Alabama Power Repairs Hot Splice In 8 Minutes and 23 seconds!
Following annual line surveys at Alabama Power, with the discovery of some hot (aged) splices found with IR Thermography, a decision was made to utilize the advantage of a helicopter to quickly and efficiently install ClampStar units over the hot splices to restore their electrical and mechanical integrity. An EHV Live-Line crew from Haverfield Aviation was brought in for the installations, along with some additional work installing some marker balls. A couple of the splices were located in areas where it would have required significant time and funding to access with a bucket truck.
The conductor was 1033.5 ACSR, and being energized at 230kV, corona shields were installed on the CSF-1302-048 ClampStar units. These were the first ClampStar units this particular crew had seen, and personnel from Classic Connectors, Inc., were on site to answer any questions the crew might have. The additional photos which follow show how easily the ClampStar units were installed. Complete with a very thorough conductor cleaning, Haverfield installed the CSF-1302-048, complete with corona shields, in 8 minutes and 23 seconds! A number of Alabama Power personnel on hand all had the same statement – “We should have been doing this for years!”