New Company

I've been a little busy lately changing companies, so I apoligize for not posting as often as I should.  :)

Some updates: I submitted my two blogs about the Smart Grid to a newsletter for one of the groups within the IEEE that I am a member.  It is the IEEE GOLD, Affinity group.  They published my one article back in their June 2011 edition.  The following is the link: http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/gold/gold_rush_june2011.pdf

Hopefully my second entry will be published in the March 2012 edition.

The Long Island Section of the IEEE will also be presenting an award to me at the end of March for "Outstanding Young Engineer"

As I mentioned, I changed companies.  Consulting tends to be very cyclical and with the struggling economy, it is even more so.  I chose to leave the consulting business and join a manufacturing company.  The new company manufactures Medium Voltage Switchgear, similar to the company I visited in February of last year, refer to my previous post "Factory Acceptance Test of 15kV Gear".

The new company is PACS Industries, Inc. with their headquarters in Bethpage, NY and their manufacturing facility in Mount Vernon, OH.  Their website is here:http://www.pacsindustries.com/

A picture of the manufactuing facility in Ohio is here:

So, in case you were wondering what we do at PACS, here is a little narrative.  We manufacture custom switchgear from 5kV to 38kV as well as some outdoor substation equipment up to 69kV.  This involves the preliminary design of physical drawings showing how the gear is to be laid out and the preliminay one-lines, three lines and DC Schematics.  These drawings are then approved or revised by the customer and then released for the assembly process to begin.  Typical gear takes about 20-22 weeks to complete.  I'll include some pictures in my next post.  We also have a line of Arc-Resistant switchgear.  Typical clients include: Metro-North, GE, Siemens, LIRR, and various other transportation, petro-chemical, and industrial clients, both domestically and aborad.  We have also recently provided gear for some wind farms throughout the country.  Basically anyone that requires a lot of power and is buying or will buy primary power from their utility is a potential customer.

It's kind of funny being on the manufacturing end now.  When I consulted I would develop the drawings that I now design switchgear off of.  The manufacturing end is a lot quicker of a cycle though.  When consulting, you see a project from the proposal stage, when the client only has a general idea of what they want.  When the project has gone through design it is finally clear what the whole job is, then it is constructed and it goes from concept to reality.  This whole process can take a few years if not longer.  On the manufacturing end, at PACS, everything is drawn and built within 26 weeks.  In that 26 weeks, so much happens that it is truly an amazing process.  As a project manager I am following the job until it leaves the factory.  This involves an extreme amount of information that needs to be relayed back and forth to the client and the shop floor.  This constant relaying and quick turn-around is what makes it so interesting though.  You have a defined goal and you can see it materialize, so at the end of the day, you've made something tangible.  I'm really happy I made the change and I hope the industry stays as busy as it is, if not busier.

Stay tuned for some switchgear related posts.

Smart Grid: Through Smart Meters, Can the Utility Control Your Appliances to Lower Peak Demand? Does the Smart Grid Yield Less Peak Power Production?

These two questions require similar background, so I decided to keep them in the same blog post.

To answer the first question (or debunk it), it is against the mission statement of most utilities to control your appliances during peak demand periods.  Their mission statements typically include some type of wording that states “to provide reliable electric service”.  But, this seems to be a big concern by many consumers.  They fear that if they allow the utility to install a smart meter, than the utility can control their power and appliances and therefore will not be providing them with reliable electric service. 

Why would the utility want to turn off your appliances in the first place?  Well, to meet the peak demand at certain times of year, utilities build what they call ‘Peaking Plants’.  These plants are expensive to build, run and operate, and are part of the reason electric rates in some areas, are high (rates are based on total yearly utility costs, averaged for the year and pro-rated among all customers plus a contingency figure).  If the utility can prevent turning a peaking plant on, they can make bigger profits, so it is to their advantage (if they were to disregard their mission statements) to be able to control a consumers appliances.  On the opposite side, the utility may not have a peaking plant to accommodate the peak load and may have to shed some load to prevent system failures, which actually lowers their profits.  In either case, the consumers would not be happy if the utility decided to turn off a consumer’s house, a/c or even washer, dryer or dishwasher to lower the peak demand. 

It appears that the utilities are aware of the ‘big brother’ concern and aside from contradicting their mission statements; they are not pursuing this line of control due to the public’s concerns.  They are leaving the option to the consumer through demand and TOU pricing.  This of course raises concerns on the utility end as to what to do if there is not enough power to go around or to prevent the need for a peaking plant, which brings us to the answer for the second question in the title.

Utilities are confident that implementing smart grid measures will lower the peak demand to the extent that some have even gotten rate cases passed that include smart meter implementation and demand pricing over peaking plant development.  I’ve seen statisitics that boast a median peak reduction of 14% to 18% using smart meters and dynamic pricing, so the theory behind it seems to hold out in reality.

