Distribution Maintenance Strategy - Assignment Example

Maintenance Student Name Instructor College Course Name Outline Introduction Distribution maintenance strategy EPMT program Maintenance strategy to particular transformer Summary References Introduction In order for the distribution line to have maximum return as well as minimise life cycle cost. This was confirmed by the head of maintenance department which we visited. During the visit, we were scheduled to meet head of department who was to introduce us to his subordinate officers who were to take us around explaining us how maintenance is carried out. The officers informed us that the important objective of maintenance is to increase efficiency and reduce power outages. This improves power supply keeping balance between prevention and corrective maintenance. According to them, proper maintenance and testing ensures that the customers have continues supply of power without failure. They informed us that they have expert integrated system which is used regularly to monitor and control loads. Routine maintenance which is operated by the company is done regularly on circuit breakers, feeders, switchboards, generators, transformers and many other types of equipment to ensure there is regular supply of power. We were shown manuals which provide guidelines to employees on maintenance. The manual had annual and monthly preventive maintenance for distribution systems. Distribution maintenance strategy Maintenance is very important to companies that are involved in supply and distribution of power. It ensures that assets are optimally used and there are no major interruptions to customers. If maintenance is not done there will be power failure whose effect is high maintenance cost than replaceable value of equipments. This means it is necessary to maintain equipments based on probability of failure. There are some instances were failure indicates whether the equipments should be replaced or maintained. If failure is regular but not random, the equipments need to be replaced. However diagnosis is required to determine whether the equipment should be replaced. The maintenance strategy adopted, had various objectives among them maintaining continues supply of power, minimizing cost of maintenance and interruptions. However this was achieved by considering a number of factors such as existence of human resource, existence of spare parts, failure statistics, interval of maintenance and redundancy. There are two types of maintenance strategy adopted by the company; corrective and preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance is done periodically with the intention of reducing failure because failure can be costly in terms of reduced revenue and increase cost of corrective maintenance. This method of maintenance is crucial when the equipment is ageing and usually it based on probability of failure. Corrective maintenance is done when there is fault in any equipment or distribution line with the intention of putting it to the state of function. However if the equipment fails, it will be replaced. Corrective maintenance is not desirable since it shows that the equipment is fault and it is likely to cause unnecessary loss to customers. There should be periodical maintenance of distribution line and necessary modification made such as addition to the load capacity of circuit breakers, reclosers, transformers and other equipments. This is important and necessary as it ensures that there is regular inspection, testing and maintenance. There should be a manual detailing how maintenance and inspection should be done. The frequency of inspection and maintenance is based on the number of customers that are served. In case of modification prior approval by head of department or qualified engineer is required. Overhaul of the entire distribution system cannot be a remedy for regular power outages in a certain area if inspection and maintenance is not done regularly. The failure effect is usually simplified to one average consequence per component/load point failure. This regardless of that equipment has several ways in which they can fail and that some equipment is prone to fail at heavy loads. For example in the calculation of not delivered energy an assumption of average energy consumption is frequently used, this might be somewhat erroneous when there is a relationship between failure rate and energy consumption. There are common problems which are associated with maintenance of electrical distribution system. Among the problems include Maintenance clear procedure and objectives Failure caused by maintenance Maintaining without reasons Maintenance by non technical employees who does not understand the value of maintenance. Usually maintenance should aim at minimising the cost of maintenance and errors that may cause fault. Maintenance ensures continuity and flexibility in the supply of power. There should be an alternative power circuit for equipments that requires periodic maintenance. The company does maintenance internally and notably, it is not a blind effort to repair that has broken down parts. An imperative issue that any equipment should address is whether the level of expertise it has can adequately cover different maintenance needs, such as structures, circuit breakers, reclosers, switches during their complete overhaul, minor, and transit evaluations. Companies that practice capability gaps have the ability to perform better by concentrating on and, if the distribution are wide enough, to allow more proficient maintenance minds to meet many of the company needs while they secure undue failures. EPMT program Exotic plant management teams programs are beneficial to power distribution companies since they respond to emergencies as they occur. The companies that distribute electricity are likely to be caught in fires that are caused by failure of their systems. The company does not seem to have appropriate EPMT program policies and procedures in place for their operations. EPMT program has specified that employees should have knowledge should not operate distribution equipment for non-farm employment and not below the age of 16 years for agricultural employment. Another EPMT program requirements is training on proper maintenance of distribution, and the periodic inspection and repair of these equipment by employees trained in maintaining them. Some of the recommended EPMT program , hazard assessment, provision of adequate training and information, management, supervision and internal responsibility, procedures for safe operation of distribution equipments, maintenance and modification, facility design and prevention of fires. Some of the Recommendations and improvement to the current safety management processes at company with respect to distribution system are, risk assessment, proper training and information, constant supervision and fixing of responsibilities, codification and implementation of safe maintenance procedures, periodic maintenance and repairs, modifications with prior approval from a qualified engineer, regular inspections, testing and maintenance. These recommendations should be implemented at company, the instructions should be written, and the frequency of the