Cybersurfing with Amar Chandel

Science Quiz
by J. P. Garg

Y2K and power scenario in N. India
By Anil K. Grover and Hari Harpal Singh

The dawn of the year 2000 is likely to make major impact on computer-based systems in general and power system – generation and transmission operation services, in particular. Historically computers and control systems were programmed with two digits ‘date’ to represent the year. With the arrival of the year 2000, the digits “00” will stand for the year 2000 and it is apprehended that the hardware and software in the computers may interpret it as 1900 in place of 2000 for all computations comparison. The date change at 2000 may also involve other software problems depending upon the assumptions made in the programming techniques used in software development. This problem is called Y2K problem or the Millennium Bug.

The Y2K bug could influence almost 34 per cent of the generation capacity in the country. All authorities concerned have been told to get their computer software, being extensively used in operation and computation, declared as Y2K compliant. Many have done so and others shall have to do so before December 31. But still some uncertainty does exist and there is a wave of fear and scare of malfunctioning of the microprocessor based operation at the generation and transmission stations.

The Indian Power System is complex in nature since it has a series of generating stations, long transmission lines and diversified load centres. For effective planning and smooth system operation the Indian power system has been divided in five regional grids i.e. Northern, Southern, Western, Eastern and North-Eastern.

The installed generating capacity of the Indian power system is 92,866 MWs out of which almost 34% is having Y2K related problems due to use of computers and microprocessor based operations as given in the table below :-

Installed Generating Capacity 93,239 MWs

Effective Installed Capacity 92,866 MWs

Capacity Not Influenced by Y2K 61,158 MWs

Capacity Influenced by Y2K 31,708 MWs

All the five regional grids are operating independently except the major portion of north-eastern regional grid, which is operating in synchronism with the eastern regional grid. The total effective power generation capacity of the country is 92, 866 MWs with region wise break-up as under :-

Northern Region 25,051MWs

Western Region 27,593MWs

Southern Region 23,968MWs

Eastern Region 14,597MWs

North-Eastern Region 1,657 MWs

The history of Indian power system dates back to more than a century. The earlier power stations are still using of the pneumatic and electromagnetic control systems and the controls in the transmission system are also electromagnetic. With the advent of computers, DAS (Data Acquisition System) stands employed in generation and transmission system of the power industry in the country.

However, the power sector in India has been very conservative in the use of computers in control systems. The electronic control systems have been introduced very judiciously. The backup system has always been available to keep the plant operating in case of failure of the electronic controls. In the recent past, more automation has been introduced in the controls of the generating stations with the use of DDCs (Distributed Digital Control) Systems and PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers). These system employ RTC (Real Time Clock) Chips, which in certain cases are critical of date / year values. Out of a total effective generating capacity of 92,866 MWs in Indian power sector only 31,708 MWs (34.14%) is with DDC embedded system for which the Y2k preparedness contingency Plan is needed.

The Central Electricity Authority and regional electricity boards have envisaged a series of workshops and drawn Y2K contingency plans to educate the participating state electricity boards to see the dawn of the year 2000 without any power failure, which is the back bone of Indian economy.

The main objective of the Y2K contingency plan is to avoid heavy grid disturbances leading to collapse of the system on arrival of the year 2000 – much talked about the New Millennium. Northern Region Electricity Board has undertaken studies which reveal that as per assessment there would be an increase in the demand of about 1700 - 2000 MWs in the northern grid and this demand may continue even beyond midnight due to celebrations of millennium eve. The anticipated grid load for December 30 to January 1 is shown here:-

It is also understood that there is only 30 % to 40 % of effective installed generation capacity having DDC and PLC embedded in their control systems and Y2K compliant certificates stand obtained from their vendors by the state electricity boards concerned. Further barring some recording devices at Grid Substations most of the system is Y2K compliant. Then why is apprehension and scare about Y2K ?

