One of many things I'm responsible at work for is a 500kVA diesel genset which I inherited via my predecessor. It isn't a particularly well-specified machine for the job it is doing - standby duty - but I'm toying with retrofitting a PMG in lieu of the bus-fed excitation to improve its...
https://news.sky.com/video/car-par-blaze-leaves-trail-of-destruction-11191692
Thankfully no lives lost in the fire itself.
Quite apart from the scale of the vehicle loss, I'm a little surprised by the severity of structural damage to the car park itself. The floor looks to have only a single...
Federal Electric was a British company which appears to have been established to manufacture a home-market version of the Federal Pacific Stab-Lok miniature circuit breaker design built to the legacy BS3871 standard. Federal Electric are no longer trading.
We still have a fairly large...
Could someone give me a quick sanity check?
One of our switchboards has a fairly complex old-school summation CT scheme feeding metering, and I need to remove a couple of circuits from the scheme. The scheme uses a number of summation CTs, each with multiple 5A primaries and a single 5A...
Question for those with experience of old British-manufactured oil-filled switchgear:
GEC supplied their BVRP17 series of oil circuit breakers in a number of guises. The two basic designs are a 400A / 800A type, and a 1200A type. Each of the two types has a number of variants with differences...
At a hypothetical plant with an extensive HV and LV private distribution system it has been noted that the overload protection for the distribution transformers are set 'a little on the high side'. At this plant a hypothetical electrical engineer is mildly concerned that the overload protection...
I'm involved in an ongoing discussion at work relating to the starting behaviour of two very similar motors, one wound for star connection at 400V, the other wound for delta connection at 400V. They are otherwise identical - same power output (30kW), same speed (4-pole), frame size (D200L), same...
A question for the North American guys who do lighting design -
We're using LED luminaires to replace our external lighting across a large industrial complex as the aging HPS fittings reach the end of their useful life. I've received a quotation from one of our suppliers offering a...
I got asked to give a second opinion on a motor which we have at our overhaul contractor's works. The machine is a form-wound 3300V 250kW type on a 355 frame. It suffered a failed DE bearing which cooked itself, hence it was removed from site and sent for overhaul. The stator was untouched...
I wonder if you guys would mind taking a look at thread338-365071 where I have a little problem with a cathodic protection system in a hazardous area which is causing DC current to pass to a remote susbstation earth (ground) electrode?
Don't reply here - keep things in one place! Thanks. :-)
Wasn't sure whether to post this question here or in the electrical area, so I will probably post a link to this question from there.
We have a legacy installation of large crude oil storage tanks which are equipped with motor-driven mixers located low in the wall of the tank designed to keep...
Wonder if one of the LV generator gurus might lend a hand?
I have a Newage tail end connected in series star configured for 415V / 50Hz and the SX-421 AVR is tapped on the mid-point of the series stator windings at 208V.
The SX-421 has independent excitation power and voltage sensing. One set...
Electrical engineer straying a little outside his field of expertise so bear with me. :-)
I've received a TQ regarding the type of isolation joints we would prefer to install on the pipework on a liquified gas storage facility. I'm familiar with the old-fashioned type of joint using an...
Have any of you who have been around for a little while ever come across a 3-brush dynamo, with two brushes carrying the main armature current and the third brush being used to regulate the field? I met one of these unusual machines today, bolted to the engine of a 1934 Rolls Royce after somehow...
The old Biccotest T273 unit I am familiar with appears to be out of production, so I'm looking for a modern equivalent to purchase. I'm considering a couple of possible instruments and wondering if any of you have operational experience with either of these types?
Megger BGFT battery ground...
For those who have an interest in the history of power generation, the 1911 book written by Charles Parsons was reprinted earlier this year. Who better to describe the machine than the man who invented it? [smile]
The Steam Turbine by Charles A. Parsons.
ISBN13: 9781107615090
Cambridge...
Alstom have issued an advisory notice for the MRTP01 and MRTP03 AC pilot wire protection relays which highlights a potential safety hazard which can occur under certain specific circumstances. Posted here for the benefit of anyone who Alstom have been unable to trace from their records...
I'm in the process of modifying an existing MV switchboard to convert a motor starter into a transformer feeder. I have a question regarding the metering scheme.
The original metering scheme is an electro-mechanical design and uses a number of summation CTs with multiple 5A primaries and a...
I recently rejected a switchboard going through factory test because of problems with ABB's MCCBs. I'm curious if anyone else is aware of a manufacturing problem? I'm unable to disclose everything because this is a 'live' problem where we are having some fairly concerned discussions with the...
