Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46

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Electric Power Systems Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/epsr

Substations SF6 circuit breakers: Reliability evaluation based on

equipment condition
Elaine A.L. Vianna a,∗ , Alzenira R. Abaide a , Luciane N. Canha a , Vladimiro Miranda b
a
Federal University of Santa Maria, Department of Eletromechanical and Power Systems, Campus Camobi, 97105-900 Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
b
INESC TEC and University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper presents a new methodology to define a priority scale for maintenance actions in substations,
Received 5 May 2016 based on the development of a Composite Risk Index (CRI) associated with each device. Two auxiliary
Received in revised form 24 July 2016 indices are built: Basic Condition (BC) and Operating Condition (OC), representing the physical and func-
Accepted 24 August 2016
tional characteristics of the equipment that can compromise their performance and contribute to the
occurrence of failures. Their evaluation is helped by a Technical Capacity Index (TCI), which evaluates
Keywords:
how much the equipment has been affected by wear and tear, in the assessment of the Basic Condition,
Substation
and the classification of the equipment defects by degrees of severity, in the assessment of the Operating
Circuit breaker
Maintenance
Condition. Two cascading Fuzzy Inference Systems of the Mandani type are used, the first in defining
Fuzzy Logic the BC, and the second to obtain the equipment CRI denoting maintenance priority, which may then be
Reliability used in planning maintenance actions. The methodology is verified through an SF6 circuit breaker CRI
assessment, and its priority scale for maintenance planning. The method for evaluating the SF6 circuit
breakers reliability is validated through a comparison with a statistical approach, using real data collected
from equipment installed in Eletrobras Eletronorte Transmission System, in Rondônia, Amazon region of
Brazil.
© 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction Reviewing the literature related to reliability studies in power

Transmission substations are composed of a wide range of
equipment and systems, subject to the occurrence of failures com-
promising the performance of the electrical power system, their
high availability results from a combination of operating with reli-
able equipment and adequate maintenance procedure.
In Brazil, as in other countries, the transmission substation
operators are subject to penalties directly linked to the partial or
global unavailability of the equipment, either from failures or from
maintenance actions, depending on the degree and duration of
equipment and substation unavailability.
Maintenance policies adopting programmed interventions,
equal for all devices of the same type regardless of their history and
condition, are clearly sub-optimal. Nowadays, the system reliability
evaluation has moved beyond programmed maintenance, to focus
on condition based maintenance, for the reduction of maintenance
costs and failure occurrence costs.
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: elainelimavianna@yahoo.com.br,
elaine.vianna@eletronorte.gov.br (E.A.L. Vianna).
systems; paper [1] identifies the combination of maintenance tasks
that achieve the best reliability within a limited financial budget;
Ref. [2] focuses on the preventative maintenance on components
with a high potential for improvement in system reliability; Ref. [3]
proposes a monitoring system of the substation equipment, which
allows migration from the practice of intensive corrective main-
tenance for predictive maintenance, obtaining improvements in
the equipment performance; and, Ref. [4] explains that the guaran-
tee of non-occurrence of unscheduled shutdowns depends on the
monitoring of the algorithms used in the data analysis and decision
making.
This paper focuses on establishing a maintenance priority table,
at transmission substation level, for all pieces of equipment. Instead
of following a fixed maintenance schedule equal for all devices of
the same type, a decision to advance or postpone maintenance is
made based on the actual condition of the device, its age and its
history of past incidents and interventions. A set of cascading Man-
dani Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS) are adopted as building blocks
for generating a final Composite Risk Index that will help in the
decision making process by suggesting priorities for maintenance
actions.
The distinguishing feature of this paper, with respect to pre-
vious literature, is to define the robustness and reliability, or a

