Sediver has established in the USA an assembly factory for glass insulators in 2017 but also, and perhaps more interesting for some engineers, a laboratory capable of performing all the tests required by the world’s standards. Large test campaigns have already been conducted in this laboratory for numerous north American utilities from East Coast to West Coast.

Why testing?

The age of the transmission grid in the United States requires an increased focus on the condition of old insulators and many utilities have started testing some of their oldest lines in order to forecast and plan for refurbishment and capex expenditure.

How about testing?

Take insulators down for testing
Full strings with well referenced position in a given string
Decide a test plan for the evaluation

• Standards have changed and are still changing
• Tests should be performed as per latest knowledge and not necessarily only as per standards in place when those units were produced

Read full article in the Overhead & Underground T&D Technologies Special Edition 2022