Case Study: Mining Controls Incorporated prevents transformer damage with SEL-587 relay event reports from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

Relay’s Event Reports Prevent Unnecessary Losses in Materials and Production

Mining Controls Incorporated, a custom manufacturer of electrical equipment for the mining and industrial markets in Beckley, West Virginia, needed a way to quickly determine whether a transformer trip during commissioning was caused by a relay issue or by an actual equipment fault. To support reliable power system protection and avoid unnecessary downtime or safety risks, the company used the SEL-587 Current Differential Relay from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL).

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) provided the SEL-587’s event-reporting and phasor-analysis capabilities, which clearly showed the transformer had a real phase-to-phase fault rather than a misadjusted relay. This let Mining Controls avoid random setting changes and likely prevented further transformer damage and an unnecessary restart, saving time, reducing the risk of catastrophic failure, and helping avoid production losses.

Mining Controls Incorporated

Jim Goble

Manager of Engineering