Power Bytes

Cat Switchgear - Expertise Beyond the Generator Set

October 01, 2020 Caterpillar Inc. Season 1 Episode 14
Power Bytes
Cat Switchgear - Expertise Beyond the Generator Set
Show Notes Transcript

Great conversation with Marc Godwin of Cat's Switchgear operation.  What you need to know when choosing a switchgear partner.  Feedback?  Write us at powerbytes@cat.com

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Lou: Good Day and welcome everyone to Power Bytes!  I am your host Lou Signorelli and Power Bytes is your destination Podcast for power generation topics.  As always please know how much we appreciate you, our listeners.  We hope you find our topics helpful and interesting.  There are several ways for you to get in touch with the show. You can send us an email at powerbytes@cat.com, visit us at Cat Electric Power on Facebook or LinkedIn.  Please leave us a 5-star rating wherever you listen to your favorite podcast; It really does help
 
Today's Topic: Cat Switchgear.  
 
Located near Atlanta, Georgia is a Caterpillar Facility with a unique set of capabilities. This very flexible engineering and manufacturing center focuses on switchgear and advanced generator set control strategies and implementation.  Joining me today from Cat Switchgear is Marc Godwin, Business Development Manager and Sales Support Manager for Complex Applications.  Marc holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from Cal Poly and an MBA from the University of Redlands.  He has over 20 years of experience in the electrical industry and 13 years of service with Caterpillar in the Paralleling Switchgear and complex project space.
 
Lou: Marc, welcome.  When we think of the diversity in the types of facilities that use electric generator sets and their specific needs, clearly there is no one size fits all.   From a system design perspective where do you see Cat Switchgear’s Strengths?
 
Marc:  Thanks Lou.  Let’s expand a little on that question because you’re absolutely right about the need for flexibility to meet our customer’s widely varied needs.  Cat Electric Power serves a broad range of market segments, each with different drivers for their use of gensets.  From legally required standby systems to cogeneration to prime power applications, customers use their generation assets very differently. When you couple the application variability with the variation in actual site electrical schemes, voltages, local utility codes and other variables, you begin to get an idea of the importance of the depth of engineering these systems require.   It's an interesting mix of generation system knowledge, mechanical and electrical engineering and PLC programming expertise.  The applications and design engineering team in Alpharetta has deep experience in both generator set control and system level automation as well as the construction, interconnection and protection of the downstream electrical system in addition to the genset itself.  This allows for us to provide a system with a specific sequence of operations tailor-made to meet the application.  

Lou:  Marc, can you give us some examples of what drives the need for site-specific customization?

Marc:  Absolutely!  There are factors that are fairly obvious like the voltages for incoming utility and for the generators,  the number and kW output of generators, their locations, interconnection points and ability to run continuously paralleled with the Utility.  These "big ticket" variables drive the basic sequence of operations,  but there are also a myriad of minor details that need to be accounted for in the automation code.  Our engineers really live in the "what if" world.  What if a breaker fails to operate?  What if we get an internal fault?  What if there's a major load step that needs to be supported?   What if there's a fuel quality issue?  Each application has these very real and very impactful possible scenarios that aren't addressed in "off the shelf" solutions.  The key for us is to look at the emergency system as a whole to find and account for what may never happen, but could.  Little changes can make a big difference in the customer experience,  so I'm a huge advocate for factory witness testing.  There is very often some small change to a screen or sequence that a customer will bring to our attention while standing in front of the equipment watching it in action, and we often can make those "tweaks" either before shipment or before the system is started up.

Lou,  Okay, so what makes the team in Alpharetta so good at what they do?

Marc:  I'd say it's really two things Lou.

The first is the experience level of our engineers.

 With over 3000 installations of Cat Switchgear, examples of our systems in use with Cat Gensets today can be found in every market sector.   We have provided systems as basic as two generators feeding emergency standby systems in hospitals. We have prime power sites in the Caribbean and on Antarctica.  We have a host of installations where we control Combined Heat and Power processes, and several installations where we interface with and parallel to alternative energy sources including wind power, PV, and battery inverters.   Our senior guys have been designing, building and starting up electrical generation systems for paralleling Caterpillar generator sets for over 35 years.  We have a robust training curriculum for incoming talent and a peer review quality process that helps assure that the product is up to Caterpillar's standards when it leaves our factory.  

