• • • NEWS • • •
Electrical safety issue tops the agenda as SELECT Toolbox Talks tour gets underway
lectrical professionals across Scotland will receive an update on a potential safety issue at this year’s Toolbox Talks, the practical and popular events run by SELECT, the country’s largest construction trade body. Neutral current diversion (NCD) will be one of the key topics discussed at this year’s roadshows, which will tour 12 venues across Scotland, delivering a wealth of free echnical advice to contractors far and wide. The issue of NCD has been flagged as a hot topic across the electrical industry in recent months and SELECT has been at the forefront of helping to raise awareness and educate the sector to counter uncertainty and confusion. Bob Cairney, director of technical services at
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“NCD can be an issue for electrical contractors and constitutes an unknown risk that has huge safety implications, so we are keen to equip members with the necessary knowledge to identify and deal with it where necessary.”
SELECT, said: “We’re looking forward to another well-attended Toolbox Talks roadshow in 2024 and the main subject this year could not be more relevant as we progress towards the electrification of society.
NCD occurs when protective measures fail and current is diverted via exposed metal fixings such as gas, water and oil pipes. Identified as a particular issue in multiple occupancy buildings, this can lead to a build-up of heat and could result in fire or explosion.
Cliff Electronics extends VHDCI cable range
liff Electronics has extended its range of industry standard VHDCI (very-high-density-cable-interconnect) “Centronics” style cables to meet the requirements for interconnecting connecting instrumentation in industries such as defence, aerospace and space.
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A new 0.5m length has been added to the existing range of one and two metre versions. Commonly known as a “Centronics” type data cable all are terminated with standard D-Shaped connectors. VHDCI cables are used in high performance data transfer applications supporting the latest SCSI style interfaces as well as for connecting peripherals such as portable disc drives, RAID data storage, HIL (Hardware in the Loop)
applications, tape backup drives and CD-ROM players as well as printers to computers.
Although USB cables are now more
commonplace, parallel cables are still required for many uses including
connecting to legacy devices.
The VHDCI cable connector is very small and allows placement of four wide SCSI connectors on the back of a single PCI card slot. It uses the regular 68-contact pin assignment with the male connector (plug) on the cable and the female connector (“receptacle”) on the equipment panel. John Hall, managing director of Cliff Electronics, said: “Our new 0.5m length VHDCI cable meets the need for connecting equipment mounted in racks or other close proximity systems where it effectively becomes a patch cable. It will be welcomed by system integrators who need to keep interconnect cabling to a minimum.”
6 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • MAY 2024
In response to the issue, SELECT produced a suite of practical resources for members, apprentices and trainees earlier this year, including posters for workshops and training centres, a digital flowchart and a pocket-sized foldout designed to be kept in toolboxes.
The material was distributed after close collaboration with experts from a range of industry bodies, including the Institution of
Engineering and Technology, Scottish Power Energy Networks and the Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust. Mr Cairney added: “The upcoming roadshows will build on the success of our NCD resources, which have been extremely well received by members and serve as another demonstration of our commitment to the safety and wellbeing of both electrical contractors and consumers.”
Fluke celebrates 25th anniversary with CalPlus GmbH
F
luke Corporation recently hosted an award ceremony celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Premium partnership with CalPlus GmbH. A leading German specialist distributor for test and measurement equipment and the leading supplier of calibrators for electrical quantities and temperature, CalPlus was formed in 1999 by former employees of Fluke. Today, the company serves customers in all areas of the German economy, including colleges, universities, research institutes and authorities, and is headquartered in Berlin. Flavio Romano, senior director of EMEA sales at Fluke Corporation, said: “The success of our partnership is owed to CalPlus’ unwavering commitment to customer-centricity and excellence in customer service, innovation and technical expertise. “CalPlus’ profound product understanding enables them to
provide comprehensive training and
unmatched support, expediting the discovery of optimal solutions”
electricalengieneeringmagazine.co.uk
Jürgen Mau, managing director of CalPlus, said having Fluke as a premium partner for 25 years has enabled the company to make substantial inroads into the electrical and temperature calibration market.
Fluke Calibration is offering European customers the opportunity to upgrade and save 20% on the 55X0A Series of High-Performance Multi-Product Calibrators. For a limited time, customers can trade in their existing precision calibrator regardless of the manufacturer and upgrade to the latest technology. This limited time offer ends on June 28, 2024.
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