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Issue 39 - July 2002
Beckwith Electric Celebrates 35 Years of Service Robert Beckwith treated the employees to a dinner cruise on the Starlite Majesty at Clearwater Beach on May 18. The event celebrated 35 years since Bob started the company in his garage with the manufacture of the M-0001 Battery Transient Suppressor. Liz Grady, Barbara Mullins, and Melissa Watermolen did a wonderful job planning and hosting the delightful evening.
Two new wireless communications products will be launched in the fall. The M-2910 wireless module, available in October, installs directly in the Autodaptive® Regulator Controls M-2601A, M-2602A, M-2603A and M-2604A. The M-2911 wireless module, available in September, is suitable for use with any IED having an RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485 serial communication port. A third wireless module, the M-2912, will be available in January 2003. The M-2912 wireless PCMCIA module can be plugged into any PC with a PCMCIA slot to communicate to any IED outfitted with a Beckwith Electric M-2910 or M-2911 wireless module. According to Mark Dixon, Manager of Market & Project Development for Control Products & Systems, these products are directed toward substation applications to simplify integration and automation complexities, and ease the transition from traditional SCADA approaches to localized automation. All wireless modules utilize the Intersil Prism 2 chipset and DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) technology. According to Dixon, "The Beckwith Electric family of wireless modules provide outstanding performance and functionality in a small package that is ideal for real-world applications for the end-user or the OEM. Being compatible with any RS-232C, RS-422, or RS-485 serial port, means that the M-2911's applications are virtually unlimited." Using the latest DSSS technology, substation-hardened, and having high-speed data transmission rates of 1Mbps, these wireless modules provide consistent performance in the worst RF and physical environments where other products may not work. Other features of the wireless modules include a range of up to 1500 feet, low power consumption and interface baud rates between 300-115.2 Kbps. The units can be used in schemes including peer-to-peer, point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and master/slave. No special programming tools are required and the units accommodate all common data rates. Interested? For more information, contact Beckwith Electric at (727) 544-2326 or e-mail at marketing@beckwithelectric.com.
Autodaptive® System and Family of Products Provide Economic Alternative for Volt/VAr Management The Autodaptive System has successfully demonstrated significant energy savings for an electric utility. By optimizing the utilization of the volt/VAr management assets on overhead distribution lines, improvements in power quality are realized, resulting in higher customer satisfaction. According to Mark Dixon, Manager of Market & Project Development for Control Products & Systems, "In a dynamic distribution system, intelligent, automatically-adapting controls provide solutions that traditional controls cannot begin to provide. Typical field performance data has shown that voltage profiles from the substation to the end of radial feeders remain flat and that variations are reduced to within 1.5 volts or better, and power factors improved to 0.98 lead and 0.98 lag consistently. Tap operations also were consistently reduced to the magnitude of 10:1 after implementation, resulting in reduced maintenance and better reliability of the LTC transformers." Dixon points out that in addition to operating savings and improved performance, the Autodaptive family of tapchanger controls offer more than 50% savings in initial cost over conventional controls. The family of tapchanger controls include
The "A" model of Autodaptive Regulator Controls can also be provided with the new M-2910 wireless module, available in October, as an option. The M-2910 wireless module installs directly in the Autodaptive® Regulator Controls M-2601A, M-2602A, M-2603A and M-2604A. The M-2965 Protocol Converter Module is also now available to convert the SLIMcom® protocol used with the Autodaptive line of controls to DNP3.0. Other products in the Autodaptive line include the M-2501B Autodaptive® Capacitor Control for pole-top capacitor banks and the CAMP™ (Capacitor Automation, Metering & Protection) System. Using the Skytel Data Telemetry Network with two-way paging, the CAMP System provides utility users with the capabilities to interface with the Autodaptive® Capacitor Control for remote monitoring and control of distribution feeder capacitor banks. Interested? For more information, contact Beckwith Electric at (727) 544-2326 or e-mail at marketing@beckwithelectric.com.
