PLS-CADD Users Group

March 3rd PLS-CADD users group meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho:

Front Picture of User Group Meeting

On March 3rd, 2000, we held a one day PLS-CADD user group meeting at the Sun Valley Inn in Sun Valley, Idaho. The meeting took place following the popular March 1-2 "Line Design 2000 Conference" hosted by Power Engineers.

During the "Line Design 2000 Conference" we demonstrated a prototype Real-Time Rating System. The system uses a specially modified PLS-CADD to calculate clearances and line ratings based on real time measurements of sags and weather.

The user group opened with a talk about measuring clearances under unbalanced ice loads by Bryan Hooper of BC Hydro. Bryan demonstrated how to export a PLS-CADD model to SAGSEC where unbalanced ice loads can be applied and how to bring the resulting unbalanced ice geometry back into PLS-CADD for clearance evaluation. During the talk Bryan described how he first imported a simple ground model from CAD plan & profiles drawings and how he later merged in more detailed DTM data for the problem spans.

Bryan Hooper Talking About Clearances Under Unbalanced Ice
Bryan Hooper demonstrating unbalanced ice clearance calculations

Next came a demonstration of our new PLS-POLE program by Eric Peyrot of Power Line Systems. This demonstration included the modeling of a hybrid pole with a concrete base and a steel top as well as discussions of the differences between PLS-POLE and our previous generation of pole and frame programs.

After a short break, Eric Peyrot and Steve Weber demonstrated several recently added or improved PLS-CADD features:

Enhancing graphics views and drawings using attachments:
- FLI-MAP videos (clicking a point to get frame from video at that point)
- Planimetric CAD drawings
- Aerial photos
- Company logos either scanned or drawn in CAD
- Drawing borders
- Digitizing plan and profile sheets
Annotation:
- Drawing lines
- Placing text
ODBC Database Integration:
- Importing/translating data from standards database (Oracle, Access...)
- Exporting PLS-CADD tables to database

Following the demonstrations the user group had an extensive discussion about future development priorities. This discussion made evident the strong interest in improving PLS-CADD's ability to model situations with unbalanced loads and broken conductors. There was also a great deal of interest in further improving PLS-CADD's integration with SAGSEC and SAPS. We will be devoting more time to development in these two areas in the near future. We would like to thank all who attended for their many valuable suggestions.

The PLS User Group Presentation Team: (from left to right) Steve Weber, Eric Peyrot, Bryan Hooper

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