HIGHVOLT receives order from Deutsches Museum in Munich
The Deutsches Museum in Munich has placed an order at HIGHVOLT – including a pulse voltage system. What seems strange at first glance has a highly exciting background.
Under the motto “Everything is science”, the Deutsches Museum in Munich presents the topics of science and technology in a comprehensive and unique way for its visitors. One of the absolute highlights and the number one visitor magnet is the high-voltage installation. For more than 70 years, it has amazed visitors from all over the world with various flashover experiments and impulse voltages of up to one million volts.
This complex and remarkable engineering system has been in operation since 1953 and is now being renovated. In addition to an extensive refurbishment of the building, a brand new system with many new details is being installed - this comes from HIGHVOLT.
The global market leader for high-voltage testing and measurement technology has been awarded the contract for the overall design and integration of the high-voltage demonstration system, including a Van de Graaff generator and two Tesla generators.
“For the restoration of the high-voltage demonstration system, HIGHVOLT is not only supplying a completely new impulse voltage generator including voltage divider up to 800,000 V, an AC transformer up to 300,000 V is also included in the scope of delivery. In addition, new control systems for the various high-voltage experiments (such as a tip-plate arrangement or a sliding discharge on a glass plate) are being added to the project along with comprehensive consulting services,” explains Uwe Flechtner, Head of the HIGHVOLT Project Center.
“Clean air” as a pioneering technology of the future
What makes this order particularly special is the AC transformer – which will be filled with “clean air” for the first time in this way and no longer with SF6 gas as an insulating material.
SF6 gas is considered extremely harmful to the climate if it is released into the environment. According to the current EU regulation, the insulating gas is to disappear from gas-insulated switchgear by 2032 at the latest (the date varies depending on the product and application or inventory). The “clean air” used by HIGHVOLT in the future consists of around 20 percent oxygen and 80 percent nitrogen, but requires a much higher pressure than SF6 gas for its insulating properties. The special feature and challenge for the HIGHVOLT engineers is to redesign the modules in order to meet the changed requirements.
“For HIGHVOLT, this is one of the first steps into a new, highly exciting world of testing technology, as a transformer with synthetic air as an insulating medium will now be used for the first time alongside oil- and SF6-insulated devices. With this project, we are entering directly into the voltage range of 300,000 V and see this as a test for a changing product mix, which will gradually accompany the global phase-out of SF6 over the next few years towards alternative insulating gases,” says Enrico Bilinski, Team Leader Transformers & Generators at HIGHVOLT.
High-voltage test facility closed for renovation
The corresponding section of the Deutsches Museum in Munich will remain closed from mid-2022 until the work is completed in 2028 to mark the 125th anniversary of the museum's founding. The renowned architectural firm Holzer Kobler Architekturen is involved in the renovation and conversion of the hall, with HIGHVOLT providing the exclusive project planning and technology.