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsr.2016.08.018
0378-7796/© 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.
 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46
tendency to fail, through the measurements of a set of wear points,
identified in each type of equipment. Each piece presents different
wear point measurements, which suggest the appropriate time to
launch maintenance actions. The results depend on the operating
conditions and maintenance performed on equipment, beyond its
physical characteristics, and can cause the reducing or prolonging
of the equipment life time.
Most published models consider the failure modes in the relia-
bility analysis, as in Refs. [5–8]—similar to a post mortem analysis.
Instead, the model proposed in this paper verifies the equipment
wear condition, before there is a failure, so in this respect it consti-
tutes a differentiated approach.
The main advantages of this method are to verify the condition
of each piece of equipment, before there is a failure, consider-
ing the individual aging or wear, by an index referring to specific
equipment features and obtained from wear measurements, and
to identify defects, classified by the knowledge of experts, con-
sidering various parameters. The result is a priority ranking for
maintenance actions, with more realistic results and without using
sensors.
For the calculation of the reliability values, most papers devoted
to power systems reliability and the application of equipment cen-
tered maintenance adopt probabilistic models. Some examples: in
substation studies, Ref. [9] applies Monte Carlo and Markov meth-
ods, Ref. [10] uses an algorithm based on Weibull distribution and
Ref. [8] chooses an algorithm considering aging. Also, Ref. [11]
applies a Markov model to protection systems, Ref. [7] analyzes
power distribution systems, using the Minimum Cut Set technique,
and Ref. [12] uses a Semi-Markov chain and a Genetic Algorithm in
transmission lines studies.
Paper [13] investigates the effect of different maintenance
strategies of medium-voltage circuit breakers and transformers and
reveals the lack of an available reliability model for the deteriorat-
ing electrical equipment and a theoretical maintenance model put
into practice for power systems.
As such, the model proposed in this study presents a novel Com-
posite Risk Index (CRI), associated with each piece of equipment in
a transmission substation, produced by a complex Fuzzy Inference
System. It helps in establishing a hierarchy for performing main-
tenance actions, as well as identifying the possibilities for making
them more efficient, considering the deterioration of equipment.
Thus, this model contributes to fill the gap in academic studies
referred to by Ref. [13].
Another point discussed by Ref. [13] is that the reliability cen-
tered maintenance depends heavily on practical experiences in
diagnostic analysis and maintenance measures.
As such, the use of Fuzzy Logic, by the method proposed in this
study, allows the application of knowledge of experts in drawing
up rules, which consider the effect of aging or wear and tear in
the evolution of failure rates. Differently, mathematical approaches
ignore this effect and the influence of variations in climatic and
operational conditions.
The unit deterioration level precisely when the failure occurs
is often random and uncertain, as in Ref. [14], which proposes
a condition-based reliability in order to characterize various and
uncertain deterioration levels when unit failure occurs.
As such, the proposed method is based on the actual condition
of the device, considering the individual aging or wear.
The model and method developed is applicable to a vari-
ety of device types installed at transmission substations located
in different places, and is therefore generalizable. However, this
development uses, as an example, real data from SF6 circuit break-
ers installed in a transmission substation and operating practice in
Brazil.
SF6 gas has an excellent property of arc extinguishing; its time of
extinction is, nearly, one hundred times faster than air, under sim-
37
ilar conditions [15]. Therefore, this gas is widely used in electric
power equipment, including circuit breakers. The choice of SF6 cir-
cuit breakers to illustrate this method is due to the wide use of this
equipment and to the availability of actual data of this equipment
installed in Eletrobras Eletronorte Transmission System, in Rondô-
nia, Amazon region of Brazil, which is necessary for the study and
validation of the proposed method.
This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents pro-
posed methodology. The steps for implementation of the proposed
methodology are described individually, in this section. The CRI
Assessment Model Development, in Section 3, explains how this
method is applied and illustrates the method with an application
onto an assessment of SF6 circuit breakers. These results are pre-
sented and the priority scale for maintenance planning is defined.
The validation of this method, through a comparison with the
approach established in paper [16], is in Section 4. This section
presents the Results and Discussion, and Section 5 presents the
Conclusions.
2. Proposed methodology
The steps for the development of this model are represented
in the General Diagram in Fig. 1. Its practical application will be
an ongoing process: the aging and wear of equipment is continu-
ous, and remains even after maintenance and replacement of faulty
parts by new parts or new equipment.
In order to clarify matters, the paper adopts the following defi-
nitions:
– Defect: imperfection or partial lack of performance that can be
corrected without taking the equipment out of service [17];
– Failure: the termination of the ability of an item to perform a
required function [18].
2.1. Data collection
This step refers to the collection of characteristics for each piece
of equipment. This allows one to define its degree of susceptibility
to faults and defects, and suggests the optimal moment to launch
maintenance actions. The aging of equipment and the maintenance
they have been submitted to should be considered when evaluating
substation reliability—factors also identified in Refs. [8,10].
The features to be obtained for each device are: age, wear and
history of failures and defects. These items are extracted from com-
pany records, namely reports made by maintenance teams.
Age identifies the status of the equipment in relation to its life
cycle. The aging is related to wear and physically affects the equip-
ment, which can make it less robust and more subject to failures.
However, the life cycle of some equipment depends not only on
age, but on additional factors. The life cycle of a circuit breaker, for
example, is related to its age and to the number of trips and severity
of tripping it has performed. The allowable number of trips depends
on the values of the interrupted currents, which contribute to the
deterioration of contacts.
The wear and tear on the equipment is strongly related to the
operating conditions and maintenance that the equipment has
been subjected to. Heavy wear contributes to its premature aging,
light wear indicates a prolonging of its life time.
The history of failures and defects suffered by the equipment is
used to identify potential vulnerabilities in its physical character-
istics, which can cause failure recurrences. The existence of defects
compromises the functionality of the equipment. They can be clas-
sified in degrees of severity, depending on the harm caused to the
system or to the equipment.
38 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46
Fig. 1. General diagram.
2.2. CRI Assessment Model
The core of the methodology is a complex Fuzzy Inference model
that allows the assessment of the CRI for each device. This model is
described in sections below and departs from two variables: Basic
