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Reconditioned Electrical Equipment

We have been following an international conversation on the safe and effective application of reconditioned electrical equipment (RCEE) for the better part of ten years now.   Threads of the conversation originating in consensus documents developed by the International Electrotechnical Commission, the CSA Group, the National Association of Electrical Equipment and Medical Imaging Manufacturers (NEMA) and others.   The safe and practical application of reconditioned electrical equipment — though not necessarily economical — is debated in detail in the  National Electrical Code (NEC);  a document in which we have advocated for the education facilities industry since 1993.

Not all electrical equipment is suitable for reconditioning but enough of it can such that specification of RCEE significantly lowers #TotalCostofOwnership for the $300 billion education facilities industry in the United States; the primary goal of Standards Michigan and its 50-state affiliates.  According to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the following RCEE is suitable:

  • Industrial and commercial panel boards
  • Low and medium voltage power circuit breakers
  • Low and medium voltage replaceable link fuses
  • Low voltage switchgear
  • Manual and magnetic controllers
  • Medium voltage switchgear
  • Metallic conduit, tubing, raceways and fittings
  • Motor control centers
  • Motors
  • Switchboards
  • Uninterruptible Power Supply Equipment

The length of this list is a topic upon which good minds disagree; especially internationally.   Whether or not the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States (with new construction running at a clip of $80 billion annually) takes advantage of developments in technology that help manufacturers effectively “re-cycle” the largest components of a building power chain is a discussion for another day.    The IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee drills down into details of this nature and is now soliciting comment on the proposed actions of IEEE SCC-18; the IEEE committee which, by charter, is aligned with user-interests in the US standards system.  As we explain in our ABOUT,  the general public — and even many industry insiders —  are not aware of the economic consequences to all industries when regulatory products are written only by incumbent interests.

Suffice to say that even if the US education facilities industry does not apply RCEE to reduce the cost of a new building (by about 1 percent) its competitors internationally will and are.

The 2020 NEC is nearing the completion of its revision cycle.   A milestone was completed in early November when all of the 20-0dd technical committees in San Diego.   Dozens of breakout task groups are forming to sort through public response to proposed changes to the 2017 NEC which will become the 2020 NEC this time next year.   Proposals regarding RCEE landed on the agenda of nearly all 20-odd NEC technical committees.   Standards Michigan has tenure in Code Making Panel 1, the committee with oversight about how all other technical committees determine the safe and practical application of RCEE.

Cutting to the chase then, linked below is the first of several transcripts that track CMP-1 debate:

NFPA 70 National Electrical Code Workspace

Admittedly, very technical stuff.   Few will pay attention to these specifics until something bad happens (perhaps six years from now) so, to avoid something bad happening, we pay attention to it now.   We always collaborate with IEEE JTC/PES/IAS and IEEE E&H Committee which meets online twice every month. 

Issue: [16-102]

Category: Electrical, #SmartCampus

Colleagues: Mike Anthony,  Robert G. Arno, Neal Dowling, James R. Harvey, Richard Robben

Readings / Evaluating Water-Damaged Electrical Equipment

 

 

2022 Guide for Animal Deterrents for Electric Power Supply Substations

1264-2022 – IEEE Guide for Animal Mitigation for Electric Power Supply Substations

IEEE Power Engineering Society

Abstract: Documented in this guide are methods and designs to mitigate interruptions, equipment damage, and personnel safety issues resulting from animal intrusions into electric power supply substations, thereby improving reliability and safety, and minimizing the associated revenue loss.
Scope: This guide documents methods and designs to mitigate interruptions, equipment damage, and personnel safety issues resulting from animal intrusions into electric power supply substations, thereby improving reliability and safety, and minimizing the associated revenue loss.
Purpose: Intrusion by animals into electric power supply substations has been a problem experienced by most of the electric utility industry. The costs associated with outages caused by animals continue to escalate. Although animal problems differ in nature geographically, the damage to equipment, interruption of or loss of service to customers, and safety problems encountered by operating personnel result in similar general concerns. This guide identifies various animals, the problems they cause, and mitigation methods. Further, it recommends criteria for applying mitigation methods, documents survey-reported effectiveness of various methods, and recommends factors for evaluating effectiveness of methods once they are applied.

