In any place of employment, notoriously so in a technical one, acronyms are ubiquitous, and apparently, there is an acronym for everything! Equally frustrating, each industry utilizes its own unique lexicon of acronyms. Broaching multiple industries thus becomes a herculean endeavor thanks to the maelstrom of acronyms one must sail through to become comfortable with each industry’s jargon.
This article is intended for Contractors, Owners/End-Users, and Design engineers by bridging the acronymic knowledge gap between the Power Generation and the Data Center Design industries by decrypting the plethora of acronyms that inhabit each field. In addition, this article will feature a brief explanation intended to help the reader understand said acronyms of each industry.
Our goal is to exemplify how the acronyms of each industry pertain to the often required and/or referenced items within Generator Specifications. Industry veterans are probably more familiar with the terms used in power generation, but a review never hurts! Additionally, engineers that write the specifications may have learned about some specific items to include into their specification to enhance the performance or safety of the overall system design.
This series is entitled ‘Deciphering the Code!’. I hope the information provided in this series proves equally beneficial to beginners and veterans. This is the first installment of the series that will hopefully be released once per week.
Enjoy,
Tim ‘Genset Doc’ Oergel
Below is the first slate of acronyms and terms. More to follow!
Power Generation Acronyms:
Basler Electric Software Tool Communications Operations Maintenance Settings (BEST COMS):
Windows Based Software that EGSA Certified Technicians use as a platform to communicate with the generator system. It is part of the generator controller that is manufactured by Basler. (Click here for more information about BEST COMS)
(EGSA): Electrical Generating Systems Association (Click here for more information about EGSA)
Cross Current Transformers (CCT): Used to step down the higher line current to a lower current that the control system was designed for.
(Dead Bus): De-energized state of the power connections between outputs of paralleled generator sets. The term bus in this usage can either be rigid solid bus bars or insulated flexible cables.
(Delta Connection): A method of connecting the phases of a three phase machine in series to form a triangular configuration, resembling the Greek letter delta.
Direct-axis subtransient reactance (X”d): The ratio of the fundamental component of reactive armature voltage (due to the initial value of the fundamental direct-axis components of the alternating current component of the armature current) to this component of current under suddenly applied load conditions and at rated frequency. This allows the calculation of short circuit current of an AC generator.
Electromotive Force (EMF): The force which causes current to flow in a conductor; in other words, the voltage or potential.
DATA CENTER DESIGN ACRONYMS:
(SANS): Storage Area Networks
(SOA): Services Orientated Architectures
(SIEM): Service Information Event Management