AU606750B2

AU606750B2 - Prefabricated medium voltage switchboard with rotary switch

Info

Publication number: AU606750B2
Application number: AU23416/88A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Guido Colleoni; Jacques Gaillard; Jacques Guenin; Gerard Riva
Original assignee: Merlin Gerin SA
Current assignee: Schneider Electric SE
Priority date: 1987-10-06
Filing date: 1988-10-05
Publication date: 1991-02-14
Anticipated expiration: 2008-10-05
Also published as: FR2621427B1; ZA887265B; NO174867B; NO884449D0; HK35694A; NO884449L; AU2341688A; DE3873677D1; FR2621427A1; SG134692G; EP0311472B1; DE3873677T2; ES2035340T3; EP0311472A1; CN1033716A

Description

L -A D I COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 6 7 v PATENTS ACT 1952.69 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

Class Application Number: Lodged: Int. Class Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: PrJWjr;t

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0 0 0 00 0 00 N3roof Applicant 9 0 Address of Applicant: 00 Actual Inventor: 00 0 Address for Service: MERLIN GERIN Rue Henri Tarze F 38050 Grenoble Cedex, France GERARD RIVA, JACQUES GAILLARD, GUIDO COLLEONI and JACQUES

QUENIN

EDWD. WATERS SONS, 50 QUEEN STREET, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 3000.

Complete Specification for the invention entitled: PREFABRICATED MEDIUM VOLTAGE SWITCHBOARD WITH ROTARY

SWITCH

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best mothod of performing it known to us 4. The basic application referred to in paragraph 2 of this Declaration was the first application made in a Convention country in respect of the invention the subject of the application.

DECLARED at Qr n ana day.. S.epdzembar PRFBIAE MEIMVLAESWTHOR IH OAYSIC Th neto eatst rfbiatdmdu otg Thnee d invntin arlatsultd aprearicatsed mediumzotage i an upper compartment of each cubicle, the bars being offset depthwise in a perpendicular direction to the front panel of theIL cubicle.

*o 0a Prefabricated switchboards of the kind mentioned, notably for *'medium voltage, low voltage transformer substations, are *:Of 960 constituted by an assembly of cubicles with metal walls each of o 'o which performs a specific electrical function. The composition 0O0 of the switchboards varies depending on the power supply mode, the type of substation and the metering modes. Modular design gives great flexibility, and prefabrication enables 0 manuf acturing to be carried out in series in the factory by specialists, switchboard assembly merely entailing assembly of th cubicles on-site by non-specialist labour. The use of 0:'switches with breakcing in sulphur hexafluoride, in air-insulated *00 switchboards, contributes to reducing the size of the cubicles.

A state-of-the-art cubicle uses a multipole switch whose pol~es *are arranged in an appreciably horizontal layer perpendicularly to the front panel of the switchboard. All the cubicles of the switchboard are of standard size, adapted to the maximum equipment liable to be housed in a cubicle. The cubicles which only contain the standard equipment are oversized, notably Ln height, and the available space is not used to the full. it is obviously inconceivable to have cubicles of different heights in the same switchboard, the space made available being moreover practically unusable, 2 The object of the invention is to achieve a switchboard having cubicles of standard depth and height, the width being adapted to the equipment housed in the cubicle# So as to use the available space to the full.

The switchboard acce7-ding to the invention is characterized in that the standard equipment of the cubicle comiprises a rotary switch or disconnector with a sealed enclosure, filled with a gas of high dielectric strength, whose rotation axis extends perpendicularly to the front panel of the cubicle in the depthnwise direction of the cubicle and supports three rotary knife-blades located at intervals along the axis, each knifeblade corresponding to one of the phases of the switchboard, and cooperating with stationary contacts arranged as upper and. lower bushings of the enclosure, whose upper bushing is connected to the corresponding bar, and that all the equipment of any one phase is disposed in a vertical section having a vertical polar plane in symmetry containing the bar of this phase, the distance between said polar planes being determined by the additional medium voltage equipment of the switchboard having the largest depthwise dimension so that all the cubicles of the switchboard are identical in depth.

aThe internal volume of each cubicle isirtually:ubdivided into trevertical sections of fset dcpthwise in the cubicles the hegtadwidth of ecoftescincrepndgtothe height and width of thq cubicle. Each movable contact of the rotary switch moves in the polar plane of one of the vertical secton~ theassciaed br bingcontainedintspoa plane, The three bars of the busbar are advantageously directly supported by the corresponding bushings of the rotary switch whose distance apart corresponds to that of the bars. This distance is generally determined by the dimens~ions of the measuring and metering unita of the switchboard# which distance is greater than the insulation distances of the bars. The 3 additional medium voltage equipment of each cubicle is housed in the lower part underneath the rotary switch, respecting the layout in each vertical polar section. Some Items of equipment are juxtaposed in the w-*dthwise direction of the vertical section, which may involve increasing the width of the cubicle.

