Electrical

Professional Engineer and forensic consultant having experience as a contract service provider of military component source verification and the holder of a Secret Security Clearance.  He has provided residential, marine and marina, and commercial forensic investigative services pertaining to electronic equipment failure; fire; and structural considerations. His expertise includes investigations associated with commercial, industrial, residential facilities, public utilities, and marine and marina weather related insurance claims. Also proficient in the investigation and analysis of electronic equipment interconnect, failure, and fire including printed circuit board fabrication, component assembly and manufacturing process quality control.  His other areas of experience include but are not limited to, management of military and commercial customer technical and business relationships with organizations in China, the Pacific Rim, and U.S. assembly operations, and backplane and PCB facilities; electroforming, multilayer PCB fabrication, through-hole, surface-mount, and system hardware-assembly, and outsourcing; materials and metallurgical failure analysis, and procurement specifications; materials and process development including explosive bonding pertaining to precious metals, ferrous, and non-ferrous metals; stainless steel heat treatment, surface hardening, and corrosion; and fixture development eliminating hydrothermal grown Quartz lattice structure flaws.

Senior Electrical Engineer with extensive experience in lightning arrester design, test, and application which involved all phases of over-voltage protective device.  His experience spans the voltage range from 120 volts to 1.2 million volts.  His knowledge also includes the fields of spark gap and metal oxide block design and manufacturing process assistance, insulation, and forensic analysis. 

Experience in product design, application, and other expert assistance to various electric utilities and manufacturers of electrical apparatus in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

As a forensic analyst, he has provided expert testimony as to his findings in courts of law.

A licensed Professional Engineer in Electrical Engineering and Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator with over ten years experience conducting forensic engineering investigations.  He has conducted consumer product testing and analysis in support of product development, design modification, and recall consideration. 

He conducts investigations involving electrical consumer products including appliances, tools, computers, extension cords, and surge protectors; electrically ignited fires; electrical grounding and electrical shock; electrical commercial and industrial equipment including electric motor operated pumps, fans, and HVAC units; electrical power generation and distribution, including switchgear design, installation, and maintenance; code compliance of building and special installation wiring for various sites, including marinas and fairgrounds; and conduct of work on electrical systems, including lockout/tagout procedures and other OSHA requirements.

A highly regarded educator, he taught Electrical Engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy for six years, demonstrating his expertise in teaching subjects ranging from basic circuits to power distribution and system characterization, while also mentoring independent design projects. Students and colleagues alike praised his ability to distill complicated subjects into key points and to explain them in easily understandable terms, a skill appreciated by clients and juries.  His investigative approach is methodical and thorough, referencing codes and standards where appropriate, and offering opinions and conclusions based on verifiable evidence.

He has conducted investigations from initial site inspection through code and standards review, evidence and exemplar testing.   As a court-qualified expert witness, he has given trial and deposition testimony supporting his findings.

Joseph R. Reynolds, PE, MEWI, MAE
Principal Forensic Electrical Engineer

Summary

Joseph R. Reynolds, PE, MEWI, MAE is internationally recognized as a forensic electrical engineer and an authority regarding the investigation and evaluation of utility system incidents and equipment failures including electrical contact accidents, fires and explosions. He has served as the team leader and technical director, as well as principal testifier, in large complex investigations and research. Services to the industry have included: conducting forensic root cause analyses of major power generation, transmission, distribution, and telecommunications incidents, system failures, accidents, fires, and equipment condition and performance audit issues; providing recommendations for improved equipment reliability; assessing the expected life and condition of aging equipment for repair/replace options; and addressing prudence issues related to rate base and regulatory hearings.

Mr. Reynolds is the founder and president of RTI Group, LLC based in the US, as well as the founder and chairman of the London based UK firm Reynolds Technological Inquiries Limited, and RTI Ltd, with offices in South America and the Middle East. The RTI companies are an international consultancy of experienced expert witnesses with a new research centre to determine the cause of electrical, material, and mechanical failures. An advance multimedia studio provides the visuals to effectively present our findings. A highly diversified firm, RTI specialized in accident and failure analysis of various size matters involving aviation, marine, rail, telecommunications, power utilities, and high risk industries.

RTI also provides proactive consulting services from Safety Management and Security Risk Assessment to implementation of controls.

Mr. Reynolds has represented public and government utilities, state regulatory commissions, and insurers in numerous electric power matters, including the following examples:

• Appointed by a utility regulator to serve as lead investigator and team manager for the state’s analysis of a high profile and lengthy outage resulting in recommendations to improve system reliability, which were adopted through the legislative rule-making process.

• Provided testimony at a rate base hearing before a state public service commission involving the utility’s handling of unpredictable and highly unusual nuclear reactor component failure, and evaluation of the resulting repair costs.

• Authored several publications on behalf of the Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI, including a guideline to assist utilities in improving the reliability of power plant electrical equipment as an alternative to the cost of constructing new plants.

• Evaluated the options to restore the performance of a damaged hydroelectric generator station when compared with the availability of replacement power.

Mr. Reynolds has given expert testimony in arbitration hearings and courts of law, and has appeared before state and federal boards, commissions, counsels, press conferences, and international professional forums.

Forensic Electrical Engineer and Patent - Intellectual Property Consultant

He is a licensed professional engineer (PhD, PE), with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University, a M.S. in Computer Engineering from Villanova University, and a PhD in Engineering from Villanova University.  He holds adjunct faculty appointments at Villanova, Drexel, Temple, and Southern New Hampshire Universities where he has taught mathematics, control theory, computer programming, and general electrical engineering courses.  He has over 20 years of experience working with electrical, electronic, communication, and control systems including industrial control and SCADA systems.   He has done extensive research in controls and computational intelligence for the United States military.  He has been involved with the design and construction of large scale software and hardware systems.  He holds two patents and has over 20 technical publications.

He has provided expert testimony in courts of law.

Senior Electrical Utility Engineer and NESC Specialist

Testimony in Deposition and Court
He has provided sworn testimony approximately 14 times in deposition and seven (7) times in Connecticut Superior Court as an electrical engineer in claims and damage cases.  Consulted in dozens of additional cases in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.  Qualified by the Connecticut Superior Court as an electrical expert.  These cases involved high-voltage electrical contacts, electrocutions, personal injury, stray voltage, clearances, property damage, house and structure fires, equipment failures, service interruptions, tariff provisions, system operations, line extensions and upgrades, and compliance with the National Electrical Safety Code (“NESC”).

Testimony before the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (“PURA”)
He has provided sworn testimony approximately 28 times in 16 cases before the Connecticut PURA.  These cases involved system reliability, metering, capital expenditures, system operations and maintenance practices and expenses, pole attachments, clearances, structural loadings, joint pole ownership, new electrical services, vegetation management, attachments of distributed antenna systems, equipment failures, line extensions and upgrades, storm response and restoration, and compliance with the NESC.