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Check this page periodically to learn about the Presentations scheduled for the Fall meeting.
Please Note: This is a only a listing of the
presentations and
UNLESS NOTED, DOES NOT IMPLY THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY WILL BE
PRESENTED.
Today we find:
This contribution will examine the advances (above) we have today and attempt to predict how we might solve the challenges that stand in front of us. The challenges include:
- increased outputs
- increased lengths - lower installation costs & improved reliability
- reduced size - cables into smaller spaces
- improved protection
The following three presentations are a contribution from Discussion Group A3D, Performance of Extruded Dielectrics, John Densley, Arborlec Solutions – Chair, Robert Keefe, EPRI – Vice Chair
Currently, RUS, the federal agency that regulates the electric cooperatives, requires these utilities to use cables with insulating jackets. This decision is primarily based on a series of papers written by Mr. Orville Zastrow in the 1970s. In one paper in particular, entitled "Effect of AC on Corrosion of Buried Electric Distribution Cable," he uses potential measurements made on samples of buried cable to infer that semiconducting cable jackets will cause the corrosion of adjacent metal structures (ground rods and anchors). His hypothesis is the basis for the RUS requirement.
The indication that cables with semiconducting jackets will accelerate the corrosion of adjacent steel structures is an unproven hypothesis. This led the NRECA Cooperative Research Network to fund a literature search to further investigate the phenomenon. The information from the literature search did not definitively prove or disprove the hypothesis. For this reason, NRECA contracted with Georgia Tech NEETRAC to perform an experiment that will provide tangible data or evidence that would prove or disprove Mr. Zastrow's hypothesis.
The test program was designed to simulate field conditions as closely as possible. It contained medium voltage cables with semiconducting jackets, insulating jackets and no jackets buried adjacent to galvanized ground rods. Galvanic currents and voltages were measured over a period of a year. The cables and ground rods were then removed from the ground and examined.
The results definitively demonstrate that cables with semiconducting jackets do not enhance the corrosion of adjacent steel structures. In fact, semiconducting jackets significantly reduce the corrosion of adjacent steel structures when compared to cables with bare neutrals. While the least amount of corrosion occurred on steel structures adjacent to cables with insulating jackets, the semiconducting jacket performance was very similar.
The new river crossings were installed by directional drilling. The 10-inch steel pipes and 5-in. fluid circulation pipes were installed to a maximum depth of 50-60 feet, for a 1100-foot length. The bore used a 6-inch pilot hole with 28-inch back-reamer. No casing was used. The relocated sections were tied-in to the existing sections on either side of the bore. The old cable and fluid was removed from under the Miami River, and the old pipe was abandoned.
This presentation describes the project, and provides many photographs of both the civil and electrical work.
The present development of extruded dielectric cables has taken many years of effort, but is now beginning to demonstrate performance that matches the original predictions of 50 years ago.
William A. Thue, Consultant.
William A. Thue worked for Florida Power & Light Co. from 1946 to 1984 in the
engineering and construction of underground cable systems. During these 38 years, he
served on numerous national and international committees that developed standards for
underground distribution systems such as cables, load break elbows, safety, and testing.
He has been a member of the Insulated Conductors Committee since 1956; has served as Subcommittee Chair, Secretary, Vice Chair, and Chair of the committee as well as Chair of several Working Groups. He received the ICC Distinguished Service Award in 1986. He served on the Cable Engineering Section of AEIC where he was Chair and Chair of the Extruded Dielectric Cable Specifications group. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE.
He has worked as Chair of two subcommittees of the National Electrical Safety Code, ANSI C2 and is editor of the textbook "Electrical Power Cable Engineering."
Bill is presently working as an expert witness in lawsuits teaches at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and does other consulting work.
James D. Medek PE, JMed & Associates Ltd.
After graduation from Illinois Institute of Technology, Jim started working with
the Commonwealth Edison Company, Chicago, IL. At Commonwealth his work efforts went
through the following progression: Field engineer in Public Service of Northern Illinois
office (They had recently merged with Commonwealth Edison), Testing Department in a
central office, Transmission & Distribution Construction, Distribution Engineering
underground specifications, and finally Transmission Engineering. During the last two
assignments Jim was the utilities representative on the cable section of Association of
Electrical Illuminating Companies (AEIC). Jim retired from Commonwealth Edison after 32
years.
