GE Industrial Solutions Test Cabinet for Power_Vac Vacuum - Manual (Page 5)

Power/Vac  Test Cabinet
Section 1. Introduction
1-1 Introduction
This manual provides the information needed by the user to
properly install, operate and maintain the Test Cabinet.
1-2 Safety
Each user must maintain a safety program for the protection of
personnel, as well as other equipment, from the potential hazards
associated with electrical equipment.
The following requirements are intended to augment the user’s
safety program, but NOT supplant the user’s responsibility for
devising a complete safety program. The following basic industry
practiced safety requirements are applicable to all major electrical
equipment such as switchgear or switchboards. GE neither
condones nor assumes any responsibility for practices which
deviate from the following:
1. ALL CONDUCTORS MUST BE ASSUMED TO BE
ENERGIZED UNLESS THEIR POTENTIAL HAS BEEN
MEASURED AS GROUND AND SUITABLE GROUNDING
CONDUCTORS HAVE BEEN APPLIED TO PREVENT
ENERGIZING. Many accidents have been caused by back
feeds from a wide variety of sources.
2. Although interlocks to reduce some of the risks are
provided, the individual’s actions while performing service
or maintenance are essential to prevent accidents. Each
person’s knowledge; his mental awareness; and his planned
and executed actions often determine if an accident will
occur. The most important method of avoiding accidents is
for all associated personnel to carefully apply a thorough
under-standing of the specific equipment from the
viewpoints of its purpose, its construction, its operation and
the situations which could be hazardous.
All personnel associated with installation, operation and
maintenance of electrical equipment, such as power circuit
breakers and other power handling equipment, must be
thoroughly instructed, with periodic retraining, regarding power
equipment in general as well as the particular model of
equipment with which they are working. Instruction books, actual
devices and appropriate safety and maintenance practices such as
OSHA publications, National Electric Safety Code (ANSI C2), the
National Electric Code, and National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) 70B Electrical Equipment Maintenance must be closely
studied and followed. During actual work, supervision should
audit practices to assure conformance.
1-3 Maintenance
Excellent maintenance is essential for reliability and safety
of any electrical equipment. Maintenance programs must
be tuned to the specific application, well planned and carried out
consistent with both industry experience and manufacturer’s
recommendations. Local environment must always be considered
in such programs, including such variables as ambient
temperatures, extreme moisture, number of operations, corrosive
atmosphere or major insect problems and any other unusual or
abusive condition of the application.
One of the critical service activities, sometimes neglected, involves
the calibration of various control devices. These monitor
conditions in the primary and secondary circuits, sometimes
initiating emergency corrective action such as opening or closing
circuit breakers. In view of the vital role of these devices, it is
important that a periodic test program be followed. As was
outlined above, it is recognized that the interval between periodic
checks will vary depending upon environment, the type of device
and the user’s experience. It is the GE recommendation that,
until the user has accumulated enough experience to select a test
interval better suited to his individual requirements, all significant
calibrations be checked at an interval of one to two years.
To accomplish this, some devices can be adequately tested using
test sets. Specific calibration instructions on particular devices
typically are provided by supplied instruction books.
Instruction books supplied by manufacturers address components
that would normally require service or maintenance during the
useful life of the equipment. However, they can not include every
possible part that could require attention, particularly over a very
long service period or under adverse environments. Maintenance
personnel must be alert to deterioration of any part of the
supplied switchgear, taking actions, as necessary to restore it to
serviceable status.
Industry publications of recommended maintenance practices
such as ANSI/NFPA 70B, Electrical Equipment Maintenance,
should be carefully studied and applied in each user’s formation
of planned maintenance.
Some users may require additional assistance from GE in the
planning and performance of maintenance. GE can be contracted
to either undertake maintenance or to provide technical
assistance such as the latest publications.
The performance and safety of all equipment may be
compromised by the modification of supplied parts or their
replacement by non-identical substitutes. All such design changes
must be qualified to ANSI/IEEE Standard C37.59.
The user should methodically keep written maintenance records
as an aid in future service planning and equipment reliability
improvement. Unusual experiences should be promptly
communicated to GE.
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