New partial discharge detectors for South Africa

23/07/2009

A new range of dual sensor instruments for detecting, locating and measuring Partial Discharge (PD) activity in MV and HV assets is now available for power owners and operators in South Africa and neighbouring countries.

Independent Power Industries (Pty) Limited (IPI) of Johannesburg, has been appointed sole regional distributor for EA Technology’s award-winning range of instruments.

IPI Managing Director and founder Fernando Bolota said: ““EA Technology estimates that PD activity is a critical factor in around 85% of disruptive substation failures, so the ability to locate and quantify it is essential.

“EA Technology’s instruments represent a step change in PD detection, because they measure Transient Earth Voltage (TEV) effects deep in the insulation, as well as surface ultrasonic emissions.

“The ability to measure internal discharges in energised equipment, such as switchgear, is a major advance in diagnostic testing. Engineers can now make a highly accurate assessment of the condition of live assets. They can also identify faults as they are developing and before they lead to failures.”

Based at Capenhurst in the UK, EA Technology has more than 40 years’ experience working with HV assets and its scientists were the first to recognise the importance of TEV effects, in the 1970s.

The company’s first dual sensor hand-held PD instrument, the UltraTEV Detector™, won the Queen’s Award for Innovation – Britain’s top industrial award – in 2007. The UltraTEV range has now been expanded and adopted as standard equipment by power engineers across the UK industry, and from the Middle East to China.

Mr Bolota added: “The UltraTEV Plus+™ hand-held is the most valuable first pass PD detection instrument on the market, because it gives engineers an immediate indication of both ultrasonic and TEV emissions and alerts them when they are at critical levels. We think an UltraTEV Plus should be in every service engineer’s toolkit.

“Level 2 PD investigations are carried out with the UltraTEV Locator™ and UltraTEV Monitor™. The Locator uses time of flight measurement between two probes to both quantify and pinpoint the source of activity. The Monitor measures and records variations in PD activity including intermittent discharges over time, so the data can be analyzed to produce an extremely accurate picture of the risk of failure due to insulation flashover.

“Using the full range of UltraTEV instruments is a surefire way of identifying the majority of PD faults which would lead to failures and outages.”

Mr Bolota has been involved in all the facets of electrical engineering industry in South Africa from the design to manufacturing and development of new products for the last 28 years. He recently formed the IPI group of companies to provide a comprehensive range of products and services, specifically tailored to meet the needs of MV and HV power operators in the region. These include products, consultancy, design, testing, commissioning and site maintenance programmes.

Contacts
Fernando Bolota, IPI
Independent Power Industries (Pty) Ltd
418 Heidelburg Road, Tulsa Park 2197
PO Box 83912 South Hills 2136
Direct Dial: (011) 907 1370
Email: fernando@ipiholdings.co.za

John Hartford, EA Technology
Direct Dial: +44(0)151 347 2371
Email: john.hartford@eatechnology.com