How WE Can Help You
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
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Independent technical evaluation for dispute resolution among suppliers, design organizations, construction organizations, venture partners, and system owners/operators.
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Provide technical support for patent claims, or for claiming invalidity of existing patents.
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Turnkey supplier audits for all components used in overhead transmission
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Construction audits and troubleshooting of overhead construction problems
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Design and specification for laboratory equipment, and development of “error-proof” operating procedures. Laboratory technical support and turnkey laboratory audits (with reference to ISO Standards 9001, 9004, and 17025).
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Provide technical training at the appropriate technical level for engineers, technicians, accountants, and managers.
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Writing or technical review of business letters and marketing materials.
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Provide draft letters and other documents related to products and services offered in our industry.
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Economic optimization (integrated-least-cost) for overhead transmission systems.
EXPERTISE
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Overhead conductor mechanics and modeling, for the purpose of assuring safe electrical clearances and predictable structure loading throughout the service life of an overhead line.
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Overhead conductor dynamics, for the purpose of assuring safe, long, and reliable service life.
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Fittings for overhead conductors: splice joints, dead-ends, suspension systems, vibration control systems, insulators, and hardware.
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Forensics: find the root cause of unusual events based on objective and systematic evaluation of the evidence.
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Patent technical and engineering support based on unique background in R&D, laboratory testing and real-world field support of overhead line design and operations.
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Transmission line economic optimization, including the recent developments in conductors with composite cores.
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QA for manufacturing and testing laboratories (ISO 9001 and ISO 17025)
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Engineering education for a range of topics related to overhead transmission systems.
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Independent technical resource for resolving disputes among suppliers, construction organizations, design organizations, and system owners.
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Broad knowledge of the technical systems and business systems for overhead transmission organizations.
EXPERIENCE AND CAPABILITIES
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Industry Experience:
a. E.I DuPont de Nemours (now DuPont/Dow), design engineer, 1977 – 1980
b. Georgia Power nuclear operations, Staff Engineer, 1980 – 1986
c. Georgia Power T&D Laboratory, Sr. Research Engineer, 1986 – 1996
d. Georgia Institute of Technology, Program Manager, Transmission Infrastructure, 1996 – 2010
e. Southwire LLC, Director of Overhead Transmission Engineering, 2010 – 2018
f. Served in leadership positions in numerous industry technical organizations, and currently serving as Chair of the IEEE Overhead Lines Subcommittee.
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Overhead Conductors:
a. Overhead Conductor Mechanics: prediction and analysis of conductor sag and tension response from stringing through end of service life.
b. Key technical contributor for several of the recent new conductor introductions: HS285®, ACCC®, ACCR®, and C7® overhead conductors.Also familiar with design and application of ACIR (INVAR core) and gap-type conductors.
c. Recognized an unserved niche in overhead conductors, and introduced Southwire Max Storm (TM) high-resiliency overhead conductors.
d. Author of the engineering resources for Southwire ACSS, Southwire C7 and Southwire Max Storm overhead conductors.
e. Provided independent engineering insights for conductor installation issues, including resolution of highly contentions situations.
f. Designed the “Certified Data” program for Southwire overhead conductors.
g. Provided technical presentations to the IEEE Overhead Lines Subcommittee on Tension Modeling for ACSS Conductors (2018)
h. Technical resource for Southwire Legal and their outside council, including authoring Declarations and expert opinions related to patent claims including contested patent claims.
i. Principal Editor and author of significant new sections of Revision 3 of the Southwire Overhead Conductor Manual, the industry’s leading reference.
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Overhead Conductor Dynamics
a. Managed leading US conductor dynamics laboratory (NEETRAC, 1996 – 2010)
b. Served as the principal investigator (PI) for numerous investigations into fatigue-related failures of overhead lines.
c. Developed an industry-first test method for evaluating the dynamic impedance spectrum of single-conductor dampers and bundled-conductor spacer dampers.Provided dozens of damper design evaluations based on this laboratory capability.
d. Performed dynamic response testing of all types of vibration dampers from both US and international suppliers.
e. Consulted on the establishment of testing capability for three (3) of the major overhead damper manufacturers.
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Overhead Conductor Fittings:
a. Upgraded the lab equipment with National Instruments control and data acquisition. Constructed a 5000-ampere AC power supply from surplus transformers, and built up the business to become the industry’s busiest connector laboratory (NEETRAC, 1996 – 2010)
b. Consulted with the design of several manufacturer connector labs.
c. Performed analysis for dozens of failed overhead connectors.
d. Mentored new industry professionals.
e. Sole inventor for International Patent PCT/US2010/025905 “Overhead Power Connector Integrity Assessment by Application of Thermal History Detectors”.
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Patents:
a. US 9,685,257 “Electrical transmission cables with composite cores”
b. US 9,443,635 “Electrical transmission cables with composite cores”
c. US 9,012,781 “Electrical transmission cables with composite cores”
d. US 6,915,217 “Application of Laser Doppler Vibrometer for Remote Assessment of Structural Components”
e. International Patent PCT/US2010/025905 “Overhead Power Connector Integrity Assessment by Application of Thermal History Detectors”