Understanding Medium-Voltage Switchgear

Proper switchgear design and operation is fundamental to safe and reliable medium-voltage (MV) electrical distribution systems. This  class is designed to give medium-voltage engineers, designers, specifiers, owners, and operators the tools they need to better understand these valuable system assets. Through a combination of lectures and practical exercises, you'll increase your awareness of switchgear types, applications, layouts, ratings, and protection and control systems.

• Electrical design engineers
• Electrical testing technicians
• Commercial / industrial, utility, or plant engineers
• Electrical construction project managers

Introduction to Switchgear

• Types and applications
• Industry terminology and definitions
• Overview of switchgear standards

Switching Devices:

• Fault interrupting
• Load interrupting
• Isolating

Interrupting/Breaker Device Basics

• Vacuum, SF₆, air, oil
• Standard ratings
• Short-circuit current and considerations
• Transient impact: TRV, capacitor switching, etc.
• Operating endurance (# of operations)

Insulation (Dielectric) Materials

• Air, oil, SF₆, solid insulation

Physical Properties

• Pad-mounted / submersible
• Metal-enclosed / metal-clad
• Arc resistant / gas-insulated (GIS)

Device Layouts

• Bus configurations
• Breaker / interrupter / switch
• Voltage transformers
• Fuse / relays

Environmental and Installation Considerations

Protection Basics

• Fuse and time-overcurrent
• Buss differential options
• Line/feeder differential
• parallel generator protection
• Arc detection

AC Schematic Diagrams

• Three-line diagram overview
• Voltage transformer circuits
• Current transformer circuits
• Control power transformer
• Auxiliary devices

DC Schematic Diagrams

• Battery / DC control power
• Breaker / interrupter diagrams
• Trip / close circuits
• Protective relay circuits
• Auxiliary device circuits
• Wiring organization and considerations 

Automation / Control / Communications

• Control philosophies
• HMI / PLC systems
• Intro to communication protocols
• Commissioning process, plans, and staffing

Testing / Operations / Maintenance / Monitoring

Class exercises for solidifying understanding of fundamental concepts and calculations

Mike Starr

Mike Starr is an Electrical Project Engineer at Affiliated Engineers, Inc. (AEI). He has an established, diverse portfolio of power distribution projects, ranging from high-rise office buildings and campus facilities, to
1500HP dynamometer industrial test cells. His project experience also covers design and commissioning of co-location, enterprise, super-compute, and hyper-scale data centers. For the past three years, Mike has taught a semester-long course titled, “Electrical Systems for Construction” at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Wisconsin, and registered nationally through NCEES.

Joseph Witzel

Joseph Witzel is a Major Account Manager at Eaton Corporation. During his 29 years in the electrical industry, Joe has held a wide range of power systems engineering responsibilities, including NEMA/ANSI application engineer, power systems engineering manager, field testing engineer, and district operations manager. Joe brings with him extensive medium-voltage experience, covering medium-voltage system studies, equipment specification, product application, operations, and testing and commissioning. He received his BSEE Degree from Marquette University, and his MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management at Devry University.