Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
SUBSTATION TRANSFORMER TO
ENHANCE MAINTENANCE PERFORMANCE
Abstract
This article uses such conventional reliability analysis
as Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), Fault Tree
Analysis (FTA) and interconnection with Reliability
Block Diagram (RBD)/ and or Logic Diagram (LD) to
analyze the failure of an oil-filled step-down power
transformer
FTA, RBD and/or LD and the more detailed FMECA,
Failure Mode Effect and Criticality Analysis inter-relate
with FMEA as maintenance as well as design tools to
facilitate decision on maintenance requirements, and
thereby addressing maintainability
Analysis technique is typically demonstrated in the
application to transformer failure analysis in this paper
Figure 1:
Cut view of Buchholz
Relay [14]
OBSERVED LIMITATION IN
ENGINEERING ANALYTICAL
TOOLS
Perceived absence of appropriate reliability
engineering tool in GRIDCo to aid in analysing
equipment failure [12]. If there were such a tool it is
not known to the author.
Quick fixes of problems and solutions are observed to
be the norm.
For a typical system failure current maintenance best
practice uses such conventional reliability analysis as
FMEA [2-3], FTA and interconnection with RBD and/or
Logic Diagram, LG to analyse equipment failure [2-3].
Definition: Reliability is the probability that a failure
will not occur in a particular time [Dhillon, 1999]
Figure 6: Typical
Reliability Block Diagram
for Tarkwa transformer
failure
RECOMMENDED ACTION TO
REDUCE LIKELIHOOD OF FAILURE
OCCURING & FOR IMPROVEMENT
OPORTUNITIES
Continuous improvement, Review and update of maintenance strategy,
CONCLUSIONS
Using conventional reliability analysis such as FMEA, FTA and interconnection with
RBD the transformer failure has been analysed
The cause of a combination of two events - insulation deterioration of 125VDC
control cable and maintenance action i.e. design, as well as maintenance
perspective has been observed as the mode of the failure
Failure resulted in inconvenience to customers, was a catastrophe to the plant and
environment, led to high cost to the utility
Failure could have been possibly prevented if re-cabling of the Buchholz relay
control cable had been completed or if redundancy had been built into the system
through an alternative parallel path using a combination of back-up 125VDC supply
and protective relay
Parallel components are inherently more reliable since system failure occurs when
all components have failed, however capital costs are required.
Quick fixes, generally reactive in nature and underlines fire fighting only solve
symptoms rather than root causes of problems as was the case with the
maintenance action that contributed to the transformer failure
By designing systems that incorporate FMEA, RBD, and FTA tools and techniques
the maintenance function could be improved to become more proactive
CONCLUSIONSCONTINUE
Present work has been limited to using tools of FMEA that
END OF PRESENTATION
THANK YOU
REFERENCES