"Apollo 13 Flight Controllers. Listen up! Give me a go / no-go for launch..." Gene Kranz, Apollo Flight Director, Space Center Houston. When watching Ed Harris play this role in Ron Howard's 1995 movie, you get a clear sense that commissioning substation equipment into service for the first time is strikingly similar to the many verification steps that Kranz had to make on all systems and to the green light he gave to launch control at the Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970. Dr. Allen Morinec, who teaches electrical engineering at Cleveland State, used this analogy to rally a group of engineers at First Energy's MonPower center in Fairmont WV, to appreciate the importance of the commissioning process, which uses methodical and calculated steps to catch and correct any mistakes before releasing for normal service all new substation equipment on the electric grid, such as circuit breakers, capacitors and transformers."Go!" Booster Systems Engineer. This person was responsible for all propulsion matters during prelaunch and ascent. The power to make something move could be compared to the DC power in substations, that is required for conversion to the immediate, on-demand, mechanical energy that is necessary to move the large contacts of circuit breakers to an open or close position. All substations have rows of wet cell batteries that provide the high DC currents required for these breaker operations.
"Go!" Network Officer. This person was responsible for supervising the network of ground stations that relayed telemetry and communications from the spacecraft to Space Center Houston's flight officers. This can easily be compared to a substation's RTU (Remote Terminal Unit), which is an onsite computer that sends information back to transmission control centers in Ohio and West Virginia in order for operators there to analyze what the grid voltage is and the power that is flowing thru there. This is necessary to help maintain system reliability. Just as Houston had to communicate to flight commanders, James Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise, transmission operators sometimes have to communicate to substation equipment and command a breaker to open or close, for the purpose of redirecting power flow, isolating faulted equipment or protecting human life/equipment from harm/damage.
"We're go, Flight!" Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager. This person was responsible for support systems in the spacecraft such as cabin cooling, vehicle lighting and cryogenic monitoring for the fuel cells. These support systems are easily compared to a substation's station service, which provides low voltage power to heating and cooling systems, relaying and control mechanisms.
"3, 2, 1...ignition!" Kennedy Space Center. You will notice in the movie that at any time before ignition, Kranz had the ability to abort the launch. It was his job that all checks were verified leading up to that beginning moment of the mission and to stop the mission if there was anything that was wrong.
"We have liftoff!" Kennedy Space Center. As Apollo 13 ascends in the movie clip we are shown, Dr. Morinec so enthusiastically boasts, "I commissioning engineer release this equipment for normal service!" The analogy is successfully made to demonstrate all that goes into the steps leading up to the beginning of a mission. It is also a time of documentation to provide a snapshot of history to show to future technicians, operators and engineers how a piece of equipment was put into service with perfection. For Apollo 13, its mission was very short indeed, but for substation equipment, its mission will hopefully last 20-30 years of providing electrical service to customers.
Article by Dan Scrobe III
