Categoria: Energia

Author: Schneider Electric

This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services

As a professional electrician, you play a crucial role in ensuring homes, offices, hospitals, venues, and all manner of other services used daily operate in a correct, efficient and – most importantly – safe manner.

However, it is a profession that by its very nature is fraught with risk. Electrical workers are exposed to potentially dangerous situations and environments every day. As a result, this has long been recognised as an issue that needs a centralised, industry-wide consistent approach to tackle.

The National Electrical Code (NEC) was established back in 1897 to help protect workers from the dangers of electrical hazards and today, industry standards and practices are contained within NFPA 70E. Initially released in 1979, the NFPA 70E Standard has continued to be updated since, highlighting the standard for electrical safety in the workplace.

Today marks World Day for Safety and Health at Work: Every 28th April, the International Labour Organization focuses on a timely theme related to occupational safety and health – this year, it will be exploring and raising awareness of the impacts of climate change on occupational safety and health.

Climate change is something that will impact so many different facets of our personal and professional lives.

As an increasing number of people are going to require electricity and new alternative energy equipment needs to be installed, there will be an increased need for electricians. The number of electrician jobs is projected to climb by nine percent through 2026, according to the BLS.

This makes developing safety procedures, guidelines, work practices, and standards even more crucial, given more people will be risking injury to provide electricity to the masses.

At Schneider Electric, we believe we have a responsibility to support ongoing education around safety in the workplace for professional electricians. To coincide with World Day for Safety and Health at Work, we want to share some top tips for creating a safe working environment and safety-conscious routines when working with electricity.

Utilise Safety Clothing & Equipment

Ensuring you’re outfitted with adequate and dependable safety gear should be a cornerstone of workplace safety and the first part of any routine for those dealing with electricity in a professional sense.

Insulated gloves are a perfect example – serving as a vital shield, safeguarding your hands from potentially hazardous electrical currents. Equally essential is the inclusion of flame-retardant equipment, given the ever-present possibility of fires and sparks in everyday tasks.

Remember, your personal protective equipment acts as your frontline defence should any unforeseen circumstances arise.

Test Before Touching

Ensuring the safety of a circuit or any electrical equipment or component before handling it is of paramount importance.

The most convenient method to gauge the voltage strength is by employing a multimeter, a fundamental tool found in every electrician’s arsenal.

Multimeters offer precise readings, usually in volts, indicating the voltage intensity within the electrical component. This information is crucial in determining whether it’s safe to proceed with handling.

Furthermore, multimeter readings serve as invaluable insights during troubleshooting, shedding light on potential underlying issues.

Follow Procedures to the Letter

For novice electricians, encountering challenges and learning from occasional mishaps is inevitable. But, regardless of how much experience you have, errors can still occur in any profession, at any time.

While such experiences may result in physical discomfort, they often serve as invaluable lessons, reinforcing the importance of avoiding repeated mistakes and highlighting the need for continued personal development.

Comprehensive training programs are available, that equip electricians with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their duties proficiently whilst also highlighting the need to prioritize safety, while effectively completing tasks.

At Schneider Electric, we’re here to help, with both on-demand and in-class training courses, and webinars available to access via the mySchneider Electrician Programme.

Only Use Equipment for its Specific Purpose

Tools are meticulously crafted by manufacturers to fulfil specific roles or with certain tasks in mind, and deviating from their intended use can result in damaged equipment or even personal injury.

It’s important to recognize that each tool serves a unique purpose; for instance, attempting to substitute a screwdriver for a multimeter is not only ineffective but also potentially hazardous.

Schneider Electric is committed to driving innovation and accelerating sustainability, with a purpose firmly rooted in these values.

We also prioritise safety for end-users and development stages, constantly working with home builders, electricians and even designers to provide the best digital technologies for our ever-changing world.

Specialized safety products, like Residual Current Circuit Breakers (RCCBs), Surge Protection Devices (SPDs), and Arc Fault Detection devices (AFDDs), ensure maximum safety for electrical panels by preventing power wastage, electrocution, power surge damage, and electrical fires caused by faulty appliances and circuits.

Schneider Electric offers a range of RCCB, SPD and AFDD products to ensure round electrical protection, such as The Easy9 and Resi9 ranges, as well as the Acti9 Active family of all-in-one protection devices with in-built residual circuit devices, miniature circuit breakers, and AFDDs.

Read our recent blog ensuring electrical safety at home.

