Tendering Engineer Rebecca Smith is completing an Electrical/Electronic HNC/HND Course at Central Sussex College in Crawley; she will achieve her HNC this summer followed by her full HND qualification next year in 2011.
Rebecca is completing the course part-time alongside her role in FSD’s Tendering Department.
As part of the requirement to complete an HNC, students have to complete a project associated with their area of study. In conjunction with the Engineering Director, Tendering Manager and the Engineering Staff various projects were considered, and testing of the Electromagnetic Emissions from three types of cables that are used to connect Variable Speed Drives (VSD’s) was selected.
The cable selected for the tests:
- 3 Core SWA Cable + Separate Earth
- 4 Core SWA Cable (using the fourth core as the earth)
- 3 Core Copper Wire Braid Shielded Cable + Separate Earth
Rebecca’s chosen project would demonstrate that a Steel Wire Armoured (SWA) cable could be used as a cost effective alternative to the Copper Wire Braid Shielded cable often recommended by the drive suppliers. The emissions from the 3 different cable types mentioned above were tested on a 7.5kw and a 37kw drive.
The tests were conducted at Anord Control Systems in Ireland, with the assistance of Alan Edgar from Queen’s University in Belfast who conducted the tests. Rebecca is currently reviewing the results and preparing a detailed report which will form the basis of her project and her recommendations to FSD’s engineering team.
