Preventive maintenance tapping and duty cycle monitor for voltage regulator

摘要

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE TAPPING AND DUTY CYCLE MONITOR FOR VOLTAGE REGULATOR A method (500) for monitoring the life of load tap changer contacts comprises 5 the steps of: detecting an arcing event (502); identifying arcing surfaces involved in the arcing event (504); calculating a per-unit loss of life for the identified arcing surfaces as a result of the arcing event (506); updating estimates of cumulative erosion for the arcing surfaces based on the calculated per-unit loss of life (508); comparing the updated estimates of cumulative erosion to a first threshold value (510); and signaling for action 10 when at least one of the updated estimates of cumulative erosion exceeds the first threshold value (512).