The Experts below are selected from a list of 189 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform

A. Armstrong - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Electrical multiple unit testing: Commissioning to overhaul
    IET 13th Professional Development Course on Electric Traction Systems, 2014
    Co-Authors: A. Armstrong
    Abstract:

    Throughout the service life of an Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU), the EMU shall undergo many varied electrical and mechanical testing regimes to ensure technical and functional compliance is maintained and therefore ensure safe and reliable operation. The initial stage of testing is known as Commissioning and for Rolling Stock Manufacturers, the function of Commissioning is to ensure and maintain the critical link between production and the delivery of new rail vehicles to the customer. The first section of this paper shall therefore begin with a definition of the term “Commissioning” followed by an overview of prevailing legislation that affects the introduction of new EMUs. Thereafter the introduction phases shall be discussed in more detail. The paper shall look at some of the issues and factors that can affect the handover of the new EMU to the Train Operator and then look at the role of the Commissioning Team. The second section of this paper shall then look at electrical testing beyond the Commissioning phase and detail the rationale behind test clause breakdown with regards to routine and overhaul maintenance regimes.

  • Commissioning new electrical multiple units
    2008 IET Professional Development course on Electric Traction Systems, 2008
    Co-Authors: A. Armstrong
    Abstract:

    This paper shall begin with a definition of the term "Commissioning" followed by an overview of prevailing legislation that affects the introduction of new EMUs. Thereafter the introduction phases shall be discussed in more detail. Finally, the paper shall look at some of the issues and factors that can affect the handover of the new EMU to the Train Operator and then look at the role of the Commissioning Team.

  • Commissioning new electrical multiple units
    The 9th Institution of Engineering and Technology Professional Development Course on Electric Traction Systems, 2006
    Co-Authors: A. Armstrong
    Abstract:

    This paper discusses the individual skills required by an effective Commissioning Team. People within the Team require specialist technical skills, which need to be supplemented by a set of social skills, thus enabling them to manage in diverse environments. Paramount to this is the ability to manage the interface between project Team, train operator, maintenance provider and Commissioning Team. Type testing and approval testing is, perhaps, the most costly and time-consuming area of the Commissioning process. This is the stage that carries the most risk for the manufacturer, as the safety case will depend on the information gathered, data analysed, and solutions generated. To reduce the risk, and the unexpected appearance of expensive mistakes, safety case testing needs to be taken into account during the design stage

Edmund G Jessop - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Monitoring access to nationally commissioned services in England
    Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 2012
    Co-Authors: Suzanne Coles, Kate Haire, Tom Kenny, Edmund G Jessop
    Abstract:

    Background For over 20 years, the National Health Service in England has run a system of national planning for highly specialised healthcare services. The aim is to ensure that very rare diseases are treated, and very complex procedures performed, in only a few centres, each of which maintains a volume high enough to maintain excellent outcomes. The Commissioning strategy for the provision of these national services in England is strongly centralising. Centralising does however create a duty to ensure that patients distant from the treatment centres are not thereby disadvantaged. The Commissioning process ensures sufficient capacity to treat the entire national caseload of clinically eligible patients. The aim of this paper is to apply the Systematic Component of Variation (SCV) to study access to services commissioned by the National Specialised Commissioning Team (NSCT) in England. The discussion focuses on the potential explanations for a high level of systematic variation between areas and on the use of the SCV to support the monitoring and development of these nationally commissioned services. Method Data from nationally commissioned services for the year ending 2011 were received from treating hospital. Mid year age and sex appropriate population estimates were then obtained to provide denominator data. Data were analysed at the geographic level of strategic health authority. Results 30 services met all requirements for analysis. There is no apparent relationship between SCV and number of locations from which the service is provided. On inspection high SCV is more common among recently commissioned services. Discussion The importance of the SCV lies in its ability to support the development of highly specialised services. Once the random variation has been accounted for, the reasons for a systematic component can be explored. While no absolute cut- off exists, the SCV can be used to gauge and explore services that are potentially not covering the national caseload. The reason for a high SCV may not be immediately apparent; thus the SCV can aid those responsible for Commissioning the service to seek potential explanations and identify improvements. Conclusion We have reviewed spatial variation in access to a set of highly specialised services in England. On inspecting our results, we believe that they suggest that equity of access can usually be achieved at about five years after establishing a service, and this is not dependent, within the geography of England, on the number of centres designated.