Condition (BC) and Operating Condition (OC).
This model constitutes a closed loop method, in which the CRI is
evaluated annually. Its goal is to identify the equipment’s condition
and to set priorities for the maintenance schedule.
2.3. Actions
The decisions to carry out maintenance and the provision to
replace equipment at end of life will be triggered based on a CRI-
based ranking of all actions.
Priority for maintenance will be recommended for equipment
exhibiting higher CRI. The actions may be of several types: pre-
ventative, corrective, improvement, predictive or revitalization,
depending on the identified wear and defects.
2.4. Expected results
The expected results, after the implementation of the recom-
mended actions, are:
– Equipment in good operating condition and the elimination of
equipment with wear and tear above safe limits, defined by TCI;
– Elimination of failure recurrence and failure risk reduction;
– Elimination of financial losses through improper and insufficient
maintenance.
3. CRI Assessment Model development
The new model is based on two Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS) of
the Mandani type, having rules with fuzzy inputs and output, using
trapezoidal and triangular functions and applying the Centroid
method in the defuzzification phase. The first system is applied in
obtaining the BC, from the association of 6 (six) criteria; the second
is applied to obtain the CRI, from the BC and OC association. It is an
arrangement of two cascading FIS (see Fig. 2).
The Fuzzy Logic allows the application of knowledge of experts
in drawing up rules, which consider the effect of aging or wear
and tear in the evolution of failure rates. The adoption of a Fuzzy
Logic model rests on the fact that usually, the records of failures
and defects in the substation equipment lack sufficient data for a
precise identification of probabilistic trends and make it hard to
develop probabilistic models. Moreover, a mathematical approach
ignores the effect of aging or wear and tear in the evolution of
failure rates, and considers that climatic and operational condi-
tions remain constant, or they do not affect the reliability of the
equipment.
The arrangement of two cascades is the most suitable for the
evaluation of the basic condition, considering various parameters
and the association of this result with the operating condition to
obtain the desired risk index CRI, as Fig. 2.
This model will be illustrated with an SF6 circuit breakers CRI
assessment.
Circuit breakers (cb) are switching devices that allow the con-
duction and the interruption of the circuit’s electric current in
normal conditions, and the automatic interruption under abnor-
mal conditions of the circuit. SF6 circuit breakers use this gas as an
insulating medium and as electric arc extinguisher.
3.1. Basic Condition
The BC—Basic Condition index captures the physical character-
istics that contribute to the equipment to be considered robust and
reliable, or subject to a likely failure.
Substations have a wide range of devices that have different
life cycles. The use of specific features of each piece of equipment,
considering wear, instead of adopting a generic formula for all the
substation equipment, is one of the characteristics of the model
described in this paper.
The time to failure is considered, in many models, the relevant
variable that influences the system reliability characteristic during
its operation. Maintenance is utilized to restore the component to
its useful life and full operating condition. However, in many cases
this is not correct or true: and the component fault and repair his-
tory may provide insight in to the presence of hidden causes or
defects, having an impact on the likelihood of a new failure—or on
reducing such likelihood.
The assessment of the BC component, six fuzzy variables as
taken as input to an FIS (denoted FIS 1 in Fig. 2): life cycle, TCI, recur-
rence, wear, maintenance and obsolescence, which are described
below.
3.1.1. Life cycle stage
The first variable represents the component in terms of its posi-
tioning in the domain of the hazard function (t), represented by
the well-known bathtub curve. The hazard function describes the
evolution over time of the failure rate  of a given type of equipment
(without maintenance), and it is represented in Fig. 3.
The average life expectancy is taken as 1 p.u. so the age of a
device is measured in normalized units. The variable may assume
 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46
Fig. 2. Two cascading FIS leading to the assessment of CRI—Composite Risk Index.
Fig. 3. Hazard function in the bathtub curve form and the five fuzzy values that the
variable “life cycle stage” may assume.
five linguistic values, from the beginning of operation (stage 1) to
the end (stage 5), when the equipment starts losing the ability to
operate within the established standards, as Fig. 4.
Stage 1 represents the initial period of the equipment operation
or Infancy, when non-conformities, resulting from possible design
or manufacturing errors, can be detected. In the Maturity phase,
stage 2, usually has the longest duration and constitutes the stable
operation period in which the equipment exhibits a nearly constant
failure rate; stage 3 is used to signal the proximity of the  evolving
phase. In the Wear phase, stage 4 represents the period in which
the arrangements for the acquisition of new equipment must be
considered, such as issuing purchase requisitions, conducting ten-
ders, etc. or, alternatively, strong maintenance actions are taken
to try and move back the component to an earlier phase; stage 5 is
the period in which an equipment replacement must be considered
and provided, considering that the acquisition of new equipment
has already been guaranteed.
During estimated life cycle of the equipment, it must be subject
to periodic preventative maintenance, at predetermined intervals
Fig. 4. Life cycle.
39
or according to criteria prescribed by the manufacturers by spe-
cific standards or by an accepted methodology. The model in this
paper follows such recommendations. The BC should be evalu-
ated during the equipment preventative maintenance or corrective
maintenance, when they occur.
3.1.1.1. SF6 circuit breakers life cycle stage. The estimated life cycle
of the cb is given by their age or number of interruptions they have
performed. The device maintenance handbook [19] advised main-
tenance to be scheduled as a function of the time or the operating
cycles, depending on the number of operating cycles performed in
a certain period of time. In the case of substations circuit break-
ers, which perform few interruptions, this estimation is made by
age.
The lowest maintenance requirement period of a cb is until 25
(twenty five) years old, according to Ref. [20]. It is consistent with
Ref. [21] and represents 75% (seventy five percent) of the circuit
breakers life cycle, as in Figs. 4 and 5. Then, life expectancy for cb
is considered 33 (thirty three) years. In the case of renewed equip-
ment, the value to be considered depends on the manufacturer’s
warranty. In this case study, the manufacturer’s warranty for the
renewed cb is 15 (fifteen) years.
3.1.2. Technical Capability Index (TCI)
The estimated life cycle stage, calculated by age or number of
interruptions/operations, is insufficient to establish the component
BC. The age of the component does not represent its real condition,
which depends on the incremental wear and tear and the main-
tenance it was subjected to. The Technical Capability Index (TCI),
developed in this work, was designed to represent this level of wear
and tear.
TCI takes in to account the electrical, thermal, mechanical and
ambient stresses, which influence factors producing an aging of
equipment. This index evaluates how much the equipment has
been affected by wear, from the definition of the vulnerability
40 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46

