The University of Tennessee Chattanooga, College of Engineering and Computer Science department is the latest recipient of ETAP software to be used in the new ETAP-TVA Power Simulation Lab. Operation Technology, Inc, (OTI) gifted 40 ETAP licenses to the university in order to provide the students an opportunity to gain valuable hands on experience with the most widely used electrical engineering software in the power industry.
OTI partnered up with the Tennessee Valley Authority who initially proposed the development of a power lab.
The University of Tennessee is the region’s primary resource for educational, applied research, and service programs. The university recently received a $2.4 million grant from the Department of Energy to prepare electric power sector employees for smart grid applications and increase the number of engineers from undergraduate and graduate programs to support smart power applications. These factors combined to make UTC a logical choice for the implementation of an ETAP Power Lab.
OTI’s commitment to the future of power systems energy is no more evident than in this quote by
IEEE recently held it’s I&CPS Conference in beautiful Newport Beach, California, which is just a few miles from our headquarters in Irvine, CA. Held the week of May 2, the I&CPS conference attracted experts in the industrial application of electrical systems, including many of our own engineers. These professionals interacted with one another in a series of tutorials, technical paper presentations, and working group meetings.
ETAP was represented at the conference with a booth display and also hosted a hospitality event at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach. Over 50 conference attendees mingled with members of the ETAP team to exchange thoughts on power system protection, energy systems, and the multi-functionality of our software and services. It took place in a tented outdoor arbor area, complete with delicious food and a fantastic jazz band that had everyone dancing by night’s end.
On display during the hospitality event were demonstrations of ETAP and ETAP Real-Time™, including arc flash, short circuit, load shedding, and power management capabilities.
ETAP would like to thank everyone who came out to our hospitality event as well as IEEE for organizing this year’s successful I&CPS conference.
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.
If you are a user of ETAP then you may be familiar with STAR, the module for doing protection and coordination studies.
The STAR module is capable of drawing the Time Current Characteristics (TCC) of protective devices next to the operation, or damage curve of electrical equipment such as motors or power transformers. The display of device TCC side by side with protected equipment curves, for visual comparison and making proper adjustments, is the industry standard for protection and coordination studies.
Such practices may not lead to proper adjustment or verification of overcurrent protective device settings if you have parallel sources of supply or looped connections in the electrical network. That is where the ETAP STAR module goes beyond expectations and is equipped with a super star feature called Sequence of Operation.
You can place any fault type, balanced or unbalanced, at any desired location on the modeled electrical network and graphically observe the Sequence of Operation (SQOP) for available protective devices. The graphical display of SQOP on the one-line is a perfect solution for verification of existing or designed coordination, supplemented by reports to give the exact trip and operating time for each of the devices.
The beauty of SQOP is in the application to any network connection topology, looped and/or multiple sources of supply, and support for other protection functions such as ground, differential, negative sequence, etc.
The following link on the ETAP Web site can be visited for further review of the SQOP feature in STAR or you can refer to chapter 16 of ETAP help file.
http://etap.com/protective-device-coordination/protective-device-sequence-operation.htm
OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, recently cited a Beverley Hills hospital facility for exposing workers to potential electrical hazards such as electric shock, arc flash, and electrocution. The facility now faces $63,000 in proposed fines following an inspection conducted by OSHA.
According to industry statistics, over 2,000 people a year are treated for severe arc flash injuries. In addition to the serious threat of bodily injury, arc flashes can destroy equipment, causing costly downtime and replacement fees.
ETAP Arc Flash software allows companies to minimize electrical hazards by identifying and analyzing high risk arc flash areas in electrical power systems by simulating and evaluating various arc flash mitigation methods in an arc flash study to minimize the chances of serious accidents at a facility.
The arc flash software developed by ETAP is able to solve multiple scenarios to determine the worst-case arc flash energy levels. ETAP allows you to take these preventative measures a step further by creating arc flash hazard safety labels in multiple languages. Custom arc flash safety labels can be created according to various regulations and preferences to warn of any potential arc flash danger.
Arc flash safety is a serious matter and ETAP has the arc flash software tools you need to prevent employees and equipment from becoming an arc flash damage statistic.
The following is a guest blog from Jack Rubinger, Industrial Copywriter/Safety Specialist:
Pairing Arc Flash Warning Labels and arc flash boundary software provides a robust safeguard from dangerous arc flash explosions for facility mechanics, electricians and other staff who may work near or with breakers, MCCs, switchboards, transformers, drive cabinets and other electrical devices. And, in fact, electrical shock and arc flash warning labels are required by NEC Section 110.16 and NFPA 70E-2009 130.3(C).
DuraLabel printers work with ETAP® software to quickly and conveniently print labels two ways — die-cut labels or two-color vinyl tapes. Each is designed to provide the necessary flexibility to meet your facility’s safety standards.
Die-cut labels come with two OSHA/ANSI complaint signal words — the popular red “DANGER“ label or the orange “WARNING” label. Both are available with or without a template box. Large format size labels – up to 9” tall and 13” wide – are helpful when workers need to read labels from a distance or under low visibility conditions.
Labels eliminate guesswork about personal protection equipment (PPE), work well in bi-lingual workplaces and can be successfully applied both indoors and outdoors.
Some say that a DANGER label should be used when the incident energy exposure is greater than 40 cal/cm sq. Others say that DANGER labels never should be used for arc flash because an arc flash is rare, and ANSI code only calls for a DANGER label when the hazard will result in death or serious injury.
There is nothing in the NFPA or ANSI code that answers this question.
Here are some questions to ask yourself: If you are using both warning and danger arc flash labels, what is the difference? When is a danger label used instead of a warning label? If you are using just warning labels for arc flash, is this consistent with how labels are used throughout your facility and how should workers respond? Whatever approach you take, establishing a standard, sticking to it, and training people to understand that standard are essential for ensuring a safe workplace.
What do you think? Should WARNING labels be used in all cases? Are there instances in which as DANGER label should be used?
Recent User Group on Performing Generator Circuit Breaker Short Circuit Duty Calculations per ANSI Std. C37.013
ETAP is powerful software with multiple levels of functionality. While there are many resources available to the ETAP user to improve their skills with the software, such as tutorials and workshops, one of the best resources is another ETAP user. When users get together, they learn from each other by comparing notes on projects and challenges.
When an ETAP User Group meets, individuals in the group will ask questions others may never have thought of, or share tips, shortcuts, and advice that will make others’ work flow even more efficient.
Organized user groups typically meet once a month at a host facility. The highlight of the meeting, besides the socializing, is a presentation by a member on a timely topic. This is usually followed by a discussion (and more socializing). Most user group meetings last about two hours.
Topics at recent ETAP user groups include:
- How to Use ETAP to Perform Generator Circuit Breaker Short Circuit Duty Calculations per ANSI Std. C37.013
- Renewable Energy – Introduction to Solar Power Systems
- New Case Study on ETAP Real-Time™ – Power Management System at a Large Industrial Facility
- Considerations When Applying High Resistance Grounding to Reduce the Possibility of an Arc Flash Event
- Modeling, Analysis, and Operation of High-Voltage Adjustable Frequency Drives
User groups create camaraderie and excitement about ETAP. Consider joining an ETAP user group in your area. If one doesn’t exist, we can help you start one.
To find an ETAP User Group in your area, visit http://etap.com/industries/etap-user-groups-list.htm or send a note to info@etap.com.
Download ETAP Demo
Friend ETAP
ETAP LinkedIn
ETAP News, ETAP Software, Power Labs | admin | 
May 20, 2011 2:29 pm | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe