Condition Assessment

In a fast changing environment asset managers need to keep up with past challenges to produce, transmit, distribute and deliver electrical power in a reliable way. Ageing assets, rising energy demand and the need to deliver without unplanned outages, are some of the challenges utilities and industries are facing today around the world.

Fixing these challenges mean that new solutions are needed to maintain the installed base of assets as well as when refurbishing, repairing or upgrading legacy transformers. Since the late 90s, Hitachi Energy offers a modular three step approach to a Condition Based Maintenance or Reliability Centered Maintenance program:

Step 1. Fleet screening survey: A quick scan of a large population (20 to 200 units) collects easily accessible data, such as unit name plate data, oil and dissolved-gas-in-oil data, load profile, history of the unit and sister units.

Step 2. Condition assessment: At this stage, transformer design experts focus on a smaller number of units (10 to 20) identified in step 1. They use modern design rules and tools to evaluate the original design. Advanced diagnostic tests are performed to assess each of the principal properties of the transformer in a structured way. This assessment leads to an estimate of each transformer`s risk of failure and defines action plans to improve the reliability of each unit.

Step 3. Expertise: The number of units to be further analyzed is typically limited to two or three out of a population of 100 units. This third module of the assessment process provides accurate information with respect to overloading transformers, enhancing their performance (power or voltage increase) or extending their lifetime.

The video "Tailored service solutions for every transformer - Engineering solutions" presents our service offerings to assess the operational condition of transformers, provide recommendations to mitigate risks and enhance the performance of aged equipment to meet possible new requirements. It also provides state-of-the-art information on on-line monitoring solutions, maintenance and repair options to be used to ensure reliable operating conditions.