Southern California Edison’s business case for transformer online monitoring

The Southern California Edison Company (SCE) operates a fleet of 285 HV and EHV substation power transformers. Failure of one of these banks can have a significant financial and operational impact. Online dissolved gas analyzers (DGA) and bushing monitors for power transformers have become increasingly popular. The decision to apply online monitoring is usually driven by the criticality of the transformer and the consequence of an unplanned outage, whether lost production at a generator or industrial site or customer minutes lost within a utility network. To reduce this risk, the strategic decision to equip the whole SCE fleet of EHV and HV transformers with online multi-gas, moisture, and bushing monitoring systems was made. This monitoring strategy is expected to result in: • improved HV and EHV transformer reliability, • reduced failure impacts, • realization of complete transformer useful life, potentially several years beyond the nominal expected life, • identification of units in urgent need of repair / replacement, • early recognition of problems that the OEM’s warranty should cover, • substantial reduction in overall transformer operating risks, • improved accuracy of transformers health assessments. Application of a comprehensive online DGA, moisture, and bushing monitoring strategy across Sothern California Edison’s (SCE’s) fleet of EHV and HV transformers provides both technical and operational benefits to all stakeholders. A detailed business case and financial model have been developed to show that SCE’s online DGA strategy is also economically prudent

Southern California Edison’s business case for transformer online monitoring

The Southern California Edison Company (SCE) operates a fleet of 285 HV and EHV substation power transformers. Failure of one of these banks can have a significant financial and operational impact. Online dissolved gas analyzers (DGA) and bushing monitors for power transformers have become increasingly popular. The decision to apply online monitoring is usually driven by the criticality of the transformer and the consequence of an unplanned outage, whether lost production at a generator or industrial site or customer minutes lost within a utility network. To reduce this risk, the strategic decision to equip the whole SCE fleet of EHV and HV transformers with online multi-gas, moisture, and bushing monitoring systems was made. This monitoring strategy is expected to result in: • improved HV and EHV transformer reliability, • reduced failure impacts, • realization of complete transformer useful life, potentially several years beyond the nominal expected life, • identification of units in urgent need of repair / replacement, • early recognition of problems that the OEM’s warranty should cover, • substantial reduction in overall transformer operating risks, • improved accuracy of transformers health assessments. Application of a comprehensive online DGA, moisture, and bushing monitoring strategy across Sothern California Edison’s (SCE’s) fleet of EHV and HV transformers provides both technical and operational benefits to all stakeholders. A detailed business case and financial model have been developed to show that SCE’s online DGA strategy is also economically prudent

Exosomes: Looking back three decades and into the future

Exosomes are extracellular membrane vesicles whose biogenesis by exocytosis of multivesicular endosomes was discovered in 1983. Since their discovery 30 years ago, it has become clear that exosomes contribute to many aspects of physiology and disease, including intercellular communication. We discuss the initial experiments that led to the discovery of exosomes and highlight some of the exciting current directions in the field

U.S. Billion-ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry

The Report, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (generally referred to as the Billion-Ton Study or 2005 BTS), was an estimate of “potential” biomass within the contiguous United States based on numerous assumptions about current and future inventory and production capacity, availability, and technology. In the 2005 BTS, a strategic analysis was undertaken to determine if U.S. agriculture and forest resources have the capability to potentially produce at least one billion dry tons of biomass annually, in a sustainable manner—enough to displace approximately 30% of the country’s present petroleum consumption. To ensure reasonable confidence in the study results, an effort was made to use relatively conservative assumptions. However, for both agriculture and forestry, the resource potential was not restricted by price. That is, all identified biomass was potentially available, even though some potential feedstock would more than likely be too expensive to actually be economically available. In addition to updating the 2005 study, this report attempts to address a number of its shortcoming

Salivary Markers for Oral Cancer Detection

Oral cancer refers to all malignancies that arise in the oral cavity, lips and pharynx, with 90% of all oral cancers being oral squamous cell carcinoma. Despite the recent treatment advances, oral cancer is reported as having one of the highest mortality ratios amongst other malignancies and this can much be attributed to the late diagnosis of the disease. Saliva has long been tested as a valuable tool for drug monitoring and the diagnosis systemic diseases among which oral cancer. The new emerging technologies in molecular biology have enabled the discovery of new molecular markers (DNA, RNA and protein markers) for oral cancer diagnosis and surveillance which are discussed in the current review

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), through their complex cargo, can reflect the state of their cell of origin and change the functions and phenotypes of other cells. These features indicate strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and have generated broad interest, as evidenced by the steady year-on-year increase in the numbers of scientific publications about EVs. Important advances have been made in EV metrology and in understanding and applying EV biology. However, hurdles remain to realising the potential of EVs in domains ranging from basic biology to clinical applications due to challenges in EV nomenclature, separation from non-vesicular extracellular particles, characterisation and functional studies. To address the challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) updates its 'Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles', which was first published in 2014 and then in 2018 as MISEV2014 and MISEV2018, respectively. The goal of the current document, MISEV2023, is to provide researchers with an updated snapshot of available approaches and their advantages and limitations for production, separation and characterisation of EVs from multiple sources, including cell culture, body fluids and solid tissues. In addition to presenting the latest state of the art in basic principles of EV research, this document also covers advanced techniques and approaches that are currently expanding the boundaries of the field. MISEV2023 also includes new sections on EV release and uptake and a brief discussion of in vivo approaches to study EVs. Compiling feedback from ISEV expert task forces and more than 1000 researchers, this document conveys the current state of EV research to facilitate robust scientific discoveries and move the field forward even more rapidly