Casne Engineering provided electrical engineering design services for the installation of new chilled/hot water motor loads at the Boeing Kent Space Center. The system is used for site HVAC and site process water. The original system utilized a central chiller and boiler plant for both hot and chilled water loops routed through all site buildings. Chilled and hot water load studies were performed and it was determined that there was a loss of energy efficiency due to the continual flow of chilled and hot water routed through the site buildings regardless of individual building demand. This resulted in the decision to vary flow rates throughout the campus and to restrict flow to buildings as demand dictates.

Initial site investigation was necessary to determine existing electrical system loading and equipment configurations to accommodate new and upgraded motor loads. The individual building contained a variety of vintage MCCs. Electrical load studies of these buildings showed adequate capacity to accommodate the new motor loads at these locations. Initial investigation for the electrical loading of the four low voltage unit substations (2-1000kVA; 2-750kVA) at the central HVAC plant indicated inadequate capacity and resulted in the replacement of one of the 750kVA unit substations with a new 1500/2000kVA, 12.5kV-480V unit substation. Three of the four unit substation 480V sections were MCCs. These MCCs were replaced with DS-type distribution switchgear and new stand-alone MCCs were designed to accommodate 3000hp of motor loads. These new MCCs were designed with 80% of the starters as variable frequency drives from 5hp to 100hp. A 1200A, 480V distribution panel was utilized to sub-feed three stand-alone 200hp variable frequency drives for site distribution pumps.

Casne Engineering provided construction assistance for the implementation of the design. Critical process at the Space Center dictated the coordinated installation of electrical and mechanical equipment to minimize down time. This resulted in the development of a construction sequence and a design of a 12.5kV temporary feeder to selected unit substations. Day-to-day on-site construction management was also necessary to ensure the smooth transition of loads and to provide overall electrical construction supervision.

Casne Engineering developed an Electrical Monitoring and Management System (EMMS) for the Boeing Space and Defense Group in Kent, WA. The EMMS is used to provide an accounting of power consumption, reconcile, and verify utility charges, manage demand and monitor power quality. The PC-based graphical user interface (GUI) uses Intellution's FIX Dynamics SCADA software package. Overall site plans include individual plan views of each building, substation elevations, one-line diagrams, faceplate displays for each device, historical trend displays, and an alarm summary.

Two PC-based SCADA servers communicate via TCP/IP over a fiber optic-based Ethernet network. Each of the SCADA servers is networked to power meters, monitors, and building management equipment using Cutler-Hammer's INCOM network protocol. Other devices are networked to the SCADA system using the MODBUS PLUS protocol.

Casne Engineering served as prime consultant on this project and contracted a structural engineer for foundations design of the capacitor bank and the future reactor assembly. Casne Engineering provided engineering design for installation of two 24mVAR, 15kV, ungrounded, double-wye connected capacitor banks to two existing 73mVA substation transformers systems. The transformer and substation protective relaying system were modified to incorporate the neutral current unbalance protective relays. The interlock wiring diagrams were modified to include the new protective relays. The capacitor banks were installed for power factor correction.

Casne Engineering, Inc. served as prime consultant on the project to improve the operation and reliability of the 17-70 Building Chiller Plant. The chiller plant provides cooling for the entire 17-70 building during the summer and cooling for the computer rooms during the winter. The addition of a new chiller into an existing, operating chiller plant required special staging. Both mechanical and electrical designs were developed to accommodate limited staging time. Piping modifications enabled testing the new systems without interrupting the operating system.