CAREER EPISODE
Introduction
- In my third career episode, I would discuss the project that I did while working at Lamprell as a senior electrical engineer. The project was the supply and installation of 110VAC Transformer, 110VAC Distribution board and 110VAC socket outlet for Saudi Arabian Oil Company’s main Office as per Schedule G of Saudi Aramco. The project was contracted to Lamprell, and it took place between January 2010 and December 2010. Lamprell specializes in onshore and offshore oil & gas Industries and it is based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, the and third most populous and third largest city.
Background
- Lamprell was found in 1976 in Dubai by Stephen Lamprell, and it is based in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”).It has more than 40 years’ experience in the provision of engineering and contracting services to the offshore and onshore oil & gas, fabrication and renewable energy industries. The company has international experience in the construction of the complex offshore and onshore process modules; it is also a market leader in the fabrication of jack-up rigs, land rigs, multi-purpose lifeboats, shallow water drilling, and rig refurbishment projects. It has the main fabrication yards in Hamriyah, Jebel Ali, and Sharjah all in UAE, other facilities are in Saudi Arabia. Lamprell is currently traded on the London Stock Exchange. Finally, it employees about 9,000 people in various locations that consist of 300 multi-disciplinary specialist and Engineers.
- The goals of this project were to do the installation of 110VAC Transformer, 110VAC Distribution board and 110VAC socket outlet in the main office of the Company as per Schedule G of Saudi Aramco. This included the Supply & Installation of 110VAC Power Distribution Board Circuit breakers. Other things that were installed were emergency switchboard at emergency switch room. This was one of the safety goals that were to be achieved by this project. The plan was achieve the goals in the shortest time possible.
- Please see below organization structure used during implementation of this project, it shows my position as an Senior Electrical Engineer.
Figure 1 – CE-3 Organization Structure used during this a career episode project.
- Below are some of my responsibilities during the implementation of this project.
- Installation of 110VAC Transformer, 110VAC Distribution board, and 110VAC socket outlet
- Installation of 3Cx12AWG fire resistant unarmored power cable from 230VAC Emergency Power DB to 110VAC socket outlet at Company Main Office (100meters).
- Running the functional test socket outlet, DB, and the new transformer.
- Fabrication of the transformer support, and wall mountings
- Preparation of documentation to be given to the client e.g. technical documents, manuals, and data sheets
Personal Engineering Activity
- Before the commencement of this project, the installation team was selected consisting of 6 people and the installation time was scheduled to be 6days and one day for scaffolding. I was the senior electrical Engineer, overseeing a team of four site engineers. The first step after arriving at the site was to study the installation premise and come up with execution schedule that clearly shows the work, assigned engineer and the work .The work started off the following day without any hitch.
- The first design that I did was the Installation of 110VAC Power Distribution Board, 1ph, 60 Hz, complete with the incoming breaker, and 4ea outgoing breakers (1set).This was the electricity supply system that was to supply electricity power to another circuit while giving protection because they have circuit breakers and fuses. The type which we installed had residual current breakers with overcurrent protection (RCBO) and residual current devices (RCD).
- The challenge that I faced while doing the installation of the 110VAC Power Distribution Board was the tripping of one of the MCCB in the power distribution board. I checked for the possible cause of the tripping, but there was no apparent reason. Therefore, I started the troubleshooting process whereby I switch on one machine after another. In the end, I found out that the cause was one machine that was having a wrong rating as per the original information. I solve the problem by changing the fuse.
- The second design was the Installation of 3Cx12AWG fire resistant unarmored power cable from 110VAC Power DB to 110VAC socket outlet at Company Main Office(100meters).The first thing that I did was to locate the route of the cable, followed by pulling it from the primary source. The cable was passed through the conduits and on the walls where it was not possible to use the ducts. The cables passing on the walls was hold in place by the cable straps.
- Another challenge that I encountered from this project was the lack of power at socket outlet during testing even after the cable connection. The first thing that I checked on this problem was the connection because that could have been the reason, but the connection was ok. The next thing to check was the socket itself and found out that the fuse was not working. I ordered another fuse from the supplier with the same ratings.
