OREANDA-NEWS. May 15, 2013. The success of the world’s first UHV AC equipment’s joint quake proofing and damping test in Chongqing organized by SGCC on March 27 and 28 2013 signified another major achievement in anti-seismic performance for China’s UHV equipment.

The test was conducted in Chongqing Communications Research and Design Institute, using an array system of two seismographs. The arresters and the voltage transformers were produced by Xi’an XD Arrester Co., Ltd. and Xi’an XD Power Capacitor Co., Ltd. respectively. The equipment rooms were connected by 250mm-diameter aluminum conductors, spanning 8.5 meters. The result showed that the united UHV system connected by tubular conductors could meet the requirement for resisting 8-degree earthquake (0.2g). With damping devices installed, the UHV equipment could resist 9-degree earthquake (0.4g). It fully verified the feasibility of the optimization plan for substation’s outlet high-resistance circuit and the anti-seismic performance of the equipment. The test would guide the UHV substation design, device structure selection, and the search on quake proofing and damping in the days to come.

China is an earthquake-prone country. The anti-seismic capacity of substation equipment directly affects the safe and reliable electricity supply. UHV equipment is large, tall, flexible and heavy in structure, which leads to a stronger force on the connecting conductors and fitting. Therefore, the requirement on their anti-quake performance is more stringent. Paying great attention to this regard, SGCC organized CEPRI, design institute and equipment manufacturers to conduct joint research to optimize the design. The outlet high-resistance circuit of UHV substations has adopted the supporting opponent of arresters and transformers as tubular conductors for the first time, reducing the number of equipment and land use, but also posing new requirements on mechanical strength of relevant devices. To study the mutual coupling under seismic action, SGCC has conducted anti-quake test on individual UHV equipment and carried out full-scale experiment on joint quake proofing performance.

Experts and representatives from SGCC’s Department of AC Construction, China Earthquake Administration, State Power Economic Research Institute, relevant design institutes, and equipment manufacturers witnessed the experiment.