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Kevlar pulp treated with low-temperature plasma and nano cellulose fibrils (NCFs) have been introduced as reinforcements in the preparation for composite insulating paper with low relative permittivity, dielectric loss, good mechanical properties, and thermal stability. More polar groups of Kevlar fibers could be exposed after plasma treatment. Results showed that the relative permittivity of the composite paper containing 20% Kevlar pulp, 10% NCF, and 70% softwood pulp is decreased by 29.6% and the dielectric loss is decreased by 43.2% at 50 Hz, 25°, compared with the conventional paper formed by pure softwood pulp. The change was due to the introduction of Kevlar pulp with intrinsic low dielectric constant and loss, which decreases the whole polarizability of the paper. The mechanical properties of the composite paper became worse after introducing 20% Kevlar pulp. About 10% NCF can work as a mechanical reinforcement to compensate for the tensile and Yang's modulus loss. Scanning electron microscopy results showed that NCF could fill the void defects and improve the interface bonding of the fibers to enhance the paper mechanical properties. The composite paper also had better insulating and thermal properties than the conventional paper. It has been concluded that the Kevlar pulp/NCF/softwood pulp composite paper has the potential to replace the pure softwood paper for the application of high-voltage ac transformer insulation.

The current study revolves around development of paper from dhaincha fiber (Sesbania aculeata). Dhaincha is a basically cultivated for improvisation of soil quality. Due to deforestation worldwide, various sources of raw materials are used in paper industries. Indian pulp and paper industry is the world's major paper industry. In this study extraction of dhaincha fiber was done followed by retting, combing, chemical analysis and by making of pulp with dhaincha fiber. The dhaincha pulp was then used for making a paper from dhaincha fiber. The thickness of the dhaincha paper was then tested with paper thickness tester. By doing further processing dhaincha paper can be used commercially by paper industry.

In the screening area of the paper mill has the high density impurities which are removed from the pulp and it is stored in the machine chest. The pulp in the machine chest is directly transferred to the head box without removing any medium density sand particles which affects the quality of the pulp. Only if the pulp entering the paper machine is clean and well-mixed with additives a good quality of paper will be produced. So in between the pulp tank and the pulp receiver a medium density cleaner is installed. The pulp in the machine chest is allowed to flow through the round hopper. Due to the circulatory motion and by centrifugal force the high density sand particles will settle in the bottom of the hopper. Due to the centripetal force the pulp is recovered from the hopper. The sand particles that settled in the bottom of the hopper are removed by the periodic opening and closing of the solenoid valves at regular interval of time. The medium density impurities are removed by creating hydro cyclone. These sequential operations are automated and controlled through PLC. So the overall plant efficiency is increased. Since the medium density impurities are removed this ensures the good quality paper production.

The pulp and paper industry converts roundwood and recycled fibre, collected from wastepaper into printing and writing papers. The pulp and paper mills in Ontario have been facing extreme competitive pressures, which have affected their performance leading to several mill closures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the relative performance of three types of Ontario's pulp and paper mills (using all fibre, only roundwood fibre, and only recycled fibre). This study uses bootstrap data envelopment analysis and the results indicate low levels of overall technical and managerial efficiencies. The results of this study provide policy makers with detailed performance analysis so that future input resources can be reallocated to improve the performance of the pulp and paper mills in Ontario. It is recommended that the pulp and paper mills using recycled fibre require huge capital investments to install de-inking technology to improve performance.

Chinese folk paper-cutting has a long history of development, and it is a major folk art form created by the working people of all ages in our country in order to meet the needs of material and spiritual life, and Return lived in it. It has become a design art rooted in the folk, and it is entrusted with the beautiful expectation of the broad working group from life. Plane composition is a very important part of modern design foundation. Points, lines and surfaces are not only the basic elements of plane composition, but also create a colorful environment atmosphere through the artistic treatment of points, lines and surfaces in different indoor environment designs. Many artistic inspirations of modern design come from folk paper-cutting, and we get creative inspiration and enlightenment from the structure and composition of paper-cutting. By studying the comparison between folk paper-cut art and modern graphic design, this paper tries to provide an innovative way for modern graphic design.

