Training course " ON-LINE or “IN COMPANY”

 ENGINEERING AND DESIGN CONCEPTS + software for

SUBSTATIONS AND EQUIPMENT FOR SUBSTATIONS

(MV and LV switchboards, switchgear, circuit breakers, isolators, fuses, busways , etc..)

This training has focus on professionals working as manufacturers of high and low voltage equipment for substations as well as teams in certification companies and testing laboratories. It has been successfully applied in many countries of Asia, Europe and Americas.

The participants review or learn about the engineering concepts necessary to produce a good quality equipment design. They also get and learn how to use the software SwitchgearDesign_307 developed by the lecturer Sergio Feitoza Costa. This software enables to develop new projects of equipment and to simulate high power tests before going to do a real test in laboratory.

SwitchgearDesign_307 software used by a designer, with this training on the engineering concepts, is a very powerful resource for a company. Software alone without knowing concepts is not sufficient. Nowadays it is not easy to find equipment designers with solid fundaments in the market, in both electrical and mechanical aspects of the design. This training intend to give to the participant a broader view of the several technical and economic aspects of a project.  The proper use of the tool create conditions to avoid many days of testing in laboratory for developments and to reduce to a minimum the possibility of failing in the laboratory type test.

The software SwitchgearDesign is not an academic tool. Sergio developed it based on an experience of 35 years designing, implementing and operating high power, high voltage and other testing laboratories. It incorporates his experience participating and managing working groups at IEC and CIGRE as well as designing equipment and testing laboratories (CV below)

The detailed program of the course cover topics like:

• Specification and testing of MV and LV switchboards, switchgear, transformers, circuit breakers, isolators, fuses, busways , etc..

• Details and understanding of IEC technical standards like IEC 62271-1 / 100 / 200 /307, IEC 61439

• Laboratory tests and testing labs (breaking, short circuit, internal arc, heating, electro dynamical forces...)

• Methods of calculation of the electrical and mechanical effects used for design.

• Magnetic and electric fields mapping in substations x EMC problems

• How to develop innovative products instead of copying old overcome ones.

• How to use the software SwitchgearDesign to simulate and design equipment

The complete program of the course is below and can be applied in English or Spanish or Portuguese. Sergio Feitoza Costa, the lecturer, can also speak a little of French but do not sufficiently to apply the entire course in this language. In the links below you may download the free book authored by Sergio and used as reference in the training as well as good information about the software and its validation.

ABOUT EQUIPMENT DESIGN

In the design of switchgear, busways, isolators and other equipment for substations, three of the most expensive requirements to attend are usually:

-- the temperatures not to be exceeded, in normal use
-- to withstand overpressures during internal arcs and
-- to withstand the electro dynamical forces that can damage insulators and bend bus bars.

The smaller is the equipment and higher are the currents, the harder it is to meet these requirements and to optimize the design for the minimum use of copper, aluminum and supports for the bus bars.

Many products in the market are oversized in some respects and deficient in others because tests are expensive and the manufacturer want to avoid the possibility failures in the tests and consequently their repetition. Nevertheless, with the use of sound concepts plus simulation techniques it is possible to optimize designs employing less copper, aluminum, insulators, and doing this to reduce the use of the world resources.

Buyers of electric products want products with reports attesting that they meet the requirements of technical standards. The availability of testing laboratories is small all over the World, by this reason tests are expensive, and there is a waiting time to do them. The cost of just one day of a high power laboratory test can exceed 6000 U$D not including the prototype construction and transportation to the lab.

Simulations permit to economize dozens of testing days and are each time more known and accepted by users to replace laboratory tests in the development phase and even to replace type tests in several situations. Few people know that IEC and CIGRE working groups are advancing fast in this theme.

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS COURSE is to show how to develop an optimized high quality equipment design based in the good knowledge of the IEC technical standards specifications, design concepts and the possibility of replacing expensive tests by low cost computer simulations. A copy of the software SwitchgearDesign_307 is given to the participants for use inside their companies

THE PROGRAM OF THE COURSE COVERS:

1-STUDIES THAT MAKE THE BASE OF THE SPECIFICATION OF CURRENTS AND VOLTAGES.

