ABB introduced a new remote monitoring solution for any OEM circuit breakers filled with sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gases, at its booth at the IEEE PES T&D Expo. The Circuit Breaker Sentinel, or CBS-F6 condition-based monitoring solution, is one of the first stand-alone SF6 gas-monitoring devices on the market.

Gene Wolf, official IEEE PES Show blogger, mentioned ABB's booth in his blog several times. "From sheer booth size you have to see this place. They have full-scale equipment on the floor," Wolf said.  

The CBS-F6 solution is in compliance with pending changes to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements pertaining to SF6 gas monitoring. The EPA is adding additional regulations and asking utilities to document, report and reduce the amount of SF6 gas that is leaked into the environment. The new solution also allows users to reduce the environmental impact of SF6 gas in their breakers.

The CBS-F6 system provides accurate and safe remote monitoring of high-voltage equipment filled with the SF6 gas, including dead- and live-tank breakers, hybrid modules, gas-insulated switchgear or single-pressure power circuit breakers rated 38kV and above.

The CBS-F6 condition-based monitoring solution also helps prioritize managing a fleet assessment of SF6 breakers to determine corrective actions, thus vastly simplifying the accounting of a breaker’s SF6 usage.

This solution provides many unique advantages in the market, including wireless communications capacity, long life and reliability, remote interrogation and network integration. It also offers improved compatibility with ABB’s Asset Insight, a wireless monitoring system that collects data from the CBS-F6 solution to assess the health of the equipment.