Thai Transport Min: Air Traffic To Be Under Control In Case Of April Blackout

[Greer]

"Gen. Prin said after visiting the air traffic control tower at Suvarnabhumi Airport that the Metropolitan Electricity Authority would send electricity to Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Company for no less than 375 volts from 5-14 April 2013 when Myanmar temporarily stops distributing gas to Thailand.

The backup power will be prepared in case a blackout occurs during the period."

The first sentence : this is totally meaningless rubbish - for goodness sake, if you are going to write about something at least get the terms right, and make sure (ask someone who knows) that it is at least properly explained. "send electricity for no less than 375 volts"... means nothing. The three phase supply voltage is 380V - the sentence should read "would ensure that supply voltage does not drop below 375 volts during the period from 5-14 April 2013".

The second sentence : are they trying to say that they will be prepared by having backup power?

OK, being pedantic, all life safety systems in critical industries (and air traffic control is of course one), should have two things - one is an on-line UPS that constantly provides regulated stabilised mains power to the critical systems, and the other is a generator system that will automatically start in the event of a mains power outage.

The way it works is this - the critical equipment is powered from the UPS, the UPS is fed by either the normal mains, or in the event of a failure, a changeover system gets power from the generator. If the main power fails, the generator immediately starts up, and usually within about 30 seconds at the most, the changeover connects the genset to the UPS to replace the power that was being provided by the mains. The UPS has batteries that are constantly charged by the incoming power, and during that 30 seconds or so when there is no power from the mains or the genset, the UPS simply runs from the batteries, delivering an Uninterrupted Power Supply (which is what is meant by UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply).

So the report and the ministers statements are a waste of air (there's a surprise), and all that was necessary was to say that all airfield systems are protected by backups - but that's only one line, so it would not need a ministerial propaganda release...

Edited March 8, 2013 by Greer

[wayned]

Stocked up on candles today. Trying to inbstall a fan blade on my exercycle so the wife can supply cool air!

[scotto]

One would hope that the gensets fuel has not been siphoned however this Los

nothing would surprise me here?

Note to self do not fly early april just in case!

[Judo Chop]

This is such a beatup.

[harrry]

wait till they find out all the generator fuel has been syphoned off/

Not to mention the connecting wires sold.

[Thai at Heart]

I really don't like to hear them explaining that this could even be an issue.

[shunima]

"Gen. Prin said after visiting the air traffic control tower at Suvarnabhumi Airport that the Metropolitan Electricity Authority would send electricity to Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Company for no less than 375 volts from 5-14 April 2013 when Myanmar temporarily stops distributing gas to Thailand.

The backup power will be prepared in case a blackout occurs during the period."

The first sentence : this is totally meaningless rubbish - for goodness sake, if you are going to write about something at least get the terms right, and make sure (ask someone who knows) that it is at least properly explained. "send electricity for no less than 375 volts"... means nothing. The three phase supply voltage is 380V - the sentence should read "would ensure that supply voltage does not drop below 375 volts during the period from 5-14 April 2013".

The second sentence : are they trying to say that they will be prepared by having backup power?

OK, being pedantic, all life safety systems in critical industries (and air traffic control is of course one), should have two things - one is an on-line UPS that constantly provides regulated stabilised mains power to the critical systems, and the other is a generator system that will automatically start in the event of a mains power outage.

The way it works is this - the critical equipment is powered from the UPS, the UPS is fed by either the normal mains, or in the event of a failure, a changeover system gets power from the generator. If the main power fails, the generator immediately starts up, and usually within about 30 seconds at the most, the changeover connects the genset to the UPS to replace the power that was being provided by the mains. The UPS has batteries that are constantly charged by the incoming power, and during that 30 seconds or so when there is no power from the mains or the genset, the UPS simply runs from the batteries, delivering an Uninterrupted Power Supply (which is what is meant by UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply).

So the report and the ministers statements are a waste of air (there's a surprise), and all that was necessary was to say that all airfield systems are protected by backups - but that's only one line, so it would not need a ministerial propaganda release...

All in shambles when no maintenance is in place. There are dozens of units where I work but instead of reporting an imminent failure due to old batteries ( e.g.annoying beeps from the unit) my Thai colleagues prefer to turn the units off and connect directly to the line. They do not bother as they don't fell they could lose something worth to keep.