Specifications for Cable fault Locator for NTPC Korba

Pre-qualifying Requirements for Bidders of the Supply for Cable Fault Locator
1. The Vendor must be a reputed original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the Cable Fault Locating
System having support network in India OR must be an authorized exclusive agent of the Original
Equipment Manufacturer having support network in India. Vendor must submit exclusive
authorization certificate of OEM.
2. Vendor should have very good support network in India.
3. The Vendor should submit evidence of satisfactory operation in India of at least 05 (Five) similar
Cable Fault Locating systems manufactured by the same OEM, during the last 2 year.
4. Vendor must submit following:a.

PO copies along with commissioning / completion reports

b.

The utilities name

c.

Name, address, telephone / fax number of a contact person at the utility

d.

The quantity of CFL System Purchased.

5. Vendor should have repair facility here in India. Vendor must submit PO copies of repair orders
along with completion certificate / minutes of meeting, service contracts, AMC etc.
6. The bidder/manufacturer shall furnish proof of experience, showing that the supplier / bidder is in
the business of manufacturing Cable fault locating System for not less than 10 years.

Payment Terms & Condition:

Any successful vendor for above equipment has to supply and commission the
equipment at site at their own cost. The payment will be made after the
successful commissioning and demonstration of the kit at site. For proving the
kit NTPC will provide three underground buried cable of 33KV (ungrounded) and
6.6KV cables with fault and party has to locate and pinpoint the fault. Pending
which the kit will not accepted. In case of foreign vendor where LC is required
Indian representative will have to give BG for 100% amount before placement of
PO.

Specification for Trailer Mounted Cable Fault Locator for HT and LT Cables
(I) Cable Fault Location:
Suitable equipment for Underground (depth aprox 1 meter) and over ground Cables fault location of the
major distribution system carrying power from distribution switchgears to remote locations and large
motors. The cables are rated for 36KV system, XLPE high impedance grounding (rated for ungrounded
system, equivalent to 69KV) and 6.6KV resistance grounding system. The equipment shall be used for
locating, identifying, route tracing of cables and pin pointing the faulted area so that cable system can be
restored back to the service by attending the fault. The equipment should be able to identify the
different types of faults in underground system like viz. opens, shorts, earth fault, flashover faults, high
impedance faults, insulation faults, etc.

The fault locator should have minimum following constituents

Items to be offered or to be quoted: (1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)

Pre-locator or TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer).

Surge Generator for HT cables or Thumper.
Surge Generator LT cables or Thumper.
Filter Unit or ARC reflection filter unit or ARC Stabilizing Unit.
Acoustic and Magnetic signal pickup device.
Trailer (all above to be mounted in closed trailer).

(II) Pre-locator or TDR (Time Domain Reflect meter): The pulse reflection test unit system for pre-locating the fault working on Time domain reflection theory.
The Pulse reflection Test set should be able to detect the fault for cable length upto 10 kms.
The digital TDR should be designed for the location of low resistance faults and interruptions in low and
medium voltage cables. It should be battery powered ideal for field use. It should be suitable for prelocation of high resistance and intermitted faults. The equipment should be convenient for operation
with self guiding process.
Cable fault pre-location of the faults must be available by all the following methods
1)
2)
3)
4)

Pulse reflection.
Surge Pulse / Impulse Current method.
Decay Method
Arc reflection method using filter.

The instrument should have large Colored display preferably TFT / LCD. The offered instrument should
have 30 memories (minimum) with computer interface. It must have capability of Differential mode
measurement for all the above-mentioned methods. The gain and zoom factor of the curves obtained
should be adjustable and the sampling frequency should be 190 MHz (minimum) with pulse width
ranging from 50 ns to 4 s depending on various cable lengths. The accuracy of the equipment should be
0.01% of range. All necessary units required for using the equipment in the above modes such as Arc
reflection filter and the CT should be included in the scope of supply.

Features Required: Sl. No.

Guaranteed Particulars

Requirement

1.

Automatic cable end indication.

Yes

2.

Distance indication in meters

Yes

3.

4.

Range.

Up to 5 Kms.

5.

Pulse Width. (sufficient for cable length of upto

minimum 10kms)

50 ns to 4 s.

6.

Resolution

7.

Automatic cursor setting for fault location

Yes

8.

Measurement to be unaffected by input supply voltage

variation of +15%

Yes

9.

Sampling rate.

190 MHz

10.

Zoom function.

Yes

11.

Display of 3 Pulse trains simultaneously.

Yes

12.

Accuracy.

13.

Display

14.

Input modes

15.

Memory

16.

RS232 Interface and parallel printer interface

Yes

17.

