GE

Grid Solutions

CB Watch 3
HV Circuit Breaker Monitoring Solution Operational Timing
Utility Asset Managers all know how critical their power transformers are and understand the risks and • Verifies that mechanism is opening/closing
consequences of any failure. They are now focusing on the fact that high voltage circuit breakers are often and indicates deviation in speed of operation
just as critical. When a transformer problem is detected, protection relays and circuit breakers are relied • Detects performance degradation possibly
upon to isolate it from the grid and a breaker’s “failure to operate” is not a palatable option. linked to friction, corrosion or linkage failure
With circuit breaker fleets worldwide averaging more than 25 years of age and operating budgets • Timing compensation for cold temperature to
shrinking yearly, many Asset Managers are exploring ways to move from time-based to condition-based avoid spurious alarms
maintenance on their circuit breakers while also providing increased availability and reliability.
Capitalizing on 15 years of field experience and domain expertise, the CB Watch 3 is a compact, modular, SF6 Gas Monitoring
online monitoring solutions, suitable for most high voltage circuit breakers. It records information using
non-invasive sensors and monitors key diagnostic parameters during the breaker operation. It looks for • Measures pressure and temperature of SF6
significant changes in performance and assesses the breaker against the most common causes of failure. gas (or gas mixture) and calculates density
• Detects gas leaks and gives advance warning
The CB Watch 3 highlights the timely need for mechanical maintenance or arcing contact replacement,
before reaching critical threshold levels
reducing the need for fixed interval inspections and overhauls. It enables instead a more cost effective and
less reactive "as needed" maintenance approach. • Exposes gas liquefaction risk at low
temperature
With worldwide scrutiny on SF6 gas usage, increased environmental reporting requirements and even
possible penalties, precise early detection of small gas leaks is essential. The latest generation of EMC
resistant digital gas sensors is used to provide leak detection down to 0.1% per year and to forecast Arcing Contact Wear
refilling needs prior to reaching threshold levels and affecting operation.
• Records number of interrupting operations
and for each, measures the current during
Key Benefits interruption as well as the arcing time

• Modern modular solution that fills diverse needs with the same platform • Calculates the arc energy (I2T) and resulting
cumulative electrical contact wear/erosion
• Retrofittable on site to most HV circuit breaker types/brands
• Delivers reduced and optimized operating maintenance costs
• Enables health/condition based asset replacement strategy
Control Circuits
• Helps reduce costly SF6 gas losses into the environment • Monitors current flow through open/close coils

• Seamless communication with digital systems and through web server HMI • Can check coil continuity and DC supply level
• Uses temperature sensors to check for proper
operation of the cabinet heating systems
Applications
The CB Watch 3 is suitable for most HV circuit breakers: live tank or dead tank,
ganged or independent pole operation. Small configurations can be mounted Stored Energy System
inside the control cabinet or in an additional enclosure. • Looks at the frequency and time taken to
Thanks to its modular approach, the same platform with different options is rearm the stored energy system
now suitable for your entire fleet of breakers: large and small, most critical to • Monitors the current used by the motor(s) for
your grid, with a prior history of issues or just simply ageing. any change in profile
Operational Timing When all poles are opened simultaneously, there will always be small
differences between poles, but if one pole experiences a delay compared to
To ensure that the circuit breaker (CB) will operate when asked to and in a
the others which is greater than a set threshold, than an alarm is raised so
timely fashion as per its specification.
that the cause can be investigated.
Status and Logs
The status of the CB (open or closed), the position of all the 52A and 52B Gas Leakage
auxiliary contacts, the ambient temperature and the date, time and type of the Most new HV CB today use SF6 gas (or a mixture) to extinguish the arc and
last operation are always available. In addition, for each pole, the cumulated their performance can be severely affected by insufficient gas pressure.
number of opening/closing operations is stored, with possible notification
Our proprietary fully digital EMC-resistant gas sensors can detect leaks in
when each of two levels is reached.
either one gas tank per pole or one common gas tank for all 3 poles. It has
Timings a male BSP G1/2" straight parallel thread to connect to existing tank valves,
(adapters may be required).
For each opening operation and for each pole, a recording is made of:
• The date and time of the appearance of the command to open Gas Density
• The reaction time (t1) between the appearance of the command on the Because gas pressure varies with temperature, comparisons are either made
coil circuit and when the CB starts moving using "density" or the "pressure normalised at 20°C", calculated from the
measured pressure at the measured temperature for the gas mixture used.
• The operation time (t2) between the appearance of the command on the
Alarms can be set for or in advance of the threshold levels:
coil circuit and when the CB arrives in the fully “open” position
• The contact travel time (t2-t1) is also calculated as well as the contact • L1 “Additional filling required”: The CB is still capable of fulfilling its
separation speed function but a gas refill action is required to prevent reaching level L2

