Electricity Today T&D Magazine

Exploring 3-D design techniques for electrical substations

BY MIKE MINELLI, & HAROLD HARKONEN, Nordmin Engineering

Since the 1970s, engineering consulting firms typically have been designing substations using two-dimensional computer aided design software (CAD). This common technique produces two-dimensional drawings that are completed individually by designers. Any change to the design requires the designer to manually incorporate the change in each individual drawing.

This process becomes an inefficient design practice as it increases the potential for...