CLICK HERE to order the guide

Related:

IEEE Standards Association

PES General Meeting 16-20 July | Orlando

(C)onnected & (A)utomated (V)ehicle Code

Satire on Steam Coaches (1831) / H. T. Alken

The CSA America Standards organization has launched a new best practice title — CSA T150 Connected & Automated Vehicle Code — that may, at the very least, guide the safety and sustainability agenda of many large research universities that have transportation service units.   Many governments direct research funding toward transportation so this product may inform the practicality of academic research.

The CSA Group announcement, made through ANSI’s Project Initiation Notification platform, is paraphrased below:

Project Need: To support innovation and deployment in the field of connected and autonomous vehicles by providing infrastructure requirements for the installation and safe operations of CAVs and corresponding infrastructure in the North American context.  

Stakeholders: This proposed Code is being developed at the request of industry and manufacturers. It will provide the industry with the technical requirements and standards of safe operation of CAVs. This will meet the strategic needs of the following key interests:

(a) Ensuring that the latest innovative/technology/safety features are available for users,

(b) Addressing needs of regulators by providing suitable requirements;

(c) Supporting certification bodies.

The connected and automated vehicle (CAV) code specifies infrastructure requirements for CAVs operating or intended to operate in both on-road and off-road environments in order to address public safety, security, and privacy challenges. The code includes, but is not limited to, physical and digital infrastructure. Consideration is given to cybersecurity, interoperability, data management, data privacy, data integrity, human aspects, and accessibility. The CAV code is intended to primarily address issues related to public safety, security, and privacy in conjunction with detailed knowledge of the legal, regulatory, and technological landscape, and ensuring compliance with all relevant and applicable law. The CAV code is not intended as a design specification nor as an instruction manual for untrained persons.

According to the public comment page this title was open for consultation for less than 30 days.

This is an ambitious undertaking and certain to inspire competition among competitor conformance and certification organizations.   Accordingly, we will follow the developmental path of the proposed “Code”.   We encourage direct participation in the CSA Group’s standards development program by students, faculty and staff in the education industry.

CSA Group Standards Home Page

Public Review

Standards Michigan will continue to be a resource for education facility managers, academic researchers and any other final fiduciary (user-interest) in the public or private sector who need cross-cutting perspective.  This title appears on the standing agenda of our periodic Mobility colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Photo Credit: Center for Digital Education

Issue: [19-146]

Category: Transportation & Parking

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Paul Green, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben

Source: ANSI Standards Action


More

CAN/CSA D250-2016

Ontario Reg. 129/10 School Buses

Connected and Automated Vehicle Technologies – Insights for Codes and Standards in Canada

Electrical installations and Protection Against Electric Shock

“View of Lake Geneva” 1881 Gustave Courbet

Technical Committee 64 develops the International Electrotechnical Commission consensus product that covers similar territory for the global electrical power industry as NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code).   Keep in mind that the safety traditions of the NFPA suite of consensus products are inspired by fire safety considerations.   IEC 60363 Electrical installations and protection against electric shock — the parent document that applies to the wiring systems of education and healthcare facilities — was inspired from voltage safety.

TC 64 Strategic Business Plan

The scope of IEC 60364 is reproduced below:

– concerning protection against electric shock arising from equipment, from installations and from systems without limit of voltage,
– for the design, erection foreseeable correct use and verification of all kind of electrical installations at supply voltage up to 1 kV a.c or 1,5 kV d.c., except those installations covered by the following IEC committees: TC 9, TC 18, TC 44, TC 97, TC99
– in co-ordination with TC 99, concerning requirements additional to those of TC 99 for the design, erection and verification of electrical installations of buildings above 1kV up to 35kV.

The object of the standards shall be:
– to lay down requirements for installation and co-ordination of electrical equipment
– to lay down basic safety requirements for protection against electric shock for use by technical committees
– to lay down safety requirements for protection against other hazards arising from the use of electricity
– to give general guidance to IEC member countries that may have need of such requirements
– and to facilitate international exchanges that may be hampered by differences in national regulations.

