With what is claimed to be the largest mobile oil regeneration plant in Africa, WEG Transformers Africa (WTA) plays a vital role in extending the life of South Africa’s transformer population and preventing unplanned downtime within electricity transmission systems. According to engineering manager, Ronaldo Bertoldi, ageing transformer oil introduces a number of risks into the performance and longevity of oil cooled transformers. “Moisture and impurities reduce the intended insulating effect that oil has within the windings and produces acid, making it more likely for breakdowns to occur, with potentially severe damage to the transformer itself,” he says.
WTA is able to conduct an oil regeneration service onsite for large transformers. This is done by transporting the regeneration plant by road and setting it up at the location required by the customer. Once linked up to the transformer, the unit circulates the oil through a process which involves filtering it through Fuller’s earth to remove impurities.
Careful sampling of the oil is first conducted in accordance with ISO and SANS sampling procedures by the company’s field teams, so that oil testing can establish the severity of the contamination. Laboratory tests, also conducted by WTA, are able to pick up the extent of cellulose breakdown from the insulation around the windings, oil decomposition and any moisture ingress. “The regeneration process removes acids, as well as absorbing moisture and oil decaying products through a hot oil circulation process through Fullers earth and inline oil purification in a closed loop path,” Bertoldi explains.
The process of purification only is shorter and uses inline micro filters to remove water, alcohol, dissolved gases, oxides and solid impurities. This is also a hot oil circulation process conducted in a closed loop path, and can usually be conducted in less than a day, depending on the condition of the oil. The number of passes that the oil requires through the system is based on the laboratory tests that indicate the level of contamination. Most of this work is conducted for end-users of transformers in various industrial sectors, with municipalities currently doing less oil purification or regeneration than in the past.
Power supply with scalability optimised Schneider Electric South Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
Schneider Electric has introduced the Easy UPS 3-Phase Modular to the South African marketplace. This robust uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is designed to protect critical loads while offering third-party verified Live Swap functionality.
Read more...Prioritising arc flash safety Comtest
Electrical Power & Protection
Comtest has developed a range of thermal imaging and wireless testing tools from Fluke, designed to ensure safety is the top priority for engineers working in potentially dangerous arc flash zones.
Read more...Monitoring the voltage drop in cables Turck Banner Southern Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
With its new M12Plus connectors, Turck Banner is directly shifting the condition monitoring of cables subject to severe stress to the connection technology. The connectors, which come with voltage and current monitoring and a Bluetooth chip, enable measured voltage and current values to be sent wirelessly to a controller.
Read more...Mesh networks: a multidirectional electrical superhighway Schneider Electric South Africa
Electrical Power & Protection
Today, many power industry stakeholders are faced with mounting requirements for improved grid reliability, resilience and distribution efficiency. It’s a challenge which requires power service providers to rethink their infrastructure. Enter mesh networks, which can overcome the limitations of traditional star networks.
Read more...Versatile flexible copper busbar
Electrical Power & Protection
Referro Systems specialises in the supply and support of industrial electrical, automation and global software and hardware brands, and is now able to offer the Cubic range of Cu-Flex flexible copper busbars.
Read more...Trafo Power Solutions upgrades DRC mine transformers
Electrical Power & Protection
With its experience in Africa and its agility in executing projects rapidly, Trafo Power Solutions is supplying three mini-substations and two transformers to a copper-zinc mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Read more...Acquiring locally-manufactured transformers ACTOM Electrical Machines
Electrical Power & Protection
Speed and efficiency are of the essence in the fast-evolving power generation and distribution space; but a significant challenge is the prolonged lead times associated with acquiring transformers – key components in any electrical infrastructure.
Read more...Seaward testers power PV specialists Comtest
Electrical Power & Protection
One of Asia’s leading clean energy specialists, Solarvest, uses the latest electrical safety test equipment to ensure the solar photovoltaic (PV) installations it services and maintains operate at peak performance levels.
Read more...Multi-purpose contact block
Electrical Power & Protection
The TME catalogue has been expanded to include products from Schlegel. This German, family-owned company has been specialising in the production of high-quality electromechanical components for almost 80 years.
Read more...ACTOM supplies transformer units to Kamoa Copper Mine ACTOM Electrical Machines
Electrical Power & Protection
ACTOM Distribution Transformers, recently secured an order for the supply of its neutral electromagnetic couplers, with earthing resistors, and an auxiliary transformer) to Kamoa Copper Mine in the DRC.
printer friendly version