ACTOM, which exhibits every year in the popular three-day Enlit Africa Power & Energy conference & exhibition at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in mid-May, has been named this year’s winner of the best stand of the exhibition for the size of 36m2 and bigger.
This is a repeat of the group’s achievement of winning the same award at the show last year and is the third year in a row that it has been awarded a prize for its exhibition stand, as it won the “best engaging stand” award in the 2022 event.
ACTOM once again had a great variety of equipment and systems on display on the group exhibition stand this year.
Displays that excited great interest among visitors included a special presentation version of one of MV Switchgear’s 11kV RMV-brand ring main units (RMU’s), controlled by an automatic transfer switch.
This follows the recent development by the division of a switch to automatically transfer power via the main load break switch circuit to the generator backup load break switch circuit in the event of the mains supply being cut – typically when load-shedding occurs.
“The transfer switch ensures that power supply is automatically restored to the customer’s load as quickly as possible, using whichever power source on the incoming load break switches becomes available,” Rhett Kelly, MV Switchgear’s Design & Development Manager, points out.
The RMV on display is connected to an automatic transfer switch controller. The loss of mains supply and generator startup simulation is achieved.through a custom control and mimic panel designed and built by Johan Jordaan, MV Switchgear’s Technology Development Specialist.
Also on display by MV Switchgear was a GELPAG solid insulated switchgear (SIS) unit showing the internal construction and a fully screened SIS module. The switchgear was also connected to a remote SCADA display unit to demonstrate the ability to monitor and control it from a remote location.
Protection & Control (P&C) showcased their engineering capabilities with a display comprising multiple schemes in one: A SCADA/HMI scheme, a transformer protection scheme, a metering scheme, and interfacing MV Switchgear’s GELPAG into the panel.
“These are all visualised and controlled through the HMI, using substation communication based on the IEC 61850 standard, which sets the parameters for the integration of the schemes, while also providing for high-speed substation protection,” said Vincent Dreyer, P&C’s Protection Tendering & Business Development Representative.
Another exhibit on the ACTOM stand that caught the attention of many interested observers was Static Power’s COM10 110V 20A subtrack unit, which was specially fitted with a transparent Perspex top to provide visitors with a view of its inner workings.
This remote monitoring and alarm unit is connected to a controller to immediately alert plant operators for local alarms, SMS or e-mail whenever a fault occurs in the plant so that it can be attended to promptly.
Among other divisions that had special presentation versions of their products and systems on display to enable visitors to better understand the technologies involved were Distribution Transformers with a display model of an NECRT transformer, while Power Transformers featured its unique online condition monitoring system for transformers and also had on display a 3D model of a 250MVA 275/132/22kV autotransformer.
Focussing mainly on the customised industrial watertube boilers which it designs and produces for users in many parts of the world, John Thompson had a boiler holocube featured on the group stand showing a series of videos that provided 3D renderings of many of the components of these large and complex installations.
High Voltage Equipment had one of its well-known CTB 36 Plus Combi Circuit Breakers on show and Electrical Machines displayed two models of its popular low voltage motors, the LS7 premium efficiency motor and the QL3 aluminium motor, as well as an ARW gearbox.