The High Voltage Course
Posted: Monday, May 29, 2006
by Ieuan Dolby
The Mariners Articles
To be sent on a High Voltage course sounds peculiar! I mean endless volts just come out of the wall and if the socket is high up well, complain to the builder and ease life temporarily by standing on a chair to get the plug in! But my company sent quite a few Engineers on this course spanning four weeks and we managed to see snow and expensive prices of Ulsteinvik, the beggars of Oslo, the sun and churches of Bergamo and the rain and good food of Baden in Switzerland!
I don't want to digress and so for a bit of history on electricity to set the tone ships used to carry an electrician and whenever a problem arose that dealt with anything more than a battery or involved the opening up of an electrical looking box then this fine gentleman would be called to attend! The engineers during these moments would obligingly hold screwdrivers, shine torches and make appropriate noises whilst knowing quite well that they would not be called upon to get their hands dirty or to scratch their heads over the problem! In turn, if the electrician was faced with anything that resembled a diode or a PCB board he would get on that very same phone that the engineers had used and rouse the Radio Officer out of his bed! Meanwhile the engineers would put the kettle on the boil, hum and haw away with the best of them and talk in muttered tones amongst themselves about how it always takes so long for electricians to fix something!
Then one fine day these very same ships engineers suddenly found themselves alone as cost cutting measures saw the demise of the Electrician and Radio Officer! Chief Engineers on deep sea vessels wiped the problem from their minds by turning around to their Third Engineers and saying, "you can do the electrics - it's not that difficult you know"! Some engineers took to it like water off a ducks back, others shivered at the very thought of picking up a screwdriver or opening up a cabinet! Some can understand the ins and outs and be able to trace wiring diagrams with ease others just see stars or slip into a dream world when faced with a wire!
As I speak ships are rolling off the blocks in production line fashion and these vessels are relying more and more on electrics were previously air, steam or nothing existed! Engineers used to talk about valves, air systems and mechanical breakdowns now they talk about PCB's, relay boards, and circuit breakers! And to throw a couple of spanners in the works ships are now floating around that rely on higher voltages to make that thing at the back turn not just a mere 440volts to play around with but a mighty whack of 6000volts (just say out loud "6000 volts" and you get a little tingle).
I cannot remember my parents telling me that sticking a pen or pencil into the wall-socket can turn me rapidly into a fried chip! I do though clearly remember dismantling this lovely lamp that I had been given by my Aunty from down south! It was like a train and the wheels actually turned (not that it could go far as the cable was not very long). One day the light just stopped working and instead of going to fetch my mother for some appropriate wisdom I decided to fix the problem myself! I initially dismantled the wheels, which had nothing to do with the lamp but well …. They looked as if they needed removing! I then took off all the plastic sides, neatly placing the screws on the mantelpiece and when I was left with nothing else except a light bulb and the holder, with a bit of wire sticking out, I decided that I needed to unclip the bulb. Now all I had left was the holder with this bit of wire trailing out!
I then proceeded to stick my fingers into the holder to see if the two pins worked!
Fizzle! Bang! Whoops!
I went flying backwards having just received what was a healthy 240volt jolt not only to my body but to my pride as well!
I shakily managed to get the thing back together again (after pulling the plug out of the wall) and my mom that evening changed the bulb! It still works to this day although I have never taken it apart again!
I tell this story not to relive my childhood or as a prelude to some misplaced memoirs but to state quite simply the respect that one needs to work with electricity! I have a healthy regard, partially formed as a result of shocking myself at a tender age, and it is probably this attitude that allows me to carry on working on electrical systems and to do so in a safe and logical manner!
Yep, I treat electricity like water "its gorra go in and its gorra come out"!
My company is building new vessels that are Diesel Electric! In layman's terms, that I'm sure even the average landlubber will understand, the propulsion units are driven by electrical motors. These motors are fed from an engine/alternator set-up elsewhere in the engine room! Between the Engines and the Motors are various items of electrical machinery that transform, convert, re-convert and rectify the voltage so that it appears at the other end in a manner fit for driving a propeller!
One of these items of electrical machinery is what is known as the frequency converter which basically allows the propeller blades to be run at variable speeds and with excellent torque control! Without losing most readers here an example of how modern electrical practices have evolved to-date is shown quite clearly inside of this magical box! Parts of the converter are cooled by water! Yes, sir! Opening up one the cabinet doors will reveal a high volume water pump, a header tank and a series of pipes! And should the disbelief set-in just follow some of the pipes through to the next cabinet and watch the water that flows around the bus bars through those clear plastic pipes!
If I had respect for electricity before, I have now placed those little amps and volts on a pedestal that I pray to every night before going to bed! I was always taught that water and electricity don't mix but ……ladies and gentlemen life changes!
During the course the instructors showed us the physical damage that shorting two wires together can do! There we stood casually watching professional electricians hooking up three wires carrying 6000 volts so that they were connected by a copper strand. Then we watched whilst they switched on the power and within milliseconds we all jumped out of our skin by the noise that resulted. Blinded by the light produced, awed by the volume of sound generated and physically abused by the smell and heat we all ended up with a new life-long reverence of anything electrical!
By working through the manufacturer's equipment finding out how their products have been designed and work, seeing first hand the ways and means through which their equipment can be dismantled/repaired and by seeing close-up the results of what a simple short circuit can do to the equipment and to personnel if they are too close, a new knowledge is formed! This knowledge and re-affirmed respect does not frighten us away but was designed to and certainly does re-enforce the safety precautions that have to be taken before working on any electrical equipment.
This High Voltage Course was a re-affirmation that electricity kills! And it doesn't require 6000 volts it takes far less! The future for me and many other engineers holds a lot of electrical work and the course provided the groundwork for this! It gave to me the skills necessary to treat future electrical problems in a slow and sequential manner, without haste and head-on approach and most of all with safety for myself and all others onboard as the first and last priority.
Simply put if by attending this course we now set foot on our vessels and treat electrical problems in a step by step manner as prescribed through safety permits and common sense then the course has fully achieved its aim!
I'll have to buy a new pair of boots though!
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