- The first calculation that I did was when I was doing the installation of the 3Cx12AWG fire resistant unarmored power cable where I determined the total length of the wire/cable. I did this by measuring the total length of the cable route and because the route was not straight, I totaled all the straight parts to get the full length of the cable that was needed. This length was also confirmed by the use of the Paneldes Raceway software
- The design software that I used in this project was the Paneldes Raceway; it is also called the electrical Raceway Design and Cable Routing Software. This software was used to route the fire resistant unarmored power cable with a total length of 100meters.The software can also be used to perform cable filling, cable length calculations, cable routing, interference analysis and materials reporting. It helped me to minimize errors and improve the speed of the work
- I followed BS 7846 code for the fire resistant unarmored power cable; this was to ensure the integrity of the circuit in the event of a fire. Furthermore, the cables that we used met the fire resistant requirements of IEC 60331 & BS 6387 CWZ. These standards ensured there is no fire penetration to the cables in case of breakout that could interrupt the power supply to other vital equipment and places in the oil rig.
- The training that I received was on the use of the Paneldes Raceway software since it was still new in the company. The training was done in-house for all the engineers who were part of the design teams. Another area where I acquired knowledge was through forum discussion with my colleagues and by researching in both internet and the company library.
- I was working under the project engineer during the implementation of this project. Furthermore I was also assigned three subordinates. The subordinates were site engineers and consisted of one mechanical engineer and three electrical engineers. We worked as the team, and we had consultation regularly on the project progress.
- I worked closely with the suppliers of the of 3Cx12AWG fire resistant armored power cable. This was because I had to talk to them regularly during its supply to ensure that the cable met all the specifications like the fire resistances among others. It was also important to get in contact with the suppliers to negotiate the supply prices and ensure the quality is commensurate with the cost.
- The economic decision that I made on this project was during the ordering and delivery of 100 meters fire resistant armoured power cable from 230VAC Emergency switchboard at Emergency switchboard room to 2kVA Transformer at emergency generator room and from transformer to 110VAC Power DB at Company Main Office (100meters). I advised the procurement department to drop ship the whole roll of cable from supplier to the client. This was to reduce the movement of the cable from supplier to Lamprell and finally Saudi Aramco that could have been costly since it saves both time and cost of handling it.
- I implemented this project while putting into consideration to the environment, the safety of installation team and people working on the client’s premises. The consideration that I had in place on the environment was avoidance of dumping electric wastes to the environment since the project was a potential of this kind of wastes. On the part of my team, every person was provided with protective gear as the safety means of mitigating injuries associated with projects of this magnitude.
- I was responsible for preparation of reports and documentations that were related to this project, for example, I prepared the detailed implementation plan for the project, Overall Project Execution Schedule and project progress reports. We had the consultation with my subordinates and project manager before preparation of these reports to ensure everything was captured.
- I made presentations to the client and my team during the implementation of this project. The presentation that I did to the customer was on the methodology that we were to use in the project implementation, and this was important because the client wanted the information on the installation schedule since the operation were to be interrupted. The presentation that I did to my team was to show them how the implementation of the project was planned.
- This project gave me experience on how to solve various challenges, and how to use Paneldes Raceway design software that was still new in the company. It also improved my management skills since I was playing a bigger role as compared to other projects that I have handled. Furthermore, this project developed my managerial skills since I was part of the decision-making organ in the company.
- The objectives of this project were achieved hence it was successful; I managed to do the installation of 110VAC Transformer, 110VAC Distribution board and also extended the power to the sockets in the main office. The management, my team and the client were happy after commissioning of the project since it was implemented within the stipulated time frame and budget.
Summary
- As an electrical engineer, I found out that this project was of the great help though it was a complicated and required extensive research in the chemical properties. It was enjoyable to working in a multicultural environment where the language of communication was English. The project also gave me a chance to learn new things through research and the training that were given to us in the preparation for the project. Lastly, I applied all the theoretical knowledge and principles that we learned in class a long time ago in university.