The use of vegetable oil (natural ester) in electrical devices like power transformers is increasing due to their high biodegradability and better safety. The lifespan of power trans- formers is mainly defined by cellulose insulation condition, which usually works together with dielectric oil as electrical insulation and also as mechanical winding protector and compactor. That is why the aim and results of this research shows us not only the dielectric parameters evolution, but also the relationship between the mechanical factors and the moisture content of thermal accelerated ageing processes, with commercial vegetable oil, of Kraft paper and Diamond Dotted Paper (DDP). These are two of the most common insulating materials in electric power transformers. In addition, the new tests have been done by a different method of paper ageing analysis. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement Nº 823969 - BIOTRAFO.

The anaerobic digestion (AD) experiment for recycled pulp and paper sludge (RPPS) was carried out by a CSTR digester “Continious Stirred Tank Reactor” under mesophilic conditions (37 °C) at laboratory scale. The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of AD technology of effluents from the RPPS, and applying a thermal pretreatment to the substrate studied in order to improve methane production and biodegradability, as well as monitoring and control process for the two experiments at laboratory scale. It can be seen that thermal pre-treatment has contributed to a significant improvement in methane potential and biodegradability rate. Indeed, these two parameters have increased from 105 to 116 NmL CH4 /g SVadded and from 75 to 81% respectively. The pH average is about 7.83. In these mesophilic conditions, the results got show that AD is a good solution for the treatment of this type of industrial waste.

Tight assembly of stator windings with no insulation paper damage is a manufacturing challenge. We evaluate different sets of parts according to the following parameters: magnet wire thickness, stator slot smoothness, length of the straight magnet wire after the slot end, and type and amount of insulation cap at the end of the slot. These parameters have discrete values with small differences between them. The damage criterion is the decrease of the insulation paper breakdown voltage after assembly/disassembly of parts, assembled in a small set of designed experiments. Parameter values, i.e., levels at individual experiments are set by an orthogonal experiment matrix. Repetition of each experiment provides statistical significance. Data analysis shows that the additive model alone is not sufficient due to the high correlation of the parameters’ influences. We extend the model to include interparameter influences, which we model by adding a virtual parameter. The extended additive model generates parameter values that do not degrade the insulation paper breakdown voltage within the manufacturing process. These values are verified by repetitions of the control experiment.

Economically paper and pulp mills are important but at the same time it is facing problems due to pollutants that are produced during the process. In this paper we will discuss methods of waste water treatment in the industry. This industry use excessive amount of water because it is used in nearly each and every step of the process as a result large quantity of waste water and residual sludge waste is produced leading to the problems of wastewater treatment, discharge and sludge disposal but advanced technologies with new equipment with the help of some innovative strategies are making it possible for treating wastewater for its reuse by presenting solutions to the industries and helping them in choosing suitable and affordable methods for management of waste

This Special Issue is assembled from a selection of highly-rated technical papers presented at the 4th IEEE Electron Devices Technology and Manufacturing Conference 2020, EDTM 2020. It took place during April 6-21, 2020 and signified the 1st of its kind as a virtual conference financially-sponsored by the Electron Devices Society (EDS). The original EDTM 2020 was planned as a full three-day event at the Hotel Equatorial , Penang, Malaysia from March 16 to 18, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, EDTM 2020 was held as a virtual event .

The Pulp, Paper, and Forest Industries Conference (PPFIC) sponsored by the IEEE-IAS Pulp and Paper Industry Committee (PPIC) needs more papers from end-users. In an effort to make the process easier, the authors of this paper offer some suggestions. In general, end-users are interested in hearing papers that address concerns and opportunities they experience in their facilities. An excellent way to develop papers that meet the interests of the various end-users is if the end-users themselves write papers on topics that are of interest to them, and therefore of interest to the wider community. For potential authors, this paper suggests a few guidelines that might help in constructing and presenting a paper.

Coaters sections are challenging to tune during the commissioning of a paper machine. This paper presents a detailed mechanical-electrical model of a one-coater section which includes a linear, operating point model of the sheet in the different spans, all the drivetrain components, and the vector controlled ac drives. The sheet model considers tail widening as well as the effect of coating and drying on the sheet elastic constant, activation of the torque current control and the beginning of coating. The developed model allows for complete evaluation of the different transient events including paper slack due to load impacts. Results show that the best performance of the drives is obtained operating the spans with even sheet tensions, which reduces and/or eliminates the operation of the drives in regeneration or braking zones.

