UltraTEV Partial Discharge tools win ANOTHER Queen’s Award

EA Technology has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation for the second time, with sales of its UltraTEV Partial Discharge (PD) measurement products up 345% worldwide over the last three years.

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Based in Capenhurst, Cheshire, the power engineering specialist has also doubled its workforce to nearly 200 and won orders in 86 countries, during a time of global recession. More than 85% of UltraTEV products are exported, with growth markets including China.

The 2011 award ‘for continuous innovation over five years’ covers the development and success of EA Technology’s whole family of UltraTEV products, so named because they use ultrasonic and Transient Earth Voltage (TEV) sensors to detect and measure PD activity in live substation assets.

The original UltraTEV Detector™ was launched in 2003 and won the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2007, as the world’s first dual sensor handheld PD instrument. It has given rise to three subsequent generations of UltraTEV product development, with new instruments, alarms and systems, each featuring up to six different sensor technologies to locate, measure, monitor, record and analyse PD activity.

Fourth generation systems currently in development will include monitoring of non-PD phenomena, as well as PD activity, which can cause failures and unplanned outages.

Robert Davis, EA Technology Group CEO, said: “The 2011 award recognises the imperative for companies like ours to keep innovating if we want to succeed in world markets.

“The UltraTEV Detector™ gave engineers a new tool for spotting faults before they develop into failures and outages. By contrast, the new generations of UltraTEV instruments and systems have upped the game to include continuous monitoring of entire substations and the ability to gather accurate information on the condition of multiple assets simultaneously.

“Above all, continuous development of the UltraTEV family is part of the industry’s quest for better network reliability and customer service, at lower cost.”

Originally formed as the research and development arm of the UK electricity industry, EA Technology became fully independent in 1997. The company is owned by its employees and has operations in Australia, China, the Middle East and USA, together with 35 international distribution partners.