Data transfer to PC for (the stored traces).

Yes

18.

In built help mode.

Yes

19.

Input Voltage.

20.

Inbuilt rechargeable battery operated

Pulse reflection.
Impulse Current method.
Decay Method
Arc reflection method using filter.

Yes

100 m/s

0.01%.
10 inch (minimum) color TFT/LCD
Direct Line 1
Direct Line 2
Difference of Line 1 Line 2
Minimum 30.

230 V at 50 Hz
Yes

(III) Surge Generator HT or Thumper: Pre-location Impulse Current Method

The surge generator should ignite an arc at the fault which should create a traveling wave
between the fault and the surge generator. It would be used to pre locate fault for all high
resistance faults, on wet cables and XLPE cables. The TDR should be able to capture this
displays and transient wave and indicate the distance to the fault. The surge generator should
be able to generate impulse current with an output energy of 1500 J or more. The Surge
Generator HT should have voltage range from 0-30 KV or better continuously adjustable
with energy pumping capacity of 1500 Joules or more through out the range at any voltage
level.
The equipment shall be suitable for Location by (a) acoustic field method (b) Arc reflection method &
(c) Current pulse method.
Features Required: Sl. No.

Guaranteed Particulars

Desired

1.

Voltage Range in KV.

015 KV with 1500 J (minimum)

030 KV with 1500 J (minimum)
Continuously variable/adjustable.

2.

Discharge Energy in Joules.

3.

Built in capacitance for the below

mentioned ranges: (1) 0-8KV
(2) 015 KV
(3) 030 KV

To be mentioned by the bidder for calculation

verification of indenter

4.

Current rating for: (1) 0 8 KV

(2) 015 KV
(3) 030 KV

To be mentioned by the bidder for calculation

verification of indenter

5.

Cycle time.

6.

Single pulse.

7.

Display or metering.

1500 Joules (minimum) through out the entire 0 32 KV

range.

39 seconds
Yes.

8.

Inbuilt DC testing mode.

9.

Input Voltage

Analogue or Digital
Leakage Current
O/P voltage indication.
0 30 KV with 2 mA or better.
230 V at 50 Hz +/- 10%

(IV) Surge Generator LT or Thumper: The Surge Generator LT or Thumper should have voltage range from 0-3 KV continuously adjustable
with energy pumping capacity of 450 Joules through out the range at any voltage level as continuously
repeated surging with cycle duration adjustable between 3 to 9 seconds.
The equipment shall be suitable for Location by (a) acoustic field method (b) Arc reflection method &
(c) Current pulse method.
Features Required: Sl. No.

Guaranteed Particulars

1.

Voltage Range in KV.

2.

Discharge Energy in Joules.

3.

Cycle time.

4.

Display or metering.

5.

Inbuilt DC testing mode.

6.

Input Voltage

Desired
03 KV with 450 J (Maximum) continuously
variable/adjustable.
450 Joules (Maximum)
39 seconds
Analogue or Digital
Leakage Current
O/P voltage indication.
0 4 KV with 25mA or better.
230 V at 50 Hz +/- 10%

(V) Filter Unit or ARC reflection filter unit or ARC Stabilizing Unit: Generally pulse echo or reflection method is applied for cable fault location however it may not be
suitable for high-impedance or resistance faults. Therefore to overcome these limitations in pulse echo
method, a suitable band pass filter unit should be supplied to stabilize this ARC at the flashover or the
point of fault.

The offered filter must simplify the operation causing less stress, causing minimum damage on the
tested cables to detect the high resistive faults. There should be complete compatibility of TDR, surge
generator/thumper with the filter unit. This unit must filter or stabilize the arc at the fault point and
record the same in the supplied TDR to compare it with previous trace recorded without the filter unit in
the same core. Suitable coupler for coupling the filter unit with the TDR and Surge generator must be
supplied.
The offered filter must contain switching elements necessary for the triggering and the coupling of the
pulse. After the pre-location using the arc reflection method, there must a decoupling element which
must bypass the surge generator for making it ready for use in pinpointing the cable fault.
(VI) Acoustic and Magnetic signal pickup device: Pinpoint Location
After pre location for a precise location of the fault the kit should be able to pin point the fault location
by a time controlled surge outputs. Surge generator should allow a periodical discharge into the cable
for acoustic locating of the flash-over at the fault with an adequate ground microphone and receiver.
The surge generator should have option to select the type of output for different applications for pre
location, pin pointing from acoustic method.
The bidder shall supply a portable, battery operated instrument consisting of a receiver and combined
sensor which will measure electromagnetic and acoustic signals associated with flashovers in cables.
The instrument shall pin point the location of faults when used with the surge pulse method. The
strength of the magnetic field and acoustic signal provided by the pulse current shall be indicated on a
clear digital (LCD/TFT) and display.
The direction of the buried or the underground cable or the cable under diagnosis can be tracked using
the intensity of magnetic field being displayed in the (LCD / TFT) display.
The measurement of acoustic noise shall be optimized through a switch-able filter which has a
bandwidth designed to minimize ambient noise due to moving objects / wind etc. etc. Coincidence
measurement should be possible by receiving and displaying signals from both the sensors
simultaneously. The instrument shall also indicate the distance between the sensor and fault based on
the time taken by the traversing signals.
Basic Features desired: 1) It should have an auto ranging facility with a digital readout of relative distance to the fault.
2) Bar graph-indication of the magnetic field strength for locating the cable path
3) Low Battery Indication.
4) High reliability by using rain-proof foil keys or sealed membrane key pad
5) Must be rugged built for field operation
Guaranteed Technical Particulars: Sl. No.

