Editorial Calendar

Winter 2010 - Articles due July 19
Sequence-of-Events and Event Recorders

Modern intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) have the ability to record various information including power on or off of the device itself, protection feature pickup, dropout, or trip, input and output assertion or de-assertion, and other activities monitored by the IED. These events can be time-stamped to the millisecond and synchronized to GMT using GPS signals. Fault events can be recorded to create waveforms of electrical signals with corresponding timing of all active digital signals, all placed on a single graph. This information can be invaluable in determining what caused a particular event and how the equipment responded to the event.

Spring 2011 - Articles due September 24
Arc-Flash Mitigation

Necessity is the mother of invention, and as the electrical world faced the problem of mitigating excessive arc-flash energy, manufacturers, engineers, and inventors began finding ways to alleviate the problem. Some methods involve reducing the current, others reduce the time duration, and still others provide personal protective equipment to mitigate the problem.

Summer 2011 - Articles due December 30
Switchgear Life Extension

There are features in new switchgear that make its purchase attractive. However, given the cost of completely new switchgear, doesn't it make sense to evaluate existing switchgear to see if some of the new features can be retrofitted, and the existing switchgear refurbished to last an additional 20 to 30 years? Some switchgear owners are doing just that.Fall 2011.

Fall 2011 - Articles due April 18
Weather Related Testing Complications

Excessive temperatures both cold and hot, rain, snow, and other ambient conditions can make the evaluation of electrical equipment difficult. This issue will examine problems such as power factor/dissipation factor test results of equipment having temperatures below 0º C, transformer and motor windings in high humidity, and other related issues.