The cubicle of minimum. width is the incoming switch cubicle, which comprises only the rotary switch, the busbar section and the cable connections. It is the rotary switch which has the greatest width and which in this case determines the width of the cubicle. An incoming and general protection cubicle, which comprises the standard equipment constituted by the busbar section and the rotary switch, and additional equipment in the form of the fuses, the connecting devices to the cable and the metering units, will on the other hand have a greater width imposed by the necessity to locate metering units next to the fuses. The same is true of the circuit breaker cubicles and the busbar connection cubicles whose overall width has to be increased. With only a few cubicle widths, most substation layouts can be achieved and it is clear that these cubicles of different widiths can be accomplished usiihg standard component parts, that is to say frames and panels fitted together to constitkte the different cubicles. The frames can be of the modular type making the different cubicle widths compatible without any great modificatioo.

All the cubicles of the switchboard according to the invention are of the same height and the same depth, only their width, and therefore the width of the switchboard# varying according to the layout diagram. A switchboard extension is particuldarly simiple to achieve since standard cubicles merely have to be added, only the width of the switchboard being increased. The aesthetic aspect is perfectly well preserved whilst the available space is used to the full.

Other advantages and features will become more clearly apparent 4 from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, given as a non-restrictive example only and represented in the accompanying drawings, in which: -Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of4 a switchboard according to the invention, the front and top panalo being assumed to have been removed; -Figures 2 and 3 are respectively side and elevational views of an incoming cubicle according to figue 1; -Figures 4 and 5 are similar views to those of f igures, 2 and 3 showing a general protection cubicle with fuses; -Figures 6 and 7 are similar views to f igures 2 and 3 showing a general protection cubicle with metering devices; -Figures 8 and 9 are similar views to that of figure 3, showing circuit breaker cubicles equipped respectively with one and two 1: metering units; -Figure 10 is a similar view to that of f igure 3 showing a busbar connection cubicle.

In the f igures, a switchboard designated by the gener'al t reference number 10, for example for a medium voltage, low voltage transform~er substation, is feeder-break or double-branch supplied by two three-pole cables 12, 1.4 and comprises three juxtaposed cubicles, respectively two incoming cubicles 16, 18, and a general protection cubicle 20 with circuit breaker and metering unit. The incoming cubicles 16# 18 are absolutely identical, one being connected to the cable 12 and the other to the cable 14i whereas the circuit breaker cubicle 20 comprises standard equipment identical to that of the incoming cubicles 16, 18 and~ additional equipment constituted by the circuit breaker and metering unit.

Referring more particularly to figures 2 and 3, it can be seen that the incoming cubicles 16, 18 comprise the standard equipment constituted by a busbar section 22R, 22S, 22T housed in an upper compartment 24 of the cubicle, and a rotary switch 26 with three movable knife-blades supported by an operating spindle 28. The rotary switch 26 comprises a sealed enclosure 29 filled with sulphur hexafluoride, having in its upper part three bushings 30 supporting the busbars 22R, So T and in its lower part three bushings 32 for connecting the ends of the cable 12.

A switch of this kind is described in Australian Pat. Appin.

