S&C Electric Company, a global smart grid provider shaping the future of power delivery, recently announced its offering of CO₂ cleaning services for energized electrical equipment. S&C’s CO₂ cleaning services lets utilities and customers who operate their own power systems clean power equipment up to 34.5 kV without having to plan an outage. This innovative new service further expands S&C’s asset management portfolio for medium-voltage power systems.

S&C’s CO₂ cleaning service is used on energized electrical equipment to remove contaminants such as dust, salt, dirt, and silt that can build up on the equipment’s internal components over time or because of weather events like floods and dust storms. These contaminants reduce the dielectric strength of the components and can cause flashovers, which, in turn, can lead to equipment damage and cause power outages.

“This new service is a game-changer,” says Wanda Reder, vice president—Power Systems Services, S&C. “Globally, utilities face the challenge of maintaining their aging electrical infrastructure, which is critical to maintaining reliability. This service lets utilities clean their equipment effectively without taking a planned outage and inconveniencing their customers.”

The CO₂ cleaning process uses the solid form of carbon dioxide, commonly known as dry ice, to lift contaminants off of the equipment’s components, ultimately reducing the possibility of an outage. This can be done while energized because CO₂ is non-conductive. For safety, a trained professional wears protective equipment and uses an insulated hose to perform the cleaning. Industrial processes reclaim the CO₂, reducing the environmental impact of the service. A video covering the details of how CO₂ cleaning works can be viewed here.

S&C tested and proved the application of this service in their Advanced Technology Center located in Chicago, Ill. Working with contaminated pad-mounted switchgear, S&C tested leakage currents before and after CO₂ cleaning and found that using the CO₂ cleaning method resulted in an average 96% reduction in leakage currents. S&C then worked with local utility ComEd to test the application of this service on their energized power equipment.

The traditional maintenance practice of cleaning contaminated switchgear involves de-energizing the equipment with a scheduled power outage in order to manually wipe surfaces with clean rags using soap and water. This work is often performed at night or on weekends when most scheduled power outages are permitted to occur.

A video that shows the live cleaning that was conducted for ComEd and talks about the benefits of S&C’s CO₂ cleaning services can be viewed here.

S&C Electric Company
www.sandc.com