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Emperor Cable Cleats Chosen For Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm

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Emperor cable cleats from Yorkshire manufacturer, Ellis Patents are being installed on RWE npower renewables’ Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm, which is under construction eight miles off the North Wales coast.

The two billion euro development is currently one of the largest offshore construction projects anywhere in Europe and when operational in 2014 will feature 160 turbines, which will generate enough energy to meet the annual demands of 400,000 homes.

Plan and location of the Gwynt Y Môr wind farm turbines:

gwynt y môr wind farm

Ellis’ Emperor cable cleats were specified by RWE through its UK distributor, ETS Cable Components.

Paul Nolan, Ellis’ UK sales director, said: “This is the kind of project that as soon as it’s announced it becomes imperative you secure the specification for it.”

“Not only is it one of the biggest construction projects in Europe, but I strongly believe it will play a major role in placing wind power at the forefront of renewable energy source for years to come.”

Based in London, ETS is a specialist distributor of power cable accessories, components,  and equipment. The company was a founder member of Ellis’ worldwide network of distributors and has recently helped to secure specifications on projects such as London Array and West Burton Power Station.

“Our network of distributors plays a vital role in the success of Ellis, and in ETS we have a partner that has been opening doors and helping us to secure important contracts for over 20-years,” added Nolan.

Ellis’ cable cleats are designed and manufactured wholly in the UK and are used to secure electrical cables in a manner that can withstand the forces generated by the cables, including those generated during a short circuit fault. Its Emperor cleats not only provide ultimate corrosion protection, even in the harshest of environments, but they are quick and easy to install, and feature an integral LSF zero halogen polymeric liner and base pad that protects and cushions cables during short circuit conditions.


More information on Gwynt y Môr can be found at www.rwe.com/gwyntymor 

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Using the VRQ+ Vulcan Quadrofoil Cleat In A Single Phase

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The VRQ+ Vulcan Quadrofoil cable cleat is principally designed to restrain and support single-core cables routed in dedicated TPN (three-phase & neutral) circuits.

The VRQ+ range can also, hypothetically, be used to restrain four, single-core cables running in parallel and forming one single phase. BUT, sufficient air-clearances around each phase need to be maintained due to heat-cycling.

Air-clearance between phase formations

The BS7671 standard is not completely clear on the necessary air-clearance required, but it is generally accepted that the minimum clearance required is the diameter of at least one cable. It is important to consider that four single-core cables in parallel would equate to one “cable diameter”, we would advise that at least the overall width of the four single-core cable formation be used.

For example, if you had four cables each of 50mm diameter, their Quad formation would be 100mm width. Therefore, there should be at least 100mm free air-space between phase formations.

Cleating in limited space

Due to space limitations, this sort of installation may not be feasible on site. If this is the case we would advise that the cables are run in three-phase sets within VRT+ trefoil cleats, with the neutrals stacked within our single way aluminium cleats. Please contact our Sales Team for more information.

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The Electric Event 2013

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All eyes are on the ICC Birmingham this week as the annual Electrical Contractors’ Associastion (ECA) conference takes place between 20th – 22nd June.

The Electric Event is a must for businesses within the building services or electrical contracting industry. The conference itself is focusing on understanding and managing change, keeping on top of new legislation and remaining profitable in a recession. Delivering fresh thinking, valuable insights and new opportunities, the event is full of key speakers, workshops and a chance to meet a number of suppliers at their exhibition stands.

Conference Speakers

There is a whole host of key industry speakers hosting talks on day 1 and 3 of the event, including Phil Fagg the ECA President, Steve Bratt the ECA CEO and David Philp of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) task group to name a few.

Workshop Streams

Day 2 features the ‘Meet the Suppliers’ exhibition as well as numerous workshops. The Technology Live workshops are an ideal opportunity for electrical contractors, consultants, designers and specifiers to hear directly from leading industry manufacturers about their latest products and innovations.

We’re particularly looking forward to ”Fire performance cables: Applications, features and which specifications to use to get it right” by Martyn Corbishley of Prysmian Cables.

If you’re attending let us know how you found the event in the comments below.

Hydraulic Crimping and Cutting Tool Maintenance

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Whether you are buying or hiring a hydraulic cable crimper or cutter, following these guidelines helps prevent more than just tool failure and time lost on site.

An example of this is incorrect crimping, which can lead to a number of issues with lug failure. If the tool is unable to properly crimp the lug to the cable, then the air pockets within the core can cause an increase in resistance leading to overheating and potentially a fire. The following images show an installation where an electrical lug was installed with an uncalibrated tool with inadequate pressure. This led to the fire bridge being called, the building being evacuated and losing 2 hours of operating time.

Crimp lug failure Incorrect crimp

Typically, hydraulic tools are naturally robust given nature of the tasks they are designed for, however, we always recommend you ensure your tools are in date in terms of calibration and the on-site team is reminded about the importance of pre-use checks and tests, as well as demonstrating the results if a crimp is not undertaken carefully.

Our hydraulic tool maintenance guide gives you a few simple steps that can help avoid tool failure, hydraulic oil leakage and head jamming.

General Maintenance

When you hire or purchase a tool you should also check its condition as soon as you receive it, making sure there are no defects that could impact performance. Usually, tools distributed from reputable companies are calibrated, tested and guaranteed before delivery. However, checking yourself should be the final line of defence.

All tools we supply come with full operation instructions, these instructions should be followed as not only do they help achieve the best cut or crimp, they also keep the tool within safe operating conditions. Keeping to these guidelines will ensure the tool works to its best capacity as well as allowing it to maintain this performance throughout its operational life.

How often should I calibrate my crimper/cutter?