Because any failure on the eve of the year changeover, either arising due to Y2K or otherwise, will effect the credibility of electric supply industry in the world around. Thus contingency plan is a tool to help SEBs to continue functioning in their missions i.e. generation, transmission & distribution, despite a possible breakdown of the information and embedded system. Contingency plan is not a substitute to Y2K solution but merely an effort to counter the uncertainty and scare created by Y2K bug. The highlighted features of Y2K Preparedness Contingency Plan are listed below :-

• No generating unit to be on maintenance from 26.12.1999 to 02.01.2000.
• All the under frequency relays and DF/DT relays are to be made operational. Even if all the machines, which are anticipated to be affected by Y2K bug, get tripped due to Y2K problem the Northern Grid may survive provided under frequency relays are made operational.
• Hydro generating units are to kept on bar even after peak load hours from 21.30 Hrs of 31.12.1999 to 06.00 Hrs of 01.01.2000.
• Thermal generating units with analog control system are to be operated at maximum generation.
• Generating units with DDC controls to be kept at technically lowest levels of generation so that tripping of such units due to Y2K or otherwise, causes minimum possible grid disturbances.
• A spinning reserve of 500 MWs to be kept available in each Region.
• System frequency to be maintained between 49.5 Hzs to 50.5 Hzs (This is to achieved by bringing back into the system all the under frequency relays)
• Risk reduction measures to be taken at all thermal units such as oil guns to be kept in service from 21.30 Hrs on December 31, 1999 to 02.00 Hrs on January 1, 2000. Routine powers station operations such as soot blowing, change over of mills and ash disposal also needs to be avoided during the above specified periods.
• All the local sources of supply, such as standby DG sets/batteries at the generating stations, to be kept in readiness to come on auto in case of grid failure.
• Fire fighting arrangements in each generating station and grid substation to be kept on full alert to meet with the exigencies.
• Additional experienced staff to be kept in readiness in the event of total or partial collapse of the system at all the generating/grid stations.

With all the precautions and other steps planned as special features of Y2K contingency plan there is practically no likelihood of Y2K bug effecting the power scenario in our region on the controversial arrival of the millennium .

The authors are professionals engaged in power sector development and stability and are participating in generation of power.

Cybersurfing with Amar Chandel
Coming to terms with Net language

IT is not only the ten-somethings who are adding new words to the vocabulary of the world. The computer and Internet buffs are doing exactly the same. One cannot hold any kind of conversation with the in-set without knowing one’s cookies, DHTML and Mozilla.

If at least some of these words have you scratching your head, help is at hand at www.netlingo.com. You get brief introduction to these and hundreds of other terms which you need to know but are too shy to ask about.

It also gifts you a Net dictionary. It is a toolbar that you can keep on your desktop in order to look up words while you are surfing around the Web. A mini-browser contains all the words in the NetLingo’s dictionary. You put your mouse on the pocket dictionary and scroll down or click on a word. The definition of that word then appears in the main browser. That means that there are two browser windows open and you can go back and forth between them.

And if your difficulty is how to use these news nuggets of information, you can learn many tips and tricks of Internet browsing by going to www.learnthenet.com. It boasts of several time-saving shortcuts, which means a lot of money saved by way of internet charges and telephone bills.

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Christmas season is here friends and the Net is supplanted with special websites to mark the occasion. One of the best produced is, you guessed it, www.christmas.com. It has unending information on Christmas recipes, decorations, prizes, party planning tips, party etiquette, gifts and suggestions.

You can of course use it to send Christmas greeting around the world.

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Are we alone in this large-o-large universe? Indications so far are that perhaps we are but probability is that there is no chance that we can be unique. Scientists have been scouring the heavens to receive any signs of intelligent life. The task is more than herculean. That is why scientists at Berkley who comprise the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) have sought the help of amateur computer lovers to deal with the mass of data. Nearly 10 lakh people have already donated their unused computer time to look for patterns in the feed from a radio telescope in Puerto Rico. A small download sits unobtrusively on your toolbar till the computer is idle and then starts looking for signs of life in radio emissions from deep space. Such volunteers have already done work, which is equivalent to 48,375 years of computing. If you have not already signed up, you can do so at www.setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu.

By the way, the SETI browser makes an interesting and impressive screensaver.

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Parenting is a job tougher than it looks. You need advice on a million different aspects but don’t get it all. The western websites are only partially useful. To that extent, www.indiaparenting.com fills a gap. It has separate chapters on newborn care, baby’s diet, child development, health care, pregnancy, preconception, fertility issues, women’s health, baby names, rhymes and songs, children’s stories, games and funtime and even a doctor on call.

Science Quiz
by J. P. Garg

1. Albert Einstein and Thomas Alva Edison were among the topmost scientists of the world. But both suffered from a learning disability in their childhood. What is such a disability called?

