TXLife Condition Assessment

In a fast-changing environment, asset managers need to keep up with past challenges to produce, transmit, distribute, and deliver electrical power in a reliable way. Aging assets, rising energy demand, and the need to deliver without unplanned outages are some of the challenges utilities and industries are facing today around the world.

Fixing these challenges means that new solutions are needed to maintain the installed base of assets as well as when refurbishing, repairing, or upgrading legacy transformers. Since the late 90s, Hitachi Energy has offered a modular three-step approach to a Condition-Based Maintenance or Reliability Centered Maintenance program:

Step 1. Fleet screening survey: A quick scan of a large population (20 to 200 units) collects easily accessible data, such as unit nameplate data, oil and dissolved-gas-in-oil data, load profile, history of the unit, and sister units.

Step 2. Condition assessment: At this stage, transformer design experts focus on a smaller number of units (10 to 20) identified in step 1. They use modern design rules and tools to evaluate the original design. Advanced diagnostic tests are performed to assess each of the principal properties of the transformer in a structured way. This assessment leads to an estimate of each transformer`s risk of failure and defines action plans to improve the reliability of each unit.

Step 3. Expertise: The number of units to be further analyzed is typically limited to two or three out of a population of 100 units. This third module of the assessment process provides accurate information with respect to overloading transformers, enhancing their performance (power or voltage increase), or extending their lifetime.

Our service offerings assess the operational condition of transformers, provide recommendations to mitigate risks, and enhance the performance of aged equipment to meet possible new requirements. It also provides state-of-the-art information on online monitoring solutions, maintenance, and repair options to be used to ensure reliable operating conditions.

Why Hitachi Energy

• With our Condition-Based Maintenance Program, control maintenance costs can be optimized while achieving highly reliable power delivery.
• Using the Mature Transformer Management Program (MTMP™), units at Risk of Failure and units requiring further attention and actions are singled out.
• With screening, capital expenditure can be steered to units most in need, and the investment plan can be evaluated for different service options in a pre-set time frame (e.g., 2012 to 2042).