Development of a pole-mounted circuit breaker telecontrol unit

Abstract

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, he never envisioned the wealth of late 20th century high technology applications of his intended simple personal communications device. With this investigation, advantage was taken of combining the existing Eskom communications network with new-technology SCADA equipment, in order to allow communications from the control centre at Bloemfontein to the actual pole-mounted breaker in the field, covering the Free State distributor. Due to the high costs, and the complex maintenance performance of the existing network, a telecontrol system was developed that requires minimal maintenance and provides high reliability in order to promote efficient functioning of the network. With this development the use of existing products, skills and technology were applied to obtain effective pole-mounted telecontrol, to enhance the use of present technology in the rural areas of the distributor.