The data on nanocellulose preparation from organosolv kenaf pulp and its application in the production of corrugating paper are reported. The influence of technological factors on the properties of nanocellulose films was determined The obtained nanocellulose films had to 1.4 g/cm3density, 78 % transparency, 80 % crystallinity degree and 77 MPa tensile strength. Other properties of nanocellulose were studied by means of XRD, AFM and TGA methods. The corrugating paper with a coating consumption of 5 g/m2nanocellulose has mechanical properties 18-34% higher than paper without the use of surface treatment. The use of obtained nanocellulose as coating layer has great potential to improve fiber-based mechanical and barrier properties of corrugating paper.

The increased demand for highly sensitive body sensors have created a range of smart wearables. Strain sensors have evolved from semi-rigid to highly, stretchable, and flexible devices that can conform to the human skin. In contrast to complex conventional fabrication methods, this paper proposes a simple and cost-effective technique that combines stencil printing with kirigami cutting to produce flexible, stretchable, linear, disposable sensors using temporary tattoo paper and conductive carbon paste. Here, two sensor designs (straight line and serpentine) were fabricated and analyzed. The number of carbon-ink coatings were also varied to study the effect of number of coating layers to the sensitivities of the sensor. A total of117 samples were fabricated and tested. When tested on skin, the maximum strain that could be measured was 20% for the straight-line patterned sensors and 35% for the Kirigami structured sensors. Both designs demonstrated good adhesion to skin, are stretchable, and flexible. The best performing designs with the most reliable data were straight-line type sensor with width 9 mm and three-layer carbon ink coatings, and Kirigami sensor with width 8 mm and two-layer coatings of carbon ink. Both sensors exhibited high linearity of 0.9956 and 0.9813, but low sensitivities of 0.25 and 0.28. These sensors have potential applications in the biomedical field.

Outages within the paper industry lead to significant costs to operators. To reduce unplanned outage and losses condition monitoring (CM) techniques can be implemented to determine asset health and help target maintenance where it is most required. The challenges faced by the paper industry to implement condition based maintenance (CBM) on their medium voltage (MV) and high voltage (HV) networks and solutions for on-line partial discharge (OLPD) monitoring are due to the range and number of assets present and geographical spread coupled with problems of retrofitting the technology on pre-existing plants. The implementation of OLPD testing and/or monitoring can vary based on several factors: network topology, connected assets, switchboard type, owner budget and owner's desired local engineer involvement. This paper discusses different approaches to implementing an OLPD test program, ranging from simple handheld survey units to complete network monitoring. This paper focuses on case studies of the deployment of OLPD testing and monitoring solutions at several paper sites within the U.S. The case studies will present diagnostic testing of unshielded MV cable at one paper mill up to full permanent OLPD monitoring systems at two others.

This paper is a case study outlining the successful Power System Study (PSS) of the electrical distribution system at a century-old paper mill. The electrical distribution system has been upgraded over the years with six in-house generators controlling the steam pressure and flow throughout the plant. Three generators operate at 13 800 Volts, and three generators operate at 2400 Volts. The self-generation makes up one half of the plant loading with the other half purchased from the local utility. This paper discusses the challenges involved in developing the computer model, and discusses the issues exposed during the analysis and how they were handled.

Focusing on the automatic production scheduling of the ratio of waste paper in a paper mill, the research target was minimizing the purchase cost of waste paper under multiple constraints. Having divided, the field data (mixing ratios of waste paper and pulp properties) into the training and validation data sets, the scheduling ratios of waste paper were optimized. Firstly, from the point of view of the average pulp properties and the variances, the predicted results proved that the BP-NN predicted model accuracies of the pulp properties with the mixing ratio of waste paper were better than those of SVM and GA-SVM. Secondly, the minimization of the purchasing costs of waste paper under some constraints were obtained with the BP-NN predicted model and the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGAII), Comparing with the general GA in the previous study, the scheduling results improved the pulp brightness by 9.24%, and reduced the purchasing costs of waste paper by 2.16%.

