Oil Circuit Breaker (OCB) Condition Assessment

Oil Circuit Breakers, OCB's, have been traditionally scheduled for maintenance based on passage of time, operational count or number of fault interruptions. Internal inspections based on these criteria are costly and in the vast majority of cases the inspected units are problem free.

The Weidmann-ACTI OCB Diagnostic Program was developed to minimize the number of internal inspections required. The maintenance cost savings are significant and are easily documented for management review.

Dissolved Gas Analysis, DGA, is an important diagnostic tool to identify and quantify the fault gases associated with OCB problems. Increased contact resistance or contact erosion results in elevated oil temperatures. At these higher temperatures "hot metal" gases are produced. The gases are methane, ethane and ethylene. The relative amounts of these gases and gas concentration ratios are indicative of the fault intensities. The arcing gases hydrogen and acetylene are produced whenever an OCB operates. The amount of acetylene is also related to the condition of the contacts and the arc suppression grids. Weidmann-ACTI, in cooperation with major utility clients, has developed sophisticated diagnostic software that correlates gas concentrations and gas ratios with specific OCB problems.

The comprehensive series of tests, coupled with our diagnostic software, enable us to effectively evaluate the condition of your OCB's. OCB conditions are reported in three categories: Normal, Caution and Warning.