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Insulation Coordination
Where Arrester and Insulator Characteristics Meet
ArresterFacts 037
Insulation Coordination Fundamentals
Transient overvoltages are a fact of life on power systems. Arresters can be used to effectively control the most frequent type, which are caused by switching operations. Transients caused by lightning are somewhat more difficult to mitigate but those too can be successfully handled with a judicious effort. How one protects the insulation on a power system is very often an economic decision. It would certainly not be reasonable to insulate only for the operating voltage and allow all transients to cause insulation failure. It is equally unreasonable to insulate for all transient events; if it were even possible. Therefore, a solution that makes a reasonable investment in insulation and protective equipment is the compromise most often taken. This carefully designed combination of insulators and arresters is called insulation coordination.
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Michael Comber Retires
"An Icon in the Arrester Industry"
Michael Comber, a well know and highly respected expert in the arrester industry, retired as a full time employee of Hubble Power Systems' arrester team at the end of June 2012.
Mike started his career as an electrical engineer in England in the late 1960's. It did not take long for his talents to be recognized and he was recruited to come to the US by the General Electric facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He worked for GE for twenty years holding various positions in high voltage research and product development, including serving as the head of the arrester engineering and development group. In 1989, he joined Ohio Brass Company (now Hubbell Power Systems), where he has held the position of Manager-Engineering for Arresters until his retirement.
Mike intends to continue his long standing association with both the IEEE and IEC standards groups as the Hubble representative. He is chair of IEEE SPDC WG 3.3.11, which is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the C62.11 arrester test standard. He is also active in IEC and CIGRE, currently being the Secretary of the surge arrester technical committee, TC37, as well as being a US expert to IEC TC37 MT4, which is responsible for the IEC 60099-4 arrester test standard, and a member of CIGRE WG A3.25.
When asked for words of wisdom to pass on, Mike responded with: I've always adhered to a quote that my father would often recite to me when I was a young lad - "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well".
We wish the very best for Mike, and his wife Kathy, as they start this new adventure in life.
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ArresterWorks' eConsulting
Gaining popularity as the pressure to reduce costs increases
ArresterWorks is pleased to report that the demand for our eConsulting service is rising and as a result of our new online consulting, not only, are we helping to resolve our customers issues in surge protection, but are doing it in a cost effective manner. We started this new service when it became apparent that companies do not always have the person with the surge protection expertise to answer questions as part of the team and at the same time are being required to cut the cost of doing business wherever possible in order to compete in an ever competitive market. Through the use of all the online tools that are available today, we are able to exchange information, have face to face discussions and review the site layout without leaving our office.
Our "8 Hour eConsult" package which gives companies the ability to put their questions to an authority and get the necessary answers quickly is becoming one of our most popular offerings. This service has proven very valuable to one of our customers, a large US utility, by essentially adding a senior engineer to the team without the cost of a full time employee.
"I really appreciate the support you've provided for this investigation, it allowed us to get to the very bottom of the issue as well as learn a considerable amount about arresters."
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If you have an outage due to an arrester failure, whether you are a large company or a small one, you need the right answers and you need them quickly. ArresterWorks has the expertise needed to trouble shoot the situation, determine the root cause and get you the answers you need. Recently we had the pleasure of working with a small independent power producer in northern Alberta Canada and were able to resolve their issue in short order. We thank them for allowing us to quote them in this article.
"..., being such a specialized topic, it's easier for us to bring someone like yourself through eConsulting than any other way."
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Check out our services on our eConsulting page. If you are not sure which service is best for you, call us and we can discuss your issue and make a recommendation of time required to resolve your issue(s).
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Vintage Arrester
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 Do you know who manufactured this arrester and in what era?
We can across this arrester in service during a resent trip to Michigan's UP. Thought you would enjoy seeing it and guessing by whom it was manufactured and when.
We welcome questions or comments on this one or any other old arrester you have seen. Either post them at our FaceBook page or send us an email.
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About Us
ArresterWorks is an International Consulting Firm, owned an operated by Jonathan Woodworth and Deborah Limburg, focused on assisting others in improving power system reliability through design, production and application of arresters to mitigate the effect of lightning and other transients.
We are always glad to hear from our reader.
Olean, New York 14760
716 307 2431 |
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