A similar recording is made for each closing operation and for each of the • L2 “Interlocking”: The CB is no longer capable of fulfilling its function and
poles. The above values are then compared to nominal values (from Factory is either locked closed or automatically opened and then locked
Acceptance Test) and an alarm raised for any significant deviation. • L3 “Overfilling”: When the amount of gas after refill is too high, there is a
!
risk of overpressure at elevated temperature

SF6 Gas Sensor with digital output

Leakage Rate Detection

Any sustained drop in density/pressure is measured and indicated as a gas
leak rate.
Comparing precise daily gas pressure readings taken every night (to avoid
external influences) enables to detect the smallest leaks in the system.
Extrapolating the leak rate, an estimate can be made of the future value after
Refinements
a selectable time horizon in days. An alarm can be raised if threshold level
Data for the last 50 operations is kept in memory to enable comparison. L1 is going to be reached within this long term time horizon, providing an
As the CB operating time varies (due to increased friction at low temperature), advance warning that a refill is needed. Similarly, a shorter term alarm can
these timing variations can be compensated for in order to avoid false alarms. also be set for warning that threshold level L2 is going to be reached.

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Arcing Contact Wear
Circuit breakers use special arcing contacts specifically designed to withstand
the high arcing energy that occurs during opening. These contacts have a
finite life and need to be replaced regularly. Because this requires removing
the SF6 gas, breaking the gas seals and opening the breaker, this should only
be done when absolutely needed and not before.

Arcing time
The arcing time is monitored for any degradation in current interruption
performance.

Contact Wear
By measuring the RMS current interrupted, squared and multiplied by the
arcing time, we get the “I2T” measure of the energy that the contact has been
subjected to. This is often much larger than nominal during fault conditions
and this is what wears out the contacts more quickly. Keeping a cumulative
total of this energy, we can compare it to the manufacturer’s stated life for the
contacts and trigger a maintenance alarm when required.

Control Circuit
To ensure open or close command from the protection relay can be executed.

DC Power Source Spring rewinding times

The DC supply (backed-up by sub-station batteries) used by the control circuit With connections to the motor on/off contacts, the time taken by the motor
can be monitored. Low voltage means longer time to generate the actuation can be acquired. Alarms can be set and any shortening of the time may
charge in the coil, leading to slower operating times. If voltage drops too low, indicate a partially broken spring while lengthening may indicate additional
then the coil will be unable to trip the CB latch. friction or a problem with the motor itself.

Coil Current
Cabinet Temperature
By measuring the DC current flowing through the coil during operation we
can detect change/damage to the coil that will prevent it from having enough When operating circuit breakers in harsh winter conditions or when trying
charge to actuate the latch next time. The curve is displayed and stored. to avoid condensation forming, making sure that the heaters in the various
Alarms can be set on the current value and the coil charge (current x time). drive and control cabinets are operating correctly and maintaining the
proper temperature becomes key.
While some systems rely on monitoring the heater current when it should
be on and the switching of heaters on and off, the logic can be tricky to
implement correctly and the analysis can lead to inaccurate conclusions.
The CB Watch 3 instead monitors the end result, the actual temperature
in the various cabinets, ensuring that the correct temperature is being
achieved or triggering an alarm if it is starting to drift both low or high.
Coil Continuity
Using an additional sensor which injects a small current (below the level
needed to actuate the coil), the continuity of the coil can be continuously
Spare Analogue Channels
monitored to detect if a coil has gone open circuit and raise an alarm. Depending on the overall system configuration, there may be up to 4 spare
analogue channels that can be assigned to measure and monitor other
values as per customer requirements.
Stored Energy Motor
Numerous sensor signals can be accommodated (either V or mA). The name
A spring is often used as the source of energy to drive open the CB. It is
and the units of the measured value can be specified and alarms can be set.
normally rewound by a motor. In other types of breakers, a pump is used for
building up hydraulic or pneumatic stored pressure.
Modern Interface
Number/hours of operations
Interacting with the systems can be done easily, without additional software,
This is recorded as pumps or motors often require maintenance after so using a Web server interface that display all monitoring information. Data
many hours of operation, while an hydraulic pump operating when no can be further regularly downloaded to historians using Modbus, DNP3 or
operation has been performed indicates a possible leak in the circuit. IEC 61850 Ed2 protocols.