  • Monitoring access to nationally commissioned services in England
    Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 2012
    Co-Authors: Suzanne Coles, Kate Haire, Thomas D Kenny, Edmund G Jessop
    Abstract:

    For over 20 years, the National Health Service in England has run a system of national planning for highly specialised healthcare services. The aim is to ensure that very rare diseases are treated, and very complex procedures performed, in only a few centres, each of which maintains a volume high enough to maintain excellent outcomes. The Commissioning strategy for the provision of these national services in England is strongly centralising. Centralising does however create a duty to ensure that patients distant from the treatment centres are not thereby disadvantaged. The Commissioning process ensures sufficient capacity to treat the entire national caseload of clinically eligible patients. The aim of this paper is to apply the Systematic Component of Variation (SCV) to study access to services commissioned by the National Specialised Commissioning Team (NSCT) in England. The discussion focuses on the potential explanations for a high level of systematic variation between areas and on the use of the SCV to support the monitoring and development of these nationally commissioned services. Data from nationally commissioned services for the year ending 2011 were received from treating hospital. Mid year age and sex appropriate population estimates were then obtained to provide denominator data. Data were analysed at the geographic level of strategic health authority. 30 services met all requirements for analysis. There is no apparent relationship between SCV and number of locations from which the service is provided. On inspection high SCV is more common among recently commissioned services. The importance of the SCV lies in its ability to support the development of highly specialised services. Once the random variation has been accounted for, the reasons for a systematic component can be explored. While no absolute cut- off exists, the SCV can be used to gauge and explore services that are potentially not covering the national caseload. The reason for a high SCV may not be immediately apparent; thus the SCV can aid those responsible for Commissioning the service to seek potential explanations and identify improvements. We have reviewed spatial variation in access to a set of highly specialised services in England. On inspecting our results, we believe that they suggest that equity of access can usually be achieved at about five years after establishing a service, and this is not dependent, within the geography of England, on the number of centres designated.

Martin Killcross - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Commissioning Phase Three – Close-Out
    Chemical and Process Plant Commissioning Handbook, 2020
    Co-Authors: Martin Killcross
    Abstract:

    After the installation, construction and Commissioning of systems within a project of Commissioning plants comes to a close, the Commissioning personnel remove themselves from the detail of running the new operation, their potential shift responsibilities decline, and the Team reverts back to regular day operation to complete all paperwork systems and bring general documentation up to an as-commissioned status. This chapter discusses the third phase—close-out—of plant Commissioning. The Commissioning engineers are assigned some of the stages of the close-out phase to follow through to completion and complete the Commissioning of the project. In the first stage (closing out reservations), Commissioning Team reviews all hazard study actions compiled during the various stages of the project, including design (known as Hazard Study or HSE 3), and the Commissioning-related hazard studies (pre-introduction of safe chemicals and pre-introduction of hazardous chemicals). They also review any pre-start-up safety reviews to ensure all outstanding actions are completed and fully signed off. If the actions are not complete, the Commissioning Team will champion the close-out of all outstanding actions and issue the findings as required. In addition, there are several other stages in the close-out phase as well, which are also described in this chapter.

  • Commissioning Phase Two – Implement
    Chemical and Process Plant Commissioning Handbook, 2020
    Co-Authors: Martin Killcross
    Abstract:

    This chapter deals with the implementation phase of the Commissioning process in plants. The stages are presented in the normal flow in which they are executed; however, many separate activities across all aspects runs concurrently. Some of them are: factory acceptance testing and modular construction, check construction and quality of build, tracking progress and system status, cleaning procedures and drying, pre-Commissioning procedures, vessel check sheets, and instrument loop, electrical, and control system testing. The first stage—factory acceptance testing—the final check performed on vessels and major equipment prior to delivery to the job site. Here the emphasis for the Commissioning Team is not on the design and fabrication of the unit, but more on its cleanliness, the test installation of major components, and suitability of the equipment to travel. Sending Commissioning Team personnel to factory acceptance tests can fall foul of project budgets, but this strategy must be challenged by the Commissioning manager. checking construction and quality of build, , as construction activities commence, start to be installed and major piping runs established, it is advisable for the Commissioning Team to start making regular site visits to closely monitor and follow the build progress. It is always easier, quicker, and cheaper to correct any installation issues at early stage rather than rectifying it later. The other stages of the implementation phase in Commissioning plants are also discussed in this chapter in detail.

