Tesla Lab: Your passport to success

Tesla Lab - Power Testing and Certification is an independent laboratory specialized in testing of LV switchgears, components and switchgear assemblies. Tesla Lab provides a wide range of equipment and experience in electrical, mechanical, climatic and functional tests for low voltage operating, control, safety and measuring equipment.

 

Recognised tests

Tesla Lab is accredited by the French accreditation body COFRAC (1) (Comité Français d'Accréditation). It is a member of the l'ASEFA (2) (Certification body for low voltage equipment) and of the LOVAG (3) (Low Voltage Agreement Group) and regularly works in partnership with the international certification bodies: KEMA, CEBEC, UL, CSA, ASTA, Lloyd's Register of Shipping, Bureau Véritas, BBJ-SEP, EZU, GOST-R, …

High-performance resources

3 test stations are available for checking:
• switch making and breaking capacities (overloads)
• conditional short-circuit characteristics (with protection)
• characteristics of short admissible duration short-circuits (1 second and 3 seconds)
• electrical endurances
• operating characteristics of protection systems (fuses, circuit breakers, …)
• links between different equipment

Platform 1

  

Platform 2

  

Platform 3
This platform is supplied by a HV/LV 1250 KVA transformer with:
available voltages: 250V, 440V, 550V, 660V, 725V, 1000V and 1100 V
available currents: 2500A/440V, 2000A/550V, 1500A/725V.		   Its power source is an alternator with:
nominal power: 4 MVA
instantaneous power: 20 MVA
Test characteristics: 30 kA/440V, 24 kA/525V.		   Its power source is an alternator with:
nominal power: 28 MVA
instantaneous power: 100 MVA
Test characteristics:
100 kA/440V, 80 kA/525V, 50 kA/725V
100 kA 1 second, 50 kA 3 seconds.

A service made to measure

Tesla Lab can relieve you of all the administrative steps involved in a large number of certification procedures. It will take care of the contacts with the certification bodies as well as monitoring the procedure through to the obtaining of the certificate.
A set of equipment and services is personally reserved for you to follow your tests in the best possible conditions:

  • camera for monitoring tests with supervisory screen
  • PC monitor giving results in real time
  • fully equipped room: telephone, computer sockets
  • video recording of tests
  •  provision of fuses
  • assistance with all your practical organisation: hotel, transport reservations, …

Complete tests

Temperature rise tests:

  

Environmental tests:

• three special temperature-rise rooms allow rises in temperature to be measured on the electrical equipment using 72 thermocouples and two central read-out stations
• the currents available can reach 6000A in direct or alternative current

• the temperature-rise rooms also allow power dissipation to be calculated.

  

• tests in dry or humid atmospheres (from -20°C to +180°C)
• cyclical temperature or humidity variation tests

• storage tests up to -40°C
• cyclical or resonance sinusoidal vibration
• tests thermal derating tests.

 

Dielectric tests:

  

Tests in direct current :
• shockwave 1.2 µs, peak voltage up to 30 KV
• test at 50 Hz, 1 minute, voltage of 1 to 20 KV		   A 3-phase bridge rectifier supplied by one of the 3 platforms allows the carrying out of tests in direct current

Mechanical tests:

  

Tests on insulation:

• mechanical durability of electrical equipment tests
• bending and tensile tests on equipment terminals

• tensile or compression tests up to 20 000 N.

   • extinguishability tests with glowing wire up to 960°C

 

(1) COFRAC
(Comité Français d'Accréditation) French accreditation body. (Scope of accreditation available on request). Set up in 1994 by the public authorities, the COFRAC provides a means for the laboratories and organisations it accredits to prove their competence and impartiality. Thus it offers companies, consumers and the public authorities a real guarantee of confidence in the services offered by the accredited organisations.

(2) ASEFA
(Certification body for low voltage equipment) Created in 1973, the ASEFA is an independent certification organisation. It makes available to its clients test platforms that today represent the most powerful means in the world in short-circuit capacity.
The ASEFA has an independent structure. Platforms linked to the ASEFA by a charter, are accredted by the COFRAC in order to guarantee ultra high performance know-how, absolute neutrality and the total confidentiality of the results.
The ASEFA offers 23 platforms belonging to its 9 members (ABB, FERRAZ, LCIE, SOCOMEC, SCHNEIDER, GE Power Control France, LEGRAND, CEGELEC, ENTRELEC).

(3) LOVAG
In a European framework, the EOTC (European Organisation for Testing and Certification) has recognised an agreement group, the LOVAG (Low Voltage Agreement Group) to deal with the mutual recognition of certifications between the ACAE and CESI (Italy), ALPHA (Germany), ASEFA (France), CEBEC (Belgium), KEMA (Netherlands), SEMKO (Sweden), FIMKO (Finland) and ASTA (Great Britain), which are similar organisations. This mutual recognition offers openings at international level.