inspections, testing and maintenance should be based on the amount of work done. There should be proper records of all inspection, testing and maintenance carried out on each equipment. If the recommendations are not followed, then it will lead to lawsuits will be filed by victims leading to settlements, court costs and attorney fees, medical bills, disability payments, funeral costs and punitive damages. All these costs can be too expensive and it may affect company operations badly. Besides the above legal costs, other costs are the destruction of the property caused by fire in case fault. Implementing the recommendations leads to enormous cost savings, and they exceed the cost of implementing the recommendations. Maintenance strategy to particular transformer Achieving satisfactory operation of any transformer that is used is generally viewed as very essential to consider factors like safety of supply, productivity increase, low maintenance as well as the general maintenance to produce the desired result. As such, the requirements can usually be fulfilled through proper design and installations. However, the design part is normally the most crucial of the factors despite the fact that proper installations also do play a huge role when it comes to observing the dynamic behaviour of transformers. It is the responsibility of the transmission and distribution company to ensure that the power is transported to the homes in a safe and efficient manner. This is began by risk assessment, proper training and information, constant supervision and fixing of responsibilities, codification and implementation of maintenance procedures, transformer maintenance and modification is made with prior approval from the a qualified engineer, regular inspections, testing and maintenance of transformers should be conducted at company, the instructions should be written, and the frequency of the inspections, testing and maintenance should be based on the amount of power distributed, proper records of all inspection, testing and maintenance carried out on each transformer should be maintained at company. Also, the facilities should be designed appropriately for smooth movement of loads, and the implementation of these recommendations would cost much less than the cost of not implementing them, which can be enormous. The Reliability analysis that is associated with conditioned monitoring, accepted codes are some of the well known concepts when it comes to the usage. Despite this, the many transformer that are frequently used are generally the unconventional type but in essence, the condition monitoring is the most important particularly in the diagnostics techniques. The supposed analysis and measurements that are normally used in the commissioning are equally important when attempting to resolve some of the related problems when considering the transformer installations. In light of this, it is important to consider the supposed parameters which are always important during the condition monitoring of the transformer. Consecutively, the combination of such values is generally used during the calculation of the general output values therefore characterizing a certain mechanical condition regarding the transformer. As such, the initial values do match up to the overall state of the transformer while the ensuing value normally corresponds to a state of the specified bearing. Considering the second value, it may be used in similar manner like detecting other mechanical problems that are characterized during usage. Subsequently, the outputs regarding the certain methods do contain various concepts. For example, they do contain the data that is supposed to be used during the analysis that does follow. In addition, they also contain particularly direct indication regarding the transformer that is being monitored. The supposed step down or step up is normally monitored as a way of determining the relative conditions regarding other transformer so as to plan well certain preventive and maintenance procedures. There are different problems that may occur in a transformer especially when functioning. For instance, there are power imbalances or fault fuses, reclosers and circuit breakers. There is a major concern especially when the proactive maintenance method is undertaken to detect the failure in the transformer. There have been accurate analyses meant to figure out very well the internal structure of a transformer so as to provide power that is the appropriate distribution to homes. This is meant to reduce the various problems that do arise from the transformer especially if they have been in use for a long time. Summary This is a fine moment to give thanks and praise to the participation of my lecturer and the management of the company we visited. They have provided such quality contribution that not only made this study a meaningful and constructive occurrence; it is a source of pride that something good has been achieved through their collective effort. The whole process was a highly educational and inspiring experience. The assignment has opened a door for me that I can use to expand my knowledge and understanding. The explorations which I will eventually undertake in the future do not have to be in-depth but instead can be simple such as assessing my capabilities, determining my response to different situations, and generally just arrive at facts. This preliminary exploration may serve as a model for future ones and I can also use my own ideas to refine the method and apply it to different situations and settings. Lastly and most importantly, I have learned that learning does not necessarily have to be restricted in pedagogical settings. To a person who possesses the ability to think independently, such explorations can be used as an advantage in educating oneself in an individual and intrapersonal manner. References Bayliss, C. & Hardy, B. (2012). Transmission and Distribution Electrical Engineering. New York: Newnes Blume, S. (2010). Electric Power System Basics for the Nonelectrical Professional. New York: Wiley-IEEE Press; Grigsby, L. (2007). Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution. New York. CRC Press. Li, F. & Brown R.E. (2004). “A Cost-Effective Approach of Prioritizing Distribution Maintenance Based on System Reliability” IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol 19. Lindquist, T.(2008). “On reliability and maintenance modelling of ageing equipment in electric power systems”. PhD thesis, KTH, Stockholm. McDonald, J. (2007). Electric Power Substations Engineering. New York: CRC Press Nilsson, J. & Bertling, l. (2007). "Maintenance management of wind power systems using Condition Monitoring Systems — Life Cycle Cost analysis for two case studies" IEEE transactions on energy conversion, Vol 22, 2007. Setréus, J. Wallnerström, J. & Bertling, L. (2007). “A comparative study of regulation policies for interruption of supply of electrical distribution systems in Sweden and UK”, proc. 19th International Conference on Electricity Distribution, CIRED, Vienna. Zdrallek, M. (2004). “Reliability centred maintenance strategy for high-voltage- networks”. Proc. Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems (PMAPS), Ames, Iowa. Read More