M-3410A Provides Low-Cost Protection for Interties and Generators As the newest member of the Integrated Protection Systems line, the M-3410A Intertie/Generator Protection System® provides multiple protective elements with metering, waveform capture and communications functions. But according to Wayne Hartmann, Manager of Application Engineering for Protection & Protection Systems, the advantages of the relay in comparison to other suppliers may not be readily apparent to the customer. "Some solutions to DG (Dispersed Generation) interconnection," says Hartmann, "are not all that they appear to be." We highlight the following advantages of the M-3410A Intertie/Generator Protection System as compared to other systems. 1. Use of menu-driven software versus ASCII text setting input. 2. Use of current elements for fault backfeed protection: 3. Use of three phase power versus single phase power: The M-3410A employs single-phase elements for all three phases. Relays without individual phase power elements, using only one phase, can have coordination and sensitivity issues as there may be power unbalance present at the interconnection point, especially in DG facilities with poorly diversified loads. The benefit of using individual phase power elements is that the desired power setting is available on each phase, so the relay may act properly when challenged by load diversity. This has a positive impact on sensitivity of the power protection when used for supplemental anti-islanding protection (for example, California Rule 21). 4. Use of oscillographic records for commissioning and event analysis 5. Availability of a high voltage power supply 6. 480 volt-rated sensing voltage input 7. Flexibility in mounting configuration Interested? For more information, contact Beckwith Electric at (727) 544-2326 or e-mail at marketing@beckwithelectric.com. M-3410A in Horizontal Mounting Configuration
Chuck Mozina and Douglas Moody presented their paper, "Mill Benefits From Upgrading Generator Protective Relaying", at the 48th annual meeting of the IEEE-IAS Pulp and Paper Industry Technical Conference. The conference was held in Toronto, Canada, June 17-21. The paper was named the second place paper at the event's closing ceremony. The paper outlines the reasons why mill generator owners should consider upgrading the electrical protection of their generators to meet today's standards. It relates the experience of completed protection upgrade projects at MeadWestvaco's Luke, Maryland mill, where 1960-vintage electromechanical relays were replaced with modern digital protection. The paper points out the advantages of this technology as opposed to conventional electromechanical protection, and also discusses unique application considerations in applying digital protection. Co-author Douglas Moody is Power Engineer for MeadWestvaco's Luke Mill, Maryland plant. He has BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, and is also a former instructor in industrial electronics at Allegany College in Cumberland, MD. Doug is a member of IEEE, IAS, and the PPIC Power Distribution Committee. Chuck Mozina is Applications Manager, Protection Products and Systems for Beckwith Electric. He is in the IEEE Power System Relay Committee and in the I&CPS, which addresses industrial system protection. He has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and has authored a number of papers and magazine articles on protective relaying. Interested? For more information, contact Beckwith Electric at (727) 544-2326 or e-mail at marketing@beckwithelectric.com.
As part of the quality and reliability of our products, Beckwith Electric employs a highly skilled team to research, write and desktop publish instruction books, application guides, product specifications, help documents, and some technical drawings. The team consists of Ed Kubas and Sheri Stanley. Ed has been our Technical Writer for more than two years and has over 20 years of experience with technical writing in the electric industry. Ed's previous work includes rewriting the emergency and abnormal operation procedures for the Florida Power's nuclear power plant in Crystal River, FL. Sheri has been our Desktop Publisher for 5 years and has 12 years experience with layout, photo retouching, and illustration. Sheri previously worked at the Home Shopping Network Catalog Division.
Due to the diligence of Ed and Sheri, our Web site, www.beckwithelectric.com, now contains almost all of the instruction books, application guides, and specification sheets. Many of our popular models, such as the M-2001B Digital Tapchanger Control and the M-3410 Intertie/Generator Protection Relay, have instruction books downloadable by chapter. The electronic documents are sometimes available in languages other than English, including Spanish, Portuguese, and French Canadian. The electronic documents are Adobe® Acrobat® PDFs and require that Adobe Acrobat® Reader™, a free software, be used to open and view the documents. Our PDFs are made with the most current features offered by Acrobat offers, such as thumbnail viewing and searching for an instance of a word or phrase. These easy access features allow you to jump to the section of the document that interests you the most. The features also require that you use the latest version of the freeware - currently Acrobat 5.0. If you do not have the latest version, follow the link - located at the top of each page in the Document Center of our Web site - to upgrade your software. The technical writing team is also part of the group coordinating the release of Beckwith Electric software. The most recent software is being released on CD with the instruction book included and linked in the software under "Help" in the toolbar. This instruction book is an indexed PDF that follows the concept of a book index - locate the topic you need alphabetically and click to go to that page. While this Help feature is only currently implemented in the IPScom® Communications Software for the M-3410 and TapTalk® Communications Software for the M-2001B, future versions of the other IPScom software packages and the Autodaptive® Suite of Software will include indexed PDFs under the Help menu. The technical writing team continues to strive to produce quality documents and improve customer service. Ed has implemented an interactive database for corrections and suggestions on each book or specification to be implemented in the next revision. This database ensures that all suggestions are reviewed. In the near future, the technical documents will be released in electronic format only via CD or the Web site. This will allow customers to have access to all technical documents in a compact and speedy manner. Visit the Document Center at www.beckwithelectric.com to download technical
documents. Impact of Facility-Switched Load and Generator Control in DG Interconnection Applications Using Low Import Power Protection The use of low import power protection may be applied as supplemental anti-islanding protection for DG interconnection applications. Its use is based on the premise that the DG facilities, loads will draw more power than the on-site generation can either supply (load is greater than generator output), or by contract the DG facility should never export power to the utility. As the number of DGs and loads on a given feeder is dynamic, a situation may develop where a feeder is separated from the utility, and the aggregate power from all connected DGs equals the feeder's connected load. The phase undervoltage (27), phase overvoltage (59), and over/undervoltage (81O/U) elements may not be able to detect the loss of utility parallel operation in this scenario. The use of an import underpower element (32R-U) will succeed in detecting this potential islanding condition in peak-shaving applications, where the DG's facility minimum load exceeds the rating of its generators, and therefore a minimum power import from the utility is always expected. To enhance the security of this application, the generator's output bias
should be set so some import from the utility is always present (Generator
Output = Facility Load - Bias + Margin).* The bias amount is typically
set for the largest, single, switched load in the DG facility. For facilities
with small switched loads, such as hospitals, data centers and hotels,
the bias is typically small. For large industrial facilities that contain
large switched motors, a larger bias is typically required.
