Seismic Design and Characterization of a New Isolation System for High Voltage Circuit Breakers Based on Wire-Rope Devices

This paper briefly describes the design and the characterization of a new base isolation system for the seismic protection of HV ceramics circuit breakers, in order to be qualified according to the standard CEI 62271-207. The solution adopted is based on the use of Wire Ropes. Accurate numerical analyses and experimental tests performed on a typical HV breaker upon a shaking table demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed solution. An on-site installation in several Italian substations of this system has permitted to verify the simplicity and rapidity of the intervention necessary for the seismic upgrading of the circuit breaker.