The influence of the degree of polymerisation (DP) of cellulose macromolecules in the short-term dielectric strength and mechanical tensile strength of the electrical insulating paper (EIP) was studied for the sulphate pine pulp. The resistance to prolonged exposure to elevated temperature was investigated. The changes of the structure of EIP and cellulose fibers during heat aging were analyzed. The data presented are expanding representations about the physical existence of the cellulose fibers and about the relationship between the operational resource of EIP and DP. On the basis of the data obtained the assumptions about the causes of discrepancies between experimental and calculated values of DP and limit of the mechanical strength of the paper are explained. The conclusions of the work are confirmed by micrographs the morphological features of the paper web before and after thermal aging. The opinion about need of correction of common perceptions about operational resource of cellulose dielectrics and paper impregnated insulation are reasoned.

In this paper the experimental results of a compact low-power rectenna in paper substrate, designed to operate in the Wi-Fi band, are presented. The complete prototype, based on an annular slot antenna and a single-diode rectifier, features a weight of 1.5 grams and shows an RF-to-dc conversion efficiency in the design band of about 40 % for a -10 dBm available input power, of about 28 % at -15 dBm, and in the range [10, 22] % at -20 dBm, corresponding to an output DC voltage in the order of 320, 240 and 60 mV respectively. Additionally, the rectenna features an efficiency higher then 7 % in the whole band 1.8-2.7 dBm for a power density estimated around 3 μW/cm2.

Renewable energy systems continue to be one of the fastest growing segments of the energy industry. This paper focuses on the understanding of how photovoltaic (PV) technology behaves under dc arc conditions. Emphasis is placed on the electrical safety aspect of DC arc flash incident energy evaluation. Because of the fast proliferation of PV systems and the lack of formal equivalent calculation guidelines such as IEEE 1584 for AC systems, it has been necessary to rely on different equations and models presented by various researchers over the last few years. This paper discusses the behavior of PV systems under arc conditions and presents the results of available methods to estimate the dc arc flash incident energy. This paper provides a comparative analysis of a proposed arc-flash incident energy calculation method against different laboratory tests including those performed for this paper at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Detailed explanations are provided regarding the effect of PV module I-V and P-V curves under arcing conditions. Examples of the application of the proposed calculation method to the test measurements are included.

We have all had those tasks come up that on the surface seems like a very simple 5-minute job. But then things do not go quite as planned. Suddenly, that simple task has now become a major job. People will then tend to start taking short cuts and get complacent in how they complete the repair job. That is when people get hurt or equipment gets damaged. This paper will explain how a very simple task at the author's house garage to replace two ceiling light bulbs and two garage door opener light bulbs turned into over a one-week nightmare. The parallels to the industrial electrical safety world are phenomenal. The other thing that made this job unique is the worker performing the tasks was an unqualified electrical worker that was working under the direct supervision of a qualified worker in a training mode. This paper will examine all the detailed steps that were taken in compliance of NFPA 70E to keep the worker safe while performing in a training mode under difficult situations. When the job was completed, all electrical safety procedures for hazard risk analysis, job briefing, individual responsibilities, lock out tag out, PPE, and fall protection were followed. No one was injured and the unqualified worker gained a lot of new experience and is now trained to meet the NFPA 70E definition of a qualified worker to perform these tasks in the future. Moral of the story is there is no such thing as a 5-minute job in life. You must plan accordingly

Stationary Battery Systems provide the control and reserve power for modern life as we know it. These systems provide control power for switchgear and automated controls, the power for field flashing of generators, emergency lube oil and seal oil pumps and other critical motors, the reserve power for UPS systems, and the operating power for critical communication systems. In short these battery systems make modern life possible, and they surround us. Stationary Battery Systems present unique maintenance hazards due to the availability of high currents, lethal voltages, flammable/explosive gas, and corrosive chemicals. All work on stationary batteries is energized work. This paper will show that we can make the stationary battery systems safer today by implementing a few well thought out, yet simple and low-cost system design changes that reduce the potential for injury and death while ensuring that the battery system can be safely maintained throughout its service life. Another major concern addressed in the paper is the designing of simple protection devices that guard against Human Performance failings. “Things Happen”. By learning from experience, we can provide simple design changes that reduce the potential of things like short circuits caused by dropped wrenches. We will also address the need to guard against fixing one problem only to inadvertently produce another. Prevention through Design for Stationary batteries …Its time has come, and it's about time!

