Testing & Commissioning
Fault Analysis & Troubleshooting
Working out what actually happened, using the equipment's own records rather than guesswork.
When protection has misoperated, or failed to operate, the fastest route to the cause is usually the device's own fault records. A modern recloser control records what it measured, what it decided and when, which turns an argument into an investigation.
We interrogate those records, work out what the device saw and why it acted as it did, and correct the underlying cause. This applies to equipment we did not supply as well.
What fault analysis covers
- Interrogation of recloser and relay fault records
- Event sequence reconstruction
- Analysis of measured fault current and voltage at the time of operation
- Assessment of whether protection behaved per its settings
- Site testing to confirm or eliminate suspected causes
- Recommendation and implementation of corrective action
What matters in practice
-
The record is the evidence
Fault records show what the device actually measured, which is frequently different from what everyone assumed happened.
-
Misoperation has categories
A device that operated when it should not have, and one that failed to operate when it should have, are different problems with different causes.
-
Settings or hardware
The first question is whether protection behaved correctly according to its settings. If it did, the problem is the settings, not the equipment.
-
Other manufacturers too
We can analyse faults on recloser and switchgear installations we did not supply.
Related services
Had a misoperation?
Tell us what you need and where the site is, and we will scope the work and quote it.