Application of Standards for a Substation Design
Solution
Arnold Fry – Duke Energy
Michael Patchus – Duke Energy
UT3581
In this class, you will learn how to customize substation design infrastructure using your
company standards. Learn in-depth, step-by-step techniques to configure each module (structural,
electrical, and site development) to your company standards. You will improve your drawing efficiency,
accuracy, coordination, and overall productivity with the use of consistent company standards that you
have the ability to check very quickly. Learn how to make your Inventor and AutoCAD® Electrical
drawings look like your current drawings, but with a higher quality and level of standards. Attendees
should have general Autodesk® Inventor® and AutoCAD Electrical knowledge.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:
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Understand how SDS integrates all aspects of Substation Design
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Describe how Autodesk® Vault Professional works and explain the essential configuration steps
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Communicate the critical need for industry Standards
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Address your staff’s natural fear of change
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Explain the workflows for establishing standard libraries
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Identify alternate training resources
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Assist your engineers & designers is becoming part of an industry user group
About the Speaker
Arnold W. Fry, PE,
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Manager, Substation Engineering Standards
Years attended AU: 3
Clemson University Graduate
Professional Engineer
20 years of Utility Experience
Arnold.fry@duke-energy.com
Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
Introduction:
Common Myths & Misconceptions
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Standards Group is trying to control us
I’ve been doing this for 30 years…I know what I’m doing
Using new standard systems will slow me down
Do you know how much work this is going to take to set this up?
Our library is already build…with CAD blocks.
Why recreate them in the new software?
I like the demo but it will never work
If we ignore it long enough it will go away
That’s the way we do it here
Why change it if it isn’t broke
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
Autodesk® Vault Professional:
Where Standards and Productivity come together
Autodesk® Vault Professional – How It Works
 Autodesk® Vault Professional is a file management and version control system used to
manage engineering files.
 Integration with Microsoft SharePoint
 Fully integrated with all Autodesk design applications
 Concurrent Design
 Quick & Simple Data Searching
 Intuitive Revision Management
Autodesk® Vault Professional – Folder Structure
 In order to accommodate a large number of designs within the vault, a proper folder
hierarchy is required.
 There are two types of folders within vault:
o Working Folders
 The folder structure of the vault mirrors the folder structure on the user’s
local machine
 The working folder is set and enforced by the vault administrator to
maintain consistency for all users
o Library Folders
 Used to store parts & assemblies which are used in multiple designs.
 READ ONLY – parts & assemblies in Library folders cannot be edited
 Keep your folder structure logical
 Try not to “bury” files in multiple sub-folders
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
Autodesk® Vault Professional – Library Folder Structure
 Libraries in Vault
o Content Center
 Standard CC Libraries customized with Duke Energy Stock Numbers
embedded in parts
o Compatible
 Parts available from the Duke Energy Stock System
o CRAP – Commonly Reused Assembled Parts
 Assemblies which do NOT have stock numbers, but are frequently used.
Autodesk® Vault Professional – Project Folder Structure
 Designs (Vault Root)
o Root folder for all vault files
 Library Holding Folder
o Folder for parts to be published to libraries
 Geographic Regions
o Subfolder for organization of regional substations
 Station Folders
o Subfolder for models, drawings and documents
o Subfolders for each element of the project design
Autodesk® Vault Professional – Built-In Tools & Features
 Use Autodesk® Vault Professional automatically manages all phases of the design
process from initial concept to final As-Built drawings
o Change Orders – provide a historical record of why, how, and when changes
were made
o Lifecycles – the process used to track products from inception through retirement
o Revisions – a collection of file versions with a common “label” representing the
work done to achieve a desired change
 Using the tools will increase efficiency and reduce errors in the design process
Autodesk® Vault Professional – Now the REAL Story….
