Automating Substation Design with Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk AutoCAD Electrical, and Substation Design Suite Terri Humel & Joe Weaver Principal Associate Engineers Nashville Electric Service Join us on Twitter: #AU2013
Class summary This class will help the user prepare for the task of implementing a model based design solution at an electrical utility by identifying challenges they may face along the way, suggesting areas on which to concentrate customization and training efforts and providing some examples of how such challenges were dealt with at Nashville Electric Service.
Key learning objectives At the end of this class, you will be able to: Describe the challenges of implementing a model-based substation design system Develop a plan to adapt Inventor, AutoCAD Electrical, and Substation Design Suite for your utility s specific situation Automate the Inventor substation design process Adapt AutoCAD Electrical to specific substation design philosophies and procedures
Speaker Introduction
Joe Weaver Principal Associate Engineer Control Design 28 Years in Control Design Designing substation protection, control and communications systems Experienced the changes from pencil and vellum to BIM Developing and adapting AutoCAD Electrical and Substation Designer for Nashville Electric Service Part-time Photographer & Recently SCUBA Certified About Control Design 3 Designers, 4 Engineers & 4 Contract Support Designers 68 Primary Substations FO Comm. Network (Ethernet, SCADA & Protection) Build 1 new Station every 2-3 years and work 25-50 Station upgrades per year AutoCAD Version 1.2-1985 AutoCAD Map3D - 2007 Autodesk Electrical since 2010 Nearing completion of our first BIM substation
Terri Humel Principal Associate Engineer Substation Design 30 Years in Substation Design Designing physical substation layouts including foundations, conduit, grounding and structures Devised workflows and procedures for designing 3D substations in AutoCAD Managed the implementation of Inventor & Substation Designer to create intelligent substation models About Substation Design 3 Designers and 2 Engineers Purchase power from TVA at 12 feed points Build 1 new Station every 2-3 years and work 15-25 Station upgrades per year AutoCAD Version 1.2-1985 AutoCAD Map3D - 2007 Autodesk Inventor since 2008 & Substation Designer Suite since 2010
Challenges
A Little History Began looking at BIM for our design needs in 2007 Identified the needs and potential benefits Faster, more efficient designs Reduction of human error potential Standardization and collaboration for consistency in designs Knowledge capture - Internal and external Better product for our internal customers A wealth of data contained in one place Drawings and reports generated from design data Tried to identify the challenges we would face
Challenge 1: The Right Tool for The Job Inventor and AutoCAD Electrical aren t written for Substation Design This would be Bleeding Edge territory Lots of customization needed Few available resources for our industry Perceived benefits
Challenge 2: Training Basic Training was made available but it was very basic Resources for additional training/consulting were limited Standard AutoDesk support for in-depth usage were also limited Found most information in online forums and blogs Internal training
Challenge 3: Learning While Working Time management Distractions in both directions Identifying customization needs Real world projects vs. Testing projects Requirements of Management
Challenge 4: Other common challenges Resistance to change The need for changes to established procedures/standards Mental shifts Documentation vs. Modeling Indecision of Management Apathy of co-workers/no buy-in
All of the I/O Points, Currents & Potentials, Power Supply and Telecom connections have been entered once for this Schweitzer relay and will never need to be researched again. This is knowledge capture!
The Plan
In the Beginning Lot s of choices to be made New workflows, procedures and standards Additional software items (Vault Professional, Substation Design Suite) Available resources
Step 1: The Core Group Keep it small More agile/adaptable Should have both company/industry knowledge and CAD/Computer skills Seek input often Helps with Buy-in People are more apt to talk to individuals than committees
Step 2: Customization Identify what needs customizing Determine the level of customization you can live with/without Consider the working environment Networked vs. Local New standards or changes to existing standards
Step 3: Set Goals Basic Look & Feel Standards Choose a subset of parts to concentrate on first Set a defined period of testing and experimentation Choose a project that minimizes unforeseen or odd circumstances Give yourself plenty of time to go through the processes of establishing new standards, procedures or symbols
Automate the Inventor Substation Design Process
Drawing Process
Bill of Material
Cabling, Conduit and Grounding Routed Systems Cabling SDS Cabling Ground Lead Ground Grid Tube & Pipe Conduit Fittings and Runs SDS Conduit Fittings and Runs
Content The Substation Designer Content Editor provides the ability to use existing models, fittings, BOM data, etc. A customizable template is included to begin new projects. SDS has several existing Substation models to use as a starting point. There are also tools for design checks and exporting the BOM.
Adapting AutoCAD Electrical
We wanted to go from this
To This!
Typical Changes Search Paths & Environment file edits Network locations and workflow Wire layers and wire number options Component name settings and conventions Ladder & Cross Reference settings
Industry Related Changes Wire layer thickness to differentiate high voltage busses One line symbols and layers Three single phase devices as one symbol on one lines Layout AND wiring footprints Terminal block vs terminal strip philosophy
Company Driven Changes Cable labeling standards and custom cable markers Adoption of new Test Switch symbols for use with SDS Standards for Installation & Location Codes Standards for cross reference methods and symbols Report layout files and post processing scripts Wire annotation format standards Logic and Test Switch planning spreadsheets Pinlist generation spreadsheet
This spreadsheet is a tool to help generate the rather arcane entries for the pinlist database. The user picks a pin type from the list and fills out the pin values and any label information. These are trimmed and concatenated into the strings on the right.
Then all those strings are concatenated together again. Unfortunately these strings get too large for Excel to concatenate properly, so they get joined in Notepad before adding to the database.
SDS Tools by Automation Force Cable Fan-in tools Tie Links Test Switch Editor Custom tools Wire Dot Thickness Viewport Alignment Tools
In Conclusion
Our Experience Training is essential Choose a team that is both well versed in your company s standards and procedures as well as AutoCAD and/or Inventor Choose your battles Document everything you do
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