  • Chemical and Process Plant Commissioning Handbook
    Chemical and Process Plant Commissioning Handbook, 2012
    Co-Authors: Martin Killcross
    Abstract:

    This chapter presents several stages in the fourth phase—Commissioning system file—of plant Commissioning. Some of them are: P&IDs, decontamination procedure and isolation register, system cleaning procedures, hazard study and actions, equipment check sheets, off- and on-site checks, system punchlists, action upon alarm sheet, and handover certificate construction/maintenance. The stage of system P&IDs includes up copies of the systemized P&IDs when developed for a specific project. During a project where some or all of the new construction involves upgrading or retrofitting of existing equipment, it may be necessary for the Commissioning Team to manage the decontamination and isolation of the old equipment to facilitate a safe handover to the construction Team. In addition, during the construction integrity test Commissioning must follow with a cleaning procedure for the pipe sections included in the test. The construction group may have the cleaning procedure incorporated within the integrity test procedure; if this is the case Commissioning needs to create a list of system pipelines to track progress.

Suzanne Coles - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Monitoring access to nationally commissioned services in England
    Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 2012
    Co-Authors: Suzanne Coles, Kate Haire, Tom Kenny, Edmund G Jessop
    Abstract:

    Background For over 20 years, the National Health Service in England has run a system of national planning for highly specialised healthcare services. The aim is to ensure that very rare diseases are treated, and very complex procedures performed, in only a few centres, each of which maintains a volume high enough to maintain excellent outcomes. The Commissioning strategy for the provision of these national services in England is strongly centralising. Centralising does however create a duty to ensure that patients distant from the treatment centres are not thereby disadvantaged. The Commissioning process ensures sufficient capacity to treat the entire national caseload of clinically eligible patients. The aim of this paper is to apply the Systematic Component of Variation (SCV) to study access to services commissioned by the National Specialised Commissioning Team (NSCT) in England. The discussion focuses on the potential explanations for a high level of systematic variation between areas and on the use of the SCV to support the monitoring and development of these nationally commissioned services. Method Data from nationally commissioned services for the year ending 2011 were received from treating hospital. Mid year age and sex appropriate population estimates were then obtained to provide denominator data. Data were analysed at the geographic level of strategic health authority. Results 30 services met all requirements for analysis. There is no apparent relationship between SCV and number of locations from which the service is provided. On inspection high SCV is more common among recently commissioned services. Discussion The importance of the SCV lies in its ability to support the development of highly specialised services. Once the random variation has been accounted for, the reasons for a systematic component can be explored. While no absolute cut- off exists, the SCV can be used to gauge and explore services that are potentially not covering the national caseload. The reason for a high SCV may not be immediately apparent; thus the SCV can aid those responsible for Commissioning the service to seek potential explanations and identify improvements. Conclusion We have reviewed spatial variation in access to a set of highly specialised services in England. On inspecting our results, we believe that they suggest that equity of access can usually be achieved at about five years after establishing a service, and this is not dependent, within the geography of England, on the number of centres designated.

  • Monitoring access to nationally commissioned services in England
    Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, 2012
    Co-Authors: Suzanne Coles, Kate Haire, Thomas D Kenny, Edmund G Jessop
    Abstract:

