What do robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, synaptic performance indicators (SPI), and machine learning (ML) have in common? In addition to being buzzwords for the reliability professional to throw around, the reliability world uses these terms to get practitioners to spend a lot of money on the shiny new thing. Sadly, too much of that money will be wasted by …

Large power transformers are widely used in the electrical grid, and interconnecting solar farms to the utility is one of their many applications. To control voltage variations throughout the day, an on-load tap changer (OLTC) is used to adjust the number of effective windings to match the utility’s voltage. Proper functionality of the OLTC requires a specific sequence of operations, …

Safety in high-voltage substations is the highest priority for all personnel involved, and regulations and laws require all objects to be grounded on both sides before any maintenance work is performed. Failure to ground the circuit breaker (CB) on both sides creates risk of induced high voltages and currents at the ungrounded terminal. Eliminating this risk improves the safety of …