Life extension is more than a buzz word. It is an economical way to keep aging electrical infrastructure around the world in service well beyond the equipment’s original expected life.
CBS Nuclear Services’ life-extension programs will extend the useful life of your obsolete or underrated, hard-to-maintain switchgear, motor controls, and circuit breakers. Our capabilities include raising interrupting capacity, increasing equipment reliability, and providing solid-state trip units, all while matching your existing switchgear lineup.
Most metal-clad switchgear was designed and built to last 20 years. Today, more than 30 to 40 years later, much of this electrical equipment is still in service. There are no plans or funds to replace this equipment, so industry and governments around the world are expecting the equipment to last many more years.
So how do you make a 40-year-old switchgear or circuit breaker perform like modern equipment? Think about the ways modern power systems have changed during the past 40 years. The truth is that other than needing a kA rating increase or the need for reliable switching speed to ensure arc-flash compliance, not much has changed.
By upgrading the insulation and contact-making or breaking circuit breaker architecture, CBS Nuclear Services can add useful life to aging power systems. Retrofitting the electrical equipment with new solid-state controls, protective relays, and modern instrumentation can improve equipment performance and ensure that your switchgear can be supported for many more years to come.
Using retrofit and retrofill solutions, CBS Nuclear Services can bring your electrical equipment into the modern age and guarantee the safe operation and uptime of your power distribution equipment. Learn more by using the following links to the Retrofit and Retrofill overview pages.
- Upgrade interrupting ability to stay current with advancing electrical equipment technology.
- Improve the interrupting capability of your medium-voltage switchgear by upgrading your air, oil, or SF6 gas interrupters to more efficient, longer-lasting vacuum technology.
- Improve relaying and control to maintain modern coordination and mitigate arc-flash issues.
- Improve impulse levels to ensure your system can survive transients and harmonic events.
- Modernize your equipment not just to guarantee performance today but to ensure equipment maintainability for years to come.