Greetings from PCIC in Houston, Texas!

The IEEE 1584 Working Group met here in Houston yesterday at IEEE's PCIC Conference. Quite a bit of progress has been made as the new test data, equations and model continue to be evaluated. Also, development of the new / revised text for the next edition is well underway. After many years of testing, etc. the Working Group is moving quickly and hopefully we will have a complete working draft of the new edition sometime early next year. Then, consensus building, tweaking, revisions and finally.... balloting. I'm not at liberty to discuss details such as the actual equations etc. but it is all coming together. This has been a tremendous effort by a lot of people and supporters - Thanks to all of them!

Also, my official disclaimer that I have to include since I am Secretary of this group: This is my own view and does not necessarily reflect that of IEEE or the 1584 Working Group.

Stay Tuned!

Jim,

When might a new version of IEEE 1584 be published?

The next edition is likely to be at least 2 years away. Based on my original comment, quite a bit has been completed but there is quite a lot that still needs done. The group working on the equations have been doing a great job and meet frequently in order to move this standard along. As always - these are my comments and not necessarily those of the IEEE or IEEE 1584 Working Group. Thanks for your interest.

Any new updates on this Jim?

The model/equations were approved last year and the text is out for approval now. Once that is done, it will all be brought together into the complete draft of the next edition as we move towards balloting and approval.

Are you guys getting any closer with the next edition?

I imagine from the outside looking in it seems like things are at a stand still or it is a big black hole. However it is all coming together. There have been many side issues that I can't go into here.

The actual draft of the entire standard, equations etc. has been completed and will be going for what we call "Sponsor Ballot" in the VERY near future. I'm sure as with other IEEE standards, there will be loads of comments that need addressed after the balloting and then another ballot will likely occur.

Ultimately there will be fewer comments with each round and then..... we cross the finish line.

I can't officially say when IEEE 1584 will be completed but I would guess at least a year until all voting, comments, I's dotted, T's crossed etc. It could be longer - we will know more in a few months once we are knee deep in the comment resolution.

btw, even though I am the IEEE 1584 Vice-Chair, this is not an official position of IEEE - only my thoughts.

Now out for ballot.

YES!!! Finally!

It went out yesterday. This has been a major effort to get to this point. The Chair, Secretary, IEEE Staff and me (Vice-Chair) of IEEE 1584 have been pushing hard for this day.

This is officially known as the "Sponsor Ballot" which is the formal vote. I'm sure there may be 1 Zillion + 1 comments on this first round but were moving closer to the finish line with the first formal completed draft of the next edition of IEEE 1584.

...stay tuned!

Still cuts off at 15kV. Too bad.

Cuts off at 15 kV because of the testing. They had a lot of sponsorship but at the end of the day, limited funding. If someone paid for 35 kV testing I'm sure that the people involved would be more than willing to do the testing. One of the difficulties to realize though is the electrode spacing...right now it goes up to 6". Going into 35 kV range, that's not enough. So the number of tests grows along two different variables.

Up to 12" which is where EPRI has gone, everything more or less follows the same general trends. Above 12" the distinctions between anode, cathode, vertical arcs, horizontal arcs, etc., start to have a major influence. EPRI has also done some exploratory testing for extreme arc lengths but even their funding was limited on testing.