Electrotek to Complete Project for CEATI:
Electrotek has been awarded a contract from CEATI International entitled Enhancements to the Web-based Power Quality Database (Project 5143D). The principal benefit of this project will be a number of enhancements to the web-based power quality database (Project 5143), including signature waveforms, representative case studies, and several educational reference documents. The project website allows PQIG members to share practical information regarding analyzing and solving many common power quality problems. For more information regarding this project or the PQIG, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or Mr. Guillaume Paradis (PQIG Program Manager) at guillaume.paradis@ceati.com.
Electrotek Completes Application Guide for CEATI:
Electrotek recently completed the CEATI International project Practical Guidelines for Evaluating Harmonics on Utility and Customer Systems (Project 5150). The objective of the project was to develop an application guide that provides utility distribution engineers with a summary of the power quality problems associated with common power system harmonics. The report includes methods for identifying these problems, determining their impact on utility and customer systems, and applying common solutions. The guide includes relevant standards information and representative waveforms and case studies regarding many of the common harmonics that occur on the electric power system. For more information, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or Mr. Guillaume Paradis (PQIG Program Manager) at guillaume.paradis@ceati.com or visit CEATI International at http://www.ceati.com/publication-details?publicationid=6095 (info@ceati.com).
Electrotek Hires Andy Sanford to Architect Monitoring Applications for Electric Power Systems:
Electrotek Concepts®, a subsidiary of the Global Power Technology (GPT), has hired Andrew Sanford to the newly created position of software architect. Mr. Sanford brings seventeen years of experience in architecting and developing enterprise-level and various other software application systems.
Prior to joining Electrotek in August, Andrew served as a software architect with Sensitech®, which is a business unit of Carrier Corporation. With Sensitech he completed a rearchitecture of Sensitech’s enterprise-scale cold chain visibility information system into a globalized and localized, multitiered, multi-tenant, highly-available web-enabled SaaS / S+S solution that utilizes secure XML web services (WS-Security) and supports secure offline windows-forms based smart client behavior. Prior to Sensitech, Andrew worked at Brooks Automation, where he designed and developed robotic/machine control & supervisory software for use in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Mr. Sanford has extensive experience in developing C++ and C#/.NET applications.
According to Joseph Gonzalez-Rivas, President of Electrotek Concepts, "We are excited about Andy joining the Electrotek team which is focused on developing new applications on the existing and next-generation PQView® and PQWeb® platforms in order to meet our customers needs." PQView and PQWeb are the leading software applications worldwide for integrating, managing, and analyzing power system monitoring data from power quality monitors, microprocessor relays, digital fault recorders, historian, and SCADA systems. Current applications of PQView include power systems fault analysis, fault location, automated power quality and reliability reporting, and power quality standards compliance. PQView and PQWeb also form the heart of Electrotek’s web-based PowerMonitoring.com service, which is a web-based power quality and reliability monitoring and notification system with clients worldwide.
The PQView system integrates a wide variety of proprietary monitoring equipment and power systems modeling applications and supports both the COMTRADE and PQDIF standards specified by IEEE. Information on PQView, the PQView Users Group, and other power systems monitoring activities at Electrotek can be found at www.electrotek.com and www.pqview.com.
In conjunction with hiring Mr. Sanford, Electrotek has moved its Massachusetts office to larger space at 900 Cummings Center, Suite 408U in Beverly, Massachusetts 01915-6177.
Electrotek Partners with OSIsoft:
Electrotek is now a partner with OSIsoft® in developing software applications that are designed to work with OSIsoft products. At present, PQView can be integrated with an OSIsoft PI System® using PI OLEDB Provider and/or PI SDK. The functions that are currently supported include importing measurements from a PI System server to a PQView database, exporting measurements from a PQView database to a PI System server, and correlating SCADA operations stored in a PI server with power quality and fault events stored in a PQView database. For pricing and availability for the optional data handler that enables PQView to interface with PI, send an inquiry to pqview@electrotek.com. For more information, please visit http://www.electrotek.com/pi/.
