There are a number of equipment reliability, performance and safety tests conducted before T&D equipment is ready for commercial deployment. The list of potential tests that are conducted either by “outside services” firms or by the equipment manufacturer is extensive.
Some of the more common equipment specific tests include: internal arcing faults, short-circuit withstand, load switching, loop switching, capacitive switching, harmonics, temperature rise, impendence testing, partial discharge, dielectric, overload testing and others.
Only a relative handful of test labs are equipped to conduct high power testing for clients. The ability to conduct short circuit testing is largely dependent upon having high power test capabilities. In North America., there are only seven companies that presently operate high power laboratories. Two are commercial labs (DNV GL KEMA Powertest and PowerTech) and five are maintained by equipment manufacturers including Eaton, Littelfuse, Mersen, S&C and Schneider Electric. These manufacturer labs also provide lab testing services to outside manufacturers.
Continue reading Combined market for testing of T&D equipment was $437 million in 2017
summary reviews and highlights from completed studies