indices, identified for each type of equipment, in order to avoid the electrical operation times, spring downtime and loading time; by
replacement of a device with some age but having operated mostly using voltage and current transformers, without using additional
within comfortable ranges or having been renewed; or the inad- sensors.
equate preservation of a device, with while young, went through This study considers the measurement of the wear points iden-
situations that wore it, putting the system at risk if not serviced or tified in the SF6 gas circuit breakers in the calculation of TCI, as a
replaced. step to evaluate the CRI associated with this equipment.
To assess the TCI, one resorts to the evaluation of several Operating characteristics of main and arc contacts, contact
vulnerability indices (VI), representing the equipment wear in a adjustment and contact resistance are considered the cb measured
number of features. For each feature there is an admissible limit parameters of high importance, in Ref. [21]. The contact resistance
defined (corresponding to a maximum wear value Vlimit , set by the increases rapidly with increasing number of cycles, and a possi-
manufacturer or by a specific standard) and a no-wear condition ble result is a temperature rise exceeding the allowed maximum,
(corresponding to the initial value recorded Vinitial , measured in the according to Ref. [21].
new or renewed equipment). For a feature k, the index VIk is given This study identifies the following wear points for SF6 cb:
by,
1. Contacts resistance;
|Vmeasured.k − Vinitial.k |
VIk = (1) 2. Contacts opening time;
|Vlimit.k − Vinitial.k |
3. Contacts closing time;
The Vmeasured.k values are obtained from the wear measure- 4. SF6 gas pressure;
ments, during the equipment’s periodic preventative maintenance 5. Moisture content of the SF6 gas;
and/or corrective maintenance. The index VIk assumes values 6. SF6 gas purity;
between 0 (zero) and 1 (one). 7. Sulphur oxide (SO2 ) content in the SF6 gas.
The equipment’s TCI is taken as the value of the smallest differ-
ence found between the vulnerability indices and their limits: The limits of the first four indices are defined by the manu-
  facturer. For the other indices [15], the International Standard IEC
TCI = min 1 − VIk (2) 60376, establishes maximum acceptable impurity levels for tech-
k
nical grade SF6 and presents the following limits:
Calculating the TCI for more complex equipment may require a
greater number of wear points’ measurement (k greater). For power • Maximum moisture content of the SF6 gas: 80 ppmP at 20 ◦ C;
transformers, for example, several TCI can be adopted, related • Minimum SF6 gas purity: 97%;
to their subsystems (cooling, bushings, laminated core, windings, • Maximum sulphur oxide content of the SF6 gas: 13 ppmV.
insulating materials, oil, tap changer, etc). The lowest subsystem
TCI should represent the equipment’s TCI.
Not all the vulnerability indices presented are related to faults;
Paper [22] presents a fault diagnosis of power transformers, con-
however, all of them compromise the performance and indicate the
sidering the operating conditions and the need to overload this
need for maintenance.
equipment in emergency situations.
Calculating the TCI for vacuum or oil circuit breakers, for exam-
Differently, the method proposed in this study allows the
ple, requires, beyond wear points 1, 2 and 3, mentioned above,
identification of the consequences of the equipment’s operating
wear points related to the integrity of the electric arc extinguisher
conditions, for example overload, by its TCI value.
medium, in this case, vacuum or oil. Their limits are defined by
The value of the TCI indicates the degree of evolution of wear.
the manufacturer or specific standards. Furthermore, wear points
If TCI > 0.4 for all 0 ≤ VIk < 0.6, one may say that the vulnerability
related to equipment’s failures may be considered too.
indices have no significant values; consequently, the TCI will not
The TCI is calculated as the value of the difference between 1
indicate a reduction in the equipment’s reliability. In other words,
and the greatest vulnerability index value, according to Eq. (2).
a technical capability evaluated at over 0.4 is not likely to have a
In the example of Table 1, the TCI value is equal to the minimum
significant impact on a reduction of reliability.
of (1 − VIk ); i.e., TCI = 0.19, referring to the SO2 content in the gas,
However, if TCI ≤ 0.4 because some VIk ≥ 0.6, one or more vul-
feature k = 7, corresponding to the highest wear identified.
nerability indices are a reason for concern. In this case, the TCI
These wear points measurements: Contacts resistance, Contacts
value will influence the BC and therefore should contribute to an
opening time and Contacts closing time, are performed with the cir-
increase in the CRI value to be calculated, and indicate the need for
cuit breakers off, when preventative and corrective maintenance
specific maintenance actions and for the elimination/reduction of
are implemented. The TCI annual evaluation uses the most current
non-compliance. If equipment has multiple committed VI values
values of VI. Then, if there are not disconnections, the last measure-
(VIk ≥ 0.6 to more than one feature k), its CRI will remain low, until
ments are considered in these wear points. However, some papers
all identified wear points are eliminated or reduced.
propose alternative techniques [7,23], which allow the evaluation
A component TCI is divided into 3 (three) stages: high, medium
of these points without the circuit breaker shutdown; they may be
and low:
used to update these VI values.
High TCI: TCI > 0.4 → absence of significant wear;
Medium TCI: 0.2 < TCI ≤ 0.4 → existence of important wear;
3.1.3. Recurrence
Low TCI: TCI ≤ 0.2 → presence of compromising wear.
Recurrence is the repetition of important or compromising wear
The TCI value indicates the equipment’s condition. It results
records (TCI ≤ 0.4) in a determined VI.
from climatic and operational conditions of the equipment, beyond
This criterion is analyzed only when there are important or com-
its physical characteristics. It means that if the equipment is worn
promising wear records, and can be described by a binary value
because it supported an overload, for example, this condition is
according to a simple rule:
identified by this device’s TCI.
If TCI ≤ 0.4 has repeated occurrence,
3.1.2.1. SF6 circuit breakers TCI. Paper [3] proposes the prevention
then Recurrence = 1 or else Recurrence = 0 (3)
of failures and defects in circuit breakers, using a monitoring sys-
tem for: contact wear, total number of operations, mechanical and
 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46 41