Electrotek to Complete Projects for CEATI:
Electrotek has been awarded several contracts from the Center for Energy Advancement through Technical Innovation (CEATI International, www.ceati.com), including the Power Quality Case Study Library application guide (Project 5143C) and the Establishment of a Web-Based Database of Common Power Quality Problems and Effective Mitigation Solutions (Project 5143B). These projects are for the CEATI Power Quality Interest Group (PQIG), which is comprised of 16 utilities worldwide. The unique aspect of the case study application guide is that it will consist solely of power quality case studies using data provided by PQIG participants. The objective of the database project is to complete a number of tasks in support of the new PQIG web-based power quality database. For more information on these projects or the PQIG, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or Mr. Guillaume Paradis (PQIG Program Manager) at guillaume.paradis@ceati.com.
Electrotek Completes Application Guide for CEATI:
Electrotek recently completed the CEATI International project Impact of Utility Voltage Variations on Customer Systems (Project 5141). The objective of the project was to develop an application guide that provides utility distribution engineers with a summary of the voltage variation events that negatively affect utility and customer systems. The guide includes relevant standards-related information and representative waveforms for many of the common voltage variations that occur on the electric power system. This report includes a summary of voltage variations and commonly applied methods for reducing their effect on utility and customer power systems. For more information, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or visit CEATI International at http://www.ceati.com/pdetails.php?id=6042 (info@ceati.com).
Electrotek to Complete Application Guide for CEATI:
Electrotek has been awarded a contract from the Center for Energy Advancement through Technical Innovation (CEATI International, www.ceati.com), to complete the Practical Guidelines for Evaluating Harmonics on Utility and Customer Systems application guide (Project 5150) for the CEATI Power Quality Interest Group (PQIG), which is comprised of 16 utilities worldwide. The guide will provide utility engineers with a summary of the power quality problems associated with common power system harmonics. Methods for identifying these problems, determining their impact on utility and customer systems, and applying common solutions will be provided. The guide will include relevant standards information and representative waveforms and case studies regarding many of the common harmonics that occur on the electric power system. For more information on this project or the PQIG, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or Mr. Guillaume Paradis (PQIG Program Manager) at guillaume.paradis@ceati.com.
Electrotek Completes New PQView Website:
Electrotek is pleased to announce that PQView has an entirely new web site at http://www.pqview.com. In addition to being the Internet location for downloading PQView® and PQWeb® updates, you can find installation guides, user manuals, sample data, sample databases, database scripts, and Microsoft® Access runtime versions. In addition, you will find online discussion pages, a frequently asked questions database, newsletters, technical notes, and a PQView.com search engine. Overview information about PQView, PQWeb, data sources, and system requirements are also available. For more information, please visit http://www.pqview.com.
Electrotek to Complete Application Guide for CEATI:
Electrotek has been awarded a contract from the Center for Energy Advancement through Technical Innovation (CEATI International), to complete the Impact of Utility Voltage Variations on Customer Systems application guide (Project 5141) for the CEATI Power Quality Interest Group (PQIG), which is comprised of 16 utilities worldwide. The guide will provide utility distribution engineers with a summary of the voltage variations events that negatively affect utility and customer systems. Methods for identifying related problems, determining their impact on end-users, and applying common solutions will be provided. The guide will include relevant standards-related information, example waveforms for many common voltage variation events, and a number of representative case studies. For more information on this project or the PQIG, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or visit CEATI at http://www.ceati.com/PQIG.php (info@ceati.com).
