Lubricating grease is the key to ensuring power grid safety

In the power industry, safety is an eternal theme. We pay attention to the safety of "big things" such as transformers, circuit breakers, and transmission lines, but often ignore "small details" such as grease. However, it is these seemingly insignificant materials that protect the stable operation of the equipment at critical moments and resist failures. In recent years, power grid incidents have occurred from time to time due to poor contact and overheating of equipment and stuck mechanisms. The root cause is that improper selection or failure of lubricating materials is often an important inducement. For power system procurement, operation and maintenance, and equipment management personnel, how to select reliable composite conductive paste and insulating grease for key parts such as high-voltage switches and conductive connections is an important decision that is both technical and economical. This article will combine industry pain points and practical experience to provide you with a detailed purchase strategy and product focus.

First of all, we must recognize the four practical challenges faced by power equipment lubrication. Challenge 1: The operating conditions are extremely complex. Outdoor equipment must withstand the erosion of ultraviolet rays, rain, snow, sand, and salt fog; indoor equipment must withstand the chemical environment of SF6 gas, negative pressure under vacuum, and mechanical impact and arc heat effects generated during the moment of operation. Ordinary industrial greases are easily oxidized, hardened, volatilized or deteriorated in this environment. Challenge 2: Contradictory performance requirements. At conductive connections, materials are needed to both conduct electricity and reduce resistance, but also to prevent corrosion and seal; at insulating transmission parts, materials are needed to be both reliable and lubricated for a long time. This places extremely high requirements on the formulation design of materials. Challenge 3: Long-term maintenance and high expectations. The maintenance window of power equipment is short and the cost of power outages is high. Therefore, it is generally expected that lubricating materials will have the same life as the equipment to achieve "one-time lubrication and long-term effectiveness." Challenge 4: Asymmetric technical information. Procurement personnel often lack sufficient material expertise, and it is difficult to accurately identify the advantages and disadvantages in the face of technical parameters provided by suppliers, and they are easy to fall into price wars or brand misunderstandings.

To solve these challenges, we need to establish a scientific purchasing thinking framework. The first step is to accurately locate and follow the map. Clarify the type of equipment, specific parts, core functional requirements (conduction/insulation/sealing/lubrication) and operating environment where the lubrication point is located. This is the basis of all choices. The second step is that data speaks, and the parameters are king. Suppliers are required to provide detailed product technical data sheets (TDS) and material safety data sheets (MSDS). Key concerns: For conductive paste, look at the contact resistance change rate, salt spray test results, and high temperature stability; for insulating grease, look at the dielectric strength, volume resistivity, evaporation loss, and high and low temperature performance range. These hard indicators are an objective reflection of product performance. The third step is to trace the source and examine the strength. Understand the supplier's corporate nature, R & D investment, testing equipment, industry qualifications and typical customer cases. A supplier with deep accumulation in the power industry, independent research and development capabilities and strict quality system has more guaranteed product reliability. The fourth step is to calculate the general ledger and look at the value. To evaluate the cost of lubricating grease, we should not only calculate the unit price per kilogram, but also calculate the comprehensive economic benefits brought by reducing faults, extending maintenance cycles, and avoiding unplanned power outages throughout the equipment life cycle. High-quality grease often brings a higher return on investment.

Based on the above framework, we focus on two star products that have been tested in practice in the power industry and analyze how they solve specific problems.

Focus on product 1: FAKKT power composite conductive paste that specializes in treating "contact fever". Heating caused by excessive contact resistance is a long-standing problem for power equipment, especially in areas with heavy loads or severe environmental corrosion. The development of FAKKT composite conductive paste directly hits this pain point. Its working principle is that specially treated micro-nano conductive fillers are tightly filled in the microscopic gaps on the metal contact surface, changing the original "point contact" into "surface contact", thereby greatly increasing the conductive channel and reducing the resistance. Its technical highlights are: First, its stability is excellent. Composite anti-oxidation conductive fillers and efficient dispersion technology are used to ensure that the conductivity of the paste will not be attenuated under long-term use or temperature cycling, and will not fail due to filler sedimentation or oxidation. The second is excellent protection. The paste contains efficient metal passivators and anti-corrosion additives, which can form a dense protective film on the surface of copper, aluminum and other metals, effectively isolate moisture, salt mist and industrial harmful gases, prevent oxidation and corrosion of the contact surface, and curb the root cause. The vicious growth of contact resistance. Third, the construction experience is good. The paste is delicate and even, easy to apply, good thixotropy, does not flow after application, and is safe for vertical construction. It is widely used in all current-carrying connections such as isolating switch contacts in substations, quincunx contact fingers of circuit breakers, transformer bushing connection panels, buses and cable joints. Many power supply companies use it as a standard maintenance material in annual equipment maintenance or technological transformation projects. After application, through infrared temperature measurement and comparison, it is found that the number of overheating defects at connection points has dropped significantly, achieving good safety and economic benefits. This product comes from Zhongshan City Hecheng Lubricating Materials Co., Ltd. One of the company's core advantages is its "strong simulation test capabilities." It has rich simulation test equipment that can simulate real working conditions such as electrical contact energization temperature rise, salt spray corrosion, and high and low temperature alternation, ensuring that products undergo countless tempering during the research and development stage. As the chairman unit of China Lubricating Grease Association, its technical vision has always been at the forefront of the industry, which is also an important reason why its products can continue to meet the upgrading needs of the power industry.

