Cables
What you need
The demand of electric energy in the world is growing. Only Type tests to evaluate the quality of products are not enough to guarantee their reliability along their entire life. International standards have established some kind of tests able to simulate their life along 10-year operation in transmission systems both in HVAC (alternating current) and in HVDC (direct current), named Pre- Qualification Tests (PQ Tests). During the last years the use of XLPE cables in HVAC systems has rapidly increased. This, because their use is generalized, considering their intrinsic flexibility, easiness of implementation and low maintenance requirements
What we do
For its Clients, CESI performs type tests (electrical and non-electrical) and special tests like high and low temperature (-30 ºC / + 65ºC) tests, salt fog pollution tests, electrical/mechanical endurance tests, internal arc tests up to current of 63 kA 3 s, fire behavior tests, seismic tests and so on. All these tests can be performed for electrical equipment from 1 kV and up to 500kV and follow not only the major International standards, as IEC 60502-1, 60502-2, 60502-4, 61442, 60840 and 62067, but also the regional ones: CENELEC HD 620, 621, 622, 628, 629.1 and 629.2, 632 or IEEE 404. For cables and their accessories CESI can perform the following tests:
- Dielectric tests (PD, tan ∂, LI, SI, PF, RIV and artificial pollution tests) of equipment rated up to 500kV
- Heating cycle tests at high temperature (from 0°C to +5°C - +15°C above maximum conductor temperature in normal operation) with nominal voltage up to 500 kV.
Furthermore, during the performance of PQ Tests, CESI offers customized data acquisition systems able also to transfer the data remotely (to Customer premises), that allow a very detailed monitoring of the performance of the cable system (cable & accessories) under testing. To the 8 test lines now existing in the 3 testing platforms (CESI-FGH-IPH), with test voltages from 110 to 500kV, will be added others for PQ Tests on 110 – 220 kV cable systems. In case of failures of the cable system under testing a correlated failure analysis and diagnostic service can be provided by all 3 testing platforms using status of the art diagnostic techniques to underline any problems during the tests.
Why CESI
CESI has a 40-experience on tests for cables and accessories. Particularly, for Pre- Qualification Tests (PQ) on cable systems CESI started in 1967 with the cable for the SACOI HVDC project (with experience on oil insulated cables) and then going on with tests on several cable systems using the paper impregnated technology to the come finally in 1993 and for the first time in the world to the XLPE technology with the giant BEWAG project (six PQ tests carried out in parallel). The know-how accumulated along these 40 years, both in CESI and in the German testing platforms of FGH and IPH, has granted to CESI an undoubting world leadership for PQ testing services. For what is concerning the correlated failure analysis and diagnostic service, it is provided by all testing platforms using high qualified experts allowing precise and effective assessments contributing with high added values to the solution of the problems occurred.
