Wireless Condition Monitoring Sensors with Integrated Diagnostics

Completed

Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution)

Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
National Grid Electricity Transmission

Network Innovation Allowance

Ofgem

01 July 2011

01 July 2014

36 months

£133,000

Power

London

Network Innovation Allowance

Project Contact, National Grid Electricity Transmission

Condition monitoring plays an increasingly important role in asset management and diagnostics for high-value equipment. New technology and advances in sensing capabilities enable us to understand more about the asset and thus make optimal maintenance decisions (e.g. maintain on condition). Minimising the requirements is the key aspects of the desirable fit and forget functionality. This project will be successful if we can improve the knowledge around the condition monitoring area and deliver new functionality on to the electricity transmission network.

Existing approaches to substation diagnostics typically involve mains-tethered instrumentation for data acquisition. It is prohibitively expensive to roll out this type of scheme widely due to cost and cabling constraints, which inevitably leaves gaps in condition monitoring coverage that could lead to unexpected asset failure. In addition, diagnostic systems have become significant assets in themselves, requiring trained personnel to operate them. This approach adds additional complexity to the task of a monitoring engineer, whose primary concern must be the operational state of plant rather than the intricacies of a diagnostic system. Therefore, a non-obtrusive, integrated approach to diagnostics would be an efficient and economical alternative. The method that has been proposed for this project is as follows; Carry out an initial study into wireless sensor networking applied to substation condition monitoring to identify relevant prior work and applicable industry standards (Strathclyde). Build a prototype wireless diagnostic sensor system as a reference implementation for a general-purpose wireless condition monitoring architecture (Strathclyde). Perform on-site trials of the sensor to characterise its performance in the field (Strathclyde, National Grid). Integrate the technology with National Grid Smart Asset Management system to give a greater understanding of plant health to monitoring engineers (Strathclyde, National Grid).Note : Project Documents may be available via the ENA Smarter Networks Portal using the Website link above

17/12/18