Motor current SNTP, 1PPS or PTP (IEC 1588) time synchronisation is available and all graphs
are stored in COMTRADE format for easy SFTP download and analysis
The current drawn by each motor is measured. An alarm can be set on
the inrush current in order to detect any additional friction requiring more The System can use either AC or DC power (85-264Vac/90-330Vdc) and still
torque or a problem with the motor itself. supports dry contact relay alarm connections to SCADA systems.

GEGridSolutions.com 3
 31 mm (1.2") 100 mm (3.9") 54 mm (2.1") 54 mm (2.1") 54 mm (2.1") 54 mm (2.1")

130 mm (5.1")
Power Supply Base Module 16 Digital Inputs 8 Analog Inputs 8 Temp Inputs 16 Digital Outputs

Modularity to match your needs

All circuit breakers do not operate as often or are not as critical, so Asset Managers often want different levels of monitoring within their CB fleet. The CB Watch
3's modular design coupled with the small size of the modules and the bus architecture of the product allows customers to have different specifications for
different types of breakers while keeping the same equipment supplier, the same hardware platform and the same software interface.
A CB Watch 3 system needs to be configured for a specific circuit breaker and for the functionalities required. Here are the most common options:
CB Watch 3 - Sxx Tx Gx Wx Cx Mxxx Hx Rx Nx Px Exx Selection Description
System S11 Ganged CB, 1x open, 1x close circuits
S12 Ganged CB, 2x open, 1x close circuits
S31 Independent Pole Operation CB, 3x open, 3x close circuits
S32 Independent Pole Operation CB, 6x open, 3x close circuits
Timing T0 No CB timing
T1 CB Timing
T2 CB timing with DC voltage monitoring
SF6 Gas GO No SF6 gas monitoring
G1 1x SF6 tank monitoring
G3 3x SF6 tank monitoring
Contact Wear W0 No arcing contact wear monitoring
W1 Arcing contact wear monitoring
Coils C0 No coil integrity monitoring
C1 Coil current monitoring (all open & close coils)
C2 Coil current and continuity monitoring
Motors M000 No motor monitoring
MSD1 Spring rearming, DC motor, x1
MSD3 Spring rearming, DC motor, x3
MPD1 Pump, DC motor, x1
MPD3 Pump, DC motor, x3
MPA1 Pump, AC motor, x1
MPA3 Pump, AC motor, x3
Temperature H0 No temperature monitoring
H1 Cabinet heater temperature monitoring
Relays R0 No extra dry contact alarm relays (2x)
R1 16x extra dry contact alarm relays (18x)
Ethernet N1 TCP/IP over MM Fibre Optic (LC connector)
N2 TCP/IP over copper wire (RJ45 connector)
Protocol P1 Modbus
P2 DNP3
P3 IEC 61850 Ed2
Enclosure E00 Loose produt for customer integration
E1A System in large enclosure with stand, AC powered
E1D System in large enclosure with stand, DC powered
E2A Reduced system in small wall-mount enclosure, AC powered
E2D Reduced system in small wall-mount enclosure, DC powered

Grid Solutions
Lissue Industrial Estate East
Unit 1, 7 Lissue Walk
Lisburn BT28 2LU
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 2892 622915

GEGridSolutions.com
Modbus is a registered trademark of Schneider Automation Inc. IEC is a registered trademark of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. GE, the GE monogram and CB Watch are trademarks of the
General Electric Company.
GE reserves the right to make changes to specifications of products described at any time without notice
and without obligation to notify any person of such changes. GEA-31972(E)
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Copyright 2017, General Electric Company. 170627