For more information on Schneider Electric’s range of solutions, visit www.se.com

Tags: Electrical Fire Safety, Electrician, Energy Efficiency, InnovationAtEveryLevel, Sustainability

Author: Rinnovabili.it

All’Auto China 2024, CATL ha presentato la sua Shenxing PLUS, prima batteria al litio-ferro-fosfato al mondo che raggiunge un’autonomia superiore a 1.000 chilometri con ricarica superveloce 4C

Credits: PR Newswire

 Bastano solo 10 minuti per una ricarica di 600 km

CATL aveva già attirato la stampa mondiale quando nel 2022 aveva presentato Qilin, la sua prima batteria al nichel-manganese-cobalto (NMC) in grado di far percorrere alle auto elettriche 1.000 km con una singola carica. Oggi il colosso cinese torna a far parlar di sé con un’altra grande anteprima nel mondo dell’accumulo: una batteria LFP, ossia al litio-ferro-fosfato, con un’autonomia superiore a 1.000 chilometri e una ricarica superveloce. Il dispositivo, battezzato con il nome di Shenxing PLUS, costituisce un vero e proprio record nel suo segmento ed è stato presentato in occasione dell’Auto China 2024, in corso a Pechino.

Gli obiettivi di CATL nell’accumulo auto

Che l’azienda sia oggi un leader a livello mondiale per le tecnologie di stoccaggio dell’e-mobility è un dato di fatto. In poco tempo (è stata fondata solo nel 2011) si è ritagliata uno spazio di primo livello grazie al continuo progresso tecnologico e a prezzi concorrenziali. Basti pensare che l’ultimo grande passo avanti nella tecnologia LFP lo avevo compiuto solo lo scorso anno, lanciando Shenxing , pacco batteria con un’autonomia totale di oltre 700 km, in grado di caricarsi al 57% in soli 10 minuti e di funzionare al massimo anche in condizioni di gelo. Oggi rifornisce case del calibro di BMW, Daimler, Honda, Tesla e Volkswagen.

leggi anche Da CATL la prima batteria con degrado zero dopo 5 anni

Ecco perché ogni grande risultato ottenuto sul piano della tecnologia viene accolto con particolare entusiasmo. E non tutto è destinato fuori i confini nazionali. In occasione della Fiera di Pechino la società ha annunciato anche la costruzione della Shenxing Superfast Charging Network, che dovrebbe divenire la più grande piattaforma di servizi di ricarica superveloce in Cina.

La nuova Batteria LFP di CATL da 1000 km

“La batteria Shenxing PLUS offre agli utenti un’esperienza di guida a lunghissimo raggio, superiore a 1.000 chilometri, il che significa un viaggio da Pechino a Nanchino senza dover ricaricare lungo il tragitto”, spiega la società in una nota stampa su PR Newswire. “Ciò consente ai veicoli a nuova energia non solo di soddisfare le esigenze di pendolarismo nelle aree urbane, ma anche di ospitare viaggi interprovinciali a lunga distanza”.

Per ottenere la nuova autonomia, i tecnici dell’azienda hanno lavorato sul catodo. L’elettrodo è stato realizzato realizzato con una tecnologia di gradazione granulare, che posiziona ogni particella nanometrica nella posizione ottimale per ottenere una densità compatta ultraelevata. Per l’anodo CATL ha usato il suo materiale proprietario con struttura tridimensionale a nido d’ape 3D, che aumenta la densità di energia e controlla efficacemente l’espansione del volume durante i cicli di carica e scarica. “L’involucro monopezzo, una novità nel settore, – aggiunge la società – ottimizza l’utilizzo dello spazio interno, consentendo alle celle Shenxing PLUS di raggiungere un livello di densità energetica senza precedenti”.

Oltre ad offrire un lungo raggio, la nuova batteria LFP di CATL si ricarica anche velocemente. Stando alle dichiarazioni ufficiali, una serie di ottimizzazioni, tra cui un rivestimento conduttivo e uno speciale incapsulamento nanometrico, fanno sì che il pacco raggiunga un’autonomia di 600 km in soli 10 minuti di ricarica. In altre parole dovrebbe essere in grado di ricaricarsi di un chilometro al secondo.

Author: Schneider Electric

This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services

Hydrogen is the most common chemical element in the universe. Industries are adopting new ways of generating energy, and hydrogen is key among them. It’s also carbon dioxide neutral, which translates to no emissions. But hydrogen is an energy carrier, not a primary energy. Handled incorrectly could lead to hazardous events, so processing hydrogen safely is critical.