Table 1
SF6 circuit breaker TCI—calculation example, using real data collected from equipment installed in Eletrobras Eletronorte Transmission System, Rondônia, Amazon region of
Brazil.

k Wear points Measured Initial Limit VI (1-VI)

1 Contacts resistance (␮) 71 58 130 0.18 0.82

2 Opening time (ms) 35.25 34 41 0.18 0.82
3 Closing time (ms) 114.7 75 135 0.66 0.34
4 Gas pressure (bar) 6.3 6.3 5.2 0 1
5 Moisture content of the gas (ppmp) 12.5 0 80 0.16 0.84
6 Gas purity (%) 98.7 100 97 0.43 0.57
7 SO2 content in the gas (ppmV) 10.5 0 13 0.81 0.19

The value in bold, 0.19, is the TCI value of the analyzed breaker.

Fig. 5. Basic Condition.

This input is used as an aggravating factor, if the wear identified

by the TCI is recurrent, i.e., if the Input 3 is equal to 1, according to
Eq. (3).

3.1.4. Wear Evolution

Wear Evolution is an elaboration of the previous variable and
represents the increasing of repeated important or compromising
wear values, or the reducing of TCI ≤ 0.4, and can be classified in
Yes (1) or No (zero), similarly to Recurrence:

If TCI ≤ 0.4 has values progressively smaller,

then Wear = 1 or else Wear = 0 (4)

Fig. 6. Stages or values for the variable BC.

It only makes sense to analyze this criterion when there is a 3.1.6. Obsolescence
recurrence record. If the recurrence wear, identified by the TCI, is This variable indicates if the equipment is considered obsolete,
evolving, that is, if the Input 4 is equal to 1, according to Eq. (4), this and is evaluated according to,
is the second aggravating factor.
If component is obsolete then Ob = 1 or else Ob = 0 (6)

3.1.5. Specific Maintenance Actions
This variable indicates whether an specific maintenance was
performed to eliminate or minimize important or compromising
wear registered in the component. As well as the Recurrence and
Wear Evolution, it has a binary classification:
If specific maintenance actions were taken,
The Obsolescence criterion is only analyzed if Recurrence, Wear
Evolution and Specific Maintenance Action are validated criteria
also. If, in addition to the 3 (three) aggravating factors of the pre-
vious entries, the cb is considered obsolete (the fourth aggravating
factor), that is, if the Input 6 is equal to 1 according to Eq. (6), this
equipment must be replaced. That is, it is not worth renewing it.

then M = 1 or else M = 0 (5) 3.1.7. Final BC values

The analysis of this criterion depends on the records of Recur-
rence and Wear Evolution. This input is the third aggravating factor,
in case the specific maintenance has been performed, that is, if the
Input 5 is equal to 1, according to Eq. (5). This indicates that the
maintenance performed has not eliminated the problem, and that
a more effective procedure should be adopted.
Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate the segmentation of the variable BC—Basic
Condition. This segmentation is mostly interesting in the wear
region.
Each of these four last stages may be identified by a linguistic
label, associated to the kind of maintenance action recommended:
Monitoring, Correction, Renewal and Replacement.
The fourth stage, Monitoring, is related to the case of a com-
ponent with no significant wear, at the end of its life cycle; or a
42 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46

Table 2 in equipment TCI, will impact positively on the reliability of the

SF6 gas circuit breakers Basic Condition (BC), using real data collected from the
substation.
Eletrobras Eletronorte Transmission System, Rondônia, Amazon region of Brazil.