Guaranteed Particulars

Desired

1.

Methods:
Acoustic Method.
Magnetic Method.

Yes

2.

Built in channels:
Acoustic Channel.
Magnetic Channel.

Yes

3.

Separate sensitivity & volume control for:

Acoustic Channel.
Magnetic Channel.

Yes

4.

Amplification Range:

Acoustic ch> 70 dB Magnetic

ch> 55 dB

5.

Display.

6.

Operating Frequency range.

7.

Graphical indication.
Magnetic field strength for locating the cable
path.
Acoustic Signal Strength.

Yes.

8.

Sensor for Magnetic and Acoustic signal pickup.

Yes

9.

Head phone.

Yes

10.

Low battery indication.

Yes

11.

Power supply.

12.

Weight.

LCD / TFT
To be mentioned

Standard Battery operated (No

proprietary)
Easily carry able by hand

Closed trailer and other accssories: Sl. No.

1.

Guaranteed Particulars
Steel frame for mounting the following instruments: (1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Pre-locator or TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer).

Surge Generator HT or Thumper.
Surge Generator LT or Thumper.
Filter Unit or ARC reflection filter unit or ARC Stabilizing Unit.

2.

Suitable drawer for keeping: (1) High Resistance Cable Fault Locator (Wheatstone Bridge Method) or Murray Loop
Bridge.
(2) Acoustic and Magnetic signal pickup device.

3.

Fixed Rotating cable drums should be provided for:

(1) HV cable drum 15 Meters
(2) Mains cable drum 15 Meters
(3) Earthing cable drum 15 Meters
(4) Auxiliary earthing drum 15 Meters
All cables should be flexible with stranded copper core.

4.

Specification of trailer: (1)

Number of doors 2 (two) at the back for accessing the connection and equipment
back portion. 1 (one) in the front for accessing the van and operating the system.
(2) Trailer should have standard jeep Tyre (4 wheels).
(3) The clamping facility with van or jeep should be made available.
(4) The trailer should have suitable shock absorbers for bump protection.
(5) In case HT components are exposed and safety interlocks are to be provided, safety
screens should be provided to isolate the HV area from operating area.
(6) Suitable cupboards and tables for storing hand held instruments and writing desk to
be provided.
(7) Revolving chair for the operator and sitting arrangement of 1 person to be provided.
(8) Suitable illumination inside the trailer to be provided.
(9) Operator wall mount cabin fan to be provided.
(10) Necessary items (1 No each) with the trailer to be supplied:
Measuring wheel.
Medical kit.
Emergency lamp.
15 A / 220 V Power supply Board.
Earth spikes.
Extra tyre with RIM.
Jack for replacement of faulty tyre.
5.

Power Supply: The entire system will work on input supply of 220V 10%, 50 Hz single
phase supply. To safeguard the equipment against the abnormally high / low voltage or
current, a suitable protection system should be incorporated in the input power supply
system.

Possible Vendors for cable fault Locator

1. PCI, Kolkota.
2. Megger (India), PO No. 12052, Mumbai 400053
or
3. Khandela Electronika, Indore
4. BAUR Instruments, G1-49, Road No. 2C, RIICO Industrial Area,
Bindayaka, jaipur 302016
5. ETM Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; 9E, IInd FLoor , Moulsari Avenue, DLF,
Phase-III, Gurgaon - 122002
6. Applied Techno
7. Double India, Vadodara
or
8. Pinkcity Electronics, Jaipur
9. Omicron energy Solutions Pvt limited. 207, 2nd Floor, Ansal majestic
Tower, G-Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi 110018.
10.Tinsley