Substation

Details Substation Substation

1999-09-14

2001-02-27

Thompson, Gregory (Department: 2835)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electrical power distribution systems and devices

C361S601000, C361S602000, C361S611000, C361S620000, C361S622000, C361S623000, C361S641000, C307S147000, C200S04800A, C200S04800A

Reexamination Certificate

active

06195253

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substation of the type defined in the preamble to claim
1
, and to a method of the type described in the preamble to claim
18
.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventional switchgear stations for high voltage are generally placed outdoors and take a considerable amount of space. The switchgear station is assembled on site and the components connected together. In view of its size and, in the eyes of many people, its unsightly appearance, these have generally had to be located far from residential districts and other areas frequented by people. They are therefore often located far from built-up areas. In many cases this results in undesired restriction of their localisation. Besides which, the construction of a switchgear station on site is relatively costly.
Since many towns have expanded over the years and existing substations which, at the time they were built, were situated outside the built-up area, are often now in the middle of the urban area. Environmental and space problems are thus encountered when such a station has served its time and is to be re-built.
In the present patent application the concept of high voltage relates to a voltage level of 52 kV and upwards, preferably up to 145 kV.
In an attempt to achieve more compact substations it is already known to enclose the substation components in hermetically sealed gas containers, with the components surrounded by SF
6
-gas. The gas causes increased resistance to flashover, thus enabling t h e requirements for a safe distance between components at different voltage levels to be reduced so that a more compact manner of construction is possible. However, enclosing the components in such gas containers is extremely expensive. The gas enclosures must also be monitored for leakage risks, which further increases operating costs.
Substations with gas-insulated switchgear stations are therefore complicated, take a long time to repair after a fault, and complicate any extension with additional compartments, particularly after a long time when it may be difficult to obtain spare parts. The service life of a substation is approximately 30 years.
To avoid the drawbacks associated with substations in the open air and with substations surrounded by gas, it is also already known to enclose parts of the substation in a building in an environment of air. Examples of this can be found in SU 1,798,845, SU 801,166, FR 2,579,031, GB 916,391 and DE 4,139,177.
Both the SU publications show how the components in a switchgear station are enclosed in a building cell. This design results in extremely high buildings, approximately 20 meter, and the station must be supplied with overhead lines. Nothing is indicated as to how the other components in a substation including the building cell are arranged.
FR 2,579,031 shows a substation in which the high-voltage switchgear station is arranged in an air-insulated building constituting several floors. The supply lines are overhead lines. The transformers are situated outside the building.
GB 916,391 shows how a substation for lower voltages is housed in a building with aluminium walls.
DE 4,139,177 shows how the high-voltage switchgear station in a substation is arranged in a building constituting several floors. The switchgear station is supplied by overhead lines. How other parts of the substation are designed is not revealed.
The known examples in which parts of an air-insulated substation are enclosed in a building enable the drawbacks associated with substations in the open air or substations surrounded by gas to be avoided to a certain extent. However, none of the arrangements described above fully offers the opportunity to arrange an air-insulated substation at high voltage which is compact, service-friendly and which causes minimal disturbance so that it can be situated in an urban environment without problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the light of this, the object of the present invention is to provide a substation for high voltage of the type under consideration, which will meet these demands.
According to the invention this is achieved by a substation of the type described in the preamble to claim
1
having the special features defined in the characterizing part of this claim.
Thanks to the section with the transformers means also being enclosed in a building and, what is more, in the same closed building as the high-voltage switchgear station, the entire substation will be screened from the outer environment in order to reduce any disturbance it might cause. At the same time, an extremely compact arrangement is possible which further contributes to the feasibility of placing the station in a built-up area. Since the section with the high-voltage switchgear station is provided with outer walls permitting access to its compartments through doors in the outer wall, servicing is possible without having to arrange special service routes inside the building between the transformer section and the high-voltage switchgear station section. The transformer section and the high-voltage switchgear station section can therefore be located directly adjacent to each other, which contributes to reducing the size of the station. The ground cable connection is another feature that makes the station suitable for built-up areas.
Thanks to the compact structure according to the invention, the ground area required can thus be reduced from approximately 2400 m
2
to less than 600 m
2
for a typical substation with 145 kV on the high-voltage side.
In a preferred version of this embodiment the building is made in three sections, with fireproof partitions between them, the middle section housing the substation's transformers and the high-voltage switchgear station section being located on one side and the medium-voltage switchgear station section on the other side. Optimal use is thus also made of the space while at the same time suppressing the sound emission from the transformers to the surroundings.
The high-voltage switchgear station of the substation is suitably divided by partition walls defining compartments containing components for all three phases so that an economic and space-saving design is achieved.
In various preferred embodiments the compartments comprise line compartments, transformer compartments, combination compartments and sectioning compartments in advantageous combinations depending on the application. The compartments are suitably provided with doors allowing access from outside.
It is advantageous to use truck breakers in the compartments and to arrange the busbars inside the building.
The above and other advantageous embodiments of the substation according to the invention are defined in the claims dependent on claim
1
.
A second aspect of the invention relates to a method of building or converting such a substation. Such a method is defined in claim
18
.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5648888 (1997-07-01), Francois et al.
patent: 41 39 177 (1992-06-01), None
patent: 2 579 031 (1986-09-01), None
patent: 916391 (1963-01-01), None
patent: WO 97/24789 (1997-07-01), None

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