IEEE September Meeting/"Advances in Superconductivity"        Presentation/CPSS Awards Ceremony

 

WHEN:                              Tuesday evening, September 17th

WHERE:                            Walder Banquet Room and Volstorff Ballroom in the SDSU Student Union Building on the SDSU Campus in Brookings, SD

ACTIVITIES:                    5:30 PM Social
6:00 PM Banquet and CPSS Award Ceremonies
8:00 - 9:00 PM, John Howe from American Superconductor presentation on Advances in Superconductivity.  See presentation overview below.

RESERVATIONS:            RSVP by Noon September 12th to Dr. Steve Hietpas, (605) 688-4419, Steven_Hietpas@SDState.edu.  The cost for the banquet is $15 for members, $7.50 for student members. (No reservations are required to attend only the presentation.)

DIRECTIONS:                   From Interstate 29 take 6^th Street west to 22^nd Ave then north to 11^th Street. Going west on 11th will run you right into the Hyper building, behind which (west of) is the Student Union. See the map which is included in this newsletter.

   

 Also on the 17^th:

WHAT:                         Siouxland IEEE Executive Committee Meeting
 WHEN:             4:30 PM Tuesday September 17
 WHERE:           Oakwood room, South Dakota State University Student Union, Brookings, SD
 AGENDA:         Formal election of officers, discussion of financial matters and form L-50

 

IEEE September Meeting Presentation Description

John Howe American Superconductor  "Advances in Superconductivity: New Materials and Technologies for the 21st Century Power Grid"

For more than a decade, the electric utility industry has been undergoing a change of historic proportions as policymakers seek to restructure and introduce competition into an enterprise long organized as a regulated monopoly. To date, these reforms have achieved some mixed success in the generating sector. Yet, in recent years, this effort to revolutionize the structure of the industry has been severely hampered by the difficulty of expanding the capacity of the power grid -- the network of "wires and switches" that connects all producers and users. Today, it is clear that the key policy challenge facing the industry is the need to modernize and attract capital to the overtaxed and antiquated power delivery network. Because of the inherent limitations of the existing grid and growing public opposition to the siting of conventional overhead high-voltage lines, new approaches are required.    One of the most promising approaches to renew this vital public asset is through the use of new technologies based on advanced materials that form the basis of a new generation of "wires and switches." While today's power system largely comprises elements made of copper, aluminum and iron, tomorrow's system could see much broader use of such materials as advanced composites, semiconductor-based power electronics, and so-called "high-temperature superconductors" made from ceramic compounds discovered in the 1980s.    Perhaps least familiar to the power industry, superconductors offer the potential for dramatic improvements in system performance and simplified approaches to overall power system design. This presentation will provide an overview of advances in the past decade in the field of high-temperature superconductivity. Beginning with a brief technical introduction and historical overview, it will summarize the status of the industrial development of the field. The presentation will focus on the characteristics, benefits and key challenges associated with the products that are emerging or have already been commercialized: high-capacity cables, ultracompact motors, high-efficiency generators, and superconducting storage systems to dampen out voltage fluctuations and increase wide-area reliability. The presentation will include a report on several current demonstrations and projects underway.    Many applications of HTS will particularly benefit dense urban areas. However, several of these technologies offer the potential to improve the performance of rural power systems, where voltage drop and grid integration of new resources (e.g., windpower) pose special difficulties. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of applications that may offer particular advantages to users in South Dakota.

 

Learn more about it at American Superconductor’s web site at http://www.amsuper.com. There is a general introduction to superconductivity on their Fact Sheet page, which is also available as a downloadable PDF file.

John’s presentation is the wrap-up for an entire day of presentations being presented as part of the Center for Power Systems Studies annual conference. A copy of the agenda is at http://www.siouxland.org/cpss.htm.
 

Chairman's Comments

By Doug DeBoer

Siouxland Section Chairman

 

Many of our readers will recall this newsletter from two years ago.  Some of you are newer members of the Siouxland Section of the IEEE and this will be the first "Siouxland Signal" that you have ever received.  For the newer members, let me introduce the Siouxland Section of the IEEE, the Siouxland Signal newsletter, and the executive officers. 

The Siouxland Section has been experiencing difficulties finding leadership during the past two years.  We believe that this is because the activities of the Section had been mostly tours and  dinners (social).  This year we plan to do some things differently.  In particular, we will be budgeting more for career development by planning a significant meeting or seminar on this topic.  We hope to hold the event in the January or February time frame.  With more planning effort and budget directed toward a single annual event, there will consequently be fewer meetings this year.  Whereas we used to plan eight meetings per year, now we will plan about four.  

If you are an engineer or a manager of engineers in industry (as opposed to academia), the Executive Committee of the Section invites suggestions from you regarding how we can be of greater benefit to your company.  Suppose for example that there is a training seminar of some type that you wish you could go to, or send your engineers to.  Assuming that the training is of a sufficiently general type (project planning, time management, etc.) then perhaps a seminar arranged through the IEEE Siouxland Section and benefiting several companies and persons would achieve some economy of scale.  Even more specific training--how to use certain technical software for example, could be justified if we can be assured of adequate financing or participation.  Let us know of your ideas.  Contact me, the chair, via e-mail at d.deboer@ieee.org.  

