Laboratory Services
S&C’s Chicago campus is home to one of the world’s leading electrical testing laboratories. Our Advanced Technology Center (“ATC”) includes two 850-megawatt electrical short-circuit test generators that can test up to 100 kA rms symmetrical and up to 230,000 volts. The professional electrical and mechanical testing experts who work in our ATC have extensive experience applying our entire suite of testing capabilities to solve your power equipment and power system problem.
The 20,000 square-foot ATC is well equipped to meet the rigorous testing requirements for your electrical equipment. From our electron microscope to our high-voltage and high-power labs, S&C has the diagnostic testing tools and personnel needed to determine the optimal solution to your problem.
S&C is the only company in North America able to bring to bear the entire suite of in-house facilities and services to address your testing needs.
LABORATORY SERVICES
The material used in electrical equipment must withstand the extremes of nature and time in order to assure proper function in your power system. S&C offers a comprehensive diagnostic package to fulfill the material and environmental-simulation testing requirements of your electrical equipment. Problems are analyzed by a team of S&C experts, utilizing sophisticated techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetry.
S&C’s professionals can then reconstruct how specific materials or contaminants contribute to an equipment problem, or predict how the same material will react in different environments. We can provide you clear recommendations for improved performance or corrective action.
Materials Tests S&C offers include:
- Melt Flow
- Moisture/Glass/Filler Content
- Peel/Adhesion
- Solvent Immersion/Exposure
- Cleanliness/Contamination Analysis
- Surface Roughness
- Plating and Galvanizing Quality Inspection
- Total Mass Loss
- Durometer/Hardness
- Bond Strength
- Flexibility
- Molding of Test Specimens/Sample Prep
Using the two 850-MW generators at our ATC facility, S&C is capable of performing a variety of electrical tests on your equipment. Our innovative staff will develop customized test procedures for your electrical equipment. S&C’s experts will then analyze the test results, verify equipment performance and develop a clear course of action to improving your equipment’s quality and reliability. All of our testing procedures are conducted with a strong commitment to quality, safety, and attention to detail.
Short-Circuit and Interrupting
S&C’s two 850-MW short-circuit generators allow for testing at current levels up to 100 kA rms symmetrical, 300 kA peak and voltages up to 230 kV. Tests that can be performed include transformer magnetizing current, parallel transformer switching, and capacitive current switching.
Our testing experts can also provide fault interrupting for simulated secondary faults on transformers, short-circuit withstand tests, cable/loop switching tests, load switching tests, and line dropping tests. S&C’s sophisticated control system allows for setting precise transient recovery voltage parameters and asymmetrical current peak control on a per-pole basis.
High-Voltage and Dielectric
S&C’s Dielectric Laboratory allows for a wide range of testing with voltages up to 800 kV maximum on a 60-Hz basis and 1.2 MV BIL maximum. In addition, specialized tests such as radio interference voltage tests, capacitor discharge tests, partial discharge tests, surface arc tracking tests, and long-term outdoor energized exposure can be conducted.
Other Electrical Tests
Other electrical tests S&C can perform include heat run tests, current cycling tests, time-current characteristic tests, current-pulsing tests, insulation-tracking tests, timing tests, and resistance measurements.
S&C’s ATC facility has the depth of resources and testing equipment to perform detailed analyses of your equipment. We offer a wide range of proven testing procedures to assure your equipment can withstand the pressures of environmental extremes and continued use.
Through the use of high-speed video, we can analyze the acceleration and kinetic motion of your machine and perform a force, torque, stress, strain and mechanical endurance analysis. We can also perform compression, tensile, flexural, torsion, elongation, and impact tests. To recreate the environmental extremes your equipment may have to withstand, S&C provides simulated environmental testing to evaluate the effect on equipment performance due to ice, heat, and water.
All of these tests will be managed by S&C’s testing experts and will provide you with a detailed report of our findings along with suggested solutions to any problems that are discovered.
When electrical systems malfunction, S&C is uniquely equipped to discover the root cause of the problem and develop solutions to address it. Our expertise and access to state-of-the-art electrical, mechanical, and analytical laboratories allow us to determine the root cause of any electrical incident. Using the ATC’s various facilities, we are able to establish environmental and circuit conditions which closely replicate the actual field conditions at the time of the incident.
S&C’s experienced professionals provide detailed electrical equipment malfunction determinations as well as utility power system incident analyses. The results of our tests are provided in detailed reports which can be used to develop solutions to prevent future incidents. S&C can also provide expert witness testimony to legally explain the reason behind an electrical system error.