Electrotek Completes Application Guide for CEATI:
Electrotek recently completed the CEATI International, Inc. (CEATI) project Practical Guidelines for Evaluating the Impact of Transients on Utility Customers (Project 5138). The objective of this project was to develop an application guide that provides a review of the power system transient phenomena that can negatively affect utility and customer systems. The guide includes relevant standards-related information and representative waveforms for many of the common transients that occur on the electric power system. This report provides utility distribution and power quality engineers with a summary of power system transients and commonly applied methods for reducing their effect on utility and customer power systems. For more information, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or visit CEATI at http://www.ceati.com/pdetails.php?id=5957.
Electrotek Completes Application Guide for CEATI:
Electrotek recently completed the CEATI International, Inc. (CEATI) project Monitoring and Analysis of Power Quality Problems Associated with Distribution Capacitor Banks (Project 5133). The objective of this project was to develop an application guide that provides design, operation, simulation, and performance monitoring guidelines for assessing distribution capacitor banks and their effect on customer power quality. This report provides utility distribution engineers with a summary of the most significant power quality problems associated with the application of utility distribution capacitor banks. For more information, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or visit CEATI at http://www.ceati.com/pdetails.php?id=5925.
Electrotek to Complete Application Guide for CEATI:
Electrotek has been awarded a contract from CEATI International, Inc. (CEATI) to complete the Practical Guidelines for Evaluating the Impact of Transients on Utility Customers application guide (Project 5138) for the CEATI Power Quality Interest Group (PQIG), which is comprised of 16 utilities world-wide. The guide will provide utility distribution engineers with a summary of the power system transient events that negatively affect utility and customer systems. Methods for identifying transient-related problems, determining their impact on end-users, and applying common solutions will be provided. The guide will include relevant standards-related information, example waveforms for many common transient events, and a number of representative case studies. For more information on this project or the PQIG, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com or visit CEATI at http://www.ceati.com/PQIG.php (info@ceati.com).
Electrotek to Teach MidAmerican Energy PQ Seminars:
Electrotek will present a seminar on solving power quality problems that will be hosted by MidAmerican Energy. The seminar is scheduled for May 8, 2007 in Fort Dodge, Iowa and will be repeated on May 9 in Sioux City. The courses will focus on end-user power quality problems and case histories on how to solve them. For more information, please contact Dave Mueller at dave@electrotek.com.
Electrotek to Present Technical Paper at Georgia Tech Conference:
Electrotek will present the paper Common Power Quality Waveform Signatures Using IEEE COMTRADE and PQDIF at the Georgia Tech 10th Annual Fault and Disturbance Analysis Conference to be held April 30 - May 1, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia. The paper will present a collection of representative waveforms for various power system fault and power quality events, such as voltage sags, momentary interruptions, harmonics, capacitor switching transients, and ferroresonance. The waveforms will be represented using standard categories and the COMTRADE and PQDIF data interchange formats. For more information, please visit the Georgia Tech conference website.
GMC-I Gossen-Metrawatt Acquires Dranetz-BMI / Daytronic Corp. / Electrotek Concepts:
Edison, NJ - January 4, 2007 – The Board of Directors for WPT, Inc. has formally announced the sale of Dranetz-BMI, Daytronic Corp., and Electrotek Concepts to Gossen-Metrawatt (GMC-I), of Nuremberg, Germany.
This acquisition assists GMC-I in securing a broad presence and strong sales channel into the Americas. Coupled with an existing broad product offering, the addition of Dranetz-BMI Power Quality Instruments gives Gossen-Metrawatt a comprehensive electrical product line backed by strong, global sales channels.
According to Joseph Gonzalez-Rivas, President/CEO of the newly formed US company, Global Power Technology, Inc., “This acquisition represents a great day for Dranetz-BMI, Daytronic, and Electrotek Concepts. The partnership with GMC-I will expand our already extensive product and service offering to better serve our customers and meet the markets growing needs for electrical test equipment.” For more information, please contact sales@dranetz.com.
