An integrated solution for safety and reliability on rural distribution networks

Customer minutes lost per year is becoming a critically important criterion by which electrical supply companies are judged. Continuity of supply is playing an increasingly important part in everyday life, and has generally raised the user´s expectation of the quality of supply. Electronic equipment, particularly computers, are reliant upon an uninterrupted power supply. Previously unnoticeable power interruptions are now highlighted to the user and can result in problems. In order to minimise the potential problems, a review of the quality of supply provided by the electricity supply companies has taken place. The Electricity Supply Regulator decreed that customer minutes lost are restricted to a prescribed figure. This has resulted in electricity supply companies reviewing their networks and has culminated in various schemes being devised in order to improve the quality of supply provided. One of these is an overhead distribution network with an insulated overhead line as the main backbone of the system, having uninsulated lines feeding consumers to maximise the benefit ratio. This paper describes equipment designed to operate on such a network including the LINX pole mounted auto-isolating recloser which consists of: vacuum interrupters; bushings; actuator; operations counter; relay; and batteries