Ever seen any Turner DELTA-STAR disc. sw. in use?

[BLadewig]

I'm trying to get some maintenance and performance history on these disconnects (preferably in the 230 kV range) and calls to several utilities have not turned up anyone that's ever even heard of them. If you know of someplace that has or has had some in service, it would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[rbulsara]

firtly did you mean 230V and not 230kV?

I think what you are referring to is a manual star-delta starter..which looks and acts like a disconnect. Yes, I have seen those in some old flour mills (in india..).

I am not sure what you need to know about them..for maintenace..any one who can maintain a disconnect should be able to maintain 'this'.
It is more like a 2-position , 3 pole switch. In one position it connects motor leads in 'star' and in other as 'delta'.

 

[rbulsara]

If it is 230kV I have no idea...

 

[cuky2000]

BLadewig,

I want to share with all of you an inconclusive discussion with the factories while I was serving in ABB in regards to a report from a Sweden utility that found that their disconnect switch designed for the IEC market have more maintenance requirement than modern SF6 circuit breakers.

This originated the design of new breakers with disconnect switches integrated similar to the GIS switch unit to be more reliable and less expensive to maintain. We understood the benefit of the new apparatus in term of performance and space saving in the substation but we had hard time to extrapolate this switch experience to the US market.

After many internal debates, the idea to introduce this concept in the US market was abandoned for the following reasons:

* Lock of reliable database from utility and private owner substations. Most people in the utility were happy we the disconnect switch performance even though we found in several sites the switch was very seldom operated.

* US disconnect switches design are more robust than the European counterpart in regards to seismic performance, ice break capability and, heavy duty parts and mechanisms.

* The winter environment conditions in Sweden are more severe than the average site in the US.

* Market resistance to accept new apparatus without track record experience.

* Engineering culture, code requirement(NESC) and maintenance practice mandate visible isolation of the disconnect switch blade making difficult to accept a breaker-switch combo even with side glass or external position indicator.

I hope you or any of our colleagues bring new light and fresh data to this issue.

 

[cuky2000]

Several disconnect switch manufacturers including Siemens and ABB sold the US operations. Probably Turner is manufacturing their 230 kV switch using other company design. One way to find this is calling them at (800) 866-1865, asks for the list of references for this product, and finds more detail of their design.

 

[jmmee97]

A local manufacturer's rep brought by a Turner Electric guy yesterday. They had one of the Turner Delta-Star vertical break switches in a truck. The switch is a Turner type TMX with voltage range from 7.5 to 345 kV and rated 600 thru 3,000 amps. Sorry, we don't have any experience with that specific type of Turner switch.
Try them at turnerswitch.com or tecoswitch.com., (brochure had one address and his card the other). Or telephone (618) 397-1865.

 

[BLadewig]

Thank you for the replies.

I have found out that this batch we would be getting would only be the third batch of switches at this class (yes, 230,000 V) Turner has made, with the other two runs apparently not installed yet.

Per regulations, in situations like these we abandon any hope of obtaining historical maintenance information and implement Operation Lucky Rabbit's Foot.

 

[stevenal]

What about Turner's predecessor(s)? An old '70s catalog shows 230 kV Delta-Star disconnects made by H.K. Porter. Seems like the design might have some history even if the present manufacturer doesn't.

 

[dpc]

Delta-Star has been around and making disconnect switches for a long time. I haven't had direct experience with them lately, but they are well known in the HV business.