If It Ain't Broke ...

AS REQUIREMENTS FOR SERVICE RELIABILITY have increased, many utility asset managers are also facing pressures to reduce maintenance costs while squeezing more performance from existingand often agingequipment. High-voltage circuit breakers provide a case in point. Not only are high-voltage breakers essential to the protection of other system components under fault conditions, their reliable switching operation is necessary for maintaining optimal system conditions. A breakers failure to operate as required can result in equipment damage, increased system disturbance, and loss of load. © 2006 IEEE.