To help address this, I spoke with Thomas Menze, senior consultant at ARC Advisory Group, during a webinar to discuss: hazard and operability studies, new energies and new risks, driving profits in the safest manner possible, and how emerging technologies like digital twins can simulate various scenarios. I also dive into how safety instrumented systems play a major role in hydrogen processing safety.

Below are some of the topics I discussed during the webinar.

(Editor’s note: This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.)

Why is process safety important?

When it comes to processing hydrogen safely, there are three key influences:

• Rising safety incidents bring a renewed safety focus
• New technologies bring new risks and threats
• The digital divide beings a different expectation of working over traditional ways

There’s been a decrease in the number of hours that are being worked, but an increase in the number of safety incidents and the fatal accident rate. So, over the last couple of years, that trend, unfortunately, is going the wrong way. That’s worrying.

The second element is that new technologies are being introduced into the chemical and energy industry. The risk profile is now not just the threats that we manage, but the profile of the risk we manage – i.e., the distribution, point of sale, mass storage, mass consumption –is different. So new technologies bring new risks which further complicates it.

And the third element is what I call the digital divide. We’ve got a workforce in transition: a new generation of early career professions who are “digital natives” replacing a workforce that is retiring and taking their experience and expertise with them. This brings a very different expectation. So, we’ve got to take this opportunity to look ahead and plan.

It’s a unique set of challenges at this moment in time.

How is processing hydrogen different?

The main risks with hydrogen are managing fire, explosion, and electrocution.

This really all comes down to the very fundamental thing about risk and risk management. Risk is the likelihood of something happening and the consequence. What can go wrong? What is the likelihood of it happening? And if it does happen, what is the consequence?

So, the simple question is: What do we have to do to mitigate or reduce those new risks to a lower level?

The good thing is we are already aware of hydrogen, and a how to manage those risks. Electrolyzers themselves are tricky rascals because hydrogen is close to high electrical current loads. So, we have an ignitable gas source, with oxygen, next to a “spark” source, which is never a good combination.

Let’s look at the risks that we must manage on a typical hydrogen plant: 1) the electrolyzers for hydrogen production and 2) the balance of plant. Typically, this includes batteries, cooling, water treatment and storage, compression facilities, switchgear and transformers, firefighting, etc.

And then there are several hazards typical to the process:

• Membrane high temperature
• High separator level
• High O2 gas in H2
• Rectifier high current
• Compressor low or high pressure
• Compressor low or high temperature
• And others

What can we do differently?

The first thing is to make sure we understand the hazards, risks, and threats. Typically, we follow a systematic approach, e.g., a process hazard analysis (PHA) to identify and analyze hazards associated with the processing or handling of highly hazardous materials. 

To do this, Schneider Electric takes the process and breaks it down into nodes. We then have a team of experts, chemical engineers, process engineers, and automation engineers ask what can go wrong (deviations).  We identify what the consequences would be, and what the likelihood and impact (safety, environmental and commercial) would be. That’s the traditional set of process risks.

The second thing, in today’s world, are not just process related, but also cyber risks and threats. We follow a similar systematic process with a cyber HAZOP, break the system architecture down into sections, and ask what deviations might occur. And the third element to the risk equation are electrical systems. Again, we follow a similar systematic approach, take the line diagrams of the electrical systems and, similarly, break it down into nodes and sections. We look for deviations and understand the consequence.

This is all about making sure the hazards and the risks we are mitigating and protecting against are known and understood because that defines what risk reduction measures we place.

Today, we can create a digital twin and simulate both the process side and the energy side. We can make it dynamic and put them into simulation mode to test our deviations. We have this ability to now get a much better understanding of the interdependencies between the scenarios and the deviations between the power and the process side, resulting in a more rigorous and robust risk assessment than can normally be achieved with static drawings and documents.

Adding more robust layers of protection

Once we have comprehensively qualified and quantified the hazards, risks, and threats, then we can implement our risk reduction measures, our “layers of protection.” Now we can exceed traditional barriers, and implement more robust, stronger defense in depth.

For example, because as there is so much interdependency between process and electrical control, we can unify the basic process control system (BPCS) with the electrical systems. This provides not only operational benefits, but can also reduce energy consumption, a key requirement in the drive towards net zero.

And finally, we can implement one of the world’s best safety instrumented systems, Tricon CX, for both emergency shutdown and fire and gas. Using the same technology for both applications, saves space, engineering, documentation, training, support costs, etc.

Learn how Tricon CX Safety Instrumented Systems can help your plant process hydrogen safely.

Tags: EcoStruxure Triconex Safety Systems, hydrogen Safety