The utility can control the smart meter by turning it on or off, but only if you are delinquent in paying your bill or the residence is empty, which eliminates the need for a utility truck and personnel to physically go to the location and disconnect the meter.  The smart meter also eliminates the need to read the meter as it will report electronically back to the utility.  These two activities, I would imagine, cost the utility a lot of money and by eliminating them, overhead costs would decrease, but peak power production remains the same.  So, to lower peak power production, you need to look at two things, the grid and the consumer. 

The consumer will lower their peak power through TOU or dynamic pricing (see my previous blog entry) but how does the grid affect peak power production?  Smart meters allow the utility to see exactly where power is needed and they can optimize the system to suit these loads.  Additional smart grid components report conditions back to the utility allowing them to adjust the system as well.  The smart grid components promote grid efficiency through decreases in line losses and conservation voltage reductions (CVRs) and result in a more efficient grid that requires less power. 

So, in summary, implementation of a smart grid, smart meters and TOU/dynamic pricing does yield less peak power production, which will spare the consumer from an unwarranted appliance schedule!

Smart Grid: Does a consumer save money with TOU (Time of Use) Pricing?

I've been reading articles and taking webinars lately about the smart grid and there is definitely a lot of information out there.  A lot of it is very interesting and there are definite pros and cons that seem to repeat both in the articles and then again in the comments by readers below the articles.  Their seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the smart grid and I’d like to discuss it in greater detail in a series of blog entries.

First of all, to define my bias, I must say that I am a proponent of change and am therefore all for the smart grid.  I feel that any change to the old electromechanical meter I have on the side of my house is for the best, as well as the antiquated flat rate based on time of year pricing my electric utility charges me.  Also, as a power engineering professional I have designed replacements of electromechanical relays and meters both on the utility and private client side with new microprocessor (think of computers and internet) based relays and meters and can see the advantages to both.  Additionally, the utilities will have better control over certain things like voltage sag and outage mitigation that will allow them to actually increase their system efficiency which will in turn require them to produce less power, burn less fossil fuel, etc.

For the first entry in the series, I’m going to discuss TOU pricing and whether it is fact or fiction that it will save the consumer money.

Does TOU (Time of Use) utility power pricing save the consumer money?

TOU is when the utility defines rate periods based on their projected peak power usage part of the day.  Say for example the peak power usage is between 10am and 6pm, they would charge a higher rate than between 6pm and 10am.  The utility can also add additional rate periods, like overnight or weekends as they see fit.  The rate on the off-peak period is a really low rate.  This type of pricing requires a digital meter that will log the power usage at certain times of day, so that they can bill you accordingly.  This is what I will refer to as the ‘smart meter’.  In one article, I’ve seen this compared to the way cell phone minutes are priced, but don’t expect to get discounts for mobile to mobile or for family plans.  

In theory and according to supply and demand economics, to save the consumer money, items such as large appliances should be turned on only after the price of power use has dropped.  This action is controlled by the consumer and with a change of consumer routine, may actually work.  I say ‘change of routine’ because I would imagine most people do what I do, or my wife does, which is turn the appliance on after it is filled; such as the dishwasher, the washing machine, the dryer or even the electric oven.  Some appliance companies are actually implementing this into their future products to work with smart meters, which will allow the appliance to turn on by itself when the rate drops based on a signal received from a smart meter.  This ‘change of routine’ will require getting used to and if properly managed can lower your electric bill.  After all, we did start turning lights off after we left rooms, right?

The following are my concerns, however.  During the summer there are certain things that I have to run during the higher rate periods such as my pool filter and the air-conditioner.  Will running these appliances drastically increase my electric bill?  I thought about this question for a while and I think I have a response, YES.  These two items, because they run for long periods of time, are huge power consumers and will be expensive to run in the high rate periods, which will definitely increase your bill.  The amount of time and power they consume during the high power rate periods can be adjusted, however.

A pool filter should be sized to re-circulate the entire contents of the pool within 10-12 hours.  Most of them are oversized and do in 8 hours, though.  Also, it only has to re-circulate the water once per day, so why not do it overnight, when the power is cheap!  I haven’t tried this, but I would imagine the water would get pretty dirty and the money saved on electric would probably go towards chemicals, but maybe not.  On another note, I’ve also seen a similar justification for changing to a two-speed filter pump.  If you put it on the lower speed and run it for 12 hours, it will do the same thing, but cost less money in power.  In math: normal speed=10A@120V, low speed =5A@120V.  Normal Speed =(10A*120V*8hours)/1000=9.6KWh, Low Speed=(5A*120V*12hours)/1000=7.2KWh, which is a savings of 25%.  Before doing this I would check that the filter and pump can accommodate the system head at the lower speed and still re-circulate the entire contents of the pool in less than 12 hours.  Some utilities even provide rebates for going to a two-speed or variable speed pump.  If you do this than maybe you can run a half or quarter cycle during the high rate period.