The standards will not cover individual items of electrical equipment other than their selection for use. Safety Pilot Function: Protection against electric shock.

IEC Preview 60364-1

KUPDF Commentary on 60364 and comparisons with NFPA 70 National Electrical Code

Since neither the USNA National Committee to the IEC (USNA/IEC), nor the US Technical Advisory Administrator (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) has a workspace set up for responding to IEC 60364 calls for public comment, we set one up for ourselves several years ago for education facility and electrical engineering faculty and students:

IEC | USNA IEC Workspace | Updated 12 June 2023

Note that anyone in the world is welcomed to comment upon IEC documents, contingent upon obtaining (free) login credentials.  To review the the strike-and-bold you will need login credentials.   Alternatively, you may click in to the 4-times monthly teleconferences of the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Massimo Mittolo, Giuseppe Parise

International Electrotechnical Commission – Central Office – Geneva

Elettrotecnico Lingua Franca

Interdependent Water & Electricity Networks

Joint Operation Optimization of the Interdependent Water and Electricity Networks

Mohannad Alhazmi – Payman Dehghanian – Mostafa Nazemi

George Washington University

Massimo Mitolo

The Irvine Valley College

 

Abstract:  With the rapid deployment of smart technologies and the growing complexity in our modern society, there is a huge demand for coordination in day-to-day operation of the critical infrastructure networks. The coordination between water and electricity networks particularly stands out and is urgently demanding as (i) water system is one of the most energy-intensive critical infrastructure, and (ii) water unavailability, if experienced, swiftly translates into a health, safety, and national security concern. This paper proposes a comprehensive day-ahead optimization framework for joint operation of the interdependent power and water systems. Different from the conventional paradigms where the power and water systems are independently and individually operated by their respective operators, the proposed optimization framework integrates the Optimal Power Flow (OPF) models in power grids with innovative models of the water distribution systems. The nonlinear hydraulic operating constraints in the proposed optimization models are linearized, resulting into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model formulation. The proposed framework is applied to three 15-node water distribution systems, operated within the IEEE 9-bus test system. The simulation results demonstrate a significant cost saving that will be achieved when the proposed approach is applied for joint operation of power and water networks.

Irvine Valley College California

 

CLICK HERE to order complete paper

2023 National Electrical Safety Code

 

 

Survey on the Paradigm Shift to Microgrids

Decentralized, Democratized, and Decarbonized Future Electric Power Distribution Grids: A Survey on the Paradigm Shift From the Conventional Power System to Micro Grid Structures

 

Decentralized, Democratized, and Decarbonized Future Electric Power Distribution Grids: A Survey on the Paradigm Shift From the Conventional Power System to Micro Grid Structures

A BIM-Based Coordination Support System for Emergency Response

A BIM-Based Coordination Support System for Emergency Response

Yanxiao Feng, et. al

Department of Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University

Abstract: In fire emergencies, timely communication with on-site coordinators and accurate localization of first responders facilitates effective task assignment and resource allocation in harsh, low-visibility environments. Building information modeling (BIM) is widely accepted in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries as a central repository of building information. It could provide both the geometric building data and semantic information; however, the convenient linkage and integration with indoor location technologies for emergency purposes have not been addressed according to the authors’ knowledge.

A stand-alone BIM-based indoor location (BIMIL) framework and portal were designed and tested to enable the automatic extraction, transformation, and visualization of BIM-related data for public safety purposes in this study. Based on current information technology, this research reduces the gap in cross-application by supporting indoor location to overcome the primary shortcoming of existing indoor building models. Eliminating the need for specific software and skill in data processing, this portal will support on-site coordinators’ importation of BIM files, allowing them to convert those files into processed and visualized indoor information containing key yet simplified geometric building data and essential emergency-related information such as fire rating hours, egresses, and hazardous materials. Additionally, the indoor location data can be integrated into a generalized 3D building model to support decision-making activities and management tasks in the field.

