Radio Interference Voltage Testing

The recent award of a series of major 500kV substation projects has prompted Electropar to further invest in Corona / Radio Interference Voltage (RIV) testing for fittings and assemblies being applied at 500kV in Australia.

The primary purpose of the testing was to check that a series of new designs for 500kV busbar and flexible conductor fittings and assembly’s met the contract specified RIV discharge level. In addition, the week long testing programme provided a Research and Development opportunity to test two variants of a new product designed to simplify RIV/corona control when connecting flexible conductors to busbars or primary plant at 330kV and 500kV.

The testing commissioned by Electropar was carried out at the NATA accredited Australian Government National Measurement Institute in Lindfield, Sydney and conducted by Electropar’s George Barclay (Engineering Manager) and Murray Tremain (Chief Engineer) in conjunction with the Lindfield team. All fittings and assemblies were tested in accordance with the relevant sections and requirements specified in CISPR 18-2 1986, AS1154-2004 and AS1931.1 1996.

Simplify Corona Control
All testing, including the two variants of the new product designed to simplify corona control performed as expected and met relevant requirements. Greg comments that “It is extremely satisfying that every assembly tested as part of the programme passed. The new product for corona control was tested at 381kV phase to earth (equivalent to 660kV phase to phase) and even then performed within specified requirements”.