But, in honesty, I'll tell you that we have some good competitors that can also boast about their experience in this space.

I think the true differentiator for us is the internal collaboration between Alpharetta and the design engineers at Caterpillar's large engine plants.  Regular design meetings and "system level" input into the Generator set design team is enabling Cat to bring solutions to market that offer the best benefits from a modular "off the shelf" design without compromising the flexibility we talked about.   Quite frankly,  our custom systems leverage as much of the off the shelf capabilities as we can, and then layer on top the site specific "magic" to give the customer exactly what he or she wants from their equipment.  Because of this collaborative approach,  we can find the most efficient way to provide the solution, reduce functional overlap of components,  install and connect it in less time,  provide more system information, tighter response control, and ultimately provide a common design approach that allows for our Dealers to support the entirely emergency electrical system.

Lou:  Thanks Marc! So, we’ve heard a lot about the technical strengths of Cat Switchgear. As a user, are there other benefits?
 
Marc:  You know, as proud as we are of our equipment,  we have to recognize that customers don't buy our systems for the sheer joy of ownership.  Let's be honest, electrical rooms aren't usually on the main tour route. Customers really want to be able to focus on their business and know that their power is going to stay on to allow them to do just that.  Beyond the technical aspects of building a system that meets the demands of the user, and well beyond the completion of the project, product support, serviceability and uptime are what brings customers to Cat Electric Power.  At Cat Switchgear, we talk about the customers' ownership experience after the project completion as "day 2".

To deliver on that "day 2" brand promise throughout the useful life of a generation system , Cat Switchgear and our dealer partners provide a three-pronged approach to customer support. 
 
We have a classroom environment where our dealer's technicians learn to start up, maintain, and troubleshoot Cat Switchgear.  This enhances their abilities to support the entire emergency power system.  As you can imagine, if and when a customer has an issue, local, trained and certified technicians capable of evaluating the generator, automation and electrical distribution system to quickly isolate, troubleshoot and return the system to operation is a huge value.  For customers with the desire for self-support, we also offer end-user training specific to their system.

To back up those technicians, we man a 24-hour helpdesk with parts support and connection to our engineering team.  This team has the ability to assist virtually through our dealer technicians' equipment or, in some installations, through direct VPN into the system on site.  

Finally, we have regionally deployed field technicians who are located within 8 hours of the majority of our installations ( Antarctica isn't one of them).  This team can pretty much do anything short of making the gensets levitate, and is our front-line team for system upgrades, expansions, retrofits, etc.

Ultimately,  whether your system is designed to provide standby power once a year, or whether you use that generator set to continuously to produce revenue, when you need it, it’s critical. Although the reasons for needing on-site generation are varied, in every case we should remember that the generator is not just an independent component but a complex, dynamically responsive piece of the total electrical system.  It's also a major investment.  The team at Cat Switchgear can help ensure that your investment provides the safest, most efficient, feature rich, and reliable total power solution to whatever your specific application demands.

Lou: Marc, what I heard is that users would find great benefit working with a partner that has three key elements:  Deep expertise in Generation systems;  A focus from design through installation on the complete power systems;  and the ability and desire to work hand-in-hand with the user to assure the best user experience possible from their power system.  Did I get that right?

Marc.  Bingo!

Lou: There you have it folks.  I'd like to thank Marc Godwin for sharing his insights with us today… and thank you, our listeners for listening to Power Bytes.  For more information on this or any of our podcasts contact your local Cat dealer or visit Cat.com.  If you’d like to suggest other topics for the program or have some feedback to share,  please write us here at powerbytes@cat.com or visit Cat Electric Power on Facebook or LinkedIn.  As always don't forget to subscribe to this podcast. Have a great day.