2.3. Training at Lanka Electricity Company (Pvt) Ltd I got a clear understanding about electricity distribution in the LECO. Also I got the chance to attend many maintenance sessions, and breakdown repairing occasions.
I got four weeks of training at LECO. We did presentations about what we had learnt in the field every Friday at LECO in front of experienced engineering panel. I think it was really helpful to build up our engineering knowledge.
2.3.1. My Work Sites
I had one month of training at Lanka Electricity Company (Pvt) Ltd. Information on worksites that I worked during the training period is mentioned below table with names and designations of key training personnel involved and time periods spent in each section. Table 2.9 – Information on Worksites in LECO Training Place
Key Training Officer
Time Period
Mr. Kothalawala
From 03/05/2010
(Customer Service Superintendent)
To
Branch Office
Mr. Jayasundara
From 10/05/2010
Kelaniya
(Branch Engineer, Kelaniya)
To
Customer
Service
Center Wattala
System
Development Mr. C.S. Unagolla
Department Distribution Center
2.3.2
(Chief System Development Engineer) Control Mr. C.S. Unagolla (Chief System Development Engineer)
09/05/2010
16/05/2010
From 14/06/2010 To
20/06/2010
From 21/06/2010 To
27/06/2010
Customer Service Center –Wattala
In the depot I got a unique experience with a huge breakdown. My entire day was spent at the breakdown site along with the maintenance and breakdown crew. The repairs went on until about 10’clock in the night. I learnt from them how repairing taking place was. This really was a valuable and enjoyable experience for me. There was much to learn from everyone 41 | P a g e
who worked there. After the repairs were done, we lit up the city. I remember that day. It was such a happy moment and a great experience for me. The next morning I had to do a presentation on what we have learnt during the week. I did the presentation without any preparing, using only the photos from my phone taken at the breakdown place previously. All the engineers appreciated my presentation. Employees at LECO are very enthusiastic about training us and giving us the appropriate knowledge.
Figure 2.19 – At the breakdown site
Figure 2.20 – At the breakdown site
I learned about all the functions handling by the CSC Function of the CSC,
Provide new connections
Repair
Maintenance
Loss control
Field billing
Record keeping
Store material & equipment
2.3.3 Branch Office Kelaniya
I learnt about all the functions handled by the Branch office. Functions include,
Job costing
Construction work
Consumer billing 42 | P a g e
Consumer service
Personal management
Pethiyagoda 11KV feeder has blown out. The place where the fault has occurred was detected by CEB using cable fault detector. Firstly contractors digged the ground. At that time Pethiyagoda feeder was already switched off from the primary. After that we learnt the repairing process.
Figure 2.23 – Cable preparing. This person
Figure 2.24 – Digging the ground to
Is preparing the underground cable joint
2.3.3.1
repair underground cables
Branch Administration
In the kelaniya branch we got an overall idea about branch administration. Administration division handles work regarding employee related issues such as welfare, leaves, personal files and salary increments and it also handles legal issues and vehicle and building maintenance related issues. Handling of payments of administrative expenses, postal related issues and record keeping are also handled by the same division.
Administrative clerk - Administrative clerk is responsible for activities regarding legal issues of the branch. Files on legal issues are handled by the administration clerk. Maintenance of branch building, handling stationary, Bill payment handling, handling issues on Vehicle Maintenance, Stock book maintenance are among the other responsibilities of the administration clerk. 43 | P a g e
Personnel Clerk - Personnel clerk is responsible for activities regarding employees of the branch. Personnel file handling, Record keeping of leaves taken, staff welfare handling, checking the time sheets and record about the over time working, and Handling of salary increment reports are among main responsibilities of personnel clerk.
Dispatch clerk - Dispatch clerk is mainly responsible for work regarding postal issues such as mail delivery, stamp handling, directing mails to CSCs etc. Posting the unrealized cheques and preparation of monthly reports are also among the duties of the dispatch clerk. Record Keeper - It’s the record keeper who keeps track of files and documents involved since supplying a new connection to a consumer. File scanning, File maintenance and storage and providing the copies of the documents to the customer when needed are the main works carried out by the record keeper.
2.3.4 System Development Department
In the SDD I learned about handling the Global Positioning System (GPS) of LECO, doing load flow study, handling procurement procedures and carry out work related to system development. During my training of one week at the respective department I was able to get an overall idea of the work carried out by SDD and go into much detail on how each procedure is being carried out. GPS is a navigational system involving satellites and computers that can determine the latitude and longitude of a receiver on Earth by computing the time difference for signals from different satellites to reach the receiver.
GIS is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data related to positions on the Earth's surface. Although it hasn’t being functioning properly over the last few years, the company has decided to make the maximum out of this facility available. During my training at the SDD I was able to learn and practically observe the work carried out at the particular section. And I also learnt about the importance of the particular section on the company’s perspective.
Data is collected in the field using the GPS antenna and stored with coordinates using a data logger which is a pocket PC in this case. Special software called Trimble is used for this purpose. 44 | P a g e
As an Example: For a transformer, its power, weight, number of feeders, manufacturer, etc are stored along with its coordinates. Then the collected data will be subjected to differential correction and the map will be drawn after completing this step. Then the particular map is linked with the GIS map to update the existing map.
2.3.5
Distribution Control Center
In the Distribution Control Center I learnt about, Interruption scheduling Update the current state of the distribution network Record keeping 1. Daily report 2. Service calls report 3. Supply outage report
2.3.5.1 Transformer oil testing
Figure 2.25 – Transformer oil tester Also I got a clear idea about Transformer oil testing. In the Distribution Control Center we went to Ekala meter lab and transformer oil testing lab.
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Below mentioned steps are followed when doing transformer oil testing.
1. Take sample from transformer oil 2. The BDV of oil should withstand minimum 35 kV 3.The gap between the test electrodes to be 2.5mm maintained 4. Voltage should be gradually increased from 0 5. at the one point Flash will take place and that point is termed as Break down Voltage 6. At least 5 samples should be checked separately 7. The samples should withstand 35kV for 1 minute 8. Take the average BDV of all the samples for an accurate measurement
2.3.5.2
Meter repair and calibration
Figure 2.26 – Test bench for meter Calibration
There are two types of meters as single phase meters and three phase meters. There can be such instances where those meters fail to operate accurately due to various reasons. In such a case those defected meters are brought to the test lab for repair. After undergoing repair at the
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test lab the meters are being tested for accuracy. These meters also undergo the same tests which are being performed for newly manufactured meters at the meter factory.
In my period of training at the test lab I was able to gain hands on experience on meter testing and calibration. Since the test lab consists of both old and new test benches I was able to observe positive and negative aspects of the old and new methods of meter testing.
When testing using the old test bench it is required to take the readings manually and note them in a piece of paper. This way is quite inefficient and inaccurate compared to the new method which is in practice. Settings like current, voltage, power factor, etc also have to be manually configured according to the requirements of testing.
New test benches use a special infrared scanner to detect and count the number of rotations of the disk. And the settings can also be configured using special computer software. Operators do not have to stay alert all the time because the machine will automatically run the next task after finishing the previous.
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