 IT IN CONTROL OF VAULT INSTALLATION
o IT Involvement with the Vault installation forced a deviation from Autodesk’s
recommended installation guidelines
o Elements of Vault were scattered across multiple servers to comply with IT’s
“standard” rules for software installations on servers
o Each server runs security checking and virus protection causing Vault to perform
extremely slow every time a Vault file is accessed
o KEEP YOUR VAULT INSTALL AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE
o DON’T DEVIATE FROM RECOMMENDED INSTALLATION PROCEDURES
 FILE/DRAWING NAMING SCHEME
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
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With no company-wide standard defined or ENFORCED, EVERY division/group
within Duke Energy had their “own way of numbering drawings”
 Most required a SECRET DECODER ring to understand the scheme
o The GROUP consensus approach resulted in MONTHS of meetings and
discussions with virtually no progress made towards an agreed upon scheme
SUPERSEDING EXISTING DRAWINGS
o With no company-wide standard defined for superseding drawings, EVERY
division/group within Duke Energy had their “own idea of what to do with existing
drawings”
 Most groups just could not let go of their old AutoCAD® drawings
 Physical groups could not grasp the concept that the existing 2D
drawings couldn’t be brought into the Autodesk® Inventor® 3D
environment
 Electrical groups couldn’t understand why the old drawings would not
work inside of AutoCAD® Electrical
o A lack of understanding how the new software worked (despite significant vendor
training) impeded the development of a supersedure standard
PHYSICAL LOCATIONS
o Offices situated throughout the eastern US highlighted problems with the network
infrastructure
o Remote offices experienced significant delays getting data from the Vault located
in Charlotte NC
TITLE BLOCK DATA
o With no enforced company standard, EVERY division/group/designer within
Duke Energy had their “own way of filling out drawing title blocks”
 Some abbreviated, some didn’t
 Some were brief, other quite verbose with the drawing title
 Some included station ratings, other didn’t feel it was necessary
o In general, it was pretty much left to the individual to include whatever
information they deemed necessary in the title block
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
Substation Design Solution:
Accessing data that already exists
Title Blocks - Making use of Existing Data
 Drawing Title Blocks
o Nearly every piece of information required on our drawings already resides within
our Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system.
o SDS polls the EAM database, retrieves the substation data and populates our
Autodesk® Inventor® and AutoCAD® Electrical file properties
o Title blocks utilize the EAM data and are COMPLETELY automatic
Title Blocks – Now the REAL Story….
 Committee was formed to identify the required data fields and standardize the title block
 After MONTHS of weekly meetings, NO clear consensus could be agreed upon, mainly
due to resistance to changing regional habits/preferences.
o “Our office has to have this property”
o “Our clients have to have this property”
o “We don’t use that property here”
o “That’s not what our title block looks like”
 No true progress was made until Management DIRECTED offices to utilize the new title
block
 A very small group developed a proposed title block
 Presented the plan to Management highlighting both the Benefits & Consequences
 Integrated the approved title block into templates
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
Standard Libraries:
“I get so tired building the same parts for every project.”
Standard Part Models
 Standard content
o How much is enough?
o How much is too much?
 Putting standard libraries & catalogs to everyday use
 Building standard libraries & catalogs
o Where do the parts come from?
o Where can I get more?
 Use standard library development as a learning tool
 NEVER build the same part (or assembly) more than once
Vendor Content
 Vendors can be a great source of Library Models
 Contact Equipment Vendors
 Require 3D Models of Equipment in addition to normal “outline” drawings
 Provide guidance and part building standards to ensure models meet your requirements
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
Change:
“How dare you try to change what I do!”
Your design staff’s natural resistance to change
 People are comfortable in what they know
 Learning new tasks or workflows can be a challenge
o Fear the amount of time to learn the new process
o Worried about project schedules
 Not fully understanding why something is changing creates a resistance mindset
o Often see change for the sake of change
o Oblivious to the value of the change
o Often don’t see the “Big Picture”
Methods to get over the “change” hurdle
 Present the “Big Picture” to staff early in the process
 State firmly, both early and often, “This is how we will do things in the near future.”
o Ensure staff knows that a commitment to this change has been made
o Stress that this change is not open for discussion
o Processes may be discussed, but the change will happen
 Identify early in the process, several “key” staff members who’s acceptance of the
change will spur others
 Provide adequate transition time for staff to become comfortable using the new tools
 Provide adequate and frequent training to staff
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
Training:
What to do when you need to know more!
Getting your people trained
 Training on new software is essential for success
o Implementation and configuration
o Acceptance of the software by the users.
 Failure to properly convey the purpose and intent of the software will impede the
effectiveness of the product.
 Effective and comprehensive training will empower the users to accept and understand
the software.
 Ignorance breeds contempt is an appropriate saying when it comes to users and new
software.
Additional Training Options
 Contact your Autodesk Reseller about:
o Additional available training
o CUSTOM training
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Attend AU
Attend CAD Camp
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
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Join AUGI
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Join the Autodesk Manufacturing Community
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Hire an Autodesk Reseller Technical Expert
o Create custom training materials
o Conduct in house training
Become part of an Industry User Group and share training resources
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Application of Standards for a Substation Design Solution
Creating an Industry Voice:
Establishing an Industry User Group
Benefits of an Industry user Group
 Create a single LARGE voice
 Greater impact when dealing with Autodesk for enhancements to the software packages
& tools
 Develop industry based standards
 Share success & failure experiences
 Share training
 Share tips & tricks
 See how others are accomplishing the same tasks
 Share library parts & assemblies
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