Research of position measuring system for high voltage switchgear

The contact position’s accurate measurement is the key part of the realization of high voltage switchgear’s on-line monitoring. Based on the position measurement, the speed and trip of the switchgear could also be obtained. Thus, the health level and the operation status can be evaluated. The insulation condition and the fault symptom can also be identified. In this paper, the on-line measuring principle for the contact position is presented at first. The indirect measuring method is adopted, and the incremental photoelectric encoder is utilized to realize the measurement of angular displacement. The position could be calculated by establishing the relationship between the angular displacement and the contact’s linear displacement. After that, the technical difficulties of the on-line measuring system are demonstrated. The selection of encoder, the difficult parts of hardware design and software design are all discussed deeply. The lab test of the whole measuring system is processed at last, and the measuring results are satisfactory. It will provide powerful support for the realization of on-line monitoring equipment of the high voltage switchgear.