2. Even if a country has no nuclear weapons, it can smear radioactive materials in an area, both for defensive and offensive purposes. These materials can be delivered by aircraft, or by ordinary shells and bombs, or even by rockets and missiles. What is such a warfare called?

3. Name the instrument which is used to measure the sensitivity of the ear to sounds and to assess hearing loss of a person.

4. What is the process called in biology by which a CELL takes in substances through its membrane ? What are the two types of this process ?

5. Name the salt of potassium which is used as a fertiliser, in the manufacture of explosives (gunpowder, fireworks etc) and as a food preservative.

6. The lightest gas at standard temperature and pressure is hydrogen. Which is the heaviest gas at STP?

7. Can you imagine about how many litres of blood does our heart pump during an average lifetime of 70 years ? About how many times does the heart beat during this time?

8. What is the minimum velocity called with which an object should be projected from the surface of the earth so that it goes out of its gravitational field and does not return to the earth ? What is the value of this velocity ?

9. This device can receive electronic signals and then transmit these after amplification, often at a different frequency. Name this very important component of communication satellites.

10. According to the latest discoveries, how many planets outside our own solar system have been discovered so far ? Name the world’s largest and sharpest optical telescope that has been instrumental in detecting many of these planets.

Answers

1. Dyslexia 2. Radiological warfare 3. Audiometer 4. Endocytosis; pinocytosis and phagocytosis 5. Potassium nitrate, also called saltpetre or nitre 6. Radon 7. 200 million litre; 2.5 billion times 8. Escape velocity; 11.2 km per second 9. Transponder 10. 28; Keck telescope situated in Hawaii in the USA.

Seeing beneath the surface
A novel microscope that can look beneath the surface of an opaque material has been developed by a British team consisting of researchers from Loughborough University and Lancaster University.

Known as a micro-thermal analyser the instrument uses heat waves to reveal the structure of a material at depths up to 10 microns (one micron is one millionth of a metre) beneath the surface.

The product, which would help scientists investigate material structure and properties, is now being commercialised by a British firm.

One of the advantages of the micro-thermal analyser is that unlike scanning electron microscopes and other instruments there is no need for the specimen to be placed in a vacuum.

The device is based on the concept of a scanning force microscope but with a new probe tip which in effect pumps heat cyclically into the material being studied, measures its absorption and produces a magnified screen image of the material structure as it scans along, reports British Commercial News.

Porous concrete paving surface
A unique system designed in the United Kingdom provides an environment, friendly, porous concrete paving surface which allows surface water to pass through to the specially designed sub-base.

The water collected there can be used for flushing lavatories or watering gardens.

It prevents rapid rainwater run-off and flash flooding, and retains oils, rubber particles and other surface contamination which could otherwise pollute streams and water courses.

The system, designed and patented by Coventry University has attracted industry which is using the technology in more than 45 projects such as large car parks and paved areas for pedestrians, according to a report in British Commercial News.

Research has shown that the paving system has the capacity to retain in the sub-base 98.7 per cent of oil deposited on the paving.

It also measures oxygen and carbon dioxide at various levels on the ground, the report adds.

World’s smallest transistor
French scientists say they have built the world’s smallest transistor, a device measuring 20 nanometers — 20 billionths of a meter, making it nine times smaller than its equivalent in the market today, reports AFP.

The tiny gadget, called a functional n-channel metal oxide semiconductor, will play a key role in boosting the storage capacity and speed of integrated circuits, the scientists at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) said.

It should be possible to store 16 thousand billion pieces of data — the equivalent of a billion pages — on a single microprocessor, which will run at 20 gigahertz, or 40 times the speed of today’s chips.

This could enable instant processing of complex data, such as three-dimensional pictures of weather patterns, that can take today’s top computers at quarter of an hour to handle.

Chips with the new transistors could be embedded in mobile phones and other portable gadgets, giving them the data-crunching power of a desktop computer.

Based on current estimates, technology enabling production and use of 20-nanometer transistors should become available around 2015-2020, they said.

The new transistor is so small that the scientists had to use an electron microscope, magnifying the image 500,000 times, in order to get a picture measuring one centimetre (less than half an inch), according to a statement issued by the CEA.

A 20-nanometer transistor placed on a typically-sized integrated circuit would be the equivalent of placing a hair in the middle of a soccer stadium.