For many years, industrial manufacturing plants in the process industries, along with hospitals, schools and commercial building owners have installed used circuit breakers in panelboards, switchboards, switchgear and motor control centers with reconditioned replacements. Often times, due to the vintage of existing electrical equipment, reconditioned circuit breaker replacements are the only available option. Is this practice safe? Some recognized industry standards such as the Professional Electrical Apparatus Reconditioning League (PEARL) ANSI Accredited Electrical Equipment Reconditioning Standard (EERS) say yes. For Molded Case Circuit Breakers (MCCBs), the recently published U.S. National Electric Code NFPA70-2020 says no. This paper will review applicable global and regional industry standards for circuit breakers and offer clarity around many words including “rebuilt”, “refurbished”, “remanufactured”, “reconditioned” and “renovated” and terms such as “field-modified”. The paper will briefly review design and test standards for new 600-volt class molded-case, insulated case and low-voltage power circuit breakers followed by standards covering accepted practices for reconditioned products, with focused guidance on proper application to assure safe and reliable system circuit protection.

Much of the literature on the link between reliability and safety—especially that written by Ron Moore, whose work is referenced throughout this paper—shows that the more reliable a plant or facility is, the safer it is. This presentation will present the unique connection between reliability and safety from a professional reliability engineering perspective. When asked, “who is responsible for safety?”, most organizations have done a great job of having the consensus answer be “everyone.” This paper serves as reinforcement of the linkage between safety and reliability, that organizations of the future might encourage their members to answer to question “who is responsible for reliability” in the same way: everyone.

Due to environmental consideration, natural ester was developed as liquid insulation for high voltage transformer. This paper reports the Dissolved gas Analysis (DGA) and Fourier Transform Infrareed (FTIR) Spectroscopy of Thermally-Aged Natural Ester-paper composite. The sample used were natural ester from palm oil and kraft paper insulation. The samples used in these experiments were natural ester from palm oil and kraft paper transformer insulation. The 200 gr of ester samples, 10 gr of kraft insulation paper, and 17.5 gr copper were put together with copper conductor in heat-resistant hermetic bottles to simulate actual condition of transformator. The samples were subjected to a thermal stress in a controllable oven at temperature of 120oC and 150oC. The thermal aging was conducted for duration of 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 6 weeks. The dissolved gas in the ester after a certain aging temperature and period was determined using a DGA testing. The gas species and the concentration of each gas under various aging conditions were analyzed. Dissolved gas analysis indicated that thermal aging in ester-paper composite insulation released, CH4 (Methane), C2H6 (ethane), and CO (Carbon Monoxide). FTIR measurement was conducted for the thermally-aged ester insulation. The comparative analysis of DGA and FTIR results was done to clarify the origin of the gas released in the thermally-aged ester paper composite insulation.

In this paper, the effects of the human body, bandage, and moisture on the performance of passive UHF RFID tags is analyzed. The tags used for measurements include a commercially available RFID tag and tags developed on paper and rayon bandage substrates, using brush-painted conductive silver ink. In order to evaluate the tags' performance, wireless measurements are done on different body parts, when changing the humidity level, and when increasing turns of bandage. The results show that the bandage-integrated tag antennas can be used in the vicinity of the human body in wound-healing and sensing applications.

This study shows the agile management of a project using the Scrum methodology. The main objective is to analyze the use of Scrum for life, specifically in scientific production when writing a Paper. The results obtained recognize that the common practices of the agile approach such as revision and retrospective allow that the writing of the article can be improved throughout its development and that the collaboration between the participants is efficient and effective. Likewise, a consistent and effective alternative is provided to the scientific community for the administration in the development of scientific products.

The reduction of production waste impact started to be an important subject in the context of industrial development. In the last years the authorities became to be interested in the reduction of impacts generated by the large amount of waste, by recycling or reuse in processes. In this context, the present study is developed to help decision makers to take the best decision regarding the management of production waste from paper manufacturing so as to mitigate its impacts. According to the results obtained after an analysis of the production waste conducted in the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) framework, the recycling of this type of waste can reduce considerable the impact on the environment and human health by reducing tree cutting and increasing the absorption capacity of CO 2 from the environment.

