Letters
Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 5/1/2003
Electrical Engineering Curriculum SuggestionsRegarding "Midterm Exam: C-," (03/03 CSE p.50), I suggest that all university electrical programs offer the following courses and related subject matter for coursework during senior year:
- Industry applications and architectural engineering
- Utility systems/transmission and distribution
- Electric machinery and equipment
Coursework for the first offering should include review of the National Electrical Code's (NFPA-70) rating rules and design calculations; review of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IAS Color Book standards; review of electrical design and drafting; and an examination of miscellaneous standards such as ANSI, TIA and NEMA. The course should also review Spectext, MasterFormat, and finally, contracts.
The second offering, utility systems/transmission and distribution, should focus on power generation, operation and control; transmission; and of course, distribution.
The third core class, electric machinery and equipment, should address the following in a seven-part format:
- Transformers, generators and motors
- Switchgear, switchboards and unit substations
- Circuit breakers, fuses, cables, wire and panels
- Capacitors, reactors, converters, inverters and filters
- UPS
- TVSS
- Relays
William Cellini Jr., P.E., Ardmore, PA.
Editor's note:Because of some reader confusion expressed to the magazine regarding the published 2003 editorial calendar, please note that the series "Tales from the Commissioning Front" has been incorporated into "Professional Practices," as announced in the February issue. As a point of clarification, the commissioning series will run on a quarterly basis. Additionally, another column announced on the calendar, "ITinerary," our new IT offering, which debuted in March, will also only run on a quarterly basis in Professional Practices along with our long-running "Engineers at the Bar" legal series and "Strategy Session," our firm-management column.
On another matter, some readers may be pleased to note that the magazine has already had two authors express interest in authoring articles on chilled-water piping insulation (see "Pain Felt with Insulation" Letters, CSE 04/03 p. 11). The story should run sometime later this year.
