Hendrix announces vise top insulators and new construction standards improve reliability and durability for electrical utility company

You hear about it every day: the grid is evolving further and faster with each passing service hour. There are new methods for setting prices, new devices for tracking peak usage. In every aspect of its operation, from the way it collects information to the way it distributes electricity, the grid is getting "smarter."

However, there are other effective ways for a utility to "get smart" about its service, on the ground and out in the field. Many factors can affect a system's reliability, from employee training to the transformers, but oftentimes the best place to begin the evaluation of your system is with the physical lines themselves.

That's how Avista Utilities began their review in 2008. The company has worked in renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest since 1889, and now provides electric service to 361,000 customers and natural gas to 320,000 customers over a 30,000 square mile service territory. Their customers include business, industry, universities, and consumers in eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and parts of southern and eastern Oregon.

"We decided to undertake an overhaul and simplification of our overhead construction standards," explained John T. Dunlap, Senior Electrical Engineer at Avista, "We've had some of our networks for more than a century, and you don't stay in business that long without always working to meet your customers' energy needs more reliably and responsibly. We wanted to take a long look at our systems and see how we could reduce the number of necessary service calls and minimize failures."

Avista discovered that by combining fiberglass arms and Hendrix Vise top insulators they could improve reliability, reduce inventory, and simplify their overhead construction standards.

Analyzing the Findings
"One of the first conclusions we came to was that the weakest link in our system, the piece that had us out on service calls most often, was our wooden cross arms," said Dunlap. "The crossarm was almost always the first thing to fail on the distribution structures, and it resulted in most of our initial service calls. By replacing the wooden arms with fiberglass, we could eliminate a lot of those issues."

"Next, we realized that we could improve our wildlife protection through the elimination of double arms," continued Dunlap, "Here in the northwest, ospreys are common, and a lot of our service territory runs along the rivers and waters where they live. It's essential for their safety that we prevent them from nesting on our lines. That also helps ensure the reliability of our electric system by eliminating some power outages, electrocutions and fires caused from nests.

"Without double arms, we also save on the labor and supply costs of constructing nesting platforms and relocating nests." However, in order to eliminate double arms, Avista needed stronger crossarms for dead-ending, as well as stronger tangent arms and crossarm pins to withstand the tensions resulting from the necessary angles.

Lastly, Avista decided to replace their porcelain insulators with Hendrix Vise Top insulators. Hendrix Vise Top insulators incorporate a clamping mechanism into the top of the insulator to provide quick and easy conductor installation without the need for additional tie products.

Molded from a proprietary blend of gray, track resistant, high density polyethylene, they also offer higher impact, puncture, and UV resistance than porcelain alternatives.

"It's much quicker and easier to install than a tie-top insulator," explained Ken Woo, Director of Sales, Molded Products, at Hendrix Wire & Cable, "You don't need to purchase an additional tie to secure your conductor onto the insulator, and you don't need to train the folks who are performing the installation to use those ties. With these insulators, you just turn the bolt and install."

"In addition, the Vise Top can be used with all conductor types, bare or covered. It also conforms to the electrical and mechanical requirements of ANSI C29.5 and C29.6. It's much, much lighter than the equivalent porcelain product, and because it exceeds all the ANSI electrical and mechanical performance requirements, it'll perform a lot better as well."

The team at Avista was very impressed by the benefits of this product. "By using the Vise Top insulators, we were able to eliminate 40 different stock items," said Dunlap, "We can use one insulator for 35kV, and one for both 15kV and 25kV. Since the Vise Tops simply clamp on, we no longer need to purchase and stock a large amount of ties. We've gone

to Hendrix Vise Top insulators exclusively now, and our storekeepers are very happy. Not only does this keep our employees satisfied, it's also excellent for us from a cost management perspective, which is a benefit to customers."

Once Avista had identified these separate solutions and goals, they had to create a cohesive plan for integrating them into the existing system and future installations. This is where Hendrix came in.

Source: Hendrix