This paper looks at the process and problems the authors encountered when developing and standardizing PPE levels and task-specific risk assessments for a multinational company that operates large facilities with complex electrical systems around the world. The obstacles of synchronizing a coherent electrical safety program with national standards, international test methods and certification processes and even different language for arc flash/electric arc/electrical arc were resolved to provide consistent requirements that met a corporate NFPA 70E/OSHA 1910.269 program adapted to EU and other international norms. These risk assessment learnings will provide an extremely effective tool for minimizing risk and protecting workers, when applied correctly. For this to happen, personnel of all levels need to have a clear understanding of the company's expectations when it comes to assessing risk and selecting PPE for a given task. The company can accomplish this by standardizing PPE criteria and risk assessments for common tasks on a given piece of equipment. Doing so requires a significant amount of upfront and ongoing work, but will greatly reduce the chance of errors in common tasks and provide a template for future risk assessments.

As part of preventative maintenance and start-up activities, electrical test equipment is brought into an Electrically Safe Work Boundary to perform testing to confirm the functionality of the system and critical components. When the test equipment is performing the test, a voltage or current is applied to the electrical equipment, thus destroying an electrically safe work condition. This paper will evaluate the potential sources of power that test equipment can supply to equipment, determine which test sets could be considered hazardous, and how qualified workers can protect themselves from these hazards.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) uses the term “employee in charge” 12 times in their regulations. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace, 70E® uses the terms “employee” or “person in charge” 28 times. The National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) uses the term seven times. The term is important in all three documents, yet none of them define it. This paper offers an analysis of the use of the term in these documents, and details why that role is critical to safe work practices on or near electrical conductors and circuit parts, with particular focus on its function in high voltage work.

One of the challenges faced by employers and workers is determining the appropriate rating of arc flash personal protective equipment (PPE) when an engineering calculation has not been performed. Some standards include tables to assist the user in selecting arc flash PPE for specific equipment types and voltage ranges. However, to use these and similar tabular methods requires the user to determine the fault current and the fault clearing time. Determining these values is at best difficult for the electrical worker, and in some circumstances, all but impossible. This paper discusses a proposed simplified table method to determine the required arc flash PPE requirements based on a constant-energy boundary, and alternatives considered in the process of creating the proposed table. The method requires identification of readily available electrical system characteristics in addition to the nominal voltage and equipment type to use the table. The method does not require the user to calculate the available fault current or determine fault clearing times. The method also addresses the effect of electrode configuration on the incident energy introduced in IEEE 1584™-2018 Guide for Performing Arc-Flash Hazard Calculations and low arcing current, which are currently unaccounted for in the tables commonly used today.

Standards developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) are a very important source of information for electrical safety programs and safe electrical installations for a very large number of individuals and organizations. They are widely used by many countries around the world. NFPA 70®, National Electrical Code®, (or NEC®), and NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace® are two more commonly known examples, although there are many others. NFPA has a well-established process for the development of new standards and for periodic review and revision of existing ones. Understanding this standards development and revision process is important to everyone involved with electrical safety. It follows a defined set of rules and regulations that moves the standards through the process, and that also encourages participation from members of the public. Most people are not aware of what this process is, or that it encourages public participation. The process is open to anyone and the more involvement from affected individuals, the better the resulting standards. Everyone has their own knowledge, experiences and expertise. All are valuable and should be included in the process. The objective of this paper is to increase a person's knowledge of the process, including explaining how anyone can get involved and encouraging them to do so.