GMC–I Gossen-Metrawatt, headquartered in Nuremberg Germany – with manufacturing and sales offices across Europe, is well known for offering a broad spectrum of products and services, including consulting, project engineering, products, and training to their customers. This consistent alignment with their customers has positioned them as a worldwide market leader for more than 100 years. For more information regarding Gossen-Metrawatt, please visit http://www.gossenmetrawatt.com/default.htm.
Electrotek to Teach Seminar at Electric West 2007:
Dave Mueller will be teaching the Professional Advancement Course Troubleshooting and Solving Power Quality Problems at the Electric West 2007 conference in February in Long Beach, California. For more information, please visit http://electricshow.com/west/conference/troubleshooting_solving_power_quality_problems/.
Electrotek Adds New PQSoft Service:
Electrotek has added a new PQSoft (http://www.pqsoft.com/) service for 2007. The Power Quality Measurements Analysis Service provides expert investigation of power quality measurements. Users send monitoring results to Electrotek that are analyzed for their content and recommendations are provided in a brief summary report. For more information, please visit http://www.pqsoft.com/ or contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com.
Electrotek to Teach Seminars at PowerSystems World:
Dave Mueller will be teaching the Professional Advancement Courses Troubleshooting and Solving Power Quality Problems and Measuring Power Quality – Understanding the Results at the PowerSystems World/Power Quality conference in October in Long Beach, California. For more information regarding these courses, please visit http://home.powerquality.com/conference/Measuring_Power_Quality_Understanding_Results/ and http://home.powerquality.com/conference/troubleshooting_solving/.
NRECA Power Quality Signature Database:
Electrotek completed the Power Quality Signature Database project for the Cooperative Research Network of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The database provides co-ops with an easy-to-use wizard and reference guide to help diagnose power quality problems on distribution systems. The report includes more than 100 representative waveforms for various events, including voltage sags, momentary interruptions, voltage swells, harmonics, capacitor switching transients, transformer energizing transients, ferroresonance, etc. The waveforms are grouped by the categories provided in IEEE Std. 1159, and the raw data files for each waveform are included in the IEEE PQDIF and COMTRADE formats. These files can easily be viewed using Electrotek's free TOP, The Output Processor program. The report is available to CRN members. For more information, please visit the CRN website.
TOP, The Output Processor, Achieves Significant Milestone in Usage:
Electrotek is pleased to announce that its TOP data visualization and simulation software recently surpassed 10,000 downloads. This milestone demonstrates that the software product, initially distributed in 1984 and offered as a free download since November, 1998 is widely used by power professionals seeking to better understand and interpret monitoring data. The program is used primarily by utility, university and industrial engineers, as well as students for viewing simulation and measurement data. Data also shows that more than 75% of those downloading the program had not used TOP previously. For more information or to download TOP, please visit http://www.pqsoft.com/top/.
Electrotek to Complete Application Guide for CEATI:
Electrotek was awarded a contract from CEATI International, Inc. (CEATI) to complete the Monitoring and Analysis of Power Quality Problems Associated with Distribution Capacitor Banks Application Guide (Project 5133). This guide will provide design, application, simulation, and performance monitoring guidelines for assessing the application of distribution capacitor banks and their impact on customer power quality. Specific power quality problems will include capacitor switching transients and power system harmonics. Methods for identifying these problems, determining their impact on utility and customer systems, and developing solutions will be provided. A number of case studies related to common power quality and operational problems will be included in the guide. For more information, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com.
Electrotek Completes SuperHarm Training in China:
Electrotek recently completed one-week of training for six engineers from Guangdong Power Grid Power Test & Research Institute. The training included formal training using the SuperHarm Case Study Workbook. The session also explored a some aspects with the operation of a HVDC system causing harmonics problems. The training was done at their facility in Guangzhou, China. For more information, please contact Dave Mueller at dave@electrotek.com.