After leaving Commonwealth Edison, Jim formed his own consulting company JMed & Associates Ltd. For the last 16 years he has been active in various underground system projects. Much of this work centered on teaching cable courses at three major universities: UCLA, University of British Columbia in Vancouver CA, and University of Wisconsin, Madison. Jim also established and worked on training courses at various utilities in the US. And finally continued active in the Insulated Conductors Committee where he is presently assistant secretary responsible for the meeting minutes.
Joseph H. Dudas, Consultant.
Joseph H. Dudas has been an independent consultant to the electrical wire and cable
industry for the past 13 years with special expertise in the manufacturing, testing and
life performance of materials for underground power cables. He has been a member of
various instruction teams that present distribution cable seminars and workshops across
the country. He is a member of the IEEE Power Engineering Society and the Insulated
Conductors Committee.
From 1984 to 1989, Mr. Dudas was Vice President, Conductor Products Inc. in Scottsville, Texas. He was responsible for CPI Laboratories research and development programs for new and improved products, processes and performance tests for electrical power cables.
He held various technical and management positions at Alcoa Laboratories near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and at Alcoa Conductor Products Laboratory in Scottsville, Texas from 1961 to 1984. He holds Bachelor of Science (1956) and Master of Science (1961) Degrees in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
William S. Temple, Managing Engineer, General Cable,
BICC Brand Utility Cables
William S. Temple is a Managing Engineer with General Cable, BICC Brand Utility Cables,
headquartered in Suffern, New York. He is General Cable's principal engineer for medium
voltage TRXLPE utility cables and has over 16 years of experience. Prior to assuming a
divisional engineering position, he spent over 10 years in R&D laboratory electrical
testing of medium and high voltage extruded dielectric cables and held management
positions with Technology Centers in Brockville, Ontario and Marshall, Texas. He is a
graduate of St. Lawrence College in Electrical Engineering Technology -Power Systems, and
a member of IEEE and the IEEE PES Insulated Conductors Committee.
Henry J. Soleski, Jr. VP Operations Kerite Cable
Services
Henry J. Soleski, Jr. is the VP Operations for Kerite Cable Services (KCS),
headquartered in Seymour, Connecticut. KCS provides turnkey services for underground,
underwater and aerial applications. Prior to assuming his KCS responsibilities in 2001, he
spent 14 years with The Kerite Company in a variety of technical and marketing positions
providing field support. Starting as a Product Manager, over time responsibilities changed
to include included Customer Service Manager and Director of Marketing. He also spent 10
years with US Electrical Motors in Milford, Connecticut. Starting as a Design Engineer and
also held the Applications Engineering Manager, Market Manager and Product Manager
positions. He is graduate of The University of New Haven (BSEE – 1979), The
University of Bridgeport (MS Engineering Management – 1981), a registered
Professional Engineer in the state of Connecticut, a member of IEEE and the IEEE PES
Insulated Conductors Committee.
Robert E Fleming, Principal Engineer, The Kerite
Company.
Bob Fleming received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from The
University of Connecticut in 1971. Since then, he has worked for The Kerite Company, in
Seymour, Connecticut in various Engineering positions. During his Engineering career he
has been involved in the design and qualification of power and control cables and
accessories from 600 V up to 138 kV. His professional activities have included memberships
in, IEEE Power Engineering Society, IEEE Nuclear Power Engineering Committee, Insulated
Conductors Committee, and Insulated Cable Engineers Association.
Lauri J. Hiivala, P.Eng., Director Application
Engineering, Nexans Canada Inc.
Lauri Hiivala received a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from
the University of Toronto in 1965. Since graduation, he has been with Nexans Canada in
Toronto. He has held various positions involving the design and development of power
cables and accessories from 300 V to 500 kV. He is currently Director of Application
Engineering, Energy Networks Division.