Interested? For more information, contact Beckwith Electric at (727)
544-2326 or e-mail at marketing@beckwithelectric.com. Article from Issue 39, July 2002 of Beckwith Electric's Powerlines. Copyright 2002. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited. Deadline Approaches for Protection Seminar Registration The registration deadline for the Beckwith Electric Relay Seminar is September 13, 2002. The seminar is to be held October 6- 11, 2002 in St. Petersburg, Florida. The seminar includes four-and-a-half days of intensive training in generator, power plant transformer and DG interconnection protection. Topics Protection of Generators Using Microprocessor-Based Technology; Application and Setting of the Beckwith Electric M-3420, M-3430 and M-3425 Relays Transformer and DG Interconnection Protection Using Microprocessor Technology; Application and Setting of the Beckwith M-3310, M-3311, M-3520, and M-3410 Relays; Current State of DG Rules and Regulations, IEEE P1547, California Rule 21 and state guidelines in Texas and New York Commissioning and Testing of the M-3420, M-3430, M-3425, M-3310 and M-3311 Relays Who Should Attend Registration Instructors Interested? For more information, contact Beckwith Electric at (727) 544-2326 or e-mail at marketing@beckwithelectric.com.
LAPEM Lab certifies Beckwith Relays for CFE LAPEM, the most recognized research laboratory for electrical equipment in South America, has tested and approved Beckwith Electric Generator Protection Relays (M-3420, M-3430, and M-3425), Transformer Protection Relays (M-3310 and M-3311), and Intertie Protection Relay (M-3520). LAPEM is the official research lab for CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad), the main electric power utility in Mexico, and Luz y Fuerza, the main electric power utility in Mexico City. The certification from LAPEM means Beckwith Electric relays are considered to provide efficient and reliable protection for the power system, allowing CFE to offer quality electrical power. LAPEM-05 tests falls within the parameters of ISO 9002 and ISO 14000, IEC and ANSI/IEEE standards. Tony Brown, Regional Sales Manager for Latin America says, "This rigorous certification once more confirms the quality of the Beckwith Electric relays, plus the compliance of these products to the international standards for the protection of electrical equipments. For Mexico, this represents an unconditional acceptance by our customers, and the confidence of working with a world leader in the business."
What Makes a Transformer Protection Relay Best-in-Class? By Wayne Hartmann, Manager of Application Engineering for Protection
and Protection Systems Beckwith Electric's M-3311 Transformer Integrated Protection System® is a top performer in providing comprehensive, economical and easy-to-use protection. As a quality relay, it has the following attributes:
Performance The M-3311 implements 5th harmonic restraint by raising the pick-up of the differential element, not by blocking the element as with some other relays. This makes the M-3311 more reliable in clearing an internal transformer fault that occurs due to overexcitation-a likely time to fault, as the voltage on the transformer is typically above nominal. Ease of Use Useful Tools for Commissioning and Event Analysis While there are many transformer relays from which to choose, only one has all the outstanding features listed above, plus back-up and breaker failure protections, DNP communications and much more-the M-3311 Transformer Relay from Beckwith Electric. Interested? For more information, contact Beckwith Electric at (727) 544-2326 or e-mail at marketing@beckwithelectric.com.
Maciejewski Joins Beckwith Electric Gloria Maciejewski recently joined Beckwith Electric as a data entry and export clerk. She is responsible for order entry, invoicing, and arranging documents for items slated for export. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, Gloria studied international commerce, completing her course work in 1991. She worked in the purchasing department of a retail store, and as an import-export coordinator at a Colombian pharmaceutical firm. In 1999, Gloria came to the United States to study English. Here she met and married Jim Maciejewski, leading her to stay in this country. Of her experiences at Beckwith Electric, Gloria says, "I like the people and for me every day is a learning process." In her spare time, Gloria likes to swim, watch movies, and read.
Articles from Issue 39, July 2002 of Beckwith Electric's Powerlines. |
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