Smart Switchgears for Smart Grid

摘要

The power sector in India has been growing at a healthy pace supported by various policy initiatives bythegovemment. Generation capacity has grown at a rate of over 10 per cent over the past five years, while the transmission and distribution network has witnessed a moderate growth of around 5 per cent. This has translated into a growing demand for robust power system equipment such as switchgear in the country. Switchgear is a combination of components such as switches, fuses, and circuit breakers that are used to control, protect and isolate an electrical equipment to enable continuous and reliable supply of electricity. The use of switchgear helps in protecting against situations of overload, short circuit, insulation failure etc. Power system protection is a bough of electrical power engineering and it is designed to continuously monitor the power system to ensure maximum continuity of electrical supply without damaging equipment. Since power system developments change its structure, the power system protection becomes very vital. The design of switchgear has to ensure that it will be able to detect abnormal or undesirable conditions and then trip the circuit to disconnect the affected area without affecting other undesired areas.