[25676] in Hotline Meeting
["Roger A. Roach" : Power Outages]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Cecilia d'Oliveira)
Wed Nov 23 09:20:01 1994
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 94 13:19:54
From: cec@MIT.EDU (Cecilia d'Oliveira)
To: dcnsm@MIT.EDU, network@MIT.EDU, hotline@MIT.EDU
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To: IS Directors <isdir@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Power Outages
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 1994 09:09:50 EST
From: "Roger A. Roach" <rar@MIT.EDU>
FYI for those not on plant-notify:
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Date: Wed, 23 Nov 94 22:09:07
From: estordy@MIT.EDU (Ellen Stordy)
To: plant-notify@MIT.EDU
Subject: Power Outages
Cc: sirianni@MIT.EDU
To the MIT Community,
The last three power outages were caused by totally independent,
unrelated events. Unfortunately however, resulted in power being lost
repetitively to several areas, particularly Buildings 1 and 3. The
cause of each outage, and the actions taken to prevent further
occurrences are as follows:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH - This outage was caused by the accidental
tripping of a protective relay while testing the electrical switchgear
being installed in the new Cogen Facility. The relay initiated the
opening of six utility circuit breakers, four of which are on the main
feeders from Commonwealth Electric to the Institute. All of the power
for the Main and West Campus was lost. This relay and others are being
relocated to an area less susceptible to accidental tripping.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH - This much smaller localized outage was caused by
the tripping of a circuit breaker located in a riser cabinet in Building
3 basement. The circuit breaker became overheated as additional power
loads were added. This breaker has been replaced as a temporary
solution until the new electrical substation is built in the basement of
Building 3 (Pappalardo Lab area). At that time new feeders will be
installed to service the additional electrical distribution.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST - This outage which affected many areas in the
main group as well as Buildings 44,45, and 48 was caused by the
tripping of an overloaded circuit breaker in the N9/N10 yard area. The
temporary breaker was installed last year to service redistributed power
for the Institute's cogeneration project. The load serviced by this
breaker have been split to prevent any further overloading until the
completion of the final cutover on December 12. After that time the
main group, as well as buildings 44, 45 and 48, will be place on an
entirely new power loop providing a much more reliable mode of
operation.
Please be assured that we are doing everything possible to mitigate
these service interruptions and fully realize the significant affect
these disturbances have on your administrative and research workloads.
In attempting to increase our power reliability we are experiencing a
number of operational problems. We will do everything possible to keep
these interruptions to a minimum. You have my sincere apology for the
inconveniences we have caused by these latest incidents.
Good quality, reliable power continues to be the focus of our efforts.
Following the planned cutover on December 4th, all planned power loop
configurations will be complete. We will continue to plan single
building outages to upgrade switches and fuses in the future, and will
notify you of any interruptions as far in advance as possible.
Thank you again for your patience.
V. V. Sirianni
Director of Physical Plant
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