Modular DC test system GPM 20/1200 assembled for factory acceptance testing in the high-voltage test hall at HIGHVOLT. HIGHVOLT has reacted to changing market demands and has developed a series of compact, high-performance DC test systems which are suitable for use both in the laboratory and on site.

Dresden, 8 May 2015
This year's get-together was already the seventh colloquium organized by HIGHVOLT Prüftechnik Dresden GmbH as a platform for knowledge exchange on all aspects of high voltage and high current testing and measurement. The attendance of more than 200 experts from industry and research demonstrates the level of importance attached to high voltage testing in the power branch.

Central topics for the 2015 colloquium, which was chaired by HIGHVOLT technical director Thomas Steiner, were the new demands to be met by high-voltage test systems in the context of the so-called ‘energy transition’. Steiner is convinced that “the laying of long marine cables for the grid connections of offshore wind farms and the development of new high-performance transmission paths, also on land, will promote increasing use of DC technologies.” It was for him thus only logical that high-voltage DC transmission and the testing of components for DC systems should play such an important role on this year's agenda.

Particular attention was paid to transformer assessment. The possibilities for factory testing stood at the focus, but discussions also encompassed the stresses placed on grid-connected transformers, as well as the localization of faults.
 
Another key theme for the colloquium was the automation of test systems. “Our customers must react to international market pressures, for example by enhancing the efficiency of their production systems. And that naturally includes faster and more efficient testing,” says Thomas Steiner. “Here at HIGHVOLT, we are supporting this challenge with the development of more efficient and essentially automatic test systems. The latest highlight is our newly developed medium-voltage test system with static frequency converter, which functions fully automatically. It is used for the testing of distribution transformers.”

At the end of the colloquium, the majority of the participants took the opportunity to join a tour of the HIGHVOLT factory, and were thus able to gain a first-hand impression of both the latest developments and the on-going expansion of the manufacturing facilities.