Gas and Electric Utility Operations Expert
This expert specializes in gas and electric utility engineering, construction, maintenance, operations, safety, and human performance improvement. His experience has a particular emphasis on gas and electric distribution and vegetation management operations. This expert has over 25 years experience within the utility industry.
Over thirty years of engineering experience in electrical and electronic engineering investigations, including all aspects of the design, fabrication, production, and operation, patent infringement analysis, reverse engineering, product teardowns and failure analysis of electrical and electronic devices and products as well as computer systems, hardware and software.
He has extensive experience in consulting and forensic engineering services for attorneys and insurance companies regarding fire origin and cause (O&C) investigations, lightning investigations, telecommunication/data network engineering, industrial automation and control products/applications and electrical product testing and compliance (UL, CE and FCC) in the design phase, and in post-design product failure analysis, including power and signal line surge analysis.
Has also served as an expert witness and forensic engineer on many cases involving a wide variety of electrical and electronic devices and applications. Some projects have focused on fire hazards, and others dealt with shock and operator safety. He has also analyzed designs in reference to user abuse and unintended operation, which is often an overlooked aspect in most product safety reviews.
A Senior Electrical Engineer with many years of experience in the field of electrocutions, antenna and microware engineering. Currently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at a distinguished university . He has an impressive list of honors and recognition for his contributions to research and education, as well as numerous funded research projects, service activities and published books and articles.
Senior Electrical/Mechanical Engineer with many years of experience with power system protection and controls in engineering and construction. Has managed all aspects of engineering design and drafting, power flow and fault calculations, relay calibrations, field installation testing, instruction manuals development, testing and development and power plant engineering (including nuclear) of the following systems: protective relaying, automatic switching controls, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, telemetry equipment, cables, capacitor controls, Digital Fault Recorders (DFR), fire protection systems, generators, meters, motors, Sequence of Events Recorders (SER), switchgear, transformers, voltage regulators, and communications equipment associated with these systems. As a Senior Mechanical Engineer, this expert has specific knowledge of compressors, electro-mechanical systems, fans and blowers, HVAC equipment, OSHA codes and standards. He is also an experienced instructional materials writer and presenter, as well as teacher on topics of Power Systems Theory and Protective Relaying. As a member of IEEE, he participated in writing tutorials and the standards for substation integration architecture and distributed generation, including substation communication protocols.
This expert has testifying experience in cables and testing and developing lines.
Electrical Engineer and Utilities Operations consultant with many years of forensic, utility and project management experience. He is an experienced investigator, engineering reviewer, and engineering manager. He has extensive experience as a senior project engineer with substation design, construction management, customer engineering and system planning experience.
Mr. Simpson has experience with all phases of utility operations including design, distribution, transmission, substation, relaying, generation, plant accounting, systems planning and materials management. He designed and built the first multi story SF-6 gas bus substation involving 69 kV high pressure oil filled pipe type cable supply in the Washington, DC area.; and oil and paper supply feeders include 13kV paper and lead, 34kV and 69kV low-pressure oil filled cable, 69kV, 138kV, and 230kV high-pressure oil filled pipe type cable. Experience also includes a number of 34kV and 69kV low-pressure oil filled cable river crossings involving armored cable, divers, long high-tension pulls and very critical time schedules. Construction scheduling and coordinating at project and corporate levels. Computer system development for construction scheduling and materials management systems. Materials management experience includes corporate purchasing, stores, inventory control, investment recovery, materials systems and disposal of hazardous waste.
Has acted as an arbitrator and given testimony in depositions and in court.
Senior Electrical Engineer who specializes in all phases of substation design and operation, including protective relaying, controls, wiring, grounding, cable and conduit, SCADA equipment, and interfaces, as well as physical electrical arrangement of equipment in substations. More than 38 years of extensive experience in the electrical engineering and utility fields. He is an expert in all phases of substation design and operation. Managed SCADA system designs for the overhead distribution systems (auto loops and unit substations) as well as the extensive underground low voltage network systems which provided near real-time data from more than 25,000 network transformers while serving as Department Manager of SCADA Systems for a major gas and electric utility.
In his position as Chief Electrical Engineer at an architectural and engineering company that designs and retro-fits electrical substations, generating stations, and industrial facilities, this expert was responsible for overseeing substation design in the power delivery group and his duties involved management of all electrical engineering and design requirements including calculations for battery systems, lightning, voltage drop, grounding, AC and DC station distribution, high voltage bus, and all equipment installations. He has designed, and still continues to provide consultation on, many of the ground grid designs for substations ranging in voltage from 4 kV to 500 kV, and has participated in the conductor and grounding design of a 500 kV transmission line using monopoles.
Senior Electrical Engineer has over 35 years of investigative experience in accident investigations, evaluations, damage assessments and fire investigations involving electrical distribution, construction, farm, medical, and computing equipment, as well as appliances and power tools.
Cases investigated have ranged from residential wiring and small appliances to automotive systems, large industrial machinery, shipboard equipment, electric power generating equipment, and electrical distribution systems including transformers and substation equipment. Issues addressed have included operation of electrical distribution network protection, electrocutions, burns and shocks, and NEC/NESC and OSHA requirements. He has also served as a consultant to other forensic investigators and accident re-constructionists in complex cases.
Qualified as an expert in over 20 different courts, including local and federal courts.
With a total of over forty years of college level teaching experience and professional interaction with experts in other fields of engineering and science, this expert retired after 38 years from a tenured professorship at the U. S. Naval Academy. He has authored numerous papers regarding electrical equipment for use aboard U.S. Navy vessels (both classified and unclassified documents). He has also authored or co-authored six published papers relating to electrical/electronic engineering test design for electrical and electronic components exposed to unusual ambient conditions.
He is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI). Certification is based upon experience plus time-limited, proctored, written examination.
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.