His professional activities include being Member, IEEE Power Engineering Society; Past Chairman, Insulated Conductors Committee; Chairman, ICEA Liaison Group 690 Utility Power Cable Standards Technical Advisory Committee (UPCSTAC) and Canadian Specialist, IEC TC 20 WG 16 Cables with Extruded Insulation and their Accessories. Other memberships include CIGRE and the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario.
Bruce S. Bernstein, Consultant
Bruce S. Bernstein is a consultant to electric utilities, suppliers, product development and testing organizations and industrial consulting and non-profit consortia, in areas that include power cables, electrical insulation materials, aging phenomena, diagnostic testing, reliability analysis and technology involving use of polymer materials for transmission, distribution and generation applications. He formed Bruce S. Bernstein Consulting LLC in January 2001. He was formerly Technical Leader, Underground Distribution Infrastructure Target in the Science and Technology Division of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). He joined EPRI in 1977 and served previously in both staff and line positions for the Electrical Systems Division, Power Delivery Group. He also managed R&D projects for Underground Transmission, Overhead Transmission and Substations Programs, the Strategic Development Group and Office of Exploratory Research.. As Target leader, he had responsibility for technical, financial and revenue enhancement, as well as communication of R&D results.
As a Polymer Scientist/Engineer, for EPRI, his technical responsibilities focused on application of polymer technology to meet Utility interests, a prime effort being in the electrical insulation area; he guided projects on extruded distribution and transmission cables, ranging from cable materials cleanliness, extrusion and processing technology, development and application of emerging diagnostics to estimate future cable performance of both polyolefinic and paper insulated cables. His technical efforts encompassed studies to understand water treeing and aging phenomena to improve cable reliability, ascertaining reliability of diagnostic test methods, aging of paper-insulated cables, development of modified paper systems for insulation applications, aging of rotating machinery insulation, as well as gas substitutes for sulfur hexafluoride for cable and substation applications. In addition to guiding studies of "phenomena", he focused on new product development: polymers for improved cable jacket materials, application of polymer composites to meet utility interests (poles, transformers), development of fabricated membranes for controlled release of fungicides to facilitate life extension of wood poles, application of state-of-the-art polymers as replacement for conventional elastomers employed in lineman’s gloves and sleeves, and use of engineering thermoplastics for insulation applications. For the Strategic Development group, he guided efforts on charge storage in polymers for capacitor and battery applications, novel coating methods to resist corrosion, advanced novel diagnostics, self-orienting polymers and application of liquid crystal polymers for utility applications. He also guided an internal Polymer Technology Coordination Committee for EPRIs Office of Exploratory Research. He managed Target and project budgets and has given many speeches at Industry technical Conferences, Utility Events as well as at EPRI-Utility Council meetings.
Prior to joining EPRI, he was Materials Section Manager for Phelps Dodge Cable and Wire Company. Earlier, he worked on development of improved transformer insulation, and adhesives and coating technology at Riegel Paper Company. He guided Government-sponsored research on radiation effects on polymers at RAI Research Corp (now part of Pall Corporation). He has patents on controlled release of anti-bacterial chemicals from vinyl polymers used for hospital bed sheeting, and application of radiation-crosslinked polyethylene for toys. He has three patents from EPRI work; improved paper/polypropylene/paper insulation for transmission cables, application of liquid crystal polymers as moisture barriers in medium voltage cables, and modified polymers to serve as ion traps in cable jackets.
He is a Fellow of IEEE (1992), member of IEEE Dielectric and Electrical Insulation Society (former member of ADCOM), Power Engineering Society and Insulated Conductors Committee of IEEE, American Chemical Society, former board member of CEIDP. From 1989 to 1996, he served as United States Representative to CIGRE Study Committee 15 ( Materials for Electrotechnology), and recently (2000) completed a term as Convenor of the CIGRE Working Group 15-09 on ‘Advanced Materials’. He attended City University of New York (BS), Iowa State University (MS) and attended Polytechnic University of New York and Stevens Institute of Technology. He is a faculty member of the University of Wisconsin's Power Cable Engineering Clinic held each October. He has over fifty publications and patents, and three book chapters.
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