Hiranya Pathak (left) presented the EATC service plaque to Tim Burttram (right).

The EATC met 9 May 2023, Detroit, MI, USA.
The following officers were elected:

• Chair: Hiranya Pathak - Primetals Technologies USA LLC

• Vice Chair: Alec Glenn - AM/NS Calvert LLC

• Education Chair: Kevin Bort - TMEIC Corp. Americas

• Digitalization Liaison: Marc Elliott - Eaton Corp.

• Decarbonization Liaison: Ramesh Khajjayam - Primetals Technologies USA LLC

• IEEE Coordination Subcommittee Chair: Tom Dionise - Eaton Corp.

The EATC met 1 February 2023, Mobile, Ala., USA.
The EATC met in Mobile, Ala., USA, to receive updates on two active subcommittees that are working on projects and making great progress.

The group began the meeting by finalizing its planned technical session for AISTech 2023 and solicited nominations for 2023–2024 committee officers. The EATC Award Subcommittee announced the winners of the 2023 James Farring-ton Award, which will be presented at AISTech 2023 in Detroit. The committee also held a roundtable discussion based on the latest AIST Steel Industry Fatalities Report. 

EATC education chair Kevin Bort provided an update from the Electrical Engineering Basics: 102 Conference Plan-ning Subcommittee. The subcommittee has planned several enhancements to the training course, including a facility tour of U. S. Steel’s Big River Steel facility and tying the tour to the course training content. 

Tom Dionise reported on a joint development team which meets with members representing both AIST and the In-stitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The focus of this subcommittee is to create an AC transformer standard for electric arc furnace applications, which is presently unavailable in the industry.

At the close of the meeting, the committee visited AM/NS Calvert LLC for a comprehensive tour of their facility, including the electrical backside and basement chambers of the hot sheet rolling mill, as well as an extensive look at the centralized data human machine interface (HMI) located inside the plantwide power vault control room. Members noted the visible progress on AM/NS Calvert’s EAF #1 construction, and learned more about the expansion plans for an additional EAF at the facility.

Members of the Electrical Applications Technology Committee attended a plant tour of AM/NS Calvert LLC on 1 February 2023 (left to right): Lynn Mitchell, Siemens; Alec Glenn, AM/NS Calvert LLC; Sam Rawson, JNE; Mike Kadar, Fisher Scientific; Andy Wojcik, Siemens; Jim Hendrickson, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.; Jasmine Ifeadike, Primetals Technologies; and Carlos Hunter, AM/NS Calvert LLC.

Jim Hendrickson (left) presented a plaque of appreciation to Neeraj Baxi (right) for hosting the EATC’s tour of Virginia Transformer.

The EATC met 7–8 September 2022, Savannah, Ga., USA.
The meeting started with a tour of the nearby Virginia Transformer manufacturing facility, offering a rare look inside the production of large-scale industrial electrical transformers. 
EATC chair Tim Burttram opened the meeting with 17 attendees along with four online attendees. Almost immediately, the discussion of fatalities and near misses turned into several personal discussions of habits formed from members’ own observations from being inside mill operations.
An extensive range of activities were summarized through subcommittee reports, including a committee member survey by Mo Ahmed, and the planned enhancements of the upcoming Electrical Engineering Basics 201 training course led by Kevin Bort.
Decarbonization topics of specific interest to electrical technology were presented by decarbonization liaison Ramesh Khajjayam. 
Tom Dionise reported on a joint development team being formed with members coming from both AIST and IEEE, who are in the early stages of developing an industry standard for electrical transformers that service electric arc furnace applications.
Alec Glenn led the discussions of both the grading process for the 2023 Farrington Award and the first look at abstract selections for AISTech
2023, which form two sessions. 
Presentations: 

• "Growth of Common DC Bus Systems,” by Andy Wojcik, Siemens.

• “Electrical System Considerations of Connectivity for Outcome Driven Designs,” by Duke Dunsford and Jaime Gutierrez, Schneider Electric.

Tim Burttram (right) presented Hiranya Pathak (left) with  the 2022 James Farrington Award.

The EATC met 17 May 2022, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
The following officers were elected:

• Chair: Tim Burttram  /  Big River Steel

• Vice Chair: Hiranya Pathak  /  Primetals Technologies USA LLC

• Papers Chair: Alec Glenn  /  AM/NS Calvert LLC

• IEEE Coordination Subcommittee Chair: Tim Dionise  /  Eaton Corp.

• Education Chair: Kevin Bort  /  TMEIC Corp. Americas

• Digital Transformation Liaison: Marc Elliott  /  Eaton Corp.

• Decarbonization Liaison: Ramesh Khajjayam  /  Primetals Technologies USA LLC

Electrical Applications Technology Committee (EATC) chair Tim Burttram presented a plaque of appreciation to Marc Elliott, Eaton Corp., for hosting the EATC’s meeting on 1–2 March 2022 (left to right): Samuel Rawson, Jeffrey Mason, Burttram, Elliott, Ramesh Khajjayam and Bryan Beard.

The EATC met 1–2 March 2022, Wilsonville, Ore., USA.
The EATC held their two-day hybrid committee meeting in Wilsonville, Ore., USA, at the Eaton Corp. campus. EATC chair Tim Burttram opened the meeting with welcoming remarks.
The committee finalized nominations for its 2022–2023 officers, which will receive a formal vote at the EATC’s meeting during AISTech 2022. This year’s officer election will also establish new roles for the committee, including a members chair, a Young Professional chair and a liaison role on decarburization activities.
Next, EATC papers chair Alec Glenn led everyone through a review of the papers and presentations representing two separate Electrical Applications sessions at AISTech 2022.
Discussion then picked up from the EATC’s fall 2021 meeting as well as the most recent AIST Leadership Conference on methods to better engage members through a survey of the committee for implementable service ideas.

