POWER
MANUFACTURER - MERSEN
A GLOBAL EXPERT IN ELECTRICAL POWER AND ADVANCED MATERIALS FOR HIGH- TECH INDUSTRIES, MERSEN PLANS TO ROLL OUT ITS TEST LAB SERVICES TO MORE EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS… Forty years of safety tests across electrical systems
M ore than 90% of capacity at electrical engineering specialist Mersen’s test centre in Saint- Bonnet-de-Mure, near Lyon in France, is currently for in-house orders. But the global expert in electrical power and advanced materials plans to expand its offer to external customers. Established 40 years ago, the extensive test and research facilities span 1,600 square metres across four levels. Ludovic Derouen, High Power Tests Manager, said: “The lab is divided into two areas – a High Power Test Lab for current short circuit, EV, high di/dt bench and a second part including low voltage, environmental and mechanical labs.” Highly qualified experts conduct around 10,000 electric, dielectric, mechanical and environmental tests annually across 50 test benches, primarily on fuses and fuse gears including units protecting semiconductors, cables or motors. “We also test overall Mersen product lines such as laminated bus bars, surge protection devices, capacitors and some of the components manufactured by Mersen for trains,” said Ludovic. “For external customers, we also assist them in their test developments. For example, in the aerospace industry, Mersen also tests cables and power lines for potential use in electric aircraft drives and many other industries. “In the area of electric vehicles, we test pyrotechnic fuses, which are a kind
L-R: Test Lab Director Franck Sarrus and High Power Tests Manager Ludovic Derouen.
of hybrid fuse and current system component that insulate the battery of an electric car from the rest of the vehicle.” The High Power Test Lab tests the short-circuit properties, transient current withstand, switching on and off under voltage and in case of short circuits, as well as operation under fast current rise conditions with both alternating and direct current. Testing of short-circuit properties involves use of the centre’s extensive optical equipment, with high-speed cameras that can record up to 40,000 images per second. The Saint Bonnet Test Lab is equipped
with a total of five power platforms, which can generate a wide range of currents and voltages both in direct and alternating current. The Lab owns two capacitor benches, one specifically dedicated to electrical vehicle applications with very low inductance in hard climatic conditions (-40°C to 150°C) and a second dedicated to high-speed semiconductor protections up to 4 kV and 320 kA. In addition to current low voltage tests, based on AC/DC power supplies and cycling equipment, the Environmental and Low Voltage Test Lab is equipped with seven environmental climatic chambers for testing of components under extreme environmental conditions associated with cycling power supplies. Salt spray tests examine, for example, the behaviour of fuses in air with a high salt content such as in coastal areas. Lab Director Franck Sarrus is also responsible for Research & Development at Mersen in Europe, and internal customers are treated with the same independence and impartiality as external customers. https://ep.mersen.com/
Long-term tests are carried out on the 3MVA resistor bench in the Saint Bonnet test lab. Credit: Mersen
www.elecmagazine.com FOLLOW US ON:
IRELAND’S ELECTRICAL MAGAZINE | 27
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online