cb Age TCI R/W/M/O BC

3.2. Operating Condition (OC)
Years p.u. Main index Value

1 1 0.07 Gas pressure 0.00 0/0/0/0 0.85 This index represents the operating conditions of the equip-
2 5 0.33 SO2 content 0.20 0/0/0/0 0.80 ment, indicating whether it operates at its full capability, or if it
3 6 0.40 Gas purity 0.47 0/0/0/0 0.36
has defects and/or limitations.
4 4 0.27 Gas purity 0.30 0/0/0/0 0.50
5 3 0.20 SO2 content 0.00 0/0/0/0 0.85
The OC indicates the existence of defects (or anomalies), which
6 4 0.27 Gas purity 0.00 1/0/0/0 0.92 are classified according to their severity and their contribution to
7 1 0.07 Moisture content 0.73 0/0/0/0 0.35 reduce the equipment’s reliability. Therefore, the proposed method
8 21 0.64 Moisture content 0.00 0/0/0/0 0.85 includes the study of each equipment’s defects, which are analyzed
9 7 0.21 Closing time 0.43 0/0/0/0 0.37
individually, to examine their possible consequences and identify
10 11 0.33 Moisture content 0.47 0/0/0/0 0.36
their degree of severity.
The diversity of the transmission substation equipment results
in a high number of possible forms of defects. In order to facili-
component with important and non-recurrent wear that is not yet tate the evaluation of the operating condition, the possible defects
in the end of its life cycle. identified are analyzed and classified according to their severity,
The three last stages refer to situations where there is impor- considered in terms of their consequences and potential damage
tant or compromising wear, and indicate the need for maintenance, to the equipment and the system. By calculating a CRI for each
depending on the case identified by the classification of the fac- device, one identifies the need for maintenance of specific equip-
tors: Recurrence, Wear Evolution, Specific Corrective Maintenance ment, related to performance loss and greater possibility of failure.
Actions and Obsolescence. The establishment of a priority ranking for maintenance actions,
The number of stages, and their respective durations, depend based on the CRI, becomes possible.
on the equipment in question and may be adjusted, at each one In the transmission substations, the defects are more common
of the inputs and at the output, according to the characteristics of than failures and, although they do not render the equipment
any given system. This methodology is adjustable and applicable to unavailable, they may cause operational constraints or result in
different equipment and systems. future failures. Therefore, from the point of view of maintenance,
The BC can be used to estimate the actual Hazard rate. The failure it is important to consider the defects’ profile.
rate related to the equipment’s life time (Fig. 3) can be compared The defect classification of each equipment type, using the
with the failure rate related to the equipment’s BC (Fig. 6), to verify knowledge of experts and considering various parameters, enables
that equipment younger than 80% of its useful life time is evalu- greater precision in the evaluation of equipment reliability, and
ated via a low and constant failure rate, as in Fig. 3, and via a high is the second distinct point of the proposed method. The Qual-
and rising failure rate, as in Fig. 6, if important and compromising itative Analysis Method was applied, with the estimation of the
wear and tear are detected by TCI. This equipment, after mainte- parameters by a team of five experts.
nance, can return to a low and constant failure rate, if the wear and The analysis of defects, to verify their severity, considers the
tear condition is eliminated or minimized (see example of cb 6, in following parameters:
Table 2).
1. Life time: it refers to the life time of the equipment.
3.1.7.1. SF6 circuit breakers BC. After applying in the FIS 1 the spe- 2. Safety: it relates to the safety of people.
cific rules to combine the inputs, as shown in Fig. 2, the equipment’s 3. Security: it relates to the environment security.
BC is obtained, and may be further classified into one of the seven 4. Shutdown: it assesses shutdown risks.
stages, as in Fig. 5. 5. Operational risk: it relates to the risk of having to impose restric-
Table 2 shows the results of the parameters used to calculate tions on the operation.
the BC of ten real SF6 gas cb with hydraulic drive. Since the first
seven have been renewed, they have a life cycle expectancy of fif- These parameters contribute to evaluate the severity of a defect,
teen years, as established by the manufacturer warranty. For the by identifying the possible damage it may cause and the possible
others, the established life cycle expectancy is thirty three years difficulties in eliminating it. The most serious defects cause major
(see Section 3.1.1). The values obtained for the TCI are shown, cal- damage to the equipment and the system and/or are more difficult
culated by Eq. (2), with an indication of their main indices. The to be eliminated; consequently, they are prone to cause greater
column R/W/M/O shows the values of Recurrence, Wear Evolu- reduction in equipment/system reliability.
tion, Maintenance Performing and Obsolescence, obtained by Eqs. The five parameters are scored by experts in a range from 0 to
(3)–(6), respectively. 10, for each possible defect and the values are added up to give the
The cb 6 presents a low estimated failure rate, which corre- score for the defect under analysis. Then, scores are normalized by
sponds to stage 2, if it is evaluated by its age (as Table 2 and assigning the score 1 to the most serious defect (with the highest
Fig. 3). However, this equipment presents a high estimated fail- summation score). In this case, the most serious defect (s) is (are)
ure rate, if it is evaluated by its BC (as Table 2 and Fig. 6). This is equivalent to 1 p.u. Parameters can be added and/or eliminated,
justified by an important wear and tear record, caused by “wear according to the characteristics of the system in which the method
point Gas purity”, which provokes a reduction of cb’s TCI and, con- is applied.
sequently, an elevation of its BC to 0.92, which corresponds to stage The OC of the equipment is partitioned into five fuzzy values:
6. The cb’s maintenance, minimizing or eliminating this wear con- Very Low (VL), Low (L), Medium (M), High (H) and Very High (VH),
dition, through a treatment or replacement of the gas for example, with their membership functions defined in [0, 1].
would result in the TCI value elevation, and consequently in the The value of the OC for a specific detected defect corresponds
reduction of the estimated failure rate. Therefore, maintenance to its score, evaluated as described above. The absence of defects
strategies to eliminate/minimize wear, contributing to the increase is represented by the null operating condition. If there is more
 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46 43

Fig. 7. Composite Risk Index—CRI.

than one defect, the reliability will be evaluated by using the most
serious defect detected.