This newsletter will be published before each meeting.  The newsletter is freely available for the membership to post announcements that would be of specific engineering or career interest to our readers.  The Siouxland Siganl reaches about 180 Electrical Engineers and 50 (very rough estimate) students of electrical engineering in the states of Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.  An example of an announcement might be to solicit help or just publicity for an "Engineer's Week" activity in your city.  Employment announcements (for jobs in the area) are also welcome.  If you would like to place an announcement, contact our newsletter editor, Steve Wolterstorff.  Since the newsletter is only published when there will be a meeting, advance planning is necessary to find out the publication deadlines, which we are not sure of at this time.  The next newsletter will likely be published in late September or in October.

      Now a word about our officers.  From the mid 1990's until this summer I was Newsletter Editor for our Section.  This August I became the chair and passed the duties of editing the Newsletter to Steve Wolterstorff.  Jeff White (Interstates) is our new vice chair.  Steve Hietpas (SDSU) will continue as our Secretary/Treasurer.  These changes in leadership were done via nomination and with the support and approval of Region 4.  This happened because our section has not held meetings for voting in the past two years.  It is my goal to get the section functioning again at a level sufficient to have a vote sometime next year in about October.  In the mean time there is plenty of work to do, such as bringing our bylaws up-to-date with respect to changes that have happened in the larger IEEE over the last two years.   

I'm looking forward to the year ahead, anticipating new ways that we can more efficiently use our engineering talents and find fulfillment in our careers.  Please join us at our meetings and share with us in the experience.

 Regards, 

  --Douglas De Boer

    Chair of the Siouxland Section

 

Editor’s Comments

That’s about it for this newsletter.  Not a lot of extraneous material, just what you need to know, namely, when the Section’s next formal function is. Now that the Section’s been jump-started, show your support by being there. (Anything else you could possibly want to know is on the web anyway.)

It is our intention to only distribute forthcoming newsletters electronically, primarily via email supplemented by fax, since either of those processes can be automated to a great extent and are less costly than actual mailings. If any of you know of a member who does not have an email address, a fax number, or web access, slap them. Then print them a copy if they want one. Well, maybe just print them a copy.

The Section web site at http://www.siouxland.org will always, (OK, usually) contain the latest news about our section. The IEEE links page there also contains links to all things IEEE’ish.

If any of you have thoughts or ideas about things you would like to see in either this newsletter or on the web site, feel free to pass them along.

See you in Brookings.

 

Current Siouxland Section Executive Committee Members:

Chair:  Douglas De Boer – d.deboer@ieee.org

Vice Chair:  Jeff White - Jeff.White@interstates.com

Secretary/Treasurer: Steve Hietpas - Steve_Hietpass@SDState.edu

Newsletter/Home Page Editor: Steve Wolterstorff  - stevew@mrenergy.com

If you’re thinking that the above list is rather short, you are correct. And you can do something about that, too. If you are interested in serving on the Siouxland Section’s Executive Committee, please feel free to contact one of the above folks and/or drop by the Executive Committee meeting on the 17^th.

 

 

 

 

 

1.Adminstration Building 2.Agricutural Communications Center 3.Agricultural Engineering 4.Agricultural Hall 5.Agricultural Heritage Museum 6.FRMC (also houses University Police Dept.) 7.Animal Disease Researchand Diagnostic Laboratory 8.Animal Science Complex 9.Binnewies Hall 10.Biology Annex 11.Northern Plains Biostress Laboratory 12.Brown Hall 13.Central Heating Plant 14.Communications Center 15.Coughlin-Alumni Stadium 16.Coughlin Campanile 17.Crothers Engineering Hall 18.Dairy Microbiology 19.DePuy Military Hall 20.Foundation Seed Conditioning Plant	21.Grove Hall 22.Guliford C. Gross Pharmacy Building 23.Hansen Hall 24.Harding Hall 25.Heat/Power Laboratory 26.H. M. Briggs Library 27.Horticulture-Forestry 28.Intramural Building 29.Larson Commons 30.Lincoln Music Hall 31.Mathews Hall 32.Medary Commons 33.Nursing-Home Economics 34.Physiology Laboratory 35.Pierson Hall 36.Plant Science Building 37.Plant Sciene Seedhouse 38.Printing and Journalism Building (also houses U.S.Postal Service) 39.Pugsley Continuing Education Center 40.Rotunda for Arts and Science 41.Scobey Hall	42.Sexauer Field 43.Shepard Hall 44.Solberg Hall 45.South Dakota Art Museum 46.Stanley J. Marshall Health, Phyical Education, and Recreation Center 47.State Court 48.State Village 49.Sylvan Theatre 50.Tompkins Alumni Center 51.University Student Union 52.Waneta Hall 53.Wecota Hall 54.Wenona Hall 55.West Hall 56.Woodbine Cottage (President's Residence) 57.Young Hall 58.Berg Hall 59.Bailey Hall 60.SDSU Foundation