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Consultancy and Management Archive

EPC Services Archive

EPC Services - Commissioning

27 August, 2022

Commissioning is a critical function that must be done correctly by professional personnel. It is absolutely essential that in times of failure, the system operates as intended.

The potential problems and remedies are outlined:

1. While schematics deal with functionality, wiring diagrams present the physical arrangement. It is important that identical equipment are not only "functionally identical" but "physically identical" too. Otherwise, this leads to problems identifying physical test points.
2. The inspection and test plan (ITP) has not been properly developed. In this case, the ITP only confirms functionality: does it start?, does it stop? etc.  Even if were to work perfectly, we are only half way there. The plan needs to include fault scenarios.
3. The ITP is vague: e.g. verify xxx responds to magnitude yyy in zzz time. We need more than this. Describe the test set up or make reference to an external document. Often, its not included through lack of knowledge or lack of time to properly develop the ITP
4. The ITP includes fault scenarios, but have not been well thought out. This often happens when the ITP has been developed without strong inspection and test experience. In addition to verifying the equipment build complies with the design, we also need to confirm various failure modes, and record the results against the expected outcome. Is the outcome been accounted for in the design? the outcome is not surprising or is surprising? We need to redesign?
5. The last point, an experienced test engineer. In quite a few cases, the ITP does not cover all important scenarios. Here, the test engineer will use his experience and judgement to determine if any scenarios have not been accounted for, that might otherwise lead to an unexpected outcome.

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A well prepared Inspection and Test Plan and an Experienced Test Engineer can mitigate problems that might otherwise compromise safety, performance, and damage to assets.

​Contact us if you need advice on your commissioning needs. We are able to offer bespoke solutions without obligation.

Our scope covers

• Grid connection
  
• HV/MV/LV switchgear,
  
• Transformers, reactors
  
• VFD and motor control
  
• Lighting and Grounding 

​Read more about our Commissioning Services here

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