    For over 20 years, the National Health Service in England has run a system of national planning for highly specialised healthcare services. The aim is to ensure that very rare diseases are treated, and very complex procedures performed, in only a few centres, each of which maintains a volume high enough to maintain excellent outcomes. The Commissioning strategy for the provision of these national services in England is strongly centralising. Centralising does however create a duty to ensure that patients distant from the treatment centres are not thereby disadvantaged. The Commissioning process ensures sufficient capacity to treat the entire national caseload of clinically eligible patients. The aim of this paper is to apply the Systematic Component of Variation (SCV) to study access to services commissioned by the National Specialised Commissioning Team (NSCT) in England. The discussion focuses on the potential explanations for a high level of systematic variation between areas and on the use of the SCV to support the monitoring and development of these nationally commissioned services. Data from nationally commissioned services for the year ending 2011 were received from treating hospital. Mid year age and sex appropriate population estimates were then obtained to provide denominator data. Data were analysed at the geographic level of strategic health authority. 30 services met all requirements for analysis. There is no apparent relationship between SCV and number of locations from which the service is provided. On inspection high SCV is more common among recently commissioned services. The importance of the SCV lies in its ability to support the development of highly specialised services. Once the random variation has been accounted for, the reasons for a systematic component can be explored. While no absolute cut- off exists, the SCV can be used to gauge and explore services that are potentially not covering the national caseload. The reason for a high SCV may not be immediately apparent; thus the SCV can aid those responsible for Commissioning the service to seek potential explanations and identify improvements. We have reviewed spatial variation in access to a set of highly specialised services in England. On inspecting our results, we believe that they suggest that equity of access can usually be achieved at about five years after establishing a service, and this is not dependent, within the geography of England, on the number of centres designated.

A. Vergara Fernandez - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • COORDINATION OF THE Commissioning OF THE LHC TECHNICAL SYSTEMS
    2020
    Co-Authors: R. Saban, B. Bellesia, R. Schmidt, Mirko Pojer, M. P. Casas, Lino, C. Fernandez Robles, M. Solfaroli Camillocci, A. Vergara Fernandez
    Abstract:

    The Large Hadron Collider operation relies on 1232 superconducting dipoles with a field of 8.33T and 400 superconducting quadrupoles with a strength of 220 T/m powered at 12kA, operating in superfluid He at 1.9K. For dipoles and quadrupoles as well as for many other magnets more than 1700 power converters are necessary to feed the superconducting circuits. A sophisticated magnet protection system is crucial to detect a quench and safely extract the energy stored in the circuits (about 1GJ only in one of the dipole circuits) after a resistive transition. Besides, in such complex architecture, many technical services (e.g. cooling and ventilation, technical network, electrical distribution, GSM network, controls system, etc.) have to be reliably available during Commissioning. Consequently, the Commissioning of the technical systems and the associated infrastructures has been carefully studied. Procedures, automatic control and analysis tools, repositories for test data, management structures for carrying out and following up the tests have been put in place. This paper briefly describes the management structure and the tools created to ensure safe, smooth and rapid Commissioning. LHC: ACCELERATOR SYSTEMS AND INFRASTRUCTURES The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) layout [1] has an eight-fold symmetry with eight arcs, separated by eight straight sections (Fig.1). From the point of view of the Commissioning, the LHC can be seen as eight separated machines, which can be commissioned in parallel without any interference with respect to the powering chain, cryogenic and vacuum systems. Figure 1: LHC layout. If we look in detail at the components of an arc, we may recognize elementary blocks, called cells, which are 106.9 m long: 23 regular cells are contained in an arc. Every half cell contains one quadrupole and three dipoles, plus a number of lattice, spool piece and close orbit corrector magnets. The unprecedented energy foreseen for the operation of the LHC lays on the superconducting technology of its components: a bending field of 8.33 T requires dipole magnets working at 1.9 K, to carry the nearly 12 kA current necessary to generate such a field. The complex cryogenic system [2] is capable of feeding superfluid helium to the magnets of an almost 3 km continuous cryostat. Together with the superconducting elements and cryogenic equipment, there are three main systems necessary for the safe and reliable Commissioning and operation of the LHC: • The quench protection and energy extraction systems (QPS and EE) [3] protect the superconducting circuits in case of unwanted resistive transition (an energy of about 1 GJ has to be safely and rapidly extracted from the dipoles during a quench [4]); the EE counts 32 systems protecting the 24 13kA circuits and 202 systems protecting an equal number of 600A corrector circuits • The power converters (PC) provide the conversion AC/DC prior to energize the magnets; a PC can be divided in a power part acting as a voltage source and two independent current transducers, plus a digital Function Generator Controller (FGC), which performs the current regulation and makes the link with the control network • The powering interlock controller (PIC) [5] is the backbone of the safety control of the powering chain. A total of 36 controllers are installed and the correct signal exchanges between the linked systems were verified. The ancillary systems completing the picture are: the AC distribution, the cooling and ventilation for the equipment in the tunnel, the DC cable distribution, the Ethernet, Wi-Fi and fieldbus communication networks, the access control system, the radiological monitoring and all the personnel safety systems distributed along the tunnel and service areas All the above mentioned systems have being extensively tested by the equipment owners under the coordination of the Hardware Commissioning Team. MOPC118 Proceedings of EPAC08, Genoa, Italy 04 Hadron Accelerators 340 A04 Circular Accelerators THE HARDWARE Commissioning The LHC is the first high energy particle accelerator for which a specific hardware Commissioning phase has been defined. The main part of the literature, regarding Commissioning of colliders, is focused on the tests and performance of the systems during beam Commissioning; there has never been a global approach to the Commissioning of the technical systems in terms of information management, database design and activity coordination (e.g. detailed schedule, planning, resources study, quality assurance, project control, etc.). The closest antecedents of the LHC are the String I and String II projects: a LHC prototype half-cell and a full arc cell respectively, which were installed, commissioned and operated at CERN between 1994 and 2003. These yielded precious information on the collective behaviour of the technical systems during operation, as well as the first estimations of time and resources required for the machine Commissioning.

