In January 2023, NFPA 70B transitioned from the Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance to the Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance. The change became effective on January 16, 2023, when it was approved as an American National Standard by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). As NFPA 70B moves from a recommended practice to an enforceable standard, now is the time …
Transitioning from the year 2022 into 2023 not only turned the page on electrical equipment maintenance but also placed us into a whole new book altogether. Long-standing as a recommended practice, on January 16, 2023, NFPA 70B became the Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance. What does it mean, then, to change from a recommended practice to a standard? The NFPA …
This article presents a high-level overview of performing practical, functional checks and testing on digital substations using generic object-oriented system events (GOOSE) and sampled values (SV). The integration of renewable energy resources into the power system has created a pressing need for advanced technologies that can effectively monitor, protect, and control these assets. Digital substations, along with their associated technologies, …
Imagine attending a conference of the world’s leading scientists or engineers, all of them experts in their field, but communicating only in their native languages. While they may all be certified geniuses, their ability to work together to complete even simple tasks would be difficult, if not impossible. The power of each individual’s knowledge is vastly diminished due to the …
Ethernet is considered a fast, reliable, and scalable local area network (LAN) technology that has become predominant within electrical utility substations. Unlike information technology (IT) LANs, which are used to move general non-critical information, operational technology (OT) LANs carry information that is used to directly perform critical control functions such as tripping, blocking, and interlocks. To ensure that electrical utility …
The tsunami of funding stemming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) has the fiber optic industry in a frenzy, partially because sufficient workforce to build networks is lacking and supply chain problems are causing long delivery times for basic components like fiber optic cable. The need for broadband was brought to the forefront during the pandemic when work, …
Reclosers play an important role in distribution networks, where their primary role is to automatically reclose following a trip operation due to a fault. This ensures that power restoration causes only a momentary disruption to customers, rather than an extended outage. Over the years, distribution networks have been automated to enhance system performance. Network automation involves communication between the devices …
It was late in 2017 when the notice for the Second Draft meeting for the 2019 edition of NFPA 70B, Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance came out, and within the agenda was an item to discuss the 2023 edition. COVID-19 wasn’t even a thought for any of us. Social distancing, masking up, and quarantine were unheard of, and Teams/Zoom …
How hot is too hot? Motors and transformers have maximum operating conditions, but can I exceed those ratings on occasion and not damage the equipment? In my years as an electrical insulation application consultant, the most common questions posed by end users regard insulation thermal classes and what effect they have on machinery reliability and life expectancy. Many articles have …
The stator core of a rotating machine is composed of multiple stacked layers to minimize eddy current losses. A short between two or more layers leads to higher local eddy currents. This in turn can lead to local hot spots, which in a worst-case scenario can cause a partial core melt and eventually damage the machine. A ring flux (or …