Things I've Done

This page is a showcase of professional work & personal projects, and a place to keep a record of those things. This is a living document and will be updated regularly.

Professional

During the fall of 2020 I occupied the position of Associate Electrical Engineer in the Systems Integration for Intelligent Transportation Systems (SIITS) Department supporting the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (better known in San Francisco as MUNI). Primarily this role focused on Train Control Engineering in support of the Automatic Train Control System that supports operation of light rail vehicles through the Market St. and Central Subway tunnels. Additionally, the team soon absorbed the Radio & Computer Aided Dispatch systems for both rail and rubber tire (bus) and focused on supporting those systems as part of the Technical Program umbrella. The list below highlights some of the major projects I lead during my tenure:

  • Transit Management Center Backup
    2020

  • West Portal Surface Interlocking Integration
    2020

Starting in July 2014 I assumed the role of Instrument & Electrical Engineer at Chevron Richmond Refinery. I worked throughout the refinery in a variety of functions including supporting daily plant operation, plant outage/shutdown activities, emergency break-in work, and capital and expense projects. This role primarily focused on the instrumentation and electrical infrastructure in the refinery and the work assignments varied in complexity from simple instrument replacement to complete equipment control and/or electrical distribution overhaul. All projects led by me included managing project budget and timeline. The list below highlights some of the major projects I championed:

  • FCC Major Shutdown
    2020

    For 18 months between 2019 & 2020 I supported the event scoping, planning, & construction package writing for the 2020 FCC Major Shutdown. I was the lead Instrument & Electrical engineer for this event. For this event I personally completed/designed 7 construction packages of various complexity to be executed during the event window. In addition I was the lead engineer, project manager, and construction representative on a 10 MVA temporary power system to supply construction power for various in plant loads during the event. This temporary power system utilized a permanent 12.47kV plant power source instead of on-site diesel generation. This voltage was routed throughout the plant and stepped down to 480V and 120V.

  • 600HP Variable Frequency Drive Replacement
    2019

    Design work and in-field installation of (2) 600HP common DC bus Variable Frequency Drives in existing cabinets. Project tasks and design work included: Component mounting design, cable selection and routing, protection sizing, drive selection, DC bridge component selection, and final drive programming and startup.

  • TKC Major Shutdown
    2019

    For 18 months between 2018 & 2019 I supported the event scoping, planning, construction package writing, and in field execution support for the 2019 TKC Major Shutdown. I was the lead Instrument & Electrical Engineer for this event. For this event I personally completed 8 design construction packages of various complexity to be executed during the event window.

  • TKN Major Shutdown
    2018

    For 6 months in 2018 I supported the event planning and in-field execution support for the 2018 TKN Major Shutdown. For this event I supported in field installation of roughly 34 design construction packages of various complexity and assisted with plant startup.

  • Steam Turbine Speed Control & Overspeed Protection Upgrade
    2018

    Design work and in-field installation of new panel mounted speed control, & overspeed protection controllers in seperate existing cabinets for 3 large steam turbines. Project tasks & design work included: modifying existing cabinet to mount new controllers, interfacing new controllers with existing PLC (and modifying PLC program, Field HMI graphics, and increasing modbus mapping size), ensuring redundant physical trip strings integrity after change, and final controller programming and startup.

  • 480V Motor Control Center Installation
    2018

    Design work and in-field installation of new 13 section outdoor NEMA 3R Motor Control Center. Project tasks & design work included: Writing the specification package sent out for bid which included project required specifications for MCC layout, component selection (breakers, overloads, contactors, & relaying), bus sizing, bus material specification, connection styles, protective relaying (including all protection settings). Responsible for arc flash calculation re-validation, motor starting study, final issued for construction package review, and startup support.

  • 2SRU Major Shutdown
    2017

    For 12 months between 2017 & 2018 I supported the event scoping, planning, & construction package writing for the 2018 2SRU Major Shutdown. For this event I personally completed 6 design construction packages to be executed during the event window.

  • Lube Oils Plant Major Shutdown
    2016

    For 18 months between 2015 & 2016 I supported the event scoping, planning, construction package writing, and in field execution support for the 2016 Richmond Lube Oils Plant Shutdown. For this event I personally completed 42 design construction packages of various complexity to be executed during the event window.

  • New 200HP Motor Installation
    2015

    Design work and in-field installation of new 460V 3-phase 200HP IEEE 841 induction motor. Project tasks & design work included: motor specified to meet IEEE 841 and local standards, motor starter selection, motor control scheme design (including interfacing with DCS & new logic creation), conduit/cable tray sizing & routing, & cabling specification.

  • API Seal Plan 53A Upgrades
    2015

    Design work and in-field installation of two new API 53A pump seal plans on two existing pumps. Project tasks & design work included: specifying barrier fluid reservoirs, design height of reservoirs relative to pump seal chambers, tubing routing to pump seal chamber ports, specification of nitrogen booster skid & required instrumentation.

The list below highlights some of the equipment I have experience sizing, specifying, ordering and installing:

Control Valves
Control Valves
Sliding Stem valve designs, Rotary valve designs (including segmented ball, vee-ball, butterfly), Noise abatement trim selection, cavitation protection trim selection, Valve body and trim materials selection & actuator sizing.
Flow Measurement
Flow Measurement
Orifice, Venturi nozzle, Coriolis, Vortex, Ultrasonic (in-line & strap on styles) & Turbine designs.
Level Measurement
Level Measurement
Differential pressure, guided wave radar, non-contact radar, nuclear, displacer, capacitance & float type designs.
Temperature Measurement
Temperature Measurement
Thermocouples (to ASTM E230/E230M), Resistance Temperature Detectors (to ASTM E1137), Bi-Metallic & Gas Actuated thermometers.
Thermowells
Thermowells
Sizing to comply with ASME PTC19.3TW. Flange, Van-Stone, Threaded, Socket Welded & Stepped designs.
Motors
Motors
AC induction motors, various sizes & voltage levels up to 800HP & 2.4kV. IEEE 841, API 541, & API 547 motors.
Programmable Logic Controllers
Programmable Logic Controllers
Programs modified (both ladder & structured text), interfacing with HMI, interfacing with external DCS, interfacing with field measurement devices. Hardware selection and installation.
Variable Frequency Drives
Variable Frequency Drives
Experience with drives of various sizes up to 12.4kV & 15,000 HP. Both DC & AC input. Various I/O requirements, harmonics mitigation, power quality modeling, & heat dissipation and cooling requirements.

During the summer of 2012 I occupied the position of Summer Intern in Electrical Distribution Planning supporting the San Jose region. The list below highlights some of the major projects and responsibilities I was involved in and completed during my summer internship:

  • Worked to transition Phillips Lumileds service from distribution service to transmission service to support future growth.
  • Reviewed and approved single line diagram submissions for commercial and residential solar panel installations.
  • Designed new business installations, sized pad mounted transformers and specified upstream protection devices accordingly.
  • Provided support to operations for daily outages including switching plans and decision making to limit customer outage time.
  • Assisted an Electric Distribution Engineer with electric designs and system reliability of a distribution planning are of over 500MW.
  • Analyzed large sets of load data to forecast future demand.
  • Worked closely with SCADA crews on a daily basis to ensure functionality and reliability of system status signals.

Personal