IEDs and SF6 ensure quality power management with sustainability

Eaton’s ‘Xiria’ medium-voltage switchgear product family provides a sustainable answer to important modern-day and future energy challenges, highlights Debasish Banerji, Director – Sales & Service, Eaton Electrical Sector, India.
What is the role of switchgear in inefficient power transmission and distribution?
Switchgears are generally classified as low-voltage, medium-voltage, or high-voltage based on their usage within power generation, transmission, and distribution. There are upgrades in terms of compactness, high fault capacity, hybrid technologies, improved dielectric, and smartness getting embedded in switchgear.
The right and appropriate technology to maintain and monitor our electrical networks with minimum downtime and quick and reliable protections is what we refer to in the current situation as “electrical switchgear.” It also refers to a centralised collection of circuit breakers, fuses, and switches (circuit protection devices) that function to protect, control, and isolate electrical equipment. The circuit protection devices are mounted in metal structures. These are metal-clad or metal-enclosed with loss of service continuity LSC 2A or 2B and tested to withstand short circuits, internal arcs, and peak impulse voltage in the worst possible applications and conditions on the given network. A collection of one or more of these structures is called a switchgear line-up or assembly.
What measures are in place to reduce GHG emissions through switchgear products and technology?
As explained earlier, multiple advancements are underway in technology, and the most important are compactness and smartness in communication and data collection and monitoring. Today, the options are limited. You have an AIS that is very bulky and that also requires a lot of maintenance. The other option is GIS, which is compact but has an inherent risk of leakage of the greenhouse gas SF6. However good your product is, mishandling of the unit can result in leakage, which can have a deterrent impact. SF6 damages the ozone layer—a grave ecological threat. Also, SF6 leakage is going to temporarily put your system out of order. Handling SF6 is precarious. SF6 has a GWP (Global Warning Potential) of 23,500, implying that it is 23,500 times more polluting than CO2. It is important for industries to move away from SF6. Eaton has a one-of-a-kind product called solid insulated switchgear (SIS) called XIRIA, which is already in use by over 100,000 utilities worldwide. This means that the entire current-carrying part of the switchgear is insulated with an Eaton-patented insulating compound, which ensures that you can reduce the overall size of the switchgear amazingly. Furthermore, the same high breaking capacities and safety standards as with SF6-insulated RMUs can be achieved. This switchgear is available now in 24Kv up to 1250A and 25KA-3 sec (12KV).
How do you evaluate the significance of IoT-enabled IEDs solutions in T&D equipment?
Intelligent switchgear is a centralised collection of circuit breakers, fuses, and switches that function with microprocessorbased relays, intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), and sensors to enable predictive maintenance and advanced diagnostics to ensure safety, uptime, reliability, and equipment longevity.
Industry 4.0 and IIoT solutions utilise intelligent electronic devices (IED) that have network connectivity in switchgear assemblies. Network-connected solutions offer real-time, 24/7 monitoring to detect anomalies, failures, or other problems and provide timely notifications. These IEDs also provide information that can be used to determine the health and lifecycle of the equipment. Analysing system health helps users plan scheduled downtime events for maintenance activities to avoid costly unplanned downtime.
Eaton has launched intelligent switchgear in Asia that can also give partial discharge, temperature, arc presence, humidity, movements inside switchgear, motorised racking, hot spot sensors, displacement sensors, and cameras to monitor various critical parameters around the switchgear and room, along with all IED protections and measurements.
All these data are used for predictive analysis, and the customer can maintain and monitor the switchgear remotely.

In what ways are smart switchgears making the T&D system efficient?
Incorporating intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) such as smart circuit breakers, sensors, and microprocessor based relays and metres can make switchgear intelligent. If you are planning to purchase new switchgear but are not yet ready to take advantage of intelligent solutions, networked infrastructure, industrial IoT, and digital platforms, you can still make your new switchgear future-ready by including intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) connected to network switches. When you’re ready to join the digitisation journey (Industry 4.0), you can simply connect the switch to an intelligent power management platform via your industrial network.
How can switchgears add sustainability and efficiency to power grid for efficient T&D?
The Earth’s population is expected to reach more than nine billion by 2050. Future cities will require smart grids to efficiently manage power distribution, which is becoming increasingly dynamic with the advancements of decentralised energy and smart, sustainable devices. Engineers, consultants, and asset managers must now consider the environmental impact of every part of their power network. When considering medium-voltage units, the switching and how the insulation is done are both critical factors.
MV switchgear is generally enclosed in a metal-clad structure. Early in the 20th century, MV switchgear used oil and air as a medium in the circuit breakers. Technological advancements led to the introduction of gas (sulphur hexafluoride, or SF6) as an interruption medium and insulator in the late 1950s, along with vacuum circuit breakers shortly after that. As a gas insulator, SF6 outperformed the previously used oil and was thought to be less expensive and more environmentally friendly at the time.
SF6 is now well known to pose a significant risk to both human health and the environment based on possible operating conditions (extreme heat), possible leakage, and the inappropriate disposal of the equipment at the end of its life cycle. Gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), with SF6, is unfortunately still used extensively around the world. SF6 is one of the hazardous greenhouse gases recognised by various authorities on climate change. Fluorine gases, which were earlier used in industries like glass, shoes, tennis balls, and tires, have been replaced. The only industry still using SF6 is switchgear.
With a vision to improve the quality of life and the environment using innovative power management technologies and services, Eaton is well committed to sustainability. We endeavour to make our factories and facilities zero-waste and zero-landfill. All our products are RoHS-compliant. In terms of our products, we are building a lot of innovation to reduce the impact on the environment. This is exemplified by the Xiria medium-voltage switchgear product family, which offers a sustainable answer to important modern-day and future energy challenges.
The Eaton Xiria family of medium voltage switchgear is designed and manufactured to meet the demands of smart, sustainable electric systems and for customers who care about the circular economy. The unique design that eliminates SF6 gas for both switching and insulation provides multiple benefits for customers. Not only does such equipment have the lowest total cost of ownership, but the technology enables switching up to 10,000 times, the maintenance is greatly reduced, and the equipment can adapt to new, smart grids. At end-of-life, such equipment is easily repurposed or recycled, avoiding risks to people and the environment.