SEL RadioRANGER Makes Power Service Safer, More Reliable

By Jessica Mullins, for the Daily News

Saturday, March 15, 2008

A new product developed at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories has simplified underground power system maintenance, benefiting workers and power consumers.

The product, called the Radio Ranger, increases the reliability of power service and increases the safety of utilities workers by reducing the need to climb into cramped manholes, which can be filled with insects, rodents and harmful gases.

The Radio Ranger drastically simplifies and speeds up the process of finding faults in underground lines.

The fault-finding process usually is complex, said Stephanie Schweitzer, E.O. Schweitzer marketing manager. A fault is a break in the electricity being sent through a line, usually caused by the wire touching the ground. A fault can send too much energy through the wire and usually results in a power outage.

“You want to be able to find the problem quickly as possible,” Ken Workman, SEL product manager, said. “The products we make come from customers needs.”

The Pullman-based company has roots in creating manufacturing parts used in generating electric power and introduced the world's first digital relay in 1984. The company also has created products used in oil refineries, wind farms and high-voltage electrical substations.

SEL has developed products, such as the unique Radio Ranger, that make power more reliable.

The Schweitzer engineers plan ahead in their product design, said Susan Fagan, SEL director of public affairs.

“(They) always look at the future and try to determine what society should need when it comes to making power safer and more reliable.”

Faults under manholes are considered one of the most hazardous places to work, said Dan Clifford, general manager at the E.O. Schweitzer division in Illinois.

The Radio Ranger eliminates this hazard by allowing workers to stay in their cars or walk down the street.

Normally, the crew goes out on the streets, parks a truck blocking traffic, opens a vault and tests for unsafe gases. They might have to drain the vault of any water, disposing of the water themselves. Then they enter the crammed space that may be filled with spiders or rats.

“They take care of all the problems, and only then can they see if there is a (fault),” Schweitzer said. “If there isn't, they go to the next vault to find the problem.”

Radio Ranger requires a smaller crew than the three-to five person crew that might spend hours trying to find the underground problem, said Paul Kimmell, Avista regional business manager. With the new device, just one or two people can do the same work.

Avista Utilities recently purchased seven Radio Rangers and installed them in Spokane and Pullman.

“Schweitzer has the ability to develop products that can complement the way we deliver electricity to our customers,” Kimmell said. “This is really cool.”

One of the Radio Rangers was installed in front of the SEL headquarters in Pullman on Monday. An installation of all the Radio Ranger components would be less than $2,000, Clifford said.

The tool is useful in Spokane, where there is a large underground network that is overbuilt, said Jenny Blaylock, Avista's Palouse operations manager.

Clifford said the Radio Ranger also saves time.

In areas typically difficult to get into, a device like the Radio Ranger might reduce the length of the job by as much as 80 percent. The tool is especially useful in urban, highly developed areas.

The Radio Ranger was introduced in March 2007 after being developed for more than seven months. Schweitzer has sold the device throughout the United States and in Mexico, Clifford said, and interest is growing in places like South America. The product is usually sold for use in a metropolitan environment or a large city, he said.

Energy consumption in homes is continuing to rise, Blaylock said. New home additions such as plasma televisions require larger amounts of energy.

“It fits well within the SEL mission of making power more reliable and economical, Schweitzer said.”

Reprinted with permission by the Daily News.