3.2.1. SF6 circuit breakers OC

The equipment OC is defined according to the severity of the
existing defects in the analyzed equipment.
Table 3 shows some defects observed in SF6 gas cb with
hydraulic drive, classified according to their severity through the
support of maintenance professional experts.
After identifying the defect in the cb, the OC receives the value
for the defect in p.u., and is classified into one of the five degrees
described in Subsection 3.2.
The OC values for each one of the cb analyzed, presented in
Table 3, correspond to the p.u. values assigned to the defects iden-
tified in their respective cb. Fig. 8. Composite Risk Index (CRI) graph, with cb 1, 4, 7 and 8 indicated. (For inter-
pretation of the references to color in the text, the reader is referred to the web
version of this article.)
3.3. Composite Risk Index (CRI)
establish shorter or longer deadlines to carry out the preventative
By compounding the BC with the OC, according to the specific
maintenance in analyzed equipment.
rules activated in the Fuzzy Inference System denoted FIS 2 in Fig. 2,
A safety factor should be used, due to possible variations of
one obtains a defuzzified value output, denoted CRI—Composite
the deterioration speed. Nevertheless, the equipment’s individ-
Risk Index.
ual evaluation allows greater precision than a general evaluation,
The results obtained for CRI range from 0 to 1 p.u., or between
which proposes the same periodicity for all equipment’s preventa-
0 and 100%. To translate it into a term recognizable to operators, a
tive maintenance, i.e., which considers that equipment installed in
crisp partition of the [0, 1] interval is adopted with the following
Germany, Sweden, or in the Amazon region of Brazil, for example,
terms: Reliable, Observation, Caution, Warning and Risk, providing
have the same average speed of deterioration, even with com-
an intuitive indication for the need and the priority of a mainte-
pletely different climatic and operating conditions.
nance action to be launched, see Fig. 7.
The proposed methodology is applicable to all equipment and
The CRI should be evaluated annually and used in the equip-
systems in the substation, as long as the data is available, which is
ment’s maintenance schedule. The annual evaluation of the CRI
usually the case in Brazil according to the procedures adopted.
considers the last measured VI values, to update the TCI value.
The graph in Fig. 8 shows the CRI value ranges (identified by
colors) based on the BC and the OC. The white color indicates the 3.3.1. SF6 circuit breakers CRI
region with the smallest CRI, with values below 0.2 and classified The association of the BC with the OC, to obtain the CRI value,
as “Reliable." is performed through the FIS 2 of Fig. 2, to obtain the output clas-
The equipment’s condition evaluation, obtained from the CRI sified as: Reliable, Observation, Caution, Warning and Risk, which
value, cannot ensure that the equipment with the highest CRI would facilitate the identification of the priority action to be implemented.
fail first, if it remains without maintenance. However, it is possible The CRI values of the analyzed cb are presented in Table 4.
to consider that the most deteriorated equipment is more prone to The maintenance priority is obtained from the annual CRI val-
failure. ues. The cb with the highest CRI values are those most in need of
Initially, preventative maintenances are performed at the inter- maintenance, i.e., they are the devices with the defects that are most
vals specified by the manufacturer. The first evaluations of the CRI serious and more difficult to be removed, so they are considered a
indicate differences between devices, indicating the average speed priority in the maintenance schedule.
of deterioration of each piece. The CRI of cb 1, 4, 7 and 8 are indicated on the graph, in Fig. 8.
The average speed of deterioration is not constant; there is an
acceleration, which is not constant too. This is due to the fact that 4. SF6 circuit breaker CRI assessment—method validation
deterioration of the equipment depends on its climatic, operating
and physical conditions. However, the VI measurements define an The ideal method validation would be to leave equipment
estimated average speed of deterioration of each piece, which can without maintenance, to demonstrate that equipment with lower
44 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46

Table 3
Classification of some defects in SF6 gas circuit breakers.

Defects/parameters Priority Value in p.u. cb

SF6 gas circuit breakers
High moisture content of the SF6 gas 1 1.00 8
High SO2 content in the SF6 gas 1 1.00 2 and 5
Gas leak 1 1.00
Low SF6 gas purity 2 0.89 6
Low gas pressure—1st stage 3 0.83 1
Oil leak 4 0.82
Low oil pressure—1st stage 5 0.77
Lack of pressurization of the hydraulic pump 6 0.63
Improper performance of SF6 gas 7 0.62
Low oil level in the reservoir 8 0.62
Failure on the densostato 9 0.61
Defect on the 74.3 voltage supervisor relay 10 0.60 4
Defect on the spring charging circuit 11 0.53

Table 4 “SF6 leakage fault in cb”. It is due to the higher occurrence of such
SF6 gas circuit breakers CRI SF6 gas circuit breakers Basic Condition (BC), using
failures than SF6 leakage failures, in the period covered by Ref. [16].
real data collected from the Eletrobras Eletronorte Transmission System, Rondônia,
Amazon region of Brazil. As shown in Table 5, the proposed method establishes a higher
OC value, and consequently a higher CRI value, for “SF6 leakage
cb BC OC CRI Maintenance priority
defect” (cb III and IV) than for “Pumping defect in air compres-
1 0.85 0.83 0.76 Warning 4 sor” (cb I and II). It is due to the parameters considered to classify
2 0.80 1.00 0.90 Risk 2 defects, seeing that “SF6 leakage defect” affects “Safety of people”
3 0.36 0.00 0.10 Reliable 6
and “Environment security” (parameters 2 and 3, respectively, in
4 0.50 0.60 0.58 Caution 5
5 0.85 1.00 0.90 Risk 1 item 3.2) besides the parameters 1, 4 and 5. That is why it was rated
6 0.92 0.89 0.89 Risk 3 as more severe than “Pumping defect in air compressor”, which
7 0.35 0.00 0.10 Reliable 6 affects only parameters 1, 4 and 5. However, the proposed method
8 0.85 1.00 0.90 Risk 1
is adjustable; it allows the evaluation of defects and is suitable
9 0.37 0.00 0.10 Reliable 6
10 0.36 0.00 0.10 Reliable 6 for each equipment/system, according to its regional and systemic
characteristics.
Cb III and IV, with “SF6 leakage defect”, present the same CRI
values. It means that, in this situation, regardless of the age dif-
reliability fails first. However, it is not possible to leave substations ference, these two devices have the same failure risk, due to the
circuit breakers without maintenance, because failures in substa- serious defect.
tions cause heavy financial losses. Considering the flawless condition (see last four lines in Table 5)
Table 5 shows the evaluation of four circuit breakers, with data a difference in the CRI value of the circuit breakers can be observed,
collected from Ref. [16] and considering hypothetical defects and indicating a higher failure risk for worn equipment. Beyond that,
wear to calculate BC and CRI. The results are used to compare the the proposed method allows the identification of differences in the
proposed method with the method established in Ref. [16], which failure risks of similar equipment of the same age, but with different
presents an estimation of SF6 circuit breakers 550 kV reliability by wear and tear.
statistical analysis. Cb I and III (9.6 years old) and cb II and IV (19.2 years old) present
the same CRI values, if they are with the same wear and tear and
4.1. Results and discussion the same defects (or flawless condition). It is justified by their Life
cycle; these devices are in the same stage 2, stable period.
Paper [16] develops a statistical approach to provide the failure The two analyzed methods have different approaches; the
probability. However, probabilistic methods estimate trends, and it method presented in Ref. [16] defines the failure probability using
is a disadvantage, because they consider climatic and operational a statistical approach, based on the history of failures; the proposed
conditions constant, over the years, or, they consider that these method establishes the failure risk (CRI), based on the actual equip-
conditions do not affect the reliability of the equipment. Neverthe- ment’s condition, considering wear and tear measurements and the
less, the deterioration of the equipment depends not only on their existence, or not, of defects. However, it is possible to see congru-
physical condition, but also on climatic and operational conditions ence between the two methods, which consider lower reliability,
to which it is subjected. or higher failure risk, for older and worn circuit breakers or with
Differently, the proposed method establishes a score for the con- serious failures (or defects).
dition of the circuit breakers (CRI), which defines their failure risk
and identifies the equipment with the most need of maintenance. 5. Conclusions
The re-evaluation of the equipment after the elimination of the
defect stands out as an important advantage, as it enables the iden- The development of the model was derived from extensive
tification of differences in equipment’s reliability according to their engineering experience and taking into account the standards, reg-
different wear conditions and the existence, or not, of defects. The ulations and procedures prescribed in International Standard and
CRI value is useful to compare equipment to evaluate the main- handbooks from manufacturers, and organized in such a way that
tenance priority. In future studies, wear and tear measurements it may make use of the records of equipment maintenance kept as
used to evaluate CRI values could be used to estimate the aver- regular routine in the engineering departments.
age speed of deterioration and, consequently, to define adequate CRI allows the identification of the equipment in most need
maintenance periodicity for each piece of equipment. of maintenance and its re-evaluation, after the elimination of its
In paper [16], the failure probability of the “Pumping fault in air defect. Beyond this, CRI identifies the differences in the failure risks
compressor” is considered higher than the failure probability of the of similar equipment of the same age, but with different wear and
 E.A.L. Vianna et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 142 (2017) 36–46 45

