RELIABILITY OF POWER CONNECTIONS
Mike Braunovic, Senior Member, IEEE
DATE: October 28, 2003 (Tuesday).
TIME: 5.30 PM; Refreshment is provided
LOCATION: Washington Group International; Carnegie Center, 510 Carnegie Center Boulevard –
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pcnjpes/images/map.raytheon.gif , Princeton, New Jersey.
BACKGROUND
The electric power industry is undergoing fundamental change in moving from a regulated monopoly to a competitive industry. As a result, electric utilities are now forced to shift from system growth to prolonging the operating life of existing facilities and to downsize extensively the staff and consequently lose practical experience. This, in turn, creates a need to provide new staff with background in the appropriate technologies concerning the reliability of the power delivery systems. On the other hand, steadily increasing energy consumption in densely populated areas imposes severe operating conditions on transmission and distribution systems which have to carry greater loads than in the past and operate at higher temperatures. Despite the use of various preventive maintenance measures there are still a number of problem areas that can adversely affect network reliability.
Power connections are generally the weak links in electrical transmission and distribution systems. Overheating of connections in both overhead and underground systems, often due to poor installation practices, are probably the most frequent sources of detriment to the overall performance of a power system. Accurate knowledge of the sources affecting the performance of power connections and means of reducing or eliminating these, can lead to substantial improvement in the network reliability within the allowable operating limits. To achieve these objectives engineers and technical personnel must understand the basic principles of power connections, and practical insights into degradation and failure mechanisms.
This lecture will provide a practical treatment of the basic principles of electrical contacts and will include recent advances in the understanding of processes associated with the operation of power connections. Emphasis will be placed on the physical causes for performance attributes and limitations of several types of power connectors. Tools available to evaluate the service performance of power connections will be described. The introduction of effective mitigating measures for slowing connector degradation and restoring the original capability of connectors to satisfy system requirements will be discussed and illustrated. Opportunities for connector life extension will be addressed.
OBJECTIVES
Speaker biography:
Milenko Braunovic (M'73-SM'92) received the Dipl.Ing. degree in technical physics from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1962 and the M.Met and Ph.D. degrees in physical metallurgy from the Univrsity of Sheffield, U.K., in 1967 and 1969, respectively.
From 1971 until 1997, he was working at IREQ (Hydro-Quebec) as a Senior Member of the Scientific Staff. He retired from IREQ in 1997 and established his own scientific consulting company MB Interface, Montreal, QC, Canada. He is presently consulting with the Canadian Electricity Association as a Technology Advisor. During the last 30 years, he has been responsible for the development and management of a broad range of research projects for Hydro-Quebec and the Canadian Electrical Association in the areas of electrical power contacts, connector design and evaluation, tribology and accelerated test methodologies. He also initiated and supervised the R&D activities in the field of shape-memory alloy applications in power systems. He is the author of more than 100 papers and technical reports, including contributions to encyclopedias and books, in his particular areas of scientific interest. In addition, he frequently lectures at numerous seminars worldwide and has presented a large number of papers at various international conferences.
Dr. Braunovic received the Ragnar Holm Scientific Achievement Award, the Ralph Armington Recognition Award, and the IEEE CPMT Best Paper Award. He successfully chaired the 15th International Conference on Electrical Contacts held in Montreal 1990 and was a Technical Program Chairman of the 18th International Conference on Electrical Contacts, Chicago, IL, 1996; He is a Senior Member of the American Society of Metals (ASM), the Materials Research Society (MRS), the Planetary Society, and the American Society for Testing of Materials (ASTM).
DIRECTIONS: From NORTH; NJ Turnpike, Rt 18, or Rt 1: Take Turnpike Exit 9; to Rt 18 North; to Route 1 South for about 20 miles; (Rush hour traffic is bad on Rt 1); You are near when you see Harrison St, Washington St, Alexander Rd. Take jug handle at the Carnegie Center Boulevard East traffic light and proceed into Carnegie Center across Rt 1. Turn right on Carnegie Center Drive and continue to Raytheon Building 510
From SOUTH: Rt 1, Rt 95, Rt 295: Take Rt 95 North (or Rt 295 North) to the Route 1 North Exit (Exit 67); Proceed on Rt 1 North for about 3 miles and turn right at Carnegie Center Boulevard. Turn right on Carnegie Center Drive and continue to Raytheon Building 510
RSVP and Information:
Ed Sproles (CHAIR), (609)-844-0473; Email: ess@alum.mit.edu
Mario LaValva (VICE-CHAIR), (609)-924-7463; Email: mlavalva@ieee.org
