NEMA HPBC applauds President Obama’s announcement of the creation of an energy efficiency Race to the Top program to encourage innovation and competition in state energy efficiency policies....More
NEMA published white paper NEMA MGW 1-2013, "The U.S. Department of Energy Small Electric Motor Standards Final Rule and Technical Support Document of March 9, 2010"...More
Beginning in 2014, large commercial buildings in Minneapolis must report energy and water use annually to comply with a new ordinance city leaders approved recently intended to increase energy awareness...More
The Energy Department recently announced a new funding opportunity to establish regional Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnerships (CHP TAPs)....More
You can breathe in a harmful substance, swallow it, or get it on your skin or in your eyes. Sometimes, there's no apparent effect and you may continue working in an unsafe manner thinking nothing's wrong....More
One reason Annex D3(a) has a more complicated example of feeder sizing is the circuit is being divided up into different runs with different temperature requirements. But another reason is the neutral calculations are complicated by the fact that the load isn't calculated on the basis of VA per square meter or square foot. Thus, 210.11(B) does not apply and we cannot assume the load is evenly distributed. Before we look at the implications of this, let's see how dividing up the circuit affects the feeder sizing for the ungrounded conductors....More
In Part 1, we said your first line of defense against dangerous counterfeit parts is to buy from reputable electrical distributor or retailer.
Here are some other precautions you can take....More
A few weeks ago, an 800A breaker tripped and could not be reclosed. So, it was replaced. The new breaker tripped several times, and a recording DMM left on it showed a maximum load of 620A. Each time, the investigating technician couldn't identify a fault before reclosing the breaker.
The plant manager had a tech place a bypass jumper around it. "We've got an instrument monitoring the current and if it gets too high someone can just pull the handle." He wants you to figure out why the breaker "doesn't hold." What should you do?...More
For some time now, digital cameras have been a tool for a "best practice" in testing and maintenance: capturing nameplate data as an image file. Advantages include:...More
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association’s (NEMA) standard for distribution equipment recently received approval from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)...More
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) recently published ANSI C136.23-2012, “American National Standard for Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment—Enclosed Architectural Luminaires,” and ANSI C136.32, “American National Standard for Roadway and Area Lighting—Enclosed Setback Luminaires and Directional Floodlights”...More
In its new plant in Ripon, Calif., Diamond Pet Foods, Meta, Mo.-based family-owned manufacturer of natural pet foods, wanted to aim for energy efficiency and sustainability. Nelson & Sons Electrical, the Turlock, Calif.-based specialist in lighting and electrical constructions for the food processing industry, decided to use LED lighting technology. The firm began with a trial of 16 Dialight DuroSite high-bay LEDs in the receiving area.
In its new plant in Ripon, Calif., Diamond Pet Foods, Meta, Mo.-based family-owned manufacturer of natural pet foods, wanted to aim for energy efficiency and sustainability. As a result, its lighting specialist chose Dialight LED lighting fixtures....More
What's even more effective than wearing the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) when exposed to potential dangers? Not being exposed to those dangers in the first place. To do this, follow the "Don't Be There" rule.
If you aren't there when something goes wrong, you're not exposed to the resulting consequences. Practicing this rule does incur some cost. For example, you're going to have to invest a little time to walk around a transformer yard rather than cut through it. But this investment pays off over time....More
We can see that Annex D and Annex D3(a) of the 2011 provide very different views of feeder sizing. Why is the Annex D3(a) example so much more detailed and complex? For one thing, in Annex D3(a), you size two different types of feeder: ungrounded and grounded. That is, the current-carrying ones and the neutral....More
You know and trust the major brands of breakers, fuses, and motors available in the market. If you install a 200A breaker, you have confidence knowing it's not going to blow up with a 150A load or fail to open upon overload. Unfortunately, there's a problem that can turn this trust on its head. That problem is the imposter part....More
The plant has a wireless system that is supposed to provide real-time information about the production floor to people in the administrative offices. But sometimes the statistics and status alerts don't match actual conditions. Maintenance is receiving automated alarms that turn out to be false. And sometimes a machine simply resets itself or exhibits other undesirable behavior. The problems seem to be completely random. To eliminate outdated router problems, maintenance bought all new routers at a local office supply store, but the troubles remain.
What should you do?...More
Does your DMM give you accurate readings? Unless you're using a True RMS meter, probably not. Switching power supplies and other sources of waveform distortion are everywhere. An average-responding meter gives you an inaccurate reading where distorted waveforms are present. In fact, such meters can't even read non-sinusoidal waveforms....More
LEDs have unique and compelling characteristics that make them ideal for industrial lighting applications. But there are a variety of misconceptions about LEDs, how well they work, how long they last, and more. Digital Lumens developed this whitepaper to dish up the facts around LEDs and address some common misunderstandings....More
An arc flash is associated with the explosive release of energy caused by an electrical arc, due to either a phase-to-ground or a phase-to-phase fault. This kind of fault can result from many factors – a dropped tool, accidental contact with electrical systems, buildup of conductive dust, corrosion or improper work conditions.....More
Abstract: In this webinar, Mike will not only explain the current NEC requirements for GFCIs and AFCIs, but he'll explain how they operate, what causes their premature failure, and when they won't provide the safety protection you might have thought they would.
Abstract: This webinar will teach attendees the difference between risk and hazard, and how the choice of system grounding has a direct impact on reliability and safety.
