Doble Engineering Releases New Technology to Help Utilities Increase Reliability of Aging Power Grid

WATERTOWN, Mass., April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Electricity is a necessity provided to us by the power grid: the largest machine man has ever created. Utility companies must efficiently monitor and maintain this aging grid and ensure its reliability. Today that process is shifting from time-consuming, complicated testing toward monitoring and intelligent systems that provide real-world analysis.

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Stepping in to better equip and empower utility organizations with streamlined testing and management tools, Doble Engineering announces three critically important solutions: dobleARMS^TM, the M7100 Power Apparatus Analyzer and Protection Suite 2.2.

Cutting through the Noise

Test data helps determine the health of critical assets, but the volume of data can be overwhelming. Available today, dobleARMS will provide utility companies with an online monitoring and risk assessment platform that goes beyond condition-based maintenance, delivering actionable diagnostic data to its users.

dobleARMS is the first product in the global power industry to seamlessly integrate real-time monitoring and offline test data with a sophisticated suite of intelligent, analytical tools. Its unique asset health scoring system lets users prioritize what requires immediate action while providing data needed to prepare long-term replacement and maintenance strategies.

The analytical tools in dobleARMS pull from online and offline data as well as FRANK, the First Response Analysis Knowledgebase, an artificial intelligence engine that leverages Doble's 80+ years of diagnostic test data.

An All-In-One Tool Kit for the Power Grid

Tackling two major concerns for utility workers – safety and time – Doble's M7100 will revolutionize the way offline testing is done. Available later this year, it will be on display for the first time this month at the 80^th International Conference of Doble Clients.

The solution will greatly reduce the number of ladder trips technicians are exposed to per job – sometimes cutting the number to nearly one third, significantly improving the safety and quality of field work by limiting exposure.

The M7100 also automates multiple tests, previously performed by several pieces of equipment, cutting down testing time from seven hours to one and a half hours. By dramatically reducing testing time, utilities can now maximize their outage periods by performing more maintenance during the hours previously devoted to testing.

Reliability and Compliance

Meeting compliance standards can be a challenging, but critical, part of proving the reliability of the grid. Pressure to improve reliability increased after major outages like the 2003 blackout where 50 million people lost power in parts of the US and Canada.

Doble works with utility clients to help them meet North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance standards and audits by providing the necessary tools, like the new Protection Suite Software, which is designed to help utilities perform their protection testing, data management and compliance reporting.

"We understand the concerns of our clients and know the pressures they are under to ensure grid reliability while addressing increased demand, alternative energy sources, regulatory compliance and the impending knowledge gap due to the power industry's retiring workforce," said David Zabetakis, President of Doble Engineering Company.

"Our mission is to help our clients become more efficient as we work together to maintain the reliability of an aging and changing power grid. Innovations like Protection Suite, the M7100 and dobleARMS are designed to keep our clients on the cutting edge of technology that keeps them safe, saves them time, simplifies testing and gives them the actionable intelligence they need to make important decisions about their critical assets."

About Doble:
Over 5500 companies in more than 110 countries rely on Doble Engineering Company solutions  to improve operations and optimize system performance. For nearly a century, Doble has offered diagnostic instruments, services, and the world's premier library of statistically significant apparatus test results for the benefit of energy generation, transmission, delivery companies and industrial power users worldwide. Doble is part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE), St. Louis. For more information, visit: www.doble.com

SOURCE Doble Engineering Company