Effect of sensor information accuracy on condition‐based strategy of GIS/GCB maintenance

Abstract

AbstractCondition‐Based Maintenance (CBM) is a new maintenance strategy and interest of utilities for reliable operation of aged power equipment. Although attempts have been made to apply CBM to various types of equipment, owing to insufficient understanding of the effect of the accuracy of condition information provided by sensors, the specification of reliable information is still not clear and CBM has not been widely applied in real power substations. The effect of the accuracy of condition information on the criteria of failure recognition is treated in this paper. The potential failure curve (P‐F curve) used in the original Reliability‐Centered Maintenance (RCM) concept is studied and its effect is explained. The explanation is confirmed by comparison of proved original sensors for CBM and existing sensors in an SF6 gas slow leakage detection experiment. The experiment indicates that SF6 gas leakage at levels of less than 0.1% per year might be detected with a CBM sensor. It is concluded that special efforts should be devoted to the sensitivity and long‐term stability of sensors for reliable operation of power substations under the CBM strategy. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 176(2): 14–21, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.21114