Substation for medium or high voltage, containing switchgear or controlgear with unmanned operation and maintenance

• US 11,362,489 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2019
• Issued: 06/14/2022
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Original Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG (ABB Limited)
• Inventors: Kozel, Tomas, Schmidtchen, Thomas, Stefanka, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoffberg, Robert J
• Application Number:
  US16/727,982
• Publication Number:
  US 20200136357A1
• Time in Patent Office: 900 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 11/005 Manipulators for mechanical processing tasks
• CPC Class Codes: H02B 11/12 with isolation by horizontal withdrawal
• CPC Class Codes: H02B 3/00 Apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture, assembly, or maintenance of boards or switchgear
• CPC Class Codes: H02B 7/00 Enclosed substations, e.g. compact substations
• CPC Class Codes: H02B 7/06 Distribution substations, e.g. for urban network H02B7/01 takes precedence

Abstract

A substation for medium or high voltage includes: switchgear or controlgear with unmanned operation and maintenance; an inner room in which the switchgear or controlgear is located, the inner room being hermetically enclosed by an outer housing, the inner room being locked against the outer housing by an inner, automatically operated door; and a robot system, the robot system being implemented such that an acting area of the robot system is extended from the inner room, partly in an area outside the inner room, but within the substation internal space, where spare parts are stored in a spare parts hand over area, for maintenance.

Claims

1. A substation for medium or high voltage, comprising:

switchgear or controlgear;

a substation entry door configured to permit a human operator entry into and exit from the substation;

an inner room in which the switchgear or controlgear is located, the inner room being hermetically closable by an outer housing and an inner, automatically operated door lockable against the outer housing; and

a robot system having an acting area that extends from the inner room to a human-machine interaction position outside the inner room, wherein the substation has a substation internal space within the substation outside of the inner room, the substation internal space having a spare parts handover area,

wherein, in the human-machine interaction position, the robot system is configured so as to access the spare parts handover area, and

wherein the substation entry door is configured to be unopenable from outside the substation if the inner, automatically operated door is unlocked.

2. The substation according to claim 1, further comprising:

human operator presence sensors within the substation internal space,

wherein, if the switchgear or controlgear is energized, the inner, automatically operated door is configured to automatically lock, wherein inside the inner room only the robot system is allowed to operate.

3. A method for operating a substation for medium or high voltage, the substation including switchgear or controlgear disposed in an inner room that is hermetically encloseable in part by an outer housing, the method comprising:

locking the inner room against the outer housing using an inner, automatically operated door;

logically controlling locking and de-locking of the inner, automatically operated door by evaluation of an automatic sensing of a presence of a human operator outside of the inner room and an energy status of current carrying parts of the switchgear or controlgear;

providing a robot system having an acting area that extends from the inner room to a human-machine interaction position outside the inner room; and

providing a substation entry door configured to permit the human operator entry into and exit from the substation, wherein the substation has a substation internal space within the substation outside of the inner room, the substation internal space having a spare parts handover area,

wherein, in the human-machine interaction position, the robot system is configured so as to access the spare parts handover area, and

wherein the substation entry door is configured to be unopenable from outside the substation if the inner, automatically operated door is unlocked.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

providing a repair and maintenance area, located outside the inner room, for repair or maintenance of the robot system,

wherein, if the switchgear or controlgear is energized, the human operator is allowed to enter the substation internal space only if the inner room is locked by the inner, automatically operated door.