We develop asset management and maintenance activities to increase safety, reduce failures and optimize maintenance costs for the energy transmission and distribution network.
Performance analysis services for electrical systems:
• Tests at industrial frequency, atmospheric shock and manoeuvring wave, dry and under rain;
• Measurement of partial discharges, capacitance and tangent delta;
• Climatic tests;
• Electrical ageing tests;
• Tests for characterising the state of electrical equipment/systems;
• Calibration of measurement systems in high voltage and high current;
• Insulation tests on power transformers and rotating electrical machines;
• Voltage waveform quality monitoring;
• Electromagnetic field and radio disturbance measurements (RIV);
• Transient recording and analysis;
• Measurement of earth resistance, potential gradients, continuity check and determination of touch and step voltages;
• Maintenance engineering and fault diagnosis.
The Electrical and Electromechanical Testing Area has the High Voltage Laboratory, accredited by IPAC (Portuguese Institute for Accreditation).
The High Voltage Laboratory is prepared for the testing and diagnosis of electrical equipment and systems from Low Voltage to Very High Voltage (400kV).
Maximum voltage levels:
• Atmospheric shockwave: 2400kV
• Shockwave: 1300kV
• AC tests: 800kV (50Hz to 175Hz)
• Partial discharge measurement and RIV: 800kV
• Capacitance and Tan δ: 600kV
• Salt pollution tests: up to 245kV
Testing areas:
• Main hall: 29 m long x 17 m wide x 19 m high
• Secondary test vessel: 9 m long x 6 m wide x 7.5 m high
• Salt Fog Room: 8 m long x 6.75 m wide x 10 m high
Reference standards:
• IEC
• CENELEC/EN
• ANSI
Supplementary information:
• Tests accredited by the Portuguese Accreditation Institute, ILAC's partner
• Cable tests (LV, MV and HV):
- Reactance: 120kV (960kVA); 800kV (2400kVA)
- High current transformer: 10kA
- Automatic heating test system (IEC tests)
- DC continuous high voltage source: 120kV
• Laboratory Electromechanical Tests: visual, dimensional, tensile, compression and thermal cycle tests
• Climatic tests: climatic test chamber 1 m3 up to -35⁰C to 85⁰C
• High Voltage Calibration Laboratory: AC/DC calibrations up to 100 kV and atmospheric shock wave up to 600 kV
Field trials:
• EMC measurements (1Hz to 3.0GHz)
• Measurement of grounding networks
• Testing of power transformers and measurement transformers
• Testing of rotating machines
• Post-mortem analysis
• Power quality and transient analysis
• Acoustic measurement in substations and development of mitigation solutions
For further information
We offer terrestrial thermography and aerial thermography in helicopters, focusing on electrical equipment in power stations, substations, switching and transformer stations, electrical panels, MV, AT and MAT overhead lines (aerial thermography), thermal insulation and structures.
The main services of the department are:
• Multi-sensory inspection of line areas (helicopter and UAV): infrared, visual, ultraviolet and LiDAR thermography
• LiDAR processing: free distance in power line corridors, production of point clouds, 3D digital models
• Asset condition monitoring based on infrared thermography (substations, power plants and other industrial facilities)
The results of the inspections are presented with thermograms, photographs and temperatures of selected points of the parts with anomalies; it also includes extrapolations of measured values for other operating conditions (for example, for other load values) and recommendations for action, given the interpretation of the results obtained.
As a result of this activity and experience, it is possible to reduce loss of revenue due to unexpected equipment shutdowns, verify the initial quality of operation of equipment recently put into service, plan maintenance activities more efficiently and economically and avoid serious accidents for people and installations caused by malfunctions.
The Asset Inspection area is responsible for the annual inspection of more than 22,000 kilometres of electricity transmission and distribution lines, managing more than 600 electricity installations.
Assets inspected:
• Overhead power lines (6 kV to 400 kV)
• Substations: transformers, isolators, circuit breakers, electrical panels
• Production plants: generators, electrical equipment, boilers, turbines, chimneys
• Wind turbines
• Dam walls
• Photovoltaic panels.
Inspection equipment:
• Helicopter
• Unmanned aerial vehicles (rotary wing)
• Ground operator (handheld equipment).
Multisensory asset inspection:
• Laser inspection (LiDAR): determination of critical distances and 3D mapping
• Thermographic inspection: detection of overheating
• UV inspection: corona effect detection
• Visual inspection: recording and identifying defects on electrical parts and structures
Technical characteristics:
• Laser equipment:
- System based on riegl laser
- Positioning accuracy: < 2 m
- Distance error: < 0.2 m
- Cloud point density: > 60 points per m2.
• Thermographic equipment:
- FLIR Equipment
- Resolution: 1024x768 pixels
- Thermal sensitivity: < 0.02 ºC
- Accuracy: +/- 1 ºC or 1%.
• Ultraviolet equipment:
- OFIL equipment
- Minimum discharge detection of 1 pC at 10 metres.
• Video equipment:
- NIKON equipment
- Resolution: 4240x2824
For further information
We are dedicated to the preventive surveillance of electrical equipment, through diagnostics obtained by analyzing the insulating oils, in order to assess the knowledge of the state of the equipment, thus allowing our customers to better manage their assets.
The main services of the department are:
• Preventive monitoring of oil-insulated electrical equipment, namely: power transformers, current transformers, voltage transformers, combined transformers, traverses, breakers, among others;
• Support in the diagnosis of transformer breakdowns;
• Determination of the remaining useful life of the insulating paper, which allows our clients to make a more efficient decision regarding the investment to be made;
• Regeneration of insulating oils increasing the useful life cycle of the oil and equipment. This is a solution where the cost/benefit relationship is very attractive and with practically non-existent environmental impacts;
• Consultancy in the field of online monitoring, supporting the selection of the most suitable monitor for each case and validating the measurements made by the device;
• Post-mortem analysis of transformers to obtain complementary information for diagnosing the causes of the defect, with an impact on the operation of transformers in service and possibly on the design of new transformers;
• Evaluation of the condition of transformers, through the determination of the health index, performing the seriation of transformers in terms of their degree of degradation with a view to the most adequate asset management, allowing the prioritisation of interventions to be performed on transformers;
• Characterization of insulating oils corrosive effects;
• Chlorine detection tests and PCB quantification in insulating oil;
• New oil acceptance tests;
• Compatibility tests between oils of different natures and/or aging states;
• Characterisation of the behaviour of natural esters (vegetable oils);
• Tests for characterising the state of dielectric solvents;
• Specialised technical support in the process of acquisition of chemical products (ex: silica gel; dielectric solvents, insulating liquids);
• Development studies in the area of insulating materials;
• Partnership with the academy in Thesis guidance for obtaining the Master's degree in Chemistry.