Intelligent optical fibre based systems for monitoring the condition of power equipment

Considerable advances have been made in recent years concerning the design, manufacture and, not least, the technologies used in the power equipment of today's transmission and distribution networks. For many items of power equipment, the methods traditionally applied, those of preventive maintenance to optimise equipment availability, can now be replaced by predictive maintenance philosophies which take advantage of the advances made in achieving equipment reliability. A key element of the application of procedures to optimise equipment availability is the use of diagnostic techniques and monitoring systems to enable assessments to be made on the condition of equipment. This paper describes basic principles for the application of such a condition monitoring philosophy which have been identified as central issues when considering transmission and distribution equipment