May 21, 2001
S&C System VI™ Switchgear . . . “Top of the Class” for a High School Upgrade.
This low-profile 25-kV System VI Switchgear assembly feeds power to a newly renovated high school.
Vista UDS is operated from a control panel isolated from medium-voltage components.
A West Coast city had a project to renovate and expand one of its older high schools. Initially, a lineup of 25-kV conventional metal-enclosed switchgear was proposed. An entrance bay and seven feeder bays would be needed to serve the intended loads. But aesthetics were a high priority for this project, and the city was concerned that metal-enclosed switchgear would be too large for the application.
S&C’s Vista® Underground Distribution Switchgear could have been used. Vista UDS has an extremely low profile and small footprint, made possible, in part, by enclosure of its components in an SF6-gas-insulated tank. Two cable-connected four-way Vista units would provide the switching and fault-interrupting capability of the eight-bay metal-enclosed switchgear originally proposed — and in a fraction of the space. Vista UDS would have been an excellent choice . . . except that the user required one integrated assembly.
S&C’s new System VI™ Switchgear offered the perfect solution. With System VI, two Vista UDS units are joined by buswork running from the SF6-insulated tanks through gas-tight air-insulated bushings. The buswork is spliced together inside an air-insulated transition bay. Additional Vista UDS units and transition bays can be added as needed. (Although not required for this application, the transition bays can be furnished with metering transformers or other equipment.)
The System VI Switchgear shown in the photos (at right) was furnished for the high-school renovation. This low-profile arrangement provides an integrated switchgear assembly at a lower cost than possible with conventional 25-kV metal-enclosed switchgear. And the school’s requirement for smaller, more-attractive switchgear was satisfied.