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WIKA is the world’s leader in pressure and temperature measurement products, manufacturing more than 43 million instruments annually worldwide. For SF6 gas instrumentation, WIKA has been a partner in the transmission and distribution (T&D) industry for more than 30 years, with an installed fleet in excess of one million units globally.

With a global presence in more than 75 countries, you will find us nearby wherever you are in the world.

WIKA’s SF6 gas Center of Excellence has a knowledge base that is second to none and unique in offering a complete product portfolio for servicing SF6 gas from the beginning to the end of its lifecycle.

The WIKA portfolio includes:

The company has its headquarters in Klingenberg in Germany, with branches in Dortmund and Suzhou, China.
WIKA deals with typical gas insulated substations (GIS).
  • SF6 gas instrumentation
  • SF6 gas leak tight connections
  • SF6 gas analysis
  • SF6 gas filling and handling
  • SF6 gas management

SF6 gas instrumentation: controlling the safe status of machines

SF6 gas excellence instrumentation consists of mechanical gauges, switches and transmitters. The purpose of the instruments is to provide accurate information of the actual status of the SF6 gas-filled equipment.

The instrument product line consists of:

  • Gas Density Indicators (GDI) – indication only
  • Gas Density Monitors (GDM) – indication and alarm switch points
  • Gas Density Switches (GDS) – alarm switch points
  • Gas Density Transmitters (GDT) – analogue or digital output signal
  • GDM and GDT Combinations – indication / alarm switch points and analogue or digital output signals

Accurate SF6 gas density readings are very important to ensure the safety of SF6 gas-filled compartments. If the gas density drops because of a leak, the isolation properties change and cause a hazard.

Preventing SF6 gas leaks

Our connection parts were designed to manage SF6 gas simply during filling and handling processes.

With self-sealing valves and couplings, the gas stays safely inside the compartments. The mounting or unmounting of the couplings is done without tools and seals perfectly.

In addition, emissions of SF6 gas into the atmosphere is avoided.

WIKA invented the combination valve to unify the fill and gauge port, with the possibility to calibrate the gas density monitor without demounting it. With this all-in-one valve solution, the risk of potential leaks is minimised. All SF6 gas valve parts are vibration-proof, compound free and hermetically sealed.

SF6 gas analysis: checking SF6 gas quality and tightness

This product line offers leak detectors, emission monitors and analysing instruments for SF6 gas.

The leak detector model GIR-10 is a portable infrared device to allow service personnel to pinpoint small SF6 leaks on-site in a range from 0ppm-2,000ppm. The high-sensitive IR-Leak monitors the 0ppm-50ppm range, covering the tightness-test application where the leak-rate of SF6-filled equipment is determined.

The proven non-dispersive infrared technology is not cross-sensitive to moisture or volatile organic compounds (VOC), making it ideal to find ‘real’ leakages.

The same technology is use for the indoor emission monitors for gas insulated substations GA35 and GA38. While the model GA35 only detects SF6 gas concentrations, the GA38 is able to monitor the oxygen concentration and the environmental levels of temperature and humidity.

The parameters defining the SF6 gas quality in electrical switchgear are in accordance with IEC & CIGRÉ guidelines. These are the SF6 purity, moisture content and the concentration of decomposition products. WIKA offers a variety of specialist products for testing these according to customer requirements.

The recently launched model GA11 is able to measure not only the three mandatory parameters purity, moisture and decomposition products, but also other substances such as hydro-fluoride. This rugged instrument is equipped with a pump-back function to return the test gas in order to avoid gas handling on-site.

Economical SF6 gas filling and handling

SF6 gas filling and handling is essential to achieve long-lasting equipment performance. WIKA developed gas processing units for SF6 gas OEM’s or servicing and maintenance requirements.

WIKA can supply filling and handling devices that are customised to the customers’ requirements.

Starting with a single portable gas transfer unit GTU-10, which allows recovery and filling of small SF6 gas compartments, the top-model GFU30 is able to do all sort of SF6 gas handling, recovery, purification and refilling with the highest flow rates.

Please contact us to discuss our SF6 gas solutions.