SCOPE T&M aims to be a major global player

“We would like to expand our products, services and market segments and going public in the process yet ensuring that we do not deviate from our guiding principle of providing simple solutions for difficult measurement,” forecasts Balasaheb Doiphode, CEO, SCOPE T&M Pvt. Ltd.
 Transformer is one of the most critical equipment in the entire power system. It’s like the heart of the substation. Hence it is very important to protect and maintain them. In an exclusive tête-à-tête with EPR, Balasaheb Doiphode talks on the various testing and diagnostic instruments available to assess the health of transformers. He also discusses the roadmap for his company in India.
Testing and measurement is an important area as far as power sector is concerned. Could you brief us on how SCOPE has become a trusted brand in this area in more than 30 countries?Continual or periodical assessment of healthiness of major power equipment is of paramount importance to ensure uptime of power system and to avoid expensive break-downs. The routine or diagnostic test and measurement (T&M) instruments help assess this healthiness.
SCOPE with its focus on T&M for power sector has emerged as a leading solution provider in this area over past 26 years. We are committed to offer products, services and unique solutions of the highest quality at right price through the process of close interactions with customer, incorporating latest and smart technological developments, continuous learning and improvement within company. Our products are developed or refined due to challenges thrown to us by our customers hence the end specifications are highly usable. We are now aggressively leveraging this strength with foreign customers as the testing requirements more or less remain similar. Consistent participation in leading global trade fairs including ones in Europe and USA had made these customers have a serious look at the solutions offered by us. Our ability make electronics work in hazardous switchyard environment up-to 765 kV had positioned us right at the top of the league.
What are the key areas that driving your growth?Adding new products which are required by same set of customers apart from continuously enhancing the capability and usability of existing products and expansion to new markets are helping us retain leadership position in T&M. This has been facilitated by significant investments in R&D and expansion of marketing team. Under the leadership of our Chairman Sanjay Kulkarni, we had diversified into protection business as well offering CRP, SAS, RTUs and SCADA. Our recent offering of controlled switching device for CBs is met with very encouraging response from customers. We also have a separate group company, ISOSCELES, focused on testing and commissioning (T&C) of new substations. In short time it had created new benchmarks in quality of T&C and completion of projects well ahead of time.
Being open to requirements of customer and providing uncompromising customer support had earned us customer trust which is at the root of our growth.
What significant role does transformer testing equipment play?Transformer is one of the most critical equipment in the entire power system. It’s like the heart of the substation. Hence it is very important to protect and maintain them. Various testing and diagnostic instruments are employed to assess the healthiness or condition of transformers. As the average age of power transformers in India is increasing and in some cases exceeding recommended life, the residual life assessment and residual life enhancement are becoming imperative for utilities to save huge capital costs involved in replacing them. This has further underlined the criticality of using right testing instruments.
Different online and offline testing instruments are used to check degradation in various components of transformer like paper insulation, oil, cores, windings, bushings, OLTC etc. Various factors like overloading, temperature rise, aging, electrical and mechanical shocks to assembly, shorts and looseness in windings and joints, electromechanical issues in OLTC, bushings, oil and paper insulation degradation, partial discharge affect the transformer health and thus life. It is required to detect them at incipient stage. Many times the results of multiple testing instruments are co-related to arrive at conclusion about probable defect in transformer. Some tests results are numerical but some are in the form of signature, which requires expertise to interpret.
The outcome of above will help Utilities plan for preventive maintenance and chalk out plan for replacement of transformer itself saving it from sudden accidents or break-down.
What are the key features of your transformer testing application?Out of various test instruments required for transformer, we offer transformer winding resistance meter with dynamic testing of OLTC. It helps to measure winding resistance of multiple windings quickly with temperature compensation and records signature of test current Vs time while changing tap position.
How are you upgrading the products technically?Technology in the field of electronics is changing rapidly. Smaller and energy efficient components, power supplies and subassemblies are getting developed. Next generation micro-controllers and surface mount devices are being used thereby making products smaller and lighter. At the same time more and more features are being incorporated to meet ever increasing demands from customers. This is possible for us as we have a core R&D team that continuously develops new technologies and product development team that incorporates them in existing products.
Continual improvement in quality, reliability and usability of products is achieved through technology enhancement and more importantly getting customer feedbacks and aligning products with their requirements. We also give attention to aesthetics, ergonomics and ruggedness of product.
We also upgrade the older instruments in field to latest level helping customers extract maximum from their initial investment.
Are you going to introduce any new product in this segment?We are aware that currently we are only offering couple of products for transformer testing like TRM and Controlled Switching Device for Transformer and Reactor CBs (which in-turn reduce the stress on them by switching them at zero voltage or current). We have plans for introducing our Transformer Turns Ratio Meter this year. In next couple of years we plan to launch Oil Break-down Voltage Tester, Insulation Tester and Capacitance and Tan-Delta Test Set. We also intend to develop on-line monitoring system for transformers.
Please update us about your long- and short-term objectives.In short-term we intend to increase our T&M range by doubling the number of generic products that we are offering. We will also be focusing on consolidating the areas in which we had recently diversified. 
In long-term we want to be a major player globally in the field of T&M, protection and substation automation and T&C. We would like to expand our products, services and market segments and going public in the process yet ensuring that we do not deviate from our guiding principle of providing simple solutions for difficult measurement.
Major features of TRM  High open circuit voltage of 50V quickly stabilises reading in highly inductive transformers upto 500 MVA,  765 kV class. Injects 25 A current in resistance as high as 800 milliohm. Lower currents for higher resistances. Automatic and quick back-emf discharge facility with LED indicator and message on LCD. Has three resistance, one test current and one temperature input channel. Stand-alone as well as PC controlled operation. Built-in display, memory, real time clock and printer % drop in current and transition time during OLTC tap change. Powerful operation, storage, analysis and report generation software.
Transformer testing procedureWinding Resistance MeasurementIsolate transformer from incoming and outgoing lines. No need to remove jumpers. Connect TRM to transformer bushings. Ensure that earthing connection, if any, is removed from neutral terminal of transformer. Select Stand-alone or PC Control mode. Do the tests set up like selection of current range, resistance channels, printing and storing intervals etc.Start Test. After stabilisation of current, display shows current and resistance values. Test results can be stored and downloaded to a PC, printed, viewed and organised using SCOPE’s CTrans software. Stop test. Transformer will be automatically discharged. Then remove connections and restore transformer.
OLTC Dynamic Testing The OLTC test facility is controlled through the CTrans software loaded in laptop. Isolate transformer from incoming and outgoing lines. No need to remove jumpers. Connect TRM to transformer bushings. Connect OLTC tap change control to TRM. Ensure that earthing connection, if any, is removed from neutral terminal of transformer. Select OLTC test mode. Select the operation cycle, Raise or Lower. Do the settings like current range, number of taps present in OLTC.Start test, after stabilisation of current, laptop display will show current and resistance values. Issue raise or lower command to OLTC through TRM. During the tap change, the high speed sampling will be automati¬cally triggered. The change in current with respect to time will be recorded. After completion of tap change the data is transferred to laptop. This current waveform is amplified properly to show the small variation in current during transition of tap. The software calculates and displays per cent drop in current and transition time. The data is stored and next tap change operation performed. Thus the data of all taps is captured and single report is generated.