1.1 - Load flow and definition of the normal currents.
1.2 - Short circuit studies and definition of currents and duration.
1.3 - Basic concepts of the “free” software ATP / ATPDRAW (currents and voltages transient calculations).

2 - OVERVOLTAGES AND INSULATION COORDINATION.

2.1 - Transients and insulation coordination.
2.2 - Techniques to reduce over voltages (synchronizers, pre insertion resistors, surge arresters)
2.3 – Why to use higher or lower levels of withstand industrial frequency and impulse voltages?
2.4 – Some aspects of electric fields and distances in installations
2.5 – Some high voltage tests (impulse, AC voltage, corona, RIV, …) and diagnostics

3. SHORT CIRCUITS, AMPACITIES, OVERLOADS AND ELECTRIC CONTACTS

3.1 ELECTRICAL CONTACTS

3.2 TEMPERATURE RISE
3.2.1 – Concepts and testing: reduction of lifetime, supportability of materials to temperatures and durations.
3.2.2 - Importance of the ventilation and contact resistances in switchgear, fusible, isolators, transformadores
3.2.3 – Overloads in Transformers
3.2.4 – Temperature rise tests

3.3. ELECTRODYNAMICAL FORCES AND MECHANICAL STRENGTH DURING SHORT CIRCUITS.
3.3.1- The installation was oversized and now the short circuit level is much higher. What to do?
3.3.2 - Magnetic effects and electro dynamical forces under short-circuit currents.
3.3.3 - Calculation of the forces and mechanical stresses.
3.3.4 - Limit values for insulators and busbar conductors.
3.3.5 - Short-time withstand current and peak withstand current tests.
3.3.6 – Some aspects of magnetic fields in installations

3.4 TRANSIENT RECOVERY VOLTAGES AND INTERRUPTION PROCESSES
3.4.1 Circuit breakers, switches, their technologies and the future
3.4.2. Expulsion type and current limiting fuses
3.4.3 – Breaking Tests

4 – INTERNAL ARC AND POWER ARCS. PERSONAL AND INSTALLATIONS SAFETY

4.1 - Internal arc in switchgear (medium and low voltage).
4.2 -Technologies to control the effects of arc and to attend testing requirements.
4.3 - Did we arrive to the limit of equipment dimensions reduction?
4.4 - Tests on transformers. Aspects of explosions and fires in transformers.
4.5 – Arcs in insulators strings and tests

5 – SOME SPECIFIC TECHNICAL STANDARDS, REQUIREMENTS
5.1 - Requirements of IEC 62271-200 for medium voltage switchgear.
5.2 - Requirements of IEC 61439 and IEC 60439 for low voltage switchgear
5.3 - Planning the equipment to be tested in lab to enable the future use of IEC 61439 design rules
5.4 – The impacts of the IEC 62271-307 - High-voltage switchgear and control gear – Part 307: Guidance for the extension of validity of type tests of AC metal-enclosed switchgear and control gear for rated voltages > 1 kV and <= 52 kV
5.5 – Some aspects in IEC 62271-1 (common clauses), IEC 62271-100 (circuit breakers), IEC 60282-2 (expulsion fuses), IEC 60076 (Power transformers).

6 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF EQUIPMENT FOR SUBSTATIONS PREPARED BY TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION POWER UTILITIES
6.1 - The most efficient specification is the international technical standard.
6.2 – Typical errors in technical specifications and how to avoid them.
6.3 - Specification of high voltage switches and isolators and relevant tests
6.4 – Specification of circuit - breakers and relevant tests
6.5 - Specification of surge arresters and relevant tests
6.6 - Specification of transformers and reactors
6.7 – Some details about other standards and tests (questions previously sent from the participants)

7 SIMULATION OF TESTS USING THE SOFTWARE SWITCHGEAR_DESIGN_307

• State of the art of the use of simulations to replace some laboratory tests

• Simulation of short-time withstand current and peak tests (calculation of electro dynamical forces, mechanical stresses )

• Simulation of temperature rise / heating tests (calculations and how to optimize the design)

• Simulation of internal arc tests (overpressures, burn-through and supportability)

• Case studies with the software ( LV and MV switchgear)

• Mapping of electromagnetic fields in substations and inside equipment