Equipments in the substation

APSPDCL is mainly a distribution substation where the voltage of 33 kV is stepped down to 11kv.

It is station from which electric supply is distributed to the different users. In our substation there are 3
incoming feeders one is from banavasi and 2 incoming lines from 132 kV line from where the power is
entered into substation and leads to 7 outgoing feeders of industrial ,town , agricultural .

The following Equipments are installed in the 33/11kv distribution substation

 Power transformer
 Circuit breaker
 Lightning arrestors
 Air break switches or Isolator
 Insulators
 Bus bars
 Capacitor banks
 Earthing
 Fencing
 Distribution panel board
 Current transformer
 Potential transformer
 H.G fuses
 Protecting Relays
 Cables
 Fire extinguishers

1. Power transformer :

The power transformer is the one of the costliest equipment in the substation. All the other Equipments
are mainly installed to protect the power transformer.

It is basically a static electrical device which step downs the 33kv voltage to 11kv distribution voltage
of 415V or 230V between phases and 215 volts between phase and neutral through delta-star windings
by electromagnetic induction without change in frequency.The transformer present in our substation is
5MVA.There are 2 power transformers in our substation.Seven outgoing lines will be seen
 2. Circuit breakers

The circuit breaker is an equipment which automatically cut off power supply of the
system when any fault or short circuit occurs in the system. It detect and isolate faults
within a fraction of a second thereby minimizing the damage at the point where the fault
.has occurred
The circuit breakers are specially designed to interrupt the very high fault currents which
.may be ten or more times the normal operating currents

In distribution substation oil Circuit breakers and air Circuit breakers are used.
3. Lightning arrestors
 Lightning arrester is a most important protective device of distribution substation to
protect valuable equipment as well as working personnel. It arrests and discharges over
voltage to earth during lightning strokes. These are installed between line and earth near
equipment.

4. Air break switches(A.B)/Isolators

Air break switches are used to isolate equipment for maintenance and for also transfer
of loads from one busbar to other Lay-out of substation depends upon type of Air break
switches.

These switches are of two types viz. vertical break type or horizontal break type.
Horizontal break type normally occupies more space than the vertical break type.

Insulators

The main function of an insulator is to insulate live conductor or equipment at different voltages with
reference to ground structure as well as well as provide mechanical support
Provision of adequate insulation in a substation is of primary importance from the point of view of
reliability of supply and safety of personnel

Bus bar arrangement

The bus bar is a conductor used to connect two and more equipment located side-by-side when the
currents are very high. These are usually Rectangular or Tubular or some times copper bare conductor.
Our Substation consists of Rectangular Busbar arrangement. The outdoor busbars are either of the rigid
type or of the strain type.

In the rigid type, pipes are used for making connections among the various equipment. The strain type
bus bars are an overhead system of wires strung between two supporting structures and supported
strain type insulators. Our Substation contains the strain type bus bar arrangement.

Capacitor banks

It is a series parallel combination of capacitors required to improve power factor of the system. They
act as reactive power generators, and provide the needed . This reduces the amount of reactive power,
and thus total power (kVA) or the demand.The capacitor banks are not working in our substation

Earthing

Earthing has very low resistance and connects the electrical equipment to the general mass of the
earth.

It means ,the direct connection of all the metal non -current carrying parts of electrical equipment such
as metallic frame work,mettalic coverings of conductors ,poles, transformer tank, Isolators,Circuit
breaker etc,to the surrounding earth.

Plate earthing is provided in our substation.

Purpose of earthing

The operating voltage in the substation is too high.so proper earthing is provided in the substations
  The main purpose is to avoid the risk of fire due to earth leakage the current through the
unwanted path.
 To avoid the earth leakage accidents through damp situations.
 To avoid the electric shocks to human beings working on it

The following equipments in substation must be earthed properly

 Lightning arrestors
 Circuit breakers
 Power transformer
 Isolators and switches
 Fences
 Panels
 Supports
 C.Ts ,PTs
 Cables

Fencing:

Fencing is provided at outdoor substation yard for restricting entry of unauthorized person and livestock.
It must be earthed/ grounded separately. Height of fencing normally should not be less than 1.8 metres.
Fencing was painted once in a year by suitable paint.

Distribution panel board

Distribution panel board consists of MCBs,meters,Relays are housed in the control room. The panel
frame shall be connected to the earth grid by an Earthing conductor.

Current transformer and Potential transformer

Current Transformers (CT) and Potential Transformers (PT) used in substations for measurement and
protection purpose.

Measurement

Both CT and PT are step down transformers. In substations the value of currents and voltages is very
high, practically it is not possible to measure such high values directly. So CT and PT is used to step down
the value of current and voltage respectively. This proportionate low value of current and voltage can be
measure with the help of ammeter and voltmeter.

Protection

CT and PT used in substation have multiple cores (3 core or 5 core) each core is used for special purpose
i.e., one core is used for protection and other is used for measurement. CT plays important role in the
differential protection, over current protection etc. PT plays important role in the over voltage and under
voltage protection.
Fuses

Fuses are the switch gear equipment Fuse is a protective device having very resistance .If the current
Flowing through the fuse is greater than its then it will blown out and protects the entire substations
from high loads.

The H.G Fuse is used in the substations.

Relays:
Horn gap fuse