Cable Fault Locating Services

snags :Services :Cable Fault Locating Services

Cable Condition Assessment

Use our Cable Condition Assessment service to determine the condition of your cables – even if they are underground

MV and HV cables can be a challenging asset to manage as it is difficult to gain an understanding of their condition when they are buried in the ground. SNAGS  has the expertise to offer a selection of services to enable the condition of an underground cable to be mapped.

Cable testing and diagnostics are various techniques used to help assess the overall insulation quality of high voltage cable systems, such as withstand testing, tan delta testing, and partial discharge testing. Important information is provided that can be used to improve system reliability, reduce repair costs by conducting condition-based maintenance on most vulnerable cables, and prevent unnecessary and costly outages. The SNAGS cable testing and diagnostics service portfolio covers all the important requirements to test and diagnose the condition of high voltage cables quickly, reliably, and cost-effectively.

Cable Fault Location

For non-destructive Partial Discharge (PD) site testing of HV and MV cables, the Cable PD Mapping service measures and reports on the health of high voltage cables.

Faults in cables can occur due to many reasons, such as regular service ageing, over voltages, thermal overload, corrosion, and poor workmanship during transport and installation, among others. Obtaining efficient equipment to locate and resolve faults as soon as possible helps to keep downtime and subsequent costs to a minimum. The SNAGS cable fault location portfolio of instruments and systems are applicable to all types of cables ranging from 1 kV to 500 kV and all types of cable faults such as:

  • Short circuit faults
  • Cable cuts
  • Resistive faults
  • Intermittent faults
  • Sheath faults

We distinguish between two types of cable fault location: pre-location and pin-pointing.

SNAGS Cable Partial Discharge Mapping Service

For non-destructive Partial Discharge (PD) site testing of HV and MV cables, the Cable PD Mapping service measures and reports on the health of high voltage cables.

Offline VLF Cable PD Mapping

For new installations, or when the customer can obtain an outage, our state of the art Very Low Frequency (VLF) Cable PD Mapping test equipment can be used to determine cable condition. The customized software allows us to accurately determine PD magnitude and location along the length of the cable. This allows the cable owner to manage their assets with increased confidence through recommendations such as regular monitoring and localized repairs to sections where discharge is found.

Online Cable Data Collector Service

Designed to enable collection of PD information from MV/HV cables while the cable is online. The customized software allows us to accurately determine PD magnitude and location along the length of the cable. Through the data analysis, cables will be classified as Green, Amber or Red depending upon the level of severity of any partial discharge detected.  Recommendations for future action can then be provided.

Offline & Online PD measurements

  • Identifies and locates PD activity by time-of-flight measurement
  • Works with paper or polymer insulated high voltage cables
  • Produces a detailed map of cable condition and any PD problems
  • Reduces the risk of unplanned, expensive outages
  • Identifies and locates PD activity by time-of-flight measurement
  • Works with paper or polymer insulated high voltage cables
  • Produces a detailed map of cable condition and any PD problems
  • Reduces the risk of unplanned, expensive outages
  • Collection of PD information from live MV/HV cables eliminates the risk of expensive offline testing
  • Quick assessment of a large number of cables to build up a total view of the condition of a distribution cable network
  • Prevents unplanned outages by identifying cable defects before they fail
  • Equipment is lightweight and portable. Quickly highlights cables that require more detailed analysis techniques
  • Works with all insulated cable types, single and three-phase cables
  • Expert cable condition analysis and reporting service