Sectionalizers, smart relaying, fuses, reclosers, and vacuum circuit breakers. There are many ways to tackle your distribution reliability woes, hopefully leading to the same rewards: less downtime, happier customers, and mitigating the loss of revenue for your utility. How do you choose the right technology for your needs? Distribution protection is quickly evolving and it's difficult to stay current, unless you are involved in the standards community, or have a personal, unrelenting passion for reliability and are willing to devote hours educating yourself on the topic. Add local and national regulations that mandate modernization and efficiency and suddenly you find yourself lying awake at night wondering what the best solution is for your network. Many vendors claim to have the secret sauce, but we will explore how Siemens has contributed to the solution through the Siemens single-phase Compact Modular Recloser (CMR).
Trying to control the uncontrollable
Man-made catastrophes and weather events wreak havoc on utilities trying to deliver reliable power to their customers. In recent years, 'storm hardening' has become a topic of conversation. The CMR is emerging as one of the effective solutions.
The CMR can help mitigate issues associated with single-phase hydraulic reclosers. The CMR is self-powered and harvests energy from line voltage instead of line current so there is no requirement for an auxiliary supply. Not having an auxiliary supply contributes to simplifying installation, which saves time and money. In the event of a power outage, the CMR includes a rechargeable battery backup that will power the CMR under adverse conditions. Unlike hydraulic reclosers, the CMR is oil free, which eliminates the need to periodically replace oil and also the hazardous waste issues related to oil leaks during catastrophic events – like hurricanes or tornadoes.
Featuring fully configurable protection and four trips to lockout, CMR presents the ideal solution for clearing transient faults on long rural distribution lines. The system design facilitates uninterrupted operation for reliable service. With its 25-year pole-top life expectancy, the only scheduled maintenance for the CMR relates to its batteries.
Work smarter, not harder
In an industry where knowledge is retiring faster than it can be replaced, there is a need for easier to use, easier to maintain, and easier to deploy solutions. With the CMR, Siemens has been able to achieve all three objectives.
Compact and lightweight, the CMR is type tested to IEEE C37.60 for voltages up to 38 kV. All live parts of the CMR are insulated when wildlife covers are fitted. The CMR is easy and safe to install, provides flexible mounting options, and is straight forward to operate. Weighing significantly less than oil-filled reclosers, the CMR usually can be installed by fewer lineman. In-service reconfiguration and event log downloads are possible through encrypted wireless communications. Equipped with an integrated GPS time reference, the event log is time stamped to 10 ms and stores system, operator, and protection events.
With its robust features, a single, programmable CMR can usually replace many variations of a traditional hydraulic recloser. This can often equate to a reduction in needed inventory, storage space, and stock management, which also can contribute to overall cost savings. The CMR is truly a quantum leap in reclosing technology.
Accentuating and cascading the positives
The Siemens' CMR impressively leverages the benefits of Siemens Fusesaver (the world's fastest medium-voltage circuit breaker), which combines increased ease of installation with the fastest circuit breaker fault clearing on the market – all while weighing only 12 lbs. The Siemens Fusesaver is self-powered, utilizes as little as 0.5 amperes of line current, and is equipped with embedded control and protection. The Fusesaver's rechargeable battery backup makes it ideal for lightly loaded, remote locations feeding seasonal loads.
Siemens CMR™ and Siemens Fusesaver® solutions complement traditional feeder reclosers by improving overall network reliability while reducing maintenance demands and costs.
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