Obsolete Breakers: Debunking Common Misconceptions

White Paper: Switchgear Survival Guide - Ten Tips to Optimize Switchgear and Enhance Reliability

With increasing dependence on computers and automated processes, most modern facilities cannot afford downtime. Performing proper maintenance on a facility’s electrical equipment can reduce the risk of an unplanned outage and help extend useful life of the asset. In today’s economy, budget constraints on capital improvement projects will mean more reliance on existing equipment maintenance. Learn More

White Paper: Enhancing Reliability of Legacy Systems with New Generation Low-Voltage Circuit Breaker Upgrades

Even the best maintained equipment is subject to two key phenomena: (1) Equipment ultimately degrades and reaches the end of its useful life, no matter how much maintenance is performed, and (2) Advances in technology – both in material sciences and microprocessor based controls – facilitate the production of more modern circuit breakers with better performance, reduced maintenance requirements and on-board diagnostics, to name a few features. With the advancements in the design of the new circuit breakers, circuit breakers with older technology are no longer considered sustainable solutions. Learn More

White Paper: Extend the Life of Existing Switchgear

Electrical switchgear has two types of components that make up the system, which can be referred to as passive and active. The passive components include such things as the steel framing channels, cover plates, barriers, horizontal and vertical bus structures, as well as components that make up the mechanical structure of the equipment. The critical active components are the power circuit breakers or fused devices that comprise the overcurrent protective system. Learn More

Addressing Electrical Safety Concerns Yields Added Benefit for Utility

Modernizing legacy switchgear also improves electrical reliability. Learn More

Hope Creek Generating Station

The circuit breakers at this 1,219 MW nuclear power plant had been in use since the facility opened in 1986. After carefully evaluating all options,including whether to refurbish the existing circuit breakers or opt for a total replacement, facilities management secured approvals for modernizing the existing switchgear with Masterpact NW direct replacement circuit breakers. Learn More

Circuit Breaker Retrofill Project Modernizes Electrical Distribution for Automobile Manufacturer

The plant’s two primary switchgear lineups were installed in the early 1950s. Though they were still operational, the age of the circuit breakers connected to the 2,000 amp bus in both lineups, along with the elevator-like system used to remove them from the switchgear for maintenance, increased risk for the plant’s electricians. Learn More