EEEngineering, LLC

So, what is the main difference between the NEC and NFPA 70? Hmm, any guess? Yup, I was trying to fool you. NO DIFFERENCE! Absolutely NONE. NEC and NFPA 70 are 2 different appellations for the SAME standard, SAME book. Isn’t it confusing? Why not just stick with one name? NEC means National Electrical Codebook. NFPA means National Fire Protection Agency. Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #electrical #engineering #electricalengineering

A shocking electrical fire was captured by one relay. The $10 million Wind Turbine Vestas V120 burned to the ground. Electrical studies have been showing significant flaws for several years. Notice something: the fault lasted 10 seconds (600 cycles), and the breaker never tripped. Look at the picture. Both pictures come from the same relay at different times. I removed the digital data part so the image would not look too small. Top picture: Time is 3:12:05 am (highlighted in yellow) The fault starts, BC fault. The voltages drop Bottom picture: Time is 3:12:15 am (highlighted in yellow) The fault is still present; however, the current gradually decreases, and the voltage gradually increases. Yes, the equipment burned until it disconnected itself from the circuit. INCREDIBLE. This relay protects a dozen other turbines, so when 1 turbine burned and got disconnected, the other equipment kept running as if nothing had occurred. Investigations started. Yes, they had an electrical incident that caused a fault. Why wasn't the current removed? No, it is not Vestas' fault, not the breaker, the relay, or the CT. This significant flaw has been present for years. You can not properly review an electrical study solely by checking the correctness of the data input. Flaws will reveal themselves; it is only a matter of time before the wrong/right scenario case shows them. For more cool learning and practical electrical stuff, follow our company page EEEngineering, LLC Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #engineering #electrical #electricalengineering

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." No, no, and no. I often hear that phrase used to justify not changing what is working. That phrase is WRONG and should be removed from power engineering jargon. It should be eliminated from all engineering languages. Major design flaws do not necessarily prevent equipment from running "normally" in power engineering. Unfortunately, this is why there are so many hidden defects. If you wait until something "breaks" before addressing the issue, it is too late: 1. The substation burned down 2. Major outage 3. Loss of life—arc flash event 4. Loss of containment 5. Many more EEEngineering, LLC #engineering #electrical #electricalengineering

1 ACCURATE arc flash Label, 1 worker could be saved. Accuracy matters. We corrected and redid 20,000 arc flash labels across 21 electrical facilities in the USA; We printed and shipped the labels and trained electricians, engineers, and safety personnel on the common mishaps. We also showed how to detect when an arc flash study is "suspect" and confirm it is likely correct. Anyone can perform an arc flash study, but how can you prove the accuracy of the results? Unfortunately, the current best practice of solely comparing data input between drawings and software is NOT SUFFICIENT. It has led to unfortunate errors, which significantly contributed to a few tragedies. We spent years documenting many cases with actual verifiable data (currents and voltages) in which existing arc flash studies did not match with field incidents. 1- wind farms 2- Solar Farms 3- Petrochemicals sites 4- Datacenters 5- Warehouses 6- Cold logistics warehouses 7- You named it We can do yours. Contact us IEEE 1584 2018, NFPA 70# 2021, OSHA Knowledge is Power, and Power is Our Expertise Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #electrical #engineering #electricalengineering

Response: 0 Amps. If a 3-conductor cable carries 100 amps, when you place a clamp meter around it, you are measuring the equivalent of the sum of all the currents. A 3-conductor cable means a cable with 3 conductors. When you sum the currents for each conductor, you will get 0 amps. A clamp meter measures the magnetic field emanating from the cable. The sum of all the magnetic fields on each conductor will cancel out to 0. Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #electrical #electricalengineering #engineering

I have much love and respect for GE Multilin Relays. My first relay to play with was a GE relay: Multilin 239. Question: Do you remember your first-ever relay to play with? What about your first-ever GE Multilin relay to touch? In the 2000s, GE Multilin relays dominated the market in USA petrochemicals.  There was no competition—ZERO! They dominated USA refineries and chemicals. As we progress, it's crucial to acknowledge that while GE Multilin Relays still maintains a strong presence in the USA petrochemicals market, its market share has noticeably declined. This shift reflects the industry's dynamic nature and the increasing competition. Do you recognize any models in the picture? Yes, the beginnings! IMPORTANT: I said market in USA petrochemicals, not the USA overall. I did not know back then who dominated the utilities, data center, and other areas Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #engineering #electricalengineering #electrical

