A New 40.5KV Air Insulated Switchgear From ABB

At the 2023 EP exhibition, ABB showcased a new 40.5kV air insulated switchgear.

In order to meet the requirements of Chinese State Grid for the insulation clearance of air insulated 40.5KV switchgear, industry leaders have also made localized improvements to their ZS3.2 switchgear. The width has increased from 1.2 meters to 1.4 meters. The depth has also increased from 2.5 meters to 2.865 meters, and the height has increased from 2.4 meters to 2.6 meters.

New ZS3.2 Product Features

• Standard design

Based on intelligent tubular busbar technology, UniGear ZS3.2 achieves air clearance of over 300 mm across the entire series with a compact cabinet width of 1400 mm. Meet the requirements of State Grid technical specifications.

• Security upgrade

Innovative car anti tipping mechanism protects personal safety. Remote operated electric handcart and electric earthing switch, helping new energy electric fields fully achieve unmanned substations

• Performance improvement

The entire cabinet has passed a level 2 aging test and meets the severity level 2 under condensation and dirty operating conditions. Lower levels of partial discharge. The newly designed ET1 grounding switch has a short-circuit making ability of up to 5 times, and the optimized operating mechanism design reduces the required operating torque.

• Intelligent innovation

The third generation of intelligent tubular bus Internet of Things temperature measurement technology, embedded sensor technology and powerful edge computing capabilities have realized a comprehensive intelligent perception of switch cabinet temperature rise, action, location and environment. A brand new artificial intelligence based approach

The temperature rise algorithm can personalize the temperature rise characteristics of the switchgear after it is put into operation, automatically adapt to various cabinet width types, changes in adjacent cabinet operation modes, and fluctuations in the surrounding environment of the switchgear room, and fit an accurate temperature rise prediction model in a data-driven manner.

The original ZS3.2 has a phase spacing of 275mm and a rectangular copper bar width of 60mm. It is insulated with heat shrink tubing with a net distance of 215mm. It can be seen that the original ZS3.2 relies too much on heat shrink tubing. According to the RAYCHEM heat shrink tubing BBIT standard, the 185kV impulse withstand voltage only needs a net distance greater than 200mm, but unfortunately, the State Grid does not recognize heat shrink tubing insulation. The new ZS3.2 busbar system has increased the distance. In order to ensure a clear distance of 300mm, the phase spacing should be 350/360mm. It adopts a circular tube busbar+voltage equalization shielding cover design, and the busbar can meet the power frequency/impulse withstand voltage requirements even without insulation.

Eaton abolished the mid mounted ET2-40.5kV switchgear, and the floor mounted ET2 regained its vitality. The new ET2 adopts a floor mounted 40.5kV circuit breaker handcart, basically imitating the old ZS3.2 design. The reasons for this are influenced by several factors. State Grid standardized design, cost factors, and so on. The new ET2 and the mainstream KYN61 in the market are basically the same, with a width of 1200/1400mm

• The busbar system has abolished the design of the central ET2 D-type main busbar.
• The main and branch busbars are made of high conductivity rectangular copper bars with rounded corners.
• There are separate partitions between each busbar compartment.
• The surface of the copper bar is coated with epoxy resin or equipped with heat shrink tubing, and the overlapping area is covered with insulation buckle boxes.
• The fully insulated main busbar runs through the entire switchgear.
• The busbar support adopts large creepage distance insulators.
• Pre drilled copper bars facilitate on-site connection.
• The maximum rated current of the busbar system is 3150A, and the short-circuit current is 31.5kA-4s

The Siemens NXAirS-40.5 mid mounted mechanism also uses rectangular copper bars, 1200 wide, and insulated by phase to phase insulation boards. Therefore, the target market is not State Grid, but mainly industrial users.

Through ABB's leading effect, it is believed that more and more manufacturers will adopt tubular busbars, especially 40.5kV, to improve equipment safety.

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