Doble Collaborates with South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal to Launch Real Time Simulation Testing (RTST) Initiative
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) of Durban, South Africa is partnering with Doble Engineering Company to promote the use of Real Time Simulation Testing (RTST) in Africa. RTST is a new, state-of-the-art technique which uses continuous real time simulation to test protective relay devices with real world fault conditions.
Dr. Albert van Jaarsveld, Vice-Chancellor of UKZN, and Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UKZN Research and Innovation, are spearheading the drive and are eager to strengthen the School of Engineering’s relationships with renowned companies to assist with commercialization of underutilized university assets.
Educational partnerships are a staple of Doble’s efforts to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing throughout the power industry, and can be traced back to its 1920 origins as a start-up founded by Frank Doble at Tufts University. As the electric power industry’s leading resource in training and education for nearly a century, Doble continues this mission through community partnerships like the UKZN RTST initiative as well as offering opportunities for individual professional development as an Authorized Provider of the International Association for Continuing Education and Training’s (IACET) Continuing Education Credits (CEUs).
UKZN’s Real Time Simulator laboratory has two relay panel racks, ideal for utility and industrial testing applications. As part of the collaboration, Doble Engineering Company donated two Doble F-Series protection test sets through the UKZN Foundation for use by the School of Electrical Engineering. The two test sets will be housed in their laboratory and used in tandem with the real time simulation system.
The upgrade is seen as a major improvement in comparison to amplifiers presently used, which cannot precisely convert the simulator output into real world voltages and currents for the devices under test. Doble F-Series’ advanced bandwidth renders test sets capable of easily producing these voltages and currents for any device under test. With all the advantages of amplifiers, conversion to a secondary injection test set is an additional benefit.
The Doble Africa team, three of which are UKZN alumni, will provide ongoing training for Honours students, recommend design projects for Honours students, act as external examiners for these projects and provide training on RTST to lecturers and post graduate students.