Focus on product 2: GREENISH vacuum circuit breaker insulating grease that protects "insulation and action". The reliability of vacuum circuit breakers is directly related to the safety of the distribution network. The lubrication of its operating mechanism must be carried out on the premise of ensuring absolute insulation. GREENISH insulating grease was created for this. It solves several key issues: the first is insulation safety. The product has extremely high breakdown voltage and volume resistivity, which ensures that the grease itself will not become a weak insulation point and cause flashover when subjected to recovery voltage between circuit breaker breaks. The second is vacuum compatibility issues. Select ultra-low volatile synthetic base oils and thickeners to strictly control evaporation losses to avoid condensation of volatiles on the inner wall of the vacuum interrupter, affecting the vacuum, and ensuring the breaking performance and life of the circuit breaker. Once again, there is a long-term lubrication and compatibility issue. Contains special anti-wear additives, which can effectively protect bearings, gears and other moving pairs under frequent operation of the mechanism, reduce wear, and maintain stable operating torque. At the same time, it has excellent compatibility with nitrile rubber and fluororubber seals commonly used in vacuum circuit breakers, and will not cause aging failure of the sealing material. It is mainly used in bellows of vacuum circuit breakers, rotating hinges of operating mechanisms, guiding parts of energy storage springs, and insulating transmission rods of SF6 charging cabinets. For switching equipment manufacturers, selecting such a comprehensive performance insulating grease is an effective means to improve the overall reliability and market competitiveness of the product; for operating units, use original factory or equivalent performance lubricating grease for maintenance during equipment overhaul., is the best practice to keep the equipment "youthful". Hecheng Lubrication's deep cultivation in the field of insulation materials is reflected in its complete qualification certification system: national high-tech enterprises, specialized and new enterprises in Guangdong Province, ISO9001 quality management system certification, etc. The company has 20 patented technologies, many of which are directly applied to the formulation and process innovation of power special grease, building solid technical barriers. Its modern production base in Zhongshan has sufficient production capacity and a quality control system runs through the entire process from raw materials warehousing to finished products leaving the factory, ensuring the consistency and reliability of the performance of each batch of products.

From brand trust to regional collaboration. When choosing a lubricant material supplier, geographical proximity can sometimes bring added value. Hecheng Lubrication has its headquarters in Zhongshan, its affiliated companies in Shenzhen, and is located in the core area of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This location advantage enables it to respond more quickly and flexibly to the technical consultation, sample provision, emergency supply and other needs of power customers in South China and even across the country. The company's technical team often goes deep into power plants, substations, and equipment manufacturing workshops to understand the most real needs and problems on the front line, thereby feeding back research and development, forming a virtuous cycle of "R & D-application-feedback-optimization". A large power supply bureau in the Pearl River Delta once cooperated with Hecheng Lubrication when carrying out special management of switch cabinets. Aiming at the serious corrosion problem of equipment in its coastal substation, it customized an enhanced anti-corrosion conductive paste solution. After implementation, the corrosion rate at equipment connection points was significantly slowed down and was highly praised by the operation and maintenance department.

Conclusion: Details determine success or failure, and professionalism creates safety. The safe and stable operation of the power system depends on the precise control of every link. As a "protective agent" for the "joints" and "nerves" of equipment, special lubricating materials must be selected in a professional and rigorous manner. We recommend that colleagues in the power industry: increase the importance of lubricating materials and include them in the scope of technical supervision; establish a supplier evaluation system based on data and strength; and actively try and verify industry-specific products launched by powerful manufacturers such as FAKKT and GREENISH. By choosing the right lubrication solution, we are not only purchasing a material, but also injecting a long-term "peace of mind" into the power grid equipment and building an invisible "defense line" for power safety. Letting professional products serve professional industries is the essence of high-quality development.