The thermostat on the air-conditioner could be changed (assumes central a/c) to a programmable type ($35), which will allow you to set the temperature higher when you’re not home or even during the higher power rate periods (if you can bare to be a little uncomfortable).  If it has more than one zone, maybe you can increase the temperature on the parts of the dwelling that are not in use during the higher rate periods (like the bedroom zone), and if it has variable speeds, maybe putting it on a lower fan speed during the high rate periods will help, see calculation and justification above in the pool fiter paragraph.

To sum this up, it seems that if handeled properly by the consumer they can save some money.  If they do nothing , their bill will go up.  The next question should be, is TOU pricing fair?  Well from a business standpoint, I'd say yes.  It's simple supply and demand economics in a capitalist society in which consumers are paying for a service (supply) and based on the consumer usage (demand), the power company is charging a publically disclosed rate.   From a consumer standpoint though, Its unfair that our routines will have to change through no action of our own. 

Factory Acceptance Test of 15kV Switchgear

I recently attended the factory acceptance test for 13.8kV medium voltage switchgear at Powercon’s facility in Severn, MD.  The gear is made of two identical line-ups that are both made of three mains and two ties (6 service feeders total).  We rigorously tested every control circuit, every interlock, and inspected it from top and bottom and I’m happy to say it passed with flying colors.  It is amazing to think that in just a few weeks this gear will go from the factory floor to some building where it will replace gear that has been there for 50 or more years, to sit there for another 50 or more years.  The new gear includes the same controls as the old gear with the addition of modern microprocessor based relays and meters that will allow trending and live voltage, current and KVA values via an interface to the building management system.  I can only imagine what technology the next switchgear will include.  The breakers in the new gear are also 300lbs lighter each and about ¾ the height of the old breakers.

The factory test included opening and closing the 10-1200A breakers which utilize 125VDC control voltage more than a dozen times each and to tell you the truth, I don’t think I could ever get tired of hearing the sound of the breakers open, close and charge.  The bang of the breaker opening and closing and the sound of the charging spring motor are unmistakable and definitely unforgettable.  I also enjoyed the sound the 1200A, 15kV bus makes when being hi-potted at 36kV for a minute at a time.  The steady sizzling sound makes your mouth water like you’re waiting for a steak to cook.  The potential for the bus to fail, (and in the back of your mind your hope that it does), also adds to the excitement.  Luckily (or unluckily) the bus didn’t fail which would have caused a large bang, a lot of smoke and about a month delay for shipping. 

When the client can afford it, factory tests, or even commissioning the gear after it is installed is the way to go.  This is not just hi-potting the bus, but making sure each relay works, testing the breakers and the control circuits.  It ensures that everything is built to the design and eliminates embarrassing defects that are found while the gear is in use.  Also, as the engineer of record it is nice to see your designed equipment operate as you designed it!

Medium Voltage Distribution: Deadbreak Elbow vs. Load break Elbow

As with all construction work and within life itself, safety should come first.  So remember safety in everything you do!

As you may or may not know, these devices are seperable splices and elbows used in the underground medium voltage electrical distribution industry to attach cables to equipment (such as a transformer or switch) and to attach cables together (splice) in man-holes.  A dead-break elbow requires the cable to be “dead” in order to be detached or attached and is typically rated for 600A.  A load break elbow can be attached or detached live or under “load” and is typically rated for 200A.  As you can see, one difference between them is the increased current rating of a dead break elbow, but there are various other differences as well.  For more information on the difference between this type of connection vs. the traditional splice, check back for the topic: Medium Voltage:  Hammerhead Splice vs. Traditional Splices.

 

Load Break Elbows:

A load break when used with a hot stick can be connected or disconnected under load, but can only be used with up to a 250kcmil cable.  At 100% insulation level, a 250kcmil is good for 345A in underground duct, so you would be de-rating your system anyway by using a 200A elbow with a 250kcmil cable, but they are still widely used due to the flexibility given to the distribution system at the equipment. 

Think about it…if you had a critical application where power disruptions were extremely costly and maintenance was required on up-stream equipment in, let’s say a non critical area, this product would be great.  You could disconnect the load without disturbing the critical portions, perform the maintenance and then reconnect it.  Just make sure to take safety precautions, making and breaking electrical connections under load is very dangerous.

The load break elbow is typically not used in man-holes, because it does not allow expansion like the dead break elbow.  The construction of the load break elbow does not allow it to be connected to other elbows, but the dead break does.

Dead Break Elbows:

A dead break or “hammerhead” can only be disconnected when not under load, this is because you need to actually unscrew a pin to detach it.  It would be pretty tough to unscrew the pin with a hot stick and the arc from the disconnected load, if under load, would be pretty substantial. 