  • Information Management within the LHC Hardware Commissioning Project
    2009
    Co-Authors: B. Bellesia, R. Schmidt, C Fernandez-robles, Markus Zerlauth, R. Saban, A. Vergara Fernandez, Jorg Wenninger, A. Marqueta Barbero, M. Koratzinos, Mirko Pojer
    Abstract:

    The core task of the Commissioning of the LHC technical systems was the individual test of the 1572 superconducting circuits of the collider, the powering tests. The two objectives of these tests were the validation of the different sub-systems making each superconducting circuit as well as the validation of the superconducting elements of the circuits in their final configuration in the tunnel. A wide set of software applications were developed by the Team in charge of coordinating the powering activities (Hardware Commissioning Coordination) in order to manage the amount of information required for the preparation, execution and traceability of the tests. In all the cases special care was taken in order to keep the tools consistent with the LHC quality assurance policy, avoid redundancies between applications, ensure integrity and coherence of the test results and optimise their usability within an accelerator operation environment. This paper describes the main characteristics of these tools; it details their positive impact on the completion on time of the LHC Hardware Commissioning Project and presents usage being envisaged during the coming years of operation of the LHC. THE Commissioning OF THE LHC SUPERCONDUCTING CIRCUITS Each one of the 1572 superconducting circuits forming the LHC collider has to be carefully commissioned before injecting beam into the accelerator. The circuits have been classified into nine groups (circuit types) depending on their maximum current and the associated protection system. Detailed Commissioning procedures have been prepared by the system experts and the Hardware Commissioning Coordination (HCC) Team for each circuit type. Each procedure consists on a sequence of tests to be carried out at different current levels. A circuit is never powered to a higher current unless all the tests at the previous current are successfully completed. These tests are usually called steps and the sequence of steps that a circuit has to complete during its Commissioning are the profiles. A step consists on the following actions, which have to be performed in the indicated order: Verify that the previous step is properly completed Get the information related to the step and the circuit being tested from the Commissioning databases Launch the execution of the tests, normally consisting on the restart of the power converter, ramp up of the circuit to the test current and performance of an action at the current plateau (simulated failure, quench, electrical measurements, energy extraction, etc.) Collection and analysis of the test result data. This is done during or after the tests (online/offline) depending on the test type Approval or rejection of the test results by the system experts involved on the tests, helped by software tools Store the test result in the MTF database (see below) The operator does some of these actions manually, however, special effort has been put on automating as much as possible the whole sequence so most of the actions do not require human intervention. A set of software tools have been developed in order to assist the hardware Commissioning Team and the control room crew when performing these tests, and to prevent them from doing mistakes like powering circuits to a current level for which the circuit has not been validated, or powering circuits that should not be powered due to non-conformities. Special care has been taken on keeping the tools consistent with the LHC quality assurance policy, avoid redundancies between expert work and applications, ensure the integrity and coherence of the tests results and optimise their usage during the very intense days of the LHC Commissioning. The developed tools can be divided in two types: The Sequencer: operation tool used by the operator for performing automatically the test sequences The information management tools This paper describes the information management tools. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT TOOLS The different applications and databases used during the hardware Commissioning to manage the large amount of information are presented below.