Photo: Hitachi ABB Power Grids
GERMANY — The Hitachi ABB Power Grids dry-type transformers factory in Brilon, Germany, is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Today's dry-type transformer factory was founded 100 years ago, in May 1921, as the pit lamp factory Dominitwerke. After selling miner lamps, the factory started producing small transformers.
The facility was taken over by Akkumulatoren-Fabrik in the early 1940s and the first high-voltage transformers were manufactured and delivered. In 1972, the Swedish electrical engineering company ASEA (Allänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget) took over the factory.
In 1988 the merger between ASEA and the Swiss BBC (Brown Bovery Company) took place. With this, the Brilon factory got transferred to the ABB group, where it developed into the global center for transformers. With the sale of the Power Grids division of the ABB Group to Hitachi, the transformer plant became part of Hitachi ABB Power Grids.
The Brilon factory is the birthplace of innovative transformer technology that enabled, for the first time, the manufacture of naturally cooled dry-type transformers that met the technical requirements. These transformers are made of epoxy resin reinforced with glass fiber, which gives them high short-circuit strength and protection against cracking, even under extreme operating conditions. The technology has proven itself for decades, especially in harsh environmental conditions and in areas that require a high level of reliability, the company said in a press release.
An expansion of the Brilon transformer factory is planned for the next few years.
"With the enlargement of the plant and the rescheduling of production, we will set new standards in terms of energy efficiency, sustainability, and productivity, as well as in terms of working conditions," concluded Kay Kruse, head of the dry-type transformer plant in Brilon.
Source: Hitachi ABB Power Grids