The electrical industry has greatly evolved over the past several decades. Originally, there was no such thing as a “safety culture”. Now, hundreds of the industry's leading minds show up annually for a full week to learn, listen, and exchange ideas for stopping electrical incidents and injuries in the workplace. Under normal operations, most companies have adopted the “Safety First” mantra. In 2020, the world was faced with something it had never seen before; a modern-day pandemic. This completely changed the way that we here in the United States were able to conduct business. When circumstances change so rapidly even on a day to day basis and people's businesses and the ability to support their families are put on the line, is safety still first? In this paper, we will discuss the struggles of operating a business and keeping employees as safe as possible during the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) (COVID-19) Pandemic. We linked with other professionals and centers of excellence from around the world in the electrical sector to advance our mission of a Safety-First culture. The innovations required involved human performance best practices to overcome these substantial barriers to everyday work tasks. The US Department of Homeland Security deemed the Energy Sector as critically essential. They stated, “The U.S. energy infrastructure fuels the economy of the 21st century. Without a stable energy supply, health and welfare are threatened, and the U.S. economy cannot function [1].” The electrical industry could not shut down in this crisis. Our industry needed to adapt, in real-time, to the environments they were in. Engineers, technicians, and electricians dealt daily with this new hazard that they could not see, interestingly not unlike electricity. The ongoing respect for electricity that our employees have always had, along with the ability to adapt quickly in innovative ways made it possible to still provide this essential work to keep the country moving.

Troubleshooting, testing, and tuning are words synonymous with energized work due to infeasibility (NFPA 70E 130.2(A)(2)). As such, the hazards associated with troubleshooting are often assumed to be a fact of life one must accept. These hazards are even often overlooked while performing such work. Energized troubleshooting presents significant added challenges to safe work, as it represents the knowledge-based mode, often with error precursors built in when the non-working equipment is holding up production. This paper examines the troubleshooting subject with suggestions on safer troubleshooting work methods for existing installations along with design considerations that follow the hierarchy of controls to reduce the hazards for new and modified installations.

The papers in this special section were presented at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC) 2020, which took place in March 2020 in San Diego, CA.

When selecting a control valve for a pulp and paper application, it is important to have a basic understanding of control valve sizing and selection and how it affects control valve performance. Optimizing control valve selection can improve loop dynamics and alleviate problems such as cavitation, flashing, and noise. This paper will review guidelines and apply industry standard sizing models to applications widely seen throughout the industry to illustrate the valve selection process and how it can improve efficiency and reliability within a pulp and paper mill.

The study aimed to realize the automatic production scheduling of waste paper in paper mills. Based on the quantities of the field data (mixing ratios of waste paper and pulp properties) stored in a paper mill, the methods of back propagation neural networks (BP-NN) and support vector machine (SVM), the all data set and the average data set, were firstly applied to develop the prediction models of the pulp properties; and then the genetic algorithm was used to search for the suitable scheduling solutions. The simulation results revealed that: demonstrating its acceptable prediction accuracy and fast training time, the prediction model with SVM method and the average data set was good enough to be used in the genetic algorithm to search for the optimal scheduling ratios of waste paper, the obtained optimal scheduling solution not only had the lowest purchase cost of waste paper, but also met the requirements of the mill: specified types of waste paper, specified ratio of some kind of waste paper and the required pulp brightness.

U.S. Department of Defense regulations intended to improve cybersecurity within the Defense Industrial Base may cause degradation of critical defense infrastructure. Four impediments to 'clean' compliance, environmental and internal, are detailed. Inability to functionally comply, or to correctly insure, will impact the DIB's cybersecurity decision-making at the enterprise level. Economic impact to the DIB may drive withdrawal and attrition from the sector, or aversion to R&D, which negatively affects mission resilience with concomitant capability loss to the DoD.

In early 2003, CPFL Energia, a Brazilian utility, was interested on evaluating the performance of natural ester filled transformers, especially regarding the highly increased overloading capability. As a field test, in association with the transformer manufacturer “Itaipu Transformadores”, they built two prototype transformers. Based on original overhead distribution line three phases transformers of 15kV/45kVA, after small adjustments in the windings and cooling system, keeping same core and tank, associated with the use of natural ester based dielectric liquid, and increasing the average winding temperature rise limit from 55°C to 85°C and a hotspot temperature rise limit of 100°C, the transformer nominal rating was shifted to 88kVA.

