About Us

The IEEE (PI)2 Austin Newsletter is a monthly publication of the Austin Chapters of the
Power & Energy, Power Electronics, Industrial Applications, Industrial Electronics, and Product Safety Engineering Societies.

  Subscribe   IEEE (PI)2 Austin Newsletter

Our meetings are open to the public and held on the 4th Tuesday of every month from January through October.

 

  • High Tech Happy Hour November 2021

IEEE Joint Chapter:  PES, IAS, PELS, IES, and PSES


IEEE (PI)2 Austin Technical Meetings: In-Person & Virtual 

Up-Coming Technical Events

May 9th, 2023, IEEE (PI)2 Austin sponsored Technical Tour of TECO Westinghouse

 

We are pleased to invite you to join us for a plant tour on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at 7:00 PM at the TECO-Westinghouse facility. This will be an exciting opportunity to see our state-of-the-art machine production line and witness our innovative manufacturing processes. These high-quality machines are used to drive pumps, fans, compressors, rolling mills, grinders, crushers, and a variety of other rugged applications. These motors and generators are utilized in petroleum, chemical, pulp, paper, mining, marine propulsion, steel, electric utility, and other industries throughout the world.
During the tour, you will have the chance to learn about the company’s history, mission, and vision for the future. You will also have the opportunity to meet with knowledgeable staff and ask any questions you may have about their products, services, operations, and applications.
Please note that due to safety concerns, all attendees must wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), including closed-toe shoes and safety glasses. We will provide the necessary PPE if you do not have your own.
To confirm your attendance, please RSVP by Sunday, May 7, 2023, at 8:00 PM by registering in vTools. Must be 12 years or older to attend.

Register Here: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/356571

We look forward to welcoming you to the facility and sharing our passion for technical learning and manufacturing excellence.
Best regards,

Contact:  James MercierEvan RogersEric Meier, or Steve Pearson;  for additional information.

This a great opportunity to network, share application stories, and learn what makes TECO-Westinghouse different.

 


Wednesday, May 10th, IEEE (PI)2 Austin One-Day Workshop

“2023 NESC Changes, Plus Arc Flash Calculation for Small Services”

Instructor:  Dave Hernandez, PE, CEM, GBE, CESCP

Founder & CEO of DCH Global, Blue Ash, Ohio

8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Location: Austin Scottish Rite Theater, 207 W. 18th St. Austin, TX

  • In-person only.
  • Breakfast Tacos, Coffee, Refreshments. provided by IEEE (PI)2 Austin.  
  • For PDH Hours, please email the PI2 Secretary, Haley Hirschfield at pi2-secretary@ieee.org

Register here: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/341023

REGISTRATION, COST, AND DETAILS

  • This one-day workshop has four parts under two major divisions:
  • Parts 1 – 3 will explore the changes in the 2023 version of the National Electrical Safety Code Handbook (NESC, IEEE STD C2-2023) which will be provided each registered participant as Workshop material.  The IEEE Handbook contains the full NESC plus the commentary in one text.  This is new this year.
  • Part 4 will cover arc flash including two effective methods to calculate arc flash for small electrical services, especially single-phase 100-amp services, and the strengths of each method.
  • Attendees are advised to bring a laptop or notebook. Power and limited WIFI will be available.
  • Early registration and discounted pricing ends on April 26th.
  • Registration and payment for this workshop must be completed by Wednesday May 3, 2023 to ensure you will have the class materials in time for the workshop.
  • Friday May 5, 2023 is the final day for registering.

Upon completion of the workshop, participants will receive a PDH certificate for eight hours.

The workshop fee includes breakfast tacos, breakfast beverages and break refreshments.

All cancellation and refund requests must be submitted in writing and received by James Mercier at the address above prior to May 3, 2023. There will be a 20% processing fee charged for all refunds. Fees paid after May 5, 2023, will be paid at the door via check payable to IEEE-CTS.

 

Recent Events

On April 25th, 2023, IEEE (PI)2 Austin hosted a Technical Meeting on High Voltage Line Component Investigations: 

  1. High Voltage Switch Vacuum Interrupter Component Failure
  2. High Voltage 3WAY GOAB Switch Alternative”

Speaker:  Nick Choi, Lower Colorado River Authority, Engineer Sr.

Transmission Reliability Engineering

The meeting attendees were both on-line and in-person, and the in-person attendees were able to dine on Lupe Tortillas’ famous chicken and beef fajitas!  LCRA’s Nick Choi walked us through twos forensic case studies completed by LCRA regarding premature air-break vacuum interrupter failures and  also revising the circuits for 3-way  GOAB transmission switches to protect the switches from premature failure.

In the first study,  failure analysis was conducted with a joint effort of LCRA and the Field testing conducted by LCRA demonstrated 50% loss of the component at 20 operations. Similar results were observed from a HV laboratory test conducted by Turner Electric. IEEE std 1247-2005 section 8.3.1.8 test duty may not be adequate for what utilities need. LCRA mitigated the failure risk through maintenance practice revision, procedure update, and heavy-duty hardware implementation.   
In the second investigation. A revision to the installation of the  3 WAY GOAB Transmission Switches design offered by all major manufacturers eliminated a circuit flaw that caused galvanic corrosion via dissimilar metals in switch components (aluminum and bronze). By separating the bronze bushing from the aluminum connection, via a spacer, beefing up the contact fingers and revising the 3-switch circuit arrangement, the problem was resolved.

About the speaker: Nick Choi has been employed at Lower Colorado River Authority since 2015. He is a Senior Engineer with the Transmission Reliability group in LCRA working in electric power industry, and a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Texas. He earned B.S. in Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Prior to LCRA, He had worked in the areas of pure water engineering, project management, and semiconductor manufacturing. He serves as the ACCA committee chair for Doble International Conference.

               

UT Energy Symposium:  https://energy.utexas.edu/education/energy-symposium