The German National Committee hosted the Plenary Meeting of TC10 ( IEC Fluids for electrotechnical applications) held on the 19th and 20th September, Burghausen, a nice town in Bavaria.
The Meeting was hosted by WACHER SILICONES, a German Company World Leader in the production of liquid insulations with silicon base.
CEI (Italian Electrotechnical Committee) holds since 1998 the Secretariat of this Committee with Prof. Massimo POMPILI (Secretary) of the University “La Sapienza” of Rome and Mr Vander TUMIATTI SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES of Collegno (Turin).
50 delegates participated at the 2011 TC10 Plenary Meeting representing 20 P-Members (over a total of 26 P-Members, i.e. Nations having the right to vote in TC10). Chief of the Italian delegation was (as already in Paris in 2007 and Milan in 2009) Dr. Claudio Puliti of ACEA SpA.
TC10 of IEC is one of the most important groups of IEC, also at historical level, since it has been created in 1924 under the designation “ Oils for transformers”, reflecting the only applications of those years. In 1926, the name of TC10 was changed into “Insulating oils” to cover other liquids of synthetic origin that stated to have a use in the electrical sector, as an alternative to mineral oils (i.e. deriving from petroleum oils).
A further widening of the scope of TC10 occurred in 1961, when to the same committee was allocated the task of arranging the Norms relative to gaseous insulations, such as sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). Finally, in 1980, the current designation “Fluids for electrotechnical applications” has bee assigned, since TC10 had also been charged with the task of developing Norms in the field of lubricants for turbines.
Currently, the TC10 of IEC has a portfolio of about 50IS (International Standards) and TR (Technical Report) falling within the 3 following categories:
– Test methods;
– Product specifications;
– Guides for the correct management of fluids for electrotechnical applications.
One of the most important results decided in the Burghausen Meeting, relates to the proposal by the Italian Secretariat for anticipating the revision of Standards 60376 and 60480 (relative to l’SF6) to include information about the methods for the determination of leakages of SF6, notoriously a greenhouse gas, in accordance with the Kyoto protocol. The modalities for the determination of these leakages shall be particularly useful for Electric Companies in arranging their Reports on Environmental Sustainability. To carry out this activity, Prof. Massimo Pompili (IT) has been nominated Project Leader and Convenor.
The revision of the TC10 Norms on sulphur hexafluoride shall be done also considering what has been stated both in the Technical Report IEC 62271-303 (High-voltage switchgear and control gear: Use and handling of sulphur hexafluoride) issued in July 2008 by SC17A and the CIGRE Brochure 276 (2005). Also, the report of October 2010, prepared within the European Commission “Preparatory study for the Review of Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases – Appendix A and B) shall be considered.
Moreover, the proposal by the Italian Secretariat (Prof. Massimo Pompili e Mr. Vander Tumiatti) to maintain the IEC Norms on PCBs, has been confirmed, since this problem doesn’t result being solved yet at global level and these Norms can provide a considerable help to the PEN (PCBs Elimination Network) of UNEP (United Nations for Environment Programme), recently started to guide the applicative phase that prescribes the elimination of PCBs at global level within 2028.
Instead, the Italian proposal about including in the current revision of IEC Standard 60422 Ed. 4 “Mineral insulating oils in electrical equipment – Supervision and maintenance guidance” a maximum limit of DBDS possibly present, in accordance with Brochure CIGRE 378. We remind that it is due, most of all, to Italy (SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES and TERNA SpA), the unexpected discovery of this antioxidant additive that, unfortunately, caused, and still causes, several catastrophic failures in the world of transformers and compensation reactors in generation, transportation, distribution and use of power. The theme has been the topic of two Days of Studies held by CEI in 2007 – thanks to the support by TERNA SpA and SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES – involving a large participation by technicians and engineers of the electrical sector. This Italian discovery, attributable mainly to Mr Vander Tumiatti of SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES and Dr. Fabio Scatiggio of TERNA SpA, has been subsequently shared at worldwide level, both within IEC and ASTM and IEEE and DOBLE.
During the next meeting of the CT10 of CEI (October 2011) the possible solutions shall be examined for introducing, at least at Italian level, limits for the content of DBDS in the insulating oils of electrical equipment in operation, in accordance with internatuional standard and publications.