Application benefits of single-phase digitally controlled vacuum reclosers

The merging of digital control technology and vacuum interruption technology has given engineers a tool that allows them to successfully coordinate parts of their system where compromises would have been made in the past. This technology has been used in the area of single phase reclosers. The electronic method of recloser control is more flexible, more easily adjusted and tested, and more accurate than hydraulic control. The minimum trip level chosen does not alter the maximum continuous current capacity of the recloser as with traditional hydraulic control. The sequence coordination feature greatly enhances coordination. These benefits can all be provided without the need for additional distribution transformers, arresters, or other auxiliary power supplies. Installation costs of digitally controlled reclosers remain the same as the installation costs of hydraulic reclosers. Because of these innovations, single-phase digitally-controlled vacuum reclosers lend themselves to many specific applications. These would include long rural lines where several single phase reclosers are in series, single phase taps close to the substation where potential fault currents run high, remote areas where supervisory control and status indication would most likely be utilized, and in climates with low temperature extremes