No. 1836388 of 24th June 1988, which should be referred to advantageously for further details. The spindle 28 of the rotary switch extends perpendicularly to the front panel 34 of the cubicle 16. the enclosure 29, whcuicshe ayobe idlthed1 f the t C4cubicle and The encloue 29, occehe ahle ild (1fofm th parttio searainqthebutbar compartment 24 from a bottom comartent37 n wichtheends of the cable 12 run. The cubile 6 i thefor of4 paallleppedi caine ofa standard type comprises a frame supporting metal panels constituting the cubicle walls. Insulators 36 support the ends of the cable 12 connected to the bushings 32. All the parts associated with one of the phases extend in a vertical polar plane IR, So To the cubicle 16 being virtually subdivided into three vertical sections parallel to the front pariel 34, each one being associated with one of the phases. The distance (d) between the polar planes R, So T corresponds to the distance betwe~en the busbars 22R, S, T and. to that of the movable contacts of the rotary twitch 26. The butbar compartment 24 and the bottom compartment 37 are air-insulated and the bu~bar compartment 24 is connected to the adjoiningj compartment of the adjacent cubicle 18 to mtake up the busbar of the switchboard The three busbaro 22fl, 22S, 22T extend in a horizontal plane parallel to the front panel 34 of the switchboard being of fset 6 depthwise in the three planes R, S, T. Control of the rotary switch 26 is performed on the front panel 34 of the switchboard by any suitable mechanism to open or close the switch and isolate or connect the busbar 22R, S, T to the cable 12. The switchboard 10 can comprise any number of incoming cubicles 16, 18 or feeder cubicles, which are identical to the incoming cubicles 16, 18.

The switchboard comprises, in addition to the incoming cubicles, cubicles somne of which are described below with reference to figures 4 to 10 in which the same reference numbers are used to designate similar or identical parts to those represented in figures 1 to 3. Figures 4 and 5 show general protection cubicles 38 with fuses 40, connected to the lower bushings 32 of the 4 fI I rotary switch 26. The three fuses 40 extend vertically underneath the bushings 32 in the planes R, S, To their bottom ends 42 being maintained by a support insulator 44. These bottom j ends 42 are connected to a cable 46 and are capable of operating in conjunction with the knife-blades 48 of an earthing switch associated with the insulators 44. The volume of the bottom compartment 37 is sufficient to house the fuses 40 and the dimensions of the cubicle# notably its width (I)f are identical to those of 'he incoming cubicles 16, 18.

Figures, 6 and 7 illustrate a general fuse-protection feeder cubicle, similar to the one represented in figures 4 and 5, but equipped with three measuring and metering units SO, each associated with one of the phases PR, S, T. The parallelepipedic metering units SO each contain for example a current transformer connected on the one hand to the end 42 of the asoiociated fuse and on the other hand to the end of the cable 46. The metoring compartments arq disposed at the level of the ends 41? of the fuses 40 being laterally offset with respect to these endr, 42 an r~epresented in figure 7. This lateral offset requires, an iort-ed width (1i) of the cubicle which becomes igreater thani 7 the width of the incoming cubicles 16, 18. A spacer S2 located at the level of the rotary switch 26 compensates for this increased width, the rotary switch 26 being laterally offset with respect to the cubicle axis. It can be seen in figure 6 that the three metering units 50 are practically in contact with one another, and that it is the depth of these metering units 50 that determines the distance between the polar planes R, T. The metering unit cubicle 50 is made up from the same basic component parts, only its width (1l)b eing increased.

Figure 8 shows a circuit breaker cubicle having three poles 54 housed in the bottom compartment 37. Each pole 54 is connected on the one hand to a lower bushing 32 of the rotary switch 26 extending in one of the polar planes R,S, T, and to a metering unit 50 laterally juxtaposed to the pole 54. ThiS lateral juxtaposition of the circuit breaker 54 and the metering units requires an increased width (12) of the cubicle which can comprise an additional partition 56 between the circuit breaker 54 and the metering units 50 connected to the cable 46. An earthing -witch 48 of the type represented in figures 6 and 7 can be fitted to the end of the cable 46. The depthwso dimension of the poles 54 is smaller than that of the metering units 50, which determine the distance (W Lotween the Volar planes R To which remain itn sanm,.

Pigure 9 1hows a circuit breaker cubicle having two mtering and measuring units 50 connected in ceries in the 0name way as that represented in figur 0. The :cocond ioterin unit 0S can ke housed in the locaticn available ne:t to the ciruit breaker 54 and a cubicle aof the e4 verall diwmnscns oan 4be usced.

Pigure 10 represents a h1ubar scleonnectieon cubicle, which enables two busbar sections 22a,22b to be interconnected Each section 22a, 22b as ociated with it a diiconnecting device 8 formed by a rotary switch 26a# 26b, the two switchevj or disconnectors being juxtaposed in the width (13) of the cubicl, The rotary switch 26a has associated with it a circuit brxikcr 54, disposed as described with reference to %iguren 8 and 9 rn2 connected to measuring and metering units 50 laterally juxtaposed to this circuit breaker 54. The layout according 8-n the invention in the polar planes R, S, T is preserved, only t~E~ width of the cubicle being adapted to the dimeonsions of .ho additional equipnent. Other architecture* and ccmbinationn aru naturally possible and all the cubicles described above can to incorporated in a switchboard without increasing the o, thlatter and prosorving the ease of aznenzbly and connntkj .1 the bWsbar soction,.

