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OHL Conductors are everywhere. Jungles, mountains, coastal areas and dense urban centers. And without exception, clearance infringement remains a cause of concern and failures for every utility. Losses on account of conductor clearance-related tripping are staggering and cost the utility money and reputation. But now, for the first time, there is a solution.
EPSILON was tasked by POWER GRID (PGCIL) in 2016 to devise a TRANSMISSION GRADE solution to reduce outages caused by conductor clearance infringement by trees, animals and civil structures. After detailed efforts on the drawings board and int he field, Epsilon invented the RSIS – the Reinforced Silicone Insulation Sleeve System.
Several pilot projects were conducted on POWER GRID 400kV and 220kV line sections that were prone to frequent tripping due to clearance issues. No less than twenty pilot projects were successful and the roll out began across Power Grid.
Based on the Epsilon design and success story, Power Grid included Insulation Sleeves in their Construction Line Manual and for use in TBCB packages.
Epsilon Sleeves have been in use at 65+ locations of POWER GRID, Adani Power, Sterlite Grid, CESC and others for several years in areas prone to tripping due to clearance, kite-string outages and external factors
Specs are designed to simulate service conditions but ultimately only field performance matters. If silicone grades of Sleeve and Tape are incompatible, capacitance buildup may cause failures.
Most copycat solutions may meet lab specs, but have never really been tested for use in conditions where electrical stresses exist due to clearance infringement. Most TBCB packages where such sleeves are used are not prone to such stresses at the time of construction and therefore this experience is not representative of field conditions. When infringement really occurs, copycat sleeves will fail due to inadequate design research and near-zero field experience
Sleeves are custom built to fit perfectly on OHL conductors – be it Zebra, Moose, Bersimis, Goat, Dog, Panther or any other animal – a size is available! This helps reduce air gaps between the conductor and the first layer of insulation defence
Silicones are designed to last long – very long. The SI-O bond of a good silicone material has a higher strength (usually measured in kJ/mol) than that of shortwave UV found in sunlight – therefore the bond does not cleave. Ordinarily, silicone sleeves and tapes can last 20+ years in most field applications, in some cases where electrical stresses are severe due to extreme (30% or more) violation of Minimum clearance, life would decrease. Statistical/historical evidence of several outages being prevented with the sleeves in place can be obtained from the utility.
Flying a kite near a power line can cause serious injury or even death – and to make it worse, trip the line as well. Kite flying is a part of the ethos of many cultures and elicits images of children and joy and laughter – while we retrain kite flyers to stay far far away from power lines, installing sleeves in line sections near kite-flying communities is a simple and inexpensive way to reduce risk – to the public as well as to the management of the transmission utility.
Epsilon sleeves have been specifically tested with metallic kite strings and have successfully been in use for this purpose at Adani Power transmission lines. Since 2015, all kite-string related outages have been eliminated in the Mumbai region.
Get in touch with Rajendra Bisht at +91.99117.10325 and we’ll do our best to eliminate outages for you
