Projects

Automation & Control Engineering, LLC

Fort Lewis Remediation System with SCADA:
Electrical Engineer of Record for an environmental remediation system for Battelle Labs and the Army. Responsibilities included complete electrical power distribution and control system design. This PC based pump & treat control system pumps water from an underground plume contaminated with solvents. A fiber optic network connects the main control house with the eight pump houses, each of which has local I/O and a variable frequency drive that controls the flow rate with a positive displacement pump.

Large Aerospace Remediation System and Facility Power Design:

Complete control system and facility power distribution design of pump and treat remediation system similar to the one above for Fort Lewis. Worked with Snohomish County PUD to specify transformer locations and sizes. The system is designed to be easily expandable by employing an expandable fiber-optic network which connects the main facility to outlying control stations.

Graving Dock Power and Control System Design:

Electrical Engineer of Record for a graving dock to be built by General Construction Company at Port Angeles, WA. Responsibilities include complete electrical power distribution and control system design. This facility design consists of a PLC controlled pump system that controls flooding and dewatering of the graving dock and the main gate which is designed to be water ballasted and locked into place in an open or closed position. Only three-phase power and Remote I/O communications were taken to the gate so that the amount of festoon-like cabling connecting the dock and gate could be minimized.

Design Review Boeing Charleston Overhead Cranes:
Worked with Boeing representatives, structural/mechanical consultants and the crane manufacturer and provided electrical design review services for Boeing Charleston's overhead crane systems. Reviewed design at various levels of completion stages and provided suggestions for breaker coordination, power and controls drawings, PLC programming, equipment usage and selection.

Siload Motion Control System:
Designed control system and provided all programming and startup services for an automated storage system at Kenworth's Renton plant using Red Lion operator interface and a new Allen Bradley PLC with serial port cards. The serial cards send ASCII commands to control three existing older two-axes Industrial Devices servo drive systems. ASCII strings are generated and concatenated based on PLC logic. Reusing the existing motion controller/drive units and motors helped Kenworth decrease the cost of the project.

Container Crane Consulting:
Container crane engineering oversight included verification of load calculations, control systems design and material selection review for four container (ship to shore) cranes for Westports in the Straights of Malacca. This project included travel to manufacturers facility in Shanghai to assist the customer in evaluation of the construction progress and installation practices.

Portal Crane Study and Specifications:
Performed feasibility study to evaluate generator and shore power options for five U. S. Coast Guard portal cranes. The study provided evaluation of options for repowering the cranes and replacing one of the cranes existing late 60s era Avtek motor-generator controls. Also wrote commercial grade specifications for new AC and DC drive based control systems.