Related:

International Fire Code

Life Safety Code

Means of Egress

Pathway Illumination

“Nighthawks” 1942 Edward Hopper

The Illumination Engineering Society is one of the first names in standards-setting organizations with a catalog routinely referenced in design guidelines and construction projects.  Because of the money flow into illumination technologies worldwide the IES occupies a domain that is relatively crowded:

  • National Electrical Manufacturers and Medical Imaging Association; whose interest lies in leveling the playing field for about 300 electrical equipment manufacturers
  • Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers; whose interest lies in the research activity in seeing sciences, the luminescence sources and the power chain
  • American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers; whose interest lies in energy conservation
  • National Fire Protection Association; whose interest lies in fire safety of lighting systems within building premises.
  • International Code Council; whose interest lies in pulling together all of the relevant standards for lighting egress paths of the built environment
  • International Electrotechnical Commission; whose interest lies in the administration of global electrical and electronic technologies
  • International Commission on Illumination; the international authority on light, illumination, colour, and colour spaces

There are others.  With illumination power requirement on a downward trajectory where footcandles can be driven at information & communication technology voltage and current levels; we find relatively new entrants into the market with deep pockets and for good reason.  In a typical building, the interior lighting load is the major electrical load (on the order of 40 percent) and a major contributor to the functionality of the building.  There are a number of other trade associations that are participants in research and open source standards for faster moving parts of the illumination science.  We will cover these in future, related posts.

Last year a new standardization project was launched by the IES. From the project prospectus:

IES LP-2-201x, Designing Quality Lighting for People in Outdoor Environments (new standard)

Project Need: This document is not intended to supersede existing IES application RPs, rather it will link the various documents together, augmenting them in subject areas not otherwise covered, including but not limited to sidewalks, bikepaths, pedestrian paths, parks, outdoor malls, pedestrian-only business districts, plazas, amphitheaters, large outdoor gathering areas, campuses, pedestrian bridges, and pedestrian underpasses.

Stakeholders: Lighting practitioners, electrical engineers, civic planners, civil engineers, architects, community-based planning groups, general public.  Lighting recommendations for non-vehicular pedestrian applications using recommendations beyond illuminance only, which ultimately fails to provide a complete guideline for the visual experience of pedestrian-based tasks. The RP will be a comprehensive approach for light levels, glare, adaptation, spectrum, and contrast while addressing safety, timing, and perceived security. Application of these recommendations will ultimately enhance the pedestrian’s visual experience while also respecting the environment.

Soon to be released, a related product covering technical specifics of a familiar battleground — lighting controls:

IES LP-12 Lighting Practice: IoT Connected Lighting

The consultation closed May 24th and the agenda of the committee writing this standard is being administered.  Very often technical committees are receptive to new ideas after a comment deadline if those ideas are submitted to a committee member directly.   We invite anyone with an interest in this topic to click in to any of our daily colloquia to begin that process.

Not far into the future: individually controlled luminaires responsive to the use of campus pathways.  There are already some pilot projects on higher education campuses.

IES Standards in Public Review

A few other technical committees relevant to educational communities should be identified, though we will sort through the standards setting activity in separate posts:

Edu-Lib-Ofc Lighting Committee

Outdoor Environmental Lighting Committee

Outdoor Public Spaces Committee

Roadway Lighting Committee  (Many large research universities own miles of roads)

We always encourage direct participation by space planners, workpoint experts and academic unit facility managers in IES standards development process.  Contact: Patricia McGillicuddy, (917) 913-0027, pmcgillicuddy@ies.org. 120 Wall Street, Floor 17, New York, NY.

We  coordinate most of our electrotechnology standards advocacy with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets 4 times monthly in European and American time zones.  Its meeting agendas and login credentials are available on its website.   Since illumination technologies are present in all spaces in education communities, IES consensus products will appear on the standing agenda of most disciplines.  See our CALENDAR.

Issue: [19-50]

Category: Electrical, Space Planning

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Kane Howard, Glenn Keates, George Reiher

*We find that when the SSO has heavy manufacturer support, its standards development facility lies in the upper-quality tier.

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