CuTS®
Cresatech CuTS® monitors grounding / earthing infrastructure on electricity substations for the changes that occur when grounding structure is damaged or being removed, providing notification of such change.
Electricity substation grounding is critical to safe operation of the site, yet to date, there has been no viable means of monitoring this essential system element. As a result, electricity operators are left unaware of grounding damage or removal which in turn, leaves sites in a dangerous condition, putting people, assets and service continuity at risk. The benefits from monitoring for damage, theft or degradation include:
- Enhances asset/site safety
- Electricity substations can cover a large area. Cresatech CuTS highlights the occurrence of a problem and its location for faster and safer resolution.
- Minimises outage risk thereby reducing engineering costs, asset damage, service failure and other financial losses.
- Automated monitoring reduces the frequency of manual inspection allowing better use of resources.
Cresatech CuTS® is a scalable solution designed for service environments where safety and service continuity are paramount.
CuTS® technology monitors grounding / earthing infrastructure for damage, theft and degradation, providing operating companies with immediate, accurate intelligence on asset status. The ability to provide data on the status of the grounding infrastructure enhances site safety, protecting staff and public from serious injury or death. The operational data also drives reduction in outage time and reduces costs
CuTS® monitors metallic infrastructure for change due to cutting/removal, damage or degradation. The CuTS® tamperproof module incorporates a unique and patented sensor that is sensitive to changes in impedance that result from the small changes in inductance when the grounding infrastructure changes physically. When the Cresatech monitor detects a change beyond pre-set and adjustable thresholds, the notification system activated. Edge computing applies filter intelligence and thresholds designed to ensure normal site operating conditions and other events do not result in false alarms.
The solution has been designed to manage non relevant spurious site conditions such as voltage changes, switching activity, fault conditions or electrical discharges.
Set up of the system for each application/ installation is achieved through simple tuning/ adjustment at installation via the CuTS® management interface. This management software provides tuning options, as well as enabling visibility of the monitoring of a site either locally or remotely.
Communication integration options
The unit includes an IoT / M2M modem which is used to communicate condition data and configure/manage the unit. The condition data is then analysed as part of a cloud based service. The data that results can then be utilized as discrete site status information and acted upon accordingly, or used to analyse alongside other infrastructure sensor sources, to enable pre-emptive maintenance and work scheduling.
- CuTS® system looks for changes in the monitored infrastructure inductance /impedance characteristics.
- Sensitive to small changes.
- Edge computing / Filter / thresholds applied – filters out transient events and fault conditions
- Alert verified before notification
- Managed via wireless or internal (Scada) connection
- Cresatech self diagnostic tamper & loss of power alerts
- Battery backup
- Notification of potential grounding infrastructure change both above and below ground, providing location to defined site zone
- Helps reduce potential safety risks for first responders, employees and public, from the results of site grounding damage, theft or disconnection.
- Has a role in Critical Infrastructure protection (CIP)
- Helps reduce service outage due to faster or pre-emptive repair
- Straightforward to install
- Permanent installation with low ongoing cost of life ownership
| FEATURE | BENEFIT |
| System is difficult to circumvent | Secure against knowledgeable theives |
| High impedance sensor input | Does not interfere with grounding integrity |
| Not susceptible to false alarms | Avoids unnecessary investigation time |
| Easy to install with no disconnections | Common deployment procedure across all sites |
| Designed for remote or city sites | Minimizes costs and maximizes operational gain from common deployment |
| Embedded lightning and surge protection | Ensures minimal failure due to storms and operational surge events |
