The Use of ETAP at Louisiana State University

The ETAP software is used for both instruction and research in power system courses in the Electrical Engineering Department at Louisiana State University. Most of the students taking these courses are seniors or graduate students. A large number of students in the power system area are now being exposed to the software at LSU thanks to the generosity of ETAP.

Introduction of ETAP is taught in the senior/graduate level course “Power System Modeling and Analysis with Laboratory.” In the laboratory part, power system analysis is performed using this software for load-flow, fault analysis, compensator design, and transmission line studies.

ETAP is utilized as a teaching tool at the graduate level courses. Courses such as “Advance Power System Protection” intimately integrate the software into the subject matter. ETAP software is also aids graduate students in performing power system studies on several research projects including:

• Renewable effects on distribution lines
• Network protector study
• Fault diagnostics agent for distribution lines
• Reliability of power systems with penetration of renewable sources

“We are truly grateful for OTI’s support and look forward to our continued partnership,” said Tammy Abshire, CFRE Associate Director of Development & Stewardship, LSU College of Engineering.

ETAP Power Labs: Shaping the Engineers of Tomorrow

It’s no secret. Jobs are getting harder and harder to come by, especially so for recent graduates. This is just as true for electrical engineering graduates looking to start their career.

According to the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment growth rate of electrical engineers is 6% over the decade of 2006-2016. The projected 6% growth in electrical engineering is lower than the average for other occupations, meaning that it’s not getting any easier to be an electrical engineer.

Recent graduates might feel as though they don’t have the requisite experience to directly compete with older and highly qualified individuals, but ETAP has a solution. Fortunately for aspiring engineers, ETAP is being placed in universities worldwide in the form of Power Labs. ETAP Power Labs assist power engineering students in developing best practices and familiarizing themselves with the latest advances in power system analysis technology.

Our industry leading electrical engineering software helps give students a jumpstart on their peers in order to make them more competitive workforce candidates. By gaining valuable hands on experience with our comprehensive power system software, recent graduates will be able to even the field and brighten the prospects of starting their electrical engineering journey.

Irvine User Group Meeting – November 17

Southern California ETAP User Group Meeting - November 17, 2010

On November 17^th, the Southern California ETAP User Group met at OTI’s headquarters in Irvine to learn from guest speaker Daleep Mohla, a recognized P.E. and IEEE Fellow.

Approximately 25 individuals representing 7 different companies came to learn about “Considerations When Applying High Resistance Grounding to Reduce the Possibility of an Arc Flash Event.”  Mr. Mohla also presented possible upcoming changes to NFPA 70E 2012 and how they may affect Arc Flash Analysis.  Mr. Mohla gave a captivating and informative presentation on the dangers inherent in electrical engineering and the criticality of effective fault analysis.

ETAP extends its thanks to Mr. Mohla for his presentation. Be sure to join us at our next User Group. You can find them at http://etap.com/training/events.htm.

ETAP Technical Paper Takes First Place at 2010 CNPCI Conference

ETAP takes First Place for “Study of Selecting Electrical System Operation Mode of a Petrochemical Plant Using Load Flow and Short-Circuit Analysis"

The accolades just keep piling up for ETAP and its skillful engineers- another technical paper of ours was awarded 1^st place.

From November 11^th to 12^th, Shenzhen played host to the 2010 China National Petroleum and Chemical Industry Electrical Technology Annual Conference.

Over 200 industry experts descended upon the conference which covered a variety of topics and fields such as oil, chemical, petroleum, and manufacturing. Also at the conference, technical papers were presented to the many onlookers.

Our very own Dr. J.J. Dai co-authored a paper with ETAP user Guangzhou Petrochemical Plant entitled “Study of Selecting Electrical System Operation Mode of a Petrochemical Plant Using Load Flow and Short-Circuit Analysis.” J.J., along with OTI Far East and a slew of other competitors, was vying for the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Science and Technology Award/Outstanding Paper Award. Proving that ETAP has engineers par excellence, J.J.’s paper was awarded 1^st place, a huge honor for the ETAP team.  ETAP has now won this award for several consecutive years, testament to ETAP’s talented engineers.

Congratulations to J.J. and OTI Far East for their outstanding accomplishment and for being wonderful global representatives of ETAP!

October – Prize Month

Over the years, several electrical engineers have won a Nobel prize

October has just ended; what a great month – great birthdays, great parties, Halloween celebrations in the U.S., and the appearance of beautiful fall colors in parts of the world. However, October was also Nobel Prize month, where each year, early in the month, these prestigious prizes are awarded in several technical areas – chemistry, physics, medicine – as well as economics, literature and peace. Over the years, several electrical engineers have been honored:

John Bardeen was an American physicist and electrical engineer, the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 for the invention of the transistor; and again in 1972 for a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory. The transistor allowed the Information Age to occur, and made possible the development of almost every modern electronic device, from telephones to computers.

Bardeen’s developments in superconductivity, which won him his second Nobel, are used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In 1990, Bardeen appeared on LIFE Magazine’s list of “100 Most Influential Americans of the Century.” After attending the University of Wisconsin and Princeton, Bardeen was most closely associated with Bell Labs, and two other Big Ten universities – Minnesota and Illinois.

Another Nobel Laureate electrical engineer was Dennis Gabor, a Hungarian-British electrical engineer and inventor, most notable for inventing holography, for which he later received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics. Gabor matriculated at the Technical University of Berlin and the Technical University of Budapest. He was associated with the Imperial College-London and British Thomson-Houston (BTH), the latter being a British engineering and heavy industrial company.

Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield was an English electrical engineer who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his part in developing the diagnostic technique of X-ray computed tomography (CT). His name is associated with the Hounsfield scale, a quantitative measure of radiodensity used in evaluating CT scans. His career was spent at EMI Ltd.

Finally, the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Jack St. Clair Kilby for his invention of the integrated circuit in 1958 while working at Texas Instruments (TI). He is also the inventor of the handheld calculator and thermal printer. Kilby’s alma maters include the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin.

Consider the contributions each of these outstanding engineers and their colleagues have made to our progress.  Electrical engineering software could hardly have achieved the important role it plays today without many of the achievements of these electrical engineers.