OSHA §1910.269 Appendix E ‘Table 6’- Incident Heat Energy for Various Fault Currents, Clearing Times, and Voltages of 4.0 to 46kV: Rubber Insulating Glove Exposures Involving Phase-to-Ground Arcs in Open Air ONLY and ‘Table 7’- Incident Heat Energy for Various Fault Currents, Clearing Times, and Voltages: Live-line Tool Exposures involving Phase-to-Ground Arcs in Open Air ONLY and NESC-2012 Tables ‘410-2’ Clothing and Clothing Systems -voltage, fault current and maximum clearing time for voltages 1.1kV to 46kV and ‘410-3’ Live-line Tool Work Clothing and Clothing Systems - voltage, fault current and maximum clearing time for voltages 46.1kV to 800kV were developed using a commercially available computer program. However, the table values are only provided for a few discrete available fault current values. By reproducing the inputs and outputs using the same version of the commercially available software, values for more than those few discrete available fault currents can be produced. Equivalent power formulas can then be developed that will conservatively envelope all the incident energy values for a complete range of available fault currents for each given set of conditions. This provides simplification and ease of use for end users.

This article carries in essence, the experience lived by the author over 15 years as the head of an association that decided aware lay people and electricity professionals about the risks that electricity offers, in order to reduce the number of accidents of this nature. Using the accident data collected by ABRACOPEL - Brazilian Association for Awareness of the Electricity Danger, and compiled in a document entitled Statistical Yearbook of Electrical Origin Accidents, it was possible to carry out specific actions, using languages aimed to each type of public, accidents target. The conclusion that many accidents can be avoided with low information is part of this work. Also, will be presented some actions that are being or have been carried out over these 15 years, and the results obtained.

IEEE 1584–2018 contains a significant update to industry models for predicting the incident energy from arc flash. These models include different box sizes, voltages, and electrode geometries. Predictions from these models are compared to tests on medium-voltage equipment. Equipment includes circuit-breaker cabinets, live-front switches, and live-front transformers. Results show what input assumptions are most applicable for each type of equipment (including vertical and horizontal electrodes). For some equipment, particularly with horizontal electrodes, the 1584–2018 predictions underpredicted measurements of incident energy, so multiplier factors may be needed.

Operation and maintenance of wind turbines present unique electrical safety challenges including: restricted work areas around electrical equipment, work carried out at heights, buildup of static electricity on fiberglass blades, risk of lightning strike hazards, and specialized emergency response skills for incidents in the nacelle. This case study reviews an arc flash incident in a 660kW turbine, triggered by routine cleaning around electrical gear down tower, that resulted significant damage to the electrical equipment as well as stranding a worker on the roof of the nacelle. The incident resulted in changes to safety practices.

Case study of a large electrical utility that, during an expansion of a substation, allowed a contractor to swap phases on a 13.8 kV indoor metal-clad switchgear without applying the grounding requirements of 1926.962, including creation of an equalized potential zone (EPZ). The switchgear had been recently installed, and just prior to bringing it fully online, personnel found the phases to be incorrect on the switch. To correct this error, a contractor electrician turned off the switch, applied his lock and tag, and swapped the phases wearing voltage-rated gloves and under-rated arc flash PPE. Subsequent investigation found that the contractors involved were not properly versed in the concepts of creating a safe work condition for medium voltage electrical work as delineated in both 1926 Subpart V and 1910 Subpart R of OSHA, along with other requirements of the National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC®). This Case Study will cover the timeline of events, highlight improper versus proper job behaviors when working around high voltage, and highlight the need for training and qualification in electrical utility work.

Electrical workers are fatally injured from multiple causes and electrical work is a subset of all occupational electrical fatalities. This work is a state by state comparison of 2011-2018 US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) fatal occupational injury statistics for workers classified as “electricians.” The top state 2011–2018 BLS fatal occupational injury statistics illustrate that the BLS fatal injury data for electricians generally reflects the state fatal occupational injury data for all workers. State licensing requirements for electricians demonstrate that the eleven states which require a formal apprenticeship or education are among those states with lower fatal injury rates for electricians. Correlations and implications are also explored between “electrician” fatal injuries and: 1) state licensing and continuing education requirements for electricians and electrical contractors; 2) OSHA-approved state plans; and 3) state political ideology. Fatal electrical accident records from 2011-2018 OSHA accident reports which involved electrical work are discussed for the states which did not record any electrician work fatalities. How to reach electricians in higher risk states and how to reach non-qualified workers who do electrical work are addressed.