Substation installation & commissioning are integral aspects of the electrical construction and maintenance industry. They involve performing a number of different tasks, including installing transformers, switching and protecting devices as well as associated power cables and equipment. Here’s everything you need to know about substation installation & commissioning.
- Structural components:
Substations utilize structural components such as trusses and columns in order to support the equipment that they are intended to house. The primary structural components of a substation include the column, the beam, the vault and the truss. The column is a vertical cylinder that is used to support the beam. The beam is a diagonal plate which carries most of the weight of substation equipment due to its immense amount of weight capacity. The vault is the area underneath the beam and column. The truss supports the weight of the vault and all equipment inside of it. It is located on a perpendicular axis from both the column and beam.
- Insulation:
The primary component of insulation in any substation is that of watertightness, which prevents leakage or flooding in wet locations. Watertightness can be achieved via the use of several different insulation techniques, including butt welded joints, impregnated seams and welded seams.
- Compartmentation:
Substations are designed to provide power to multiple electrical devices in a similar manner to that of a transformer substation. These devices are electrically separated from each other in order to achieve an isolated area for each device and prevent possible damage from overvoltage or undervoltage.
- Circuit design:
An electrical substation is designed to provide the required amount of power to a specific circuit at all times. The design for each circuit is usually done by a licensed electrician who creates the diagrams and then submits them to the electrical department for approval.
- Power protection:
In order to provide power protection, substations are equipped with a number of different devices. These include fuses and breakers. Fuses will only allow a certain amount of current to flow through while breakers will open and stop the flow of any current.
- Reclosers:
There are two different types of reclosers, which are the switching recloser and the semi-automatic recloser. They are both mechanically operated and can be used to automatically close the circuit when a fault occurs. These units will only close the circuit once, after which it will need to be manually reset by an electrician.
- Tracing unit:
The tracing unit is located in most substations, provided for the purpose of replacing any faulty wiring with new ones. The tracing unit will accept incoming power from any outlet within the building and transfer it to each appropriate location/device.
- Switching devices:
These are devices that literally switch power from one circuit to another. These include circuit breakers and switches, which are all required for the proper operation of a substation.
- Protection relays:
Protection relays are intended to protect any electrical equipment that is associated with a substation via the use of an interrupter or an arrester. These devices can be mounted in various positions within the substation, most commonly on the top or sides of a column.
Substations are indispensable aspects of the electrical construction and maintenance industry. They are usually built in order to provide power to one or many different circuits and are designed for a variety of different purposes, including providing power for lighting, elevators, computer equipment, air-conditioning and refrigeration systems.