[BC] KOMO Fire

[PeterH]

On Jul 10, 2009, at 5:29 AM, Urban, Brian L wrote:

> This failure in the article could have been caused by water or it  
> could have been a loose connection.  To prevent the loose  
> connection problem the use of infrared inspections every couple of  
> years would be good.  Also, the bus duct should be correctly  
> mounted and secured. ..."

At the large mainframe computer manufacturer where I was formerly  
employed, we had our electrical panelboards and switchgear inspected  
by infrared means on a yearly basis.

An occasional loose termination in a panelboard was identified before  
it compromised our work, which was mainly running two week tests of  
completed mainframe computer systems, during which tests a single  
failure was not permitted, lest the two week test had to be run over  
from the beginning.

A unique requirement, to be sure, but that is what mainframe  
customers had come to expect.

At any one time, we could have two dozen mainframes, a dozen in each  
"test cell", being simultaneously tested, each one being powered by  
its own 70 KVA 208 volt 415 Hz motor-generator.

That's a pretty high power density.