Text: Laboratory Manager Ph D Rolf Hegerberg
Photo: Stein Arne Bakken

SINTEF Energy Research has invested ten million kroner in extending and upgrading the electrotechnical laboratories (ETL) on Gløshaugen campus. The background is the strong demand for our services in connection with the electrification of Norwegian offshore facilities.

New products and applications
More and more electric power and equipment is planned to be installed on the seabed or downhole. This places stringent demands on materials and components, necessitating more R&D and testing and the use of modern laboratories. The traditional electric power industry is also developing new products and applications based on research and laboratory testing. 

More floor space
Two mezzanine floors have been built in part of the large high voltage hall in order to meet the increased demand for laboratory services. This has given 200 m2 of extra floor space that can be used for high voltage testing, materials testing or studies and other purposes. We have also upgraded a laboratory in the basement of our administrative office building where materials and components are exposed to hydrostatic pressure up to 500 bar and temperatures of up to 200 oC.

Shielded cells
In order to take measurements that are sensitive to noise, such as the detection of partial discharges and measurements of the conductivity characteristics of insulation materials, we have installed three shielded Faraday cells. These cells allow for more sensitive measurements and represent a substantial upgrading of our measurement technology facilities.

Construction work started in June 2007 and was completed in three months, but as usual there were some extras that had to be completed before the labs could be put in operation. . This was done early in 2008, and we are ready to serve an expanding market for such services.

Although the space is reduced in the high voltage lab, we still have the same floor area and the high voltage resources for AC, DC and impulse voltage as we had before the extension work. The limitations are the size of the test object, but we can still carry out most of the tests we have been asked to do by the market. A newly completed classification test on a 145 kV cable showed that the extension work has not had a negative effect on the noise level or the test facilities in the large hall.

Research Scientist Odd Lillevik assembling a pressure tank in one of the three new Faraday cells in the new part of the high voltage laboratory.