A dead break allows an increased current rating (up to 600A) and can be used on basically all cable types.  At 100% insulation level a 750kcmil cable is rated 610A in underground duct.  When would you use a 750kcmil? In most non-utility cases you would design or install sets of 500kcmil or smaller if you needed more than one 500kcmil could handle.  Even from a 1200A breaker, two sets of 500kcmil per phase would be sufficient for distribution (about 1000A), if the load was even that high.  Most of the time you set the relays down to the actual load in order to limit the copper used.

A dead break when used in man-holes for splicing cables allows the flexibility of connecting more than two cables together as well as future expansion if required.  Say another building was added that needed power, you could just connect that building to the existing array of dead break elbows.  This also works great when temporary power is needed for construction or even if the circus is in town and they need medium voltage (it happens!).  They can pick up power from the man-hole with the dead break elbows or from a piece of equipment with dead break elbows.  I’ve heard that ships are now starting to use medium voltage shore power, I wonder what kind of connections they use. 

A dead break still provides flexibility during maintenance it just requires a brief outage to allow the splice to be broken.  This outage could be scheduled at an off-peak time or after ensuring that all back-up systems were already running and/or transferred to another source such as a generator.  I wouldn’t trust a UPS alone in this case unless it was connected to a second source of power like a generator.  The amount of time to disconnect the splice and coordinate the outage would cut it real close.

Deadbreak elbows are fairly large, so make sure to check the space restraints of the location you are installing them.  If you do run into a space problem, their are various other seperable splices on the market that may be suitable, check with the manufacturers.

Although I prefer Richards Manufacturing for these products (just my preference) they are also manufactured by ABB and Thomas and Betts (Elastimold) and they can be ordered with all sorts of accessories.  

Keywords: Hammerhead Splice, Dead Break Elbow, Load Break Elbow, Richards Manufacturing, Seperable Splices, Temporary medium voltage connections

About Me and this Blog

After graduating from Manhattan College in 2003 with a BSEE, and through the wonderful professional network that is the Boy Scouts of America, in which I am an Eagle Scout, I was hired as an Electrical Engineer in an engineering consulting firm on Long Island.  The company was LKB (Lockwood, Kessler and Bartlett, Inc).  The firm has many disciplines of engineering under one roof (Civil, Environmental, Structural, Mechanical, Plumbing and of course Electrical) so, although I was strictly an Electrical Engineer, I worked with and learned about the whole project by observing the work of the other disciplines while we worked together on multi-disciplined projects.  I don’t want to bore you with a sales pitch, so for more info on LKB, check out their website www.lkbinc.com.  During my time at LKB I learned a great deal about medium and high voltage power distribution, relay coordination and controls at substations and within buildings as well as low voltage (480V and 208V) power distribution and lighting. 

After four years at LKB, and shortly after getting married, I left LKB and went to Cosentini Associates, which is another engineering consulting firm, but in New York City.  My tenure there was short, but I learned an enormous amount about the fast-paced, MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) side of engineering as well as mechanical and plumbing engineering.  My role at Cosentini was as an Electrical Engineer within the Mission Critical Department, so I also learned a great deal about mission critical design.  This involves implementation of UPSs, Static Switches, Generators, and various forms of redundancy for both Power and Cooling typically found in data centers, stock trading floors, banks, retail stores, health care, etc.  To learn more about Cosentini Associates, visit their website at: http://www.cosentinimc.com/.

After my brief tenure at Cosentini (15 months), and shortly after graduating Long Island University – CW Post campus with an MBA (May 2008), I went back to LKB as the Project Manager for MEP and Power Systems.  I currently manage many of the power and MEP projects that we undertake from proposal to construction completion.  For a more complete description, check out my profile on Linkedin.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/robertschmid.  I’d also like to note that I am a Professional Engineer in NY, CT, NJ, and VA and a LEED AP^®.

My purpose for creating this blog is to discuss my experiences on projects and hopefully to educate a little.  I find that my team and I spend a lot of time researching new and old technologies for the various systems we design and specify in order to remain current, so I hope this blog can help someone, giving them all the information they need, or at least a step in the right direction.  From time to time I also hope to have guest bloggers, maybe of different engineering disciplines, to share their thoughts and experiences as well.  I also want to hear about everyone else’s experience and opinions about different design techniques and/or technologies. 

I hope you find this blog helpful and I welcome comments from other engineers as well as the curious browser who wants to know more.  If you read something and have a question or comment about a term used, want to suggest a topic, or whatever, please do not hesitate to comment on the post or e-mail me, rschmid@lkbinc.com.  Please remember to keep all posts clean and friendly.

Keywords:  Electrical Engineer, MEP Engineering, Mission Critical, LKB, Power Systems, High Voltage, Low Voltage