PEOPLE - The Clyde turns 85, threatens retirement . . .again
Clyde Maughan blew out 85 candles while finishing up his fifth CCJ article, “There’s nothing generic about generator failures,” p 48. You can access all of The Clyde’s work for this journal at www.ccj-online.com/maughan/. Stay tuned, more articles are coming in future issues.
The globe-trotting generator maintenance and overhaul guru stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of electric-power professionals. His productive career has spanned more than 61 years—to this point. In fact, it’s fair to say that The Clyde has had multiple careers in the same industry.
He spent the first 36 years after graduation from the Univ of Idaho (BSEE, 1950) at General Electric Co as an engineer and manager in generator and turbine engineering design/service/development, manufacturing production and quality control, product service in field and factory, and as the project manager for change-outs of five generators manufactured by three OEMs.
For the last 25 years, The Clyde has been in private practice: Maughan Generator Consultants, Schenectady, NY.
Along the way, he has been directly involved in approximately 250 repair projects on generators from 2 to 1400 MW supplied by virtually all of the world’s major manufacturers. That work has included several dozen root-cause investigations of complex failures on stator and field components.
Plus, Maughan has served on several IEEE and IEC committees and working groups; managed a couple of major projects for EPRI; written or coauthored more than two score major technical papers; written a handbook of more than 200 pages on generator repair and conducted 30 seminars (1000 attendees) worldwide based on that work; and still had time to get an MS in Mechanical Engineering.
The editors knew relatively little about The Clyde’s many career accomplishments (he wouldn’t think of tooting his own horn) and asked a few long-time colleagues to talk about the engineer, the educator, and the person. This activity was facilitated by Jane Hutt of National Electric Coil, the company that developed and champions the International Generator Technical Community™ to share generator know-how globally (ad, p 56). Maughan gives freely of his time to support this forum.
The bullet points that follow were culled from correspondence with John Demcko, PE, Gregory C Stone, Jim Michalec, and others:
- Perhaps his most far-reaching contribution was the development of the first epoxy insulation system and his leadership of the team that developed the second generation of resin-rich epoxy mica insulation systems. These advancements were critical to the design of large generators. GE licensed this technology to about half of the world’s generator manufacturers.
- The Clyde also contributed to winding slot support systems (and the use of ripple springs in particular), endwinding support systems, and high-voltage grading systems for windings up to 30 kV—as well as to the development of the cooling-water conditioning and stress control systems for these high-voltage windings.
- As an independent consultant, The Clyde has investigated in detail several important insulation failure mechanisms—such as slot discharge, endwinding partial discharge, and vibration sparking (article, p 107)—and has developed effective repairs for them, where possible.
- Maughan has dedicated himself to personally assisting utilities and, more importantly, to sharing his experiences and transferring this knowledge to utility engineers. This has earned him a reputation as one of the world’s foremost generator consultants and educators.
- The Clyde’s handbook on synchronous generator maintenance, and the course that he developed from it, is the most thorough I have ever seen on the subject. All of Maughan’s work since his first retirement has been driven by a desire to ensure that the generator knowledge base—particularly that for large high-voltage machines—is preserved and disseminated to those in the industry who can make best use of it.
- His work is characterized by a low personal profile. Clyde prefers to put his energies into ensuring that technical excellence is the goal. His contributions to the industry are unique and are far above and beyond those of most IEEE members.
- Maughan’s unique ability to explain complex concepts in simple terms without the need for equations resonates equally well with management and the field people actually doing the repair work.
- The Clyde’s infinite patience and sense of humor makes him an excellent teacher as well as consultant.
- We have to figure out how to clone Clyde or get him digitized onto a large number of CDs.
- He’s a real gentleman.The Clyde may be thinking of retirement, but as most people are aware, icons don’t retire. By the way, the photo of Maughan and Norma, his wife of more than 60 years, was taken at his 85th birthday party on the couple’s farm in early July.
Texas Tech salutes Rentz
Jack Rentz, PE, president of Abilene-based Rentech Boiler Systems Inc, was one of eight Texas Tech University alumni to receive the Edward E Whitacre Jr College of Engineering’s 2011 Distinguished Engineer Award.
The award was established 45 years ago to salute the most outstanding alumni. Over the years, 199 graduates have been recognized as having (1) been distinguished in their profession, (2) been an inspiration to their peers, and (3) demonstrated a continuing interest in areas outside the field of engineering.
Rentech is the fastest-growing boiler manufacturer in America, with offices in Lincoln, Neb; Tulsa, Okla; and Sacramento, Calif. All manufacturing is done at the company’s Abilene facilities, which recently were expanded to provide more than 100,000 ft2 of shop space.
Dodero receives top paper award
Ing Giorgio Dodero, chairman of Milan-based IPG-Industrial Project Group Srl and the CCJ’s European power-technology consultant, was selected by the Power-Gen Europe Best Paper Awards Committee as one of three finalists for his work on “Evaluating design and erection criteria of new nuclear plants under construction: Flamanville 3 and Olkiluoto 3 units.”
Michael G Morris, chairman and CEO, American Electric Power Co, receives the United States Energy Assn’s 2011 Energy Award, recognizing his leadership in advancing the interstate high-voltage transmission system, developing carbon capture and storage systems for coal-fired powerplants, and implementing energy-efficiency and intelligent distribution-grid initiatives.
Thermal Chemistry Ltd, Hamilton, New Zealand, announces the appointment of Hugh Fallon as senior powerplant chemistry consultant, based in Auckland. His 15-yr career includes stints at Siemens Power Generation’s Commissioning Div and Contact Energy Ltd.
Robert Jelley called to say he had retired from ExxonMobil and was leaving for an independent consulting gig in Africa. Jelley is well known in the industry for his contributions to user-group discussions.
NV Energy, Las Vegas, announces that Lloyd Anderson has returned to the Clark Generating Station as operations manager and that Jeff Smith has moved from Clark to the Walter M Higgins Generating Station as O&M manager.
DRB Industries Inc’s David Brumbaugh, an Oklahoma state representative, is appointed to serve on the Energy Council, a legislation organization of 12 energy-producing states, five Canadian provinces, and one South American nation. Brumbaugh is owner and president of DRB, headquartered in Broken Arrow.
Johnson Matthey, Malvern, Pa, names Jeff Sherman business director and Steve Clark sales manager for stationary emissions control systems in North America. In addition, Mike Baran is appointed product manager for SCR systems and Alec Miller is named commercial manager for gas turbines and boilers.
Chromalloy, Orangeburg, NY, appoints industry veteran Clay Moran, formerly of PSM, as engineering leader for its advanced coating and repair operation.
Product/services update
General Physics Corp, Elkridge, Md, adds advanced pattern recognition technology to its EtaPRO™ plant performance and equipment conditioning monitoring system. EtaPRO APR™ is a fully integrated product that provides the industry thermal performance analysis and asset condition monitoring on a single platform.
