Empirical Circuit Breaker Failure Rate Assessment and Modeling in a Preventive Maintenance Application.

This article presents an analysis of the failure rates of SF6 puffer circuit breakers in the 230-kV voltage class. Historical failure recorded data for existing power circuit breakers in high-voltage substations in Thailand from 1992 to 2011 were retrieved. Subsequently, the data were analyzed and classified based on the causes of failure related to circuit breaker sub-components. The failure rates of the individual circuit breaker sub-components were determined. These failure rates were then categorized into three main circuit breaker component categories based on their functionality, which includes the live part and insulation, operating mechanism, and control part. The failure rates of the individual circuit breaker sub-components were calculated, and their associated probability distributions were estimated using Weibull distribution functions. The resulting Weibull distribution parameters were subsequently utilized in a circuit breaker preventive maintenance application to aid in the decision-making process for setting the maintenance schedule of the circuit breaker components. Finally, circuit breaker reliability is also monitored. This proposed method can also be applied to other high-voltage equipment in power systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]