Merry Chirstmas everyone, and a joyous New Year.
Hope for 2012 to bring even great happiness and success than 2011. Stay safe and alert this 2012 when working with electricity.
About Jeff
Jeff MacKinnon is an Electrical Engineer based in Spokane, WA. He has worked in may different capacities, and currently is working on Arc-Flash Studies, Power System design, substation design and Hydro Generator Control.
NESC 2012 Review Seminar
December 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Spokane IEEE Section will be hosting David J Marne on January 30th and 31st for a NESC 2012 Review Seminar. From the website the seminar will be at most $580 for IEEE Members and $630 for Non-Members. This is an amazing value for a 2 day seminar.
If you will be, or can be in the Spokane area and you work in the power system arena a seminar like this is the perfect way to start the New Year.
Major Changes and General Overview of the 2012 National Electrical Safety Code
The Major Changes and General Overview of the 2012 NESC® seminar is a two day class focusing on the major changes in the 2012 Edition of the National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC®). The class will cover in detail the major changes to the NESC® 2012 Edition and also provide a general overview of each part of the NESC® (Day 1). Applying the Code to day-to-day work will be stressed by focusing on practical NESC® examples and applications (Day 2). The class is intended for engineers, staking technicians, power linemen, communications linemen, safety personnel and inspectors. Prior working knowledge of the NESC® is not required.
The class includes ample time for questions and attendees are encouraged to share their NESC® applications with the entire class. The presentations are rich in graphics and practical applications. Learning the changes in the NESC® is a must for personnel responsible for operating a safe utility system.
Why I’m a Card Carrying IEEE Member
December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Over the years there has been a number of different reasons why I was an IEEE member, and why I served on the executive.
How I got started
It started when I was at Dalhousie University and was looking for a group to get involved with to help my resume and meet people in the industry. The IEEE Student Branch seemed like a great place to start, so I started volunteering as the Secretary and the local Section, Canadian Atlantic Section invites all students to attend their meetings which is where I started to meet the people that worked in the area.
IEEE members are great people to hang out with.
One of the activities that the student branch ran was a trip around the province to visit various companies from small manufacturing, pulp and paper mills and and power generation stations. This trip was a great time and opened my eyes wider on some of the benefits of an IEEE member.
From that point on I was a serial volunteer taking positions of Student Branch Chair (sorry Leo), section secretary, to vice-chair and regional newsletter editor and finally holding the Chair in Spokane.
That is my history as an IEEE member since 2002.
I'm a member because...
Mo El-Hawary
Some of the reasons to why I have continued with my membership has changed over the years, and others have acted in cycles. For example, when I first joined as a student, the major reason was to get to know some of the people in the industry that I was interested in entering, and possibly help get a position in the area, and when I moved to Spokane, while I already had a job lined up, I didn't know anyone from the area and IEEE was a great starting point.
IEEE has also afforded me the ability to travel all over North America, and meet amazing people and make life long friends, whether it was a student conference in London, ON or the sections congress in Quebec City, QC and San Francisco, CA.
IEEE membership has also allowed me to learn from the giants in the industry, whether it is discussing power system analysis from the people that write the seminal text books, or learning the challenges of building the life-safety system in the Mercury program from one of the lead engineers.
(Photo Credits:
Featured Photo - UCLA IEEE Student Branch
Second Photo - Section Congress 2008 Photo page
Third Photo - Sections Congress Facebook Page)
2011 Eaton Consulting Application Guide
November 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The new 2011 Eaton Consulting Application Guide is now available to download. This is an update to one of the power system resources that was recommended in a previous post.
You can choose the sections that are most relevant to you at Sparkyresource.com/ConsultingApplicationGuide or you can get the entire book, all 74MB of it by clicking here.
Arc Flash Video – Interior substation racking
September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
There are a lot of great videos available showing the affects of an Arc Flash and of an Arc Blast. If you have ever sat through a training course you have seen them.
We will be posting videos that show the awesome affects when things don't go right. Remember, whenever possible work only at a zero energy state.