COMPANY INSIGHT
Sponsored by: S&C Electric Company
PulseClosing® Technology - An Innovative Alternative to Reclosing
Mining is one of the most unique and challenging industries in which to work. Mining is often located in remote locations with increasingly unstable conditions—making power availability and reliability primary concerns.
Poor power reliability affects productivity. Each outage, even one lasting for a very short duration, can force an operation to unexpectedly suspend production, bringing all equipment to an abrupt stop. Support elevators, conveyor belts, lighting, and ventilation all come to a screeching halt when the power goes out, and the financial impacts from the loss of production costs thousands of dollars an hour. Moreover, when such situations occur, fault current can cause significant stress and damage to electrical distribution equipment.
More than half of the country’s coal mines are managed by pro-Russian separatist militia.Credit: DmyTo/Shutterstock.
More than half of the country’s coal mines are managed by pro-Russian separatist militia.
Credit: DmyTo/Shutterstock.
Creating a Solution
Many different fault-testing solutions are available, but which is the best for your mining operations and profitability? When a fault occurs, an operator’s first reaction is to immediately interrupt the current flowing through the mine’s power system. But when the cause of a fault is temporary, advanced testing capability can allow the system to recover quickly and automatically, and without a lengthy investigation. Many mining operators are deploying such advanced fault-testing equipment at their sites for this very reason.
When choosing equipment, it’s important to understand the various options available. Testing for a fault with a conventional recloser allows the full magnitude of that fault to propagate through the mine’s electrical system during each fault-testing operation. In doing so, it can significantly stress or damage equipment and other electrical components on the line.
When considering the wellbeing of their systems and operations, many mining companies are turning to PulseClosing® Technology as an innovative alternative to reclosing in that it dramatically reduces disruption to operations when a fault occurs. It also helps to minimise the adverse effects of an outage by testing for a fault using a small fraction, 5%, of the fault’s energy. Moreover, PulseClosing Technology detects the presence of a fault but without a harmful fault-multiplier effect: When a recloser tests for a fault, the test can result in damage equivalent to four additional faults.
PulseClosing Technology is a core feature of the IntelliRupter® PulseCloser® Fault Interrupter, the first breakthrough in fault-testing technology in more than 70 years. Unlike reclosers, the IntelliRupter fault interrupter enables mining operations to recover from temporary outages without any manual assistance. If a mining operation using conventional reclosing technology were to experience an outage of any type, the site would need to wait for repair crews to address and repair the issue before operations could resume.
The IntelliRupter fault interrupter is a lifesaver for distribution equipment because it brings production online quicker and automatically following a momentary outage, while reducing the risk of damaging equipment on the line when testing for momentary faults. Low energy fault testing also enables the IntelliRupter fault interrupter to test for faults on hybrid overhead and cable systems.
S&C Is the Premiere Choice for PulseClosing Technology
Incorporating any new technology into critical operations should always be done with expert assistance. By choosing S&C Electric Company’s IntelliRupter fault interrupter, with its PulseClosing Technology, for your mining site, you not only benefit from superior technology but also from continued support and upfront training for operations crew and site engineers.
Visit sandc.com/mining20 to learn more about the benefits S&C’s PulseClosing Technology and other reliability solutions to bring to your mining site.
