Quarterly eNewsletter

Issue 3

 

Lack of Preventive Maintenance is a Gamble You Can’t Afford

Sure, preventive maintenance (PM) can be costly and time-consuming. But if you’re among those who believe there are constraints that keep your company from making PM a top priority, here are a few words of caution from someone in the know: “You can get lucky some of the time, but not all of the time.”

So says Tom Sanders, a power distribution engineer for a large industrial manufacturing facility in northeast Texas. A primary part of his job responsibility is to keep the power distribution equipment at their East Texas plant running at a high level of reliability.


Distance Equals Protection from Deadly Arc Flash Blasts

First in a four-part series on Arc Flash Mitigation

The U.S. military has developed a bomb that uses an explosively formed penetrator (molten copper) that can cut through the armor plating on tanks. Now, it goes without saying that you would not want to expose your troops to that kind of an explosion, but that’s exactly what’s happening if your electrical technicians are working in conditions where an arc flash blast can occur.

An arc flash blast occurs when failure of an electrical component produces an arcing fault, during which substantial electric currents pass through the air. The resulting blast contains vaporized arc terminal material such as copper. The arcing involves high temperatures of up to or beyond 35,000°F (19,427°C), which is approximately four times the surface temperature of the sun.


Expecting to ‘Double in Size’ Over the Next Decade, NSG Begins Construction on New 23,000-Square-Foot Facility


National Switchgear (NSG), one of the largest and most preferred remanufacturer of electrical equipment in the marketplace, recently broke ground for a new 23,000-square-foot building at their location on Franklin Street in Lewisville, Texas.

The company, celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, will use the new space to expand the NSG business and to house National Field Services (NFS), its sister company. NFS serves the utility and industrial markets by delivering first-class electrical onsite services through reliable testing, maintenance and a variety of electrical engineering services designed to improve power system performance, reliability and increase personnel safety.