Whenever you hire or first purchase a hydraulic Cembre cutting or crimping tool from ETS, we fully test and calibrate your tool before delivery, supplying a calibration certificate with the tool. For short to medium term hires it is unlikely that the tool will need calibration while on its hire period. However, with long term rental and purchasing a tool, knowing when to calibrate your tool is important.

It is recommended that you get your hydraulic tool calibrated every 12 months. Calibration will test the pressure of your tool using a manometer. The pressure measurement test will make sure the tool meets the recommended level of pressure to enable the correct crimping or cutting operation. If the tool does not meet the required minimum pressure, it needs to be sent to the manufacturer for repair. We can carry out full calibration services for Cembre tools, please contact us for more information.

How to correctly store a hydraulic tool

All our Cembre hydraulic tools are supplied with protective storage cases, with enough room to store the tool or head and a number of die sets. These cases help keep the tool safe from damage on-site as well as providing an easy way to transport the tool to, from and around a project.

We recommend keeping the tool within the heavy-duty protective case while not in use as not only does it protect the tool from damage but also keeps harmful dirt and greases away from clogging the mechanisms.

Lifespan of a well maintained tool

A faulty tool is not just costly if you need to purchase a replacement, it can also be time consuming to organise collection and delivery of replacement tooling. Leading to increased time on site and a reduction in productivity, which could have a ripple effect down the line if essential work is reliant on the crimping or cutting of cables.

We offer a full 12 month warranty with all Cembre hydraulic tools we hire and sell. Although following these tool care and maintenance guidelines will enable your tool to work far beyond this period, reduce tool failure downtime and extend its operational life-span to its maximum potential.

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ETS Help Supply The Shard

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The Shard, also known as the Shard of Glass is a brand new skyscraper next to London Bridge. Construction work began in March 2009 and was completed in March 2012, opening to the public in February this year. Standing at an impressive 309.6 meters (1,016 ft), the Shard is the tallest building in Western Europe.

ETS were proud to help supply this iconic building and we take a look back at what products we supplied for the project.

We originally submitted samples and data sheets for approval in 2008. Working with both the main contractor and consultant to provide suitable products that would compliment the high quality engineering standards of the project design, as well as stand the test of time.

On this basis, the products short listed for approval were provided by CMP, Ellis Patents and Cembre. It was felt each of these manufacturers provided stringent enough product testing to ensure that cabling contractors would be able to deliver the highest quality installation.

The Shard was also awarded ‘Major Building Project of the Year’ (Over £50m) at the British Construction Industry (BCI) awards 2013.

 

Preview: Medium Voltage Cable Accessories – A Book By Derek Goulsbra Part 2

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Continuing on from our preview of the first chapter of Derek Goulsbra’s new book, available here in part one, this post previews the start of chapter 2 ‘Medium Voltage Cable Accessories: A Theoretical and Practical Appraisal.

Chapter 2 – Electrical breakdown of air and solid dielectrics

In order to understand accessories and how they perform it is necessary to look at the fundamental electrical breakdown of air and solid dielectrics, which are, of necessity, mixed in dry cable accessories.

2.1: Electrical Breakdown of Air

Air at normal temperature and pressure, which means a temperature of 20 ° C and pressure of 760 mm Hg, has an intrinsic breakdown strength of 3 MV m-1 . This means that if a voltage is applied between two electrodes, which provide a uniform field, and the electrodes are spaced 10 mm apart, electrical breakdown of the air in the form of an arc will occur at 30 kV. This value is the same for a.c. (the peak value), d.c. and impulse. The electric strength is simply found by dividing the applied voltage at breakdown by the electrode separation. In the present example:

Breakdown strength E = Voltage applied / Electrode separation
= 30 kV per cm
= 3 kV per mm
= 3 MV per m

A uniform field is shown in fig.1. By definition lines of equal voltage are spaced equally across the shortest distance of the electrodes.

In practice, the intrinsic electric strength of air is of little use because conductors at high voltage are not conducive to producing a uniform field and the earth plane is often a flat sheet interspersed with bolt heads and nuts for various fixings. At the other end of the scale from a uniform field is the point-plane configuration shown in fig. 2.

Uniform Field Derek Goulsbra MV Book

Figure 1: Uniform Field

In this situation, it will be noted that the equipotential field lines are much closer together near the point electrode and spaced further apart as the earth electrode is approached. If the separation of the electrodes is again 10 mm, it will be found that the voltage required to break down the air will be as low as 10 kV, depending upon the sharpness of the point. The reason for this is that as the field lines are close together near the point, the breakdown strength of the air, i.e. 3 MV m-1 will be reached with only a few kV applied. At this point the air breaks down locally to create corona around the needle electrode. There will not be complete breakdown of the gap initially because the electric stress nearer the earth plane is very much lower. The corona produced does, however, ionise the air thus reducing its electric strength and if the voltage is increased further, total breakdown occurs at a much lower level than if the electrodes presented a uniform field.

Corona occurs in many situations without causing complete failure of the system – e.g. on overhead power lines and around insulators on these lines, especially when there is rain or fog in the atmosphere.

Whenever air is used as part of the insulation in electrical equipment, there is the possibility of corona occurring. It is not desirable for this to happen in an enclosed space and thus designers ensure that sharp profiles are eliminated and spacing is adequate to prevent corona at working voltage.

It should be borne in mind that corona in an enclosed piece of switchgear or cable box can, if the humidity is high, create various acids, which will eventually corrode the metal work of the equipment and this must be avoided. It will be shown later that this effect can also be caused by badly installed cable termination.

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020 8405 6789
E.T.S. (Portsmouth) Limited T/A ETS Cable Components
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Leatherhead Road, Chessington
Surrey, KT9 2NY
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