Electrotek to Teach MidAmerican Energy PQ Seminars:
Electrotek will present a seminar on solving power quality problems that will be hosted by MidAmerican Energy. The seminar is scheduled for May 10 in Carroll, Iowa and will be repeated on May 11 in Iowa City. The courses will focus on end-user power quality problems and case histories on how to solve them. For more information, please contact Dave Mueller at dave@electrotek.com.
Electrotek Engineer Chairs New IEEE Working Group:
Dave Mueller has agreed to chair the “IEEE Working Group on Power Quality Solutions”. The scope of these activities includes solutions to power quality at transmission and distribution voltage levels, as well as evaluation of electric power system compatibility with electronic process equipment. The activities will include task forces for 1) IEEE 1346 “Recommended Practice for Evaluating Electric Power System Compatibility with Electronic Process Equipment” (possible revision): and 2) P1409 “Distribution Custom Power” and 3) “Low Voltage Power Quality Solutions”. For more information, please contact Dave Mueller at dave@electrotek.com.
Electrotek to Study Outrush Reactor TRVs for FirstEnergy:
Electrotek has been awarded a contract to study transient recovery voltages during faults on an outrush reactor installed on a 138kV capacitor bank on the FirstEnergy system. The project will include the development of a transient model of the system using PSCAD and an evaluation of transient recovery voltages for various reactor faults during normal and contingency conditions. The study will include simulating additional capacitance at the reactor terminals to reduce the severity of the recovery voltages during breaker operations. For more information, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com.
KEPCO Attends Advanced Power Quality Training Courses at Electrotek:
Two engineers from Korean Electric Power Company (KEPCO), Jeong Sungook and Um Hyungil, traveled to Electrotek’s training facility in Knoxville, Tennessee for three weeks of advanced power quality training. The subjects covered included distribution power quality, voltage sags, harmonics, power conditioning, measurements and monitoring, transients, and power system modeling. For more information, please contact Dave Mueller at dave@electrotek.com.
Harmonic Study for a Transmission System Capacitor Bank Installation:
FirstEnergy has contracted Electrotek to complete a harmonic investigation of a new 138kV capacitor bank installation at their Maclean Substation. The project includes capturing some spot harmonic measurements, modeling the system using SuperHarm, analyzing resonance concerns, modeling harmonic source characteristics and determining if any mitigation is necessary. For more information, please contact Dave Mueller at dave@electrotek.com.
Electrotek to Study Capacitor Applications for FirstEnergy:
FirstEnergy has contracted Electrotek to complete a transient investigation of a new 138kV capacitor bank installation at their Maclean Substation. The study will involve using PSCAD to analyze transient overvoltages and overcurrents during capacitor bank switching. The effectiveness of pre-insertion resistors/inductors and synchronous closing control, the potential for voltage magnification, and nuisance tripping of sensitive power electronic loads on customer systems will all be evaluated. For more information, please contact Tom Grebe at tgrebe@electrotek.com.
Electrotek Investigates Data Center Power Supply Failures:
Electrotek has been asked several times to investigate power supply unit (PSU) failures at hospitals, communication centers, and data centers. Key to these investigations has been to evaluate the failure modes of the units and to evaluate the main utility power supply characteristics at these sites. For more information, please contact Dave Mueller at dave@electrotek.com.
Electrotek Investigates Data Center Design Issues:
Electrotek has been working on design issues with data centers. One investigation was to determine the neutral-ground voltage to be expected on a four-wire system with power-factor-corrected power supplies. Electrotek used SuperHarm to model the cabling system, determine cable constants parameters, and evaluate the effect of the power supplies on the neutral system. Another study evaluated the issues of power supply inrush during power system transfers and momentary interruptions. PSCAD was used to simulate the response of thousands of power supplies following a system disturbance. Also, measurements were conducted during test situations utilizing a Dranetz PX-5. There was reasonable agreement between the simulations and the follow-up measurements, confirming that there was an issue and determining its severity. For more information, please contact Dave Mueller at dave@electrotek.com