Innovative technology addressing power line insulator string contamination on T&D Networks

Innovative technology addressing power line insulator string contamination that acts as a Partial Discharge (PD) monitoring system for transmission companies who wants to: ¤  Monitor their PD activity ¤  Improve the efficiency of their washing

operations while reducing costs ¤  Avoid power interruption due to vandalism ¤  Monitor the need for replacing composite

insulator based transmission lines

MetrySense-4000 unique added value: utilities now have an overall vision of contamination levels

Metrycom Communication Limited

6 Maskit Street Herzelia, 4673306, Israel Tel: +972 9 779 2050 | Fax: +972 9 779 2065 Website: www.metrycom.com Email: info@metrycom.com Metrycom Communications Ltd. all right reserved, patent pending, all specifications are subject to change without notice.

Unique visibility. Improved results.

Power quality is increasingly important to both power utilities and industry regulators. This increased awareness is attributed to the ongoing deregulation process, the aging electricity transmission systems and increased environmental awareness. Consequently, power utilities invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the maintenance of their T&D infrastructures. Metrycom offers a proven solution to utility companies who seek new technologies to reduce costs, improve power quality, and enable enhanced grid control. Contamination of power line insulator strings is a major source of power quality impairment, which often causes flashovers resulting in shortcuts and wide-area power sags. The industry as a whole is significantly impacted by quality impairment, causing enormous yearly losses.

MS4000 monitoring and transmission unit

The MS4000 is a wireless sensor solution for monitoring the efficiency of T&D power lines. MS4000 employs unique partial discharge sensors to detect contamination over power line insulator stings. The system provides real-time information to maintenance teams, helping them reduce operational costs and improve the quality of the grid. Its wireless sensor units feature extremely low power utilization, and can employ either power harvesting or a primary battery (up to 20 years lifespan). Its highly reliable wireless communications capabilities are based on frequency hopping and IPv6 routing technologies.

Features Unique Sensors: A single sensor covers 2km of power line. Extremely Low power consumption State-of-the-art IP wireless communication standards: supports 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over wireless – “the internet of things”). Reliable Connectivity: for environments suffering radio interference/fading. Long Range: point-to-point wireless connection (LOS) up to 5km, with network coverage of up to hundreds of kilometers. Flexible frequencies: 240MHz to 920MHz IP Network IPv6 Communications over mesh radio network: automatically create a wireless IP mesh radio network. Supports large-scale mesh networks Scalable and easy to deploy Designed to operate in harsh conditions: temperature range of -40ºC to 85ºC, water and weather proof (IP67), resistant to electromagnetic interferences and surges.

MS4000 sensor Benefits

¤  Provides online grid visibility.

¤  Introduces real time high-voltage grid visibility of partial discharges along the lines and in base sub-stations.

¤  Predicts flashovers

¤  Reduces interruptions and outages.

¤  Reduces maintenance costs by washing insulators at the required segments of the power line and at the optimal time.

¤  Provides feedback on the quality of insulator washing operations.

¤  Provides infrastructure for additional sensor solutions by including generic interfaces to many sensors types.

Metrycom enables a transition from periodic to predictive maintenance Currently, power utilities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year in order to wash insulator strings, generally with helicopters and trucks. The limitation that these methods impose on maintenance crews is that they cannot get an overall view of the contamination level in the power transmission and distribution system. They are working blind and selecting the sections that need to be washed mainly based on experience, not on fact. This is proving extremely costly to the industry as a whole.

MetryView Server with MetrySense-4000 analytics module

MetryView server collects data from Sensors and DAQs via the gateways and uses MetrySense-4000 analytics software module in order to analyze and present the information.