The collaboration among Sea Marconi, University of Turin (Dept. of Analytical Chemistry), University of Rolla Missouri USA and the Serbian research institute “NIKOLA TESLA” continues.

The work is the outcome of the brilliant result achieved, ninth over one hundred and fifty, following the participation to a tender promoted by the Ministry of Economic Development favoring the integration among Universities and enterprises at international level. The studies, initiated at the end of last year, shall continue through May 2011.

The project is set to investigate the phenomenon of the formation and presence of metal contaminants in insulating liquids used in high power and high voltage electrical equipment (transformers, reactors, rectifiers) present in generation systems (15 – 400 kV), transmission (220 – 1200kV) and distribution networks (< 130kV) of electric power. Such phenomenon, currently insufficiently known, can cause the uncontrolled degradation of the liquid and solid insulations, produced in the last 5 years, several failures, even catastrophically, for example in Brazil, USA, Italy. Portugal, Scandinavia, South Africa. The global financial impact of these failures and the relevant blackouts in the supply of electric power is in the range of billions of Euros.

After 5 years form the discovery by Sea Marconi and Terna of DBDS (DiBenzylDiSulphide), sulfur compound mainly responsible for the failures by corrosive sulfur, Sea Marconi, intends to widen in a pioneering manner the filed of study, paying attention also to cases of corrosion determined by sulfur and non sulfur compounds

The research and normative bodies in the sector (IEC, Cigre, ASTM, Doble, etc.) are currently still in an investigation phase on this problem. The project, seeing Sea Marconi on the front line, intends to unify a basic research on these failure cases to a research applied toward the definition of diagnostic techniques providing the identification of failures prior to their occurrence, defining appropriate countermeasures. The cooperation between Italy (University of Turin and Sea Marconi Technologies) and the research centers in USA and Serbia is directed toward unifying the know-how and the efforts of working groups that operated in this field during the last 3 years, providing innovative know-how and determining scientific elements.

The impact of the study involves the electric power sector on a worldwide basis. The identification of technologies mitigating the problem shall provide the export abroad of solutions oriented, on one side toward the conservation of resources and the extension of their life cycle and, on the other end, finalized naturally toward the respect and conservation of the environment.

¹Prof. Corrado Sarzanini

Università di Torino – Dipartimento di Chimica Analitica,

via P. Giuria, 5 – 10125 TORINO (ITALY)

²Prof. Shubhen Kapila

Center for Environmental Science

and Technology Missouri University of Science and

Technology (A Campus of the University of Missouri)

Rolla, MO 65409 (US)

³Dr. Jelena Lukic

Elektrotehni?ki Institut

“NIKOLA TESLA”

Koste Glavini?a 8a Srbija, 11000 Beograd