hidden in the ARC extinguishing pots (we didnt take them off)

Of course not - that would not be the act of a gentleman.

 

[efiste2]

I think 99% of PCB's on SP networks have been removed or down to a very small level that is well within guidance lines. or so they tell us :-0

 

[westie101]

I think 99% of PCB's on SP networks have been removed or down to a very small level that is well within guidance lines. or so they tell us

Same on ours[/quote]

 

[efiste2]

Older customer sites may still have PCB type Insulating oil on their systems though, we came across a site last week that had been taken over by that many different firms no-one on site had any sort of idea what s/gear they had or how to operate it......

 

[ricicle]

..... and all controlled remoteley from a warm air-conditioned office via a PC...

I think I would prefer remote switching of HV gear......

 

[plugwash]

I think 99% of PCB's on SP networks have been removed or down to a very small level that is well within guidance lines. or so they tell us :-0

I guess the problem is you can replace the bulk of the PCB oil with non-PCB but it's virtually impossible to replace 100% of the oil because it soaks into stuff.

 

[Lectrician]

There used to be a coal fired power station across the water from me - Yelland Power Station. In closed down in 1985 after 30 years service. The power station had two outputs, via transformers, feeding 33kv into a long busbar set approximately 40m long. This then fed out to the various local distribution points. The substation was demolished, but the switch room retained, and up until 2001 was still live and working as a switch room (less the input from the power station. It has now all been moved to kit in an external substation with 132kv feeders, and the building is just derelict, slowly being stripped, and is subject to several planning arguments.

Some pics from the decommissioned switch gear. Pics taken mainly in the dark, so pics not too great (I was new to my camera at the time!)

 

[ban-all-sheds]

....subject to several planning arguments....

That makes sense - I can quite see why they'd want to make sure nobody threw up some monstrosity there, and despoiled the neighbourhood.

 

[Lectrician]

It's more to do with the ash beds, and how to cap them before building. The site is currently completely demolished, with the exception of this building, which was still in use until 2001. It will be demolished.

Site is currently used for timber storage, with the coal jetti used for import/export.

Te plans were for homes and business units, access is great (huge road). I think the ash beds make any development inhibitively expensive.