tear. Future studies may use CRI to estimate the average speed of

probability
Paper [16]
deterioration and to define the appropriate periodicity of preven-

Not rated.

Not rated.
(graphs)
Failure
tative maintenance for each piece of equipment.

0.077

0.046
0.45

0.24
In the proposed model, various types of defects in the equipment
are analyzed and classified according to their severity, considering
several parameters, so that the maintenance of the equipment with
more wear and tear and with the most serious defects is priori-
CRI (c)

tized. Beyond this, the proposed method is adjustable; it is suitable

0.60
0.79

0.90
0.90

0.10
0.50

0.10
0.50
for each equipment/system, according to its regional and systemic
characteristics.
This new methodology aims to systematize the actions taken
daily by the technical experts responsible for the maintenance of
OC (pu) (h)

the transmission substations equipment, where there are defects

and worn equipment. This way, it becomes possible to record the
0.63

0
knowledge acquired over 20 or even 30 years of experience, by the
older professionals, added to the current knowledge of the younger
professionals. This record provides an important gain, not only for
SF6 leakage defect in cb

the company that applies the new method, which allows the “stor-
Pumping defect in air

age” of knowledge of its employees, but for the entire electricity

sector, which receives a methodology that provides the ability to
bring together the best practices in an organized and systematic
compressor
Defect (h)

manner, in which the adjustments, extensions and/or improve-

No defect

No defect

ments of the method can be applied whenever it is necessary.

The CRI index may become a centerpiece of a decision mak-
ing process with a cost-benefit analysis exploring the trade-offs
between the priorities indicated by it, the maintenance costs asso-
ciated with it and the costs incurred as a result of the unavailability
BC (c)

0.35

0.35

0.35

0.35
0.90

0.90

0.90

0.90
Circuit breakers evaluation, with data collected from Ref. [16] and considering hypothetical defects and wear to calculate BC and CRI.

of equipment. For example, it becomes possible to analyze the costs

Hipothetical (h) or calculated (c) values

for the cb 8, in Fig. 8, to move to the reliable area of the graph,

compared to the costs of its unavailability. For the Maintenance
engineering division, a priority list for maintenance actions is a
R/W/M/O (h)

valuable and necessary tool.

1/1/0/0

1/1/0/0

1/1/0/0

1/1/0/0
0/0/0/0

0/0/0/0

0/0/0/0

0/0/0/0

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge assistance from Eletrobras

Eletronorte, Brazil, for supplying the circuit breakers data and sup-
porting this research.
TCI (h)

0.15

0.15

0.15

0.15

The first author would like to thank the Conselho Nacional

0.5

0.5

0.5

0.5

de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (CNPq) for providing her with a

research fellowship, for a period in Porto, Portugal.
The fourth author would like to acknowledge that his par-
Pumping fault in air compressor (cb
I) and SF6 leakage fault in cb (cb III)

ticipation in the work was supported by the ERDF – European

The values in bold correspond to the CRI values of the analyzed circuit breakers.
(cb II) and SF6 leakage fault in cb
Pumping fault in air compressor

Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme

for Competitiveness and Internationalization – COMPETE 2020
Programme within project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006961, and by
SF6 leakage fault in cb

national funds through the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science

Pumping fault in air

and Technology, as part of project UID/EEA/50014/2013.

Failure mode

compressor

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