K: aeordered layout according to the invention rukeowitchLtVrr 01aibgn and xtnsion easier. By determining the istance oR the three poleoof the switch 26 and of the aoscciated burbar 22R 22S, 22T in terms of the dimensions of the largest Special t quipment unit, the arrangement in the polar planeg li, S er mforc exactly in the vertical czections havincj the. polna r~lncs 1%, 0, T as 3ywTrmtry plane, is ronpactodo A low voltage compartment 58 L3 s 4poned 6n the Front. pol of the switchboard ebove or beneath the rotay owith .ontrol. This tompartmcnt houses low voltoje equipment of tho zwItchboard which it odyantjeousily a nodulr systen sup* ported on a gymmtricol profiled roil.

Claims

1. A preferred medium voltage switchboard, made up of a plurality of aligned ait-insulated cubicles (16, 18, 20) of small dimensions, fitted with standard equipment, each cubicle beinol customized by the addition ot additional medium volthje equipment, and the different cubicles being connected by an air-insulated busbar disposed horizontally in an upper compartment (24) of each cubicle, the buslbat (22R, So T) being spaced depthwise in a perpendicular direction to the front panel (34) of the cubicle, characterized in that the standard equipment of each cubicle comprises a rotary switch or disconnector (26) with a sealed enclosure (29) filled with a gas of high dielectric strength, whose rotation axis (28) extends into the cubicle perpendicularly to the front panel (34) of the cubicle and supports three rotary knife-blades located at intervals along the axis each knife-blade corresponding respectively to one of the phases of the switch-board, and cooperating with stationary contacts arranged as upper (30) and lower (32) bushings of the enclosure (29) whose upper bushing (30) is connected to the corresponding bar and that all the equipment of any one phase is disposed in a vertical section having a vertical polar plane So T) in symmetry containing the busbar (22R~, So T) being determined by the required distance between the additional equipment (40j 500 54) of the dwitchboard having the largest depthwise dimension to withstand the voltage so that all the cubicles of the switchboard are identical in depth# the width of the cubicles being adapted to the particular additional medium voltage equipment (40, 50# 54) of each cubicle.

2. A switchboard at claimed in Claim 1, characterized in thbt the height of all the switchboard cubicles is the Same* chari is f comp me di bo tt

4. in t' fuse (32) cha r equi di sp breal

6. disc the 4 I *11 441*14 clai rota part lowo

8. clai low equi disq t 3. A switchboard as claimed in Claim I or 2, characterized in that -the rotary switch or disconnector (26) is fitted between the busbar compartment (24) and a bottom compartment (37) of the cubicle and that said additional medium voltage equipment (40, 50, 54.) is housed in the bottom compartment. 4. A switchboard as claimed in Claim 3, characterized in that the additional medium voltage equipment comprises fuses (40) arranged vertically underneath the lower bushings (32) of the rotary switch (26) to which they are connected. S. A switchboard as claimed in Claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the additional medium voltage equipment comprises measuring and/or metering units disposed laterally from the fusec (40) or protective circuit breakers (54). 6. A switchboard as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that the rotary switch or disconnector control is located on the front panel (34) of the cubicle. 7. A switchboard as claimed in any one of the previous claims, characterized in that a partition to which the rotary switch enclosure (29) belongs# separates the upper part (24) of the cubicle containing the busbar (22) from the lower part (37) housing the additional equipment. 8. A switchboard as claimed in any one of the previous 8 claims, characterized in that a compartment (58) called the low voltage compartment houses additional low voltage equipment on the front panel above the rotary switch or disconnector control. J1 11

9. A switchboard as claimed in Claim 8, characterized in that the low voltage equipment and the low voltage compartment are congruent with said switchboard on a symmetrical profiled rail. DATED this 18th day of September, 1990 MERLIN GERIN WATERMARK PATXENT TRADEMARK ATTORNEYS THE ATRIUM 290 BURWOOD ROAD HAWTHORN, VICTORIA 3122 AUSTRALIA LJD/KJB:JJC (5/25)