Most wind farms in America do not come close to meeting their yearly design output (net capacity factor). Don’t believe me? Most of the data are public. There is a straightforward reason: Inaccurate simulation models. We are trained with one mindset: If the nameplate and schematics data are correct and we input them correctly in the power system simulation software, the results MUST be accurate! INCORRECT STATEMENT! A power simulation software is NOT C++, JAVA, C sharp, Pascal, etc. They share the name “software”; however, there is a SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE! In programming software, you own 100% of your code! In power simulation software, you do NOT own 100% of your code. Hence, you can input the correct data and STILL get the wrong results: 1- Some options are default 2- Some settings are default 3- Some configurations must be manipulated 4-   There are limitations in the software module that you must override from time to time Unfortunately, when the equipment runs, we conclude that the simulation model is correct. We do not realize 12-15 months later that the new equipment is degrading quickly due to our flawed model. -     The pad mount transformers are overheating -     Splices and cables repeated faults -     Main Transformers load tap needs to be changed frequently -     Reactive power issues suddenly appear -     Issues and issues come up You keep fighting battles and battles all day long. Not knowing we are not fixing root causes; We don’t know what we don’t know. Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #engineering #electricalengineering #electrical

American Grid! Welcome to Indiana 34.5 kV; you can learn a lot during energization. Ready to energize? At 12:43 PM, the Breaker closes in. The peak current is on the C phase, Ic = 1154 A. Why does the current jump that high during energization? Is there something wrong with it? Is it a known phenomenon in the power field 😛? The middle graph shows voltage; notice the tiny voltage dip on the C phase. And a few cycles later, Vc increased. The bottom graph shows digital data. At least 4 data assert during energization. Is this intended? Are we just lucky that nothing tripped this time? If it is designed that way, then there is no issue. Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #electrical #electricalengineering #engineering

For my friends with indoor substations, don't worry about the health of the microprocessor relays when your AC is down: They can operate at the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth. Look at those comparable feeder relays: Bassler BE1-Flex extreme is 70C (158F) upper limit. SEL 451 is 85C (185F) upper limit Multilin 850 is 60C (140F) upper limit Notice that GE says the temperature can be higher at 85C (185F) for storage and shipping, but the design's upper limit temperature drops when you operate it. The hottest-ever temperature on Earth was measured at 130F in California and Lybia. So yes, if there is a lot of electronic equipment to worry about when it gets hot, a microprocessor relay should not be one. Notice that I did not use SEL 851? Yes, don't be confused by the name 851, who looks like 850 from Multilin; they are not in the same class! SEL 851 is supposed to be for an economic class, while SEL 351 and SEL 451 are luxuries! SEL 451 is super luxurious. Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #engineering #electricalengineering #electrical

$25,000,000 (25 million dollars) - The largest fine ever made by NERC USA on a company. Yes, this is how much a great engineer could have saved the company! Florida, February 26, 2008, A protection and control engineer is called on the field because a circuit switcher is malfunctioning. The engineer communicated with the load dispatcher at the control center; the engineer disabled the primary and backup protection and then instructed the load dispatcher to try to close the switcher again. This is when the absolute worst case occurs. As the circuit switcher is trying to close, an arc occurs. The arc lasts about 18 seconds and propagates to the adjacent circuit switcher. A 3-phase fault occurred on the 138 kV adjacent circuit switcher, and most of the lower Florida lost power: Catastrophe. That event is also known as Florida Black Out. NERC investigation: The company violated standards in every single grid reliability standard area: 1- BAL: Balancing 2- COM: Communications 3- EOP: Emergency Preparedness and Operations 4- PER: Personnel Performance, Training, and Qualifications 5- TOP: Transmission and Operations 6- TPL: Transmission Planning The absence of incidents does not mean the absence of flaws. Thierry Julio Epassa- P.E. in Sixteen USA States #electrical #electricalengineering #engineering