Thumper truck demo - How EPCOR finds cable faults

Описание: EPCOR crews demonstrate how they use a thumper truck to find cable faults. Get ready -- The bang might make you jump a few feet!

A cable fault is when the insulation of a power cable deteriorates enough that it’s no longer able to contain the voltage, causing a short. Basically, it’s a hole, or a crack, burning through the cable.

A two-man crew uses a special vehicle — the only one in the EPCOR fleet — called a fault locator truck (a.k.a. the “thumper truck”) to pinpoint where a cable fault is underground:

1. The problem cable is isolated, to ensure crews are safe and the fewest customers possible are affected.
2. The crew connects the truck to the faulted cable and performs a series of pretests to help pinpoint the location of the fault.
3. The truck sends a high voltage pulse down the length of the cable.
4. The current travels along the length of the cable until the point where it’s faulted. Once it reaches that point, the electricity jumps to ground, creating an audible thump. Meanwhile, a crew member walks along with a wand-like device and headphones, listening for the thumping and watching for activity on the attached monitor.
5. Once the crew member finds the location of the thumping, the cable is dug up and the repair is made.

Pretty neat.