Tom Dionise provided an update on the EATC’s subcommittee for coordination with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)’s Metal Industry Technical Committee. The attendees identified specific topics for discussion with the subcommittee, and indicated that work would begin through exploratory meetings in the next six months.

Presentations:

•   • “Arc Flash Mitigation,” by Peter Hogan, Eaton Corp.

•   • “Electric Arc Furnace Harmonic Filter Failure, Analysis and Repair,” and “Furnace Transformer Transient Protection: Design, Performance, Troubleshooting and Repair,” by Tom Dionise, Eaton Corp.

The following day, the EATC toured Eaton Corp.’s factory floor and heard detailed technical presentations from Eaton’s site manager, arc flash experts and application engineering representatives.

The EATC met 16 September 2021 Mobile, Ala., USA.
Tim Burttram led the EATC meeting the day after conclusion of Electrical Engineering Basics, which featured a behind-the-scenes tour of the electrical control systems powering AM/NS Calvert LLC. For more details on the conference, see page 143.
Burttram, Alec Glenn and Hiranya Pathak finalized new procedures for the Farrington Award selection process. Based on presentations made at AISTech 2021, Glenn will be looking for volunteers to join the Award Grading Subcommittee for selecting an award recipient. The award will be presented at AISTech 2022 in Pittsburgh, Pa., USA.
Discussions developed a variety of fresh ideas on effective committee membership service, which will be incorporated into a survey for committee leaders. There are 126 members actively connected with the EATC.

The EATC met 30 June 2021, Nashville, TN USA.
The following officers were elected:

• Chair: Tim Burttram, Big River Steel

• Vice Chair: Hiranya Pathak, Primetals Technologies USA LLC

• Education Chair: Kevin Bort, TMEIC Corp. Americas

• Papers Co-Chairs: Alec Glenn, AM/NS Calvert LLC, and Neeraj Nautiyal, JSW Steel Ltd.

• Digital Transformation Liaisons: Marc Elliott, Eaton Electrical, and Ken Kaniewski, Rockwell Automation

• Young Professional Chair: Casey Davis, Primetals Technologies USA LLC

The EATC held a virtual meeting 20 April 2021.
Thirteen EATC members met virtually to review the progress headed into AISTech 2021 in Nashville, Tenn., USA. EATC chair Ramesh Khajjayam reviewed the changing health protocols at this later stage of fighting the pandemic.
Nominations for open EATC leadership positions started at this meeting as the chair position will be moving from Ramesh Khajjayam of Primetals Technologies USA LLC to Tim Burttram of Big River Steel.
The group reviewed the committee roster (with 35 new members since its fall 2020 meeting, for a total of 104 registered members), noting the recent shift of the Sensors Subcommittee from the EATC to the Digitalization Applications Technology Committee (DATC).
Tim Burttram led a discussion on the AIST Steel Industry Fatalities Report. The discussion highlighted the benefits of barricading not only an active worksite, but also choosing to visually mark out the areas considered off-limits during any work outage. This procedure enhances a traditional lockout/tagout activity for additional safety.
Papers chair Hiranya Pathak identified the sessions and abstracts planned for AISTech, and accepted volunteers for session chair. He also thanked everyone who volunteered to grade papers from the AISTech 2020 Conference Proceedings and select the Farrington Award winner. Bryan Beard noted a joint technical session with the Sensors Subcommittee will occur during AISTech.
Education Subcommittee chair Kevin Bort described the brand-new conference titled Electrical Engineering Basics, which will be held in Mobile, Ala., USA, on 12–15 September 2021. The focus is not only for the trained electrical engineers in the industry, but for anyone who wants to understand the use and control of electrical energy, and those who would appreciate receiving basic knowledge of electrical engineering principles as applied in the steel industry. Leading industry experts will describe a working knowledge of the physical equipment, as well as power distribution, level 1/level 2 automation, sensors, gauges, drives and motors.
Ken Kaniewski, Digital Transformation liaison, gave an update on the quarterly liaison meetings.

The EATC and SSSC held a joint virtual meeting 22 October 2020.
Members of the Sensor Systems Subcommittee joined the EATC’s meeting.
Both Sensors and EATC Committees received new Papers Chair volunteers, who were approved in the meeting by a hand-wave vote. New papers Charis are now:  Andrew Carto (Vollmer America, Inc.) and Hiranya Pathak (Primetals Technologies USA LLC), respectively.
Kevin Bort (Education Sub-Committee Chair) gave a report on the new introductory-level course called Electrical Engineering Basics Specialty Training Conference, and this is on target for the fall of 2021, with plans to co-locate it with Cold Rolling Fundamentals — A Practical Training Seminar.
Information for the Digital Application Technology Steering Committee will now be coordinated with the EATC by two new committee members,
Ken Kaniewski of Rockwell Automation and Marc Elliott of Eaton Corp., and there will be continued involvement by Ramesh Khajjayam.
Tom Dionise (Chair of sub-committee on IEEE Coordination) reported the IEEE METC will need to have an IEEE-PAR for developing standards as a guide for the committee, and the AIST Sub-committee will begin meeting in the next six months.
The Sensors Sub-Committee identified a working plan to relocate under the Digital Applications Technical Committee, as this part of the industry is quickly changing, and does warrant a reassignment to match current advances in equipment and digital sensing devices.
Casey Davis gave a report on the Young Professionals Steering Committee. Some key activities of the Young Professionals program include mentoring and university outreach activities, as well as articles spotlighting individuals in Iron & Steel Technology.

The EATC held a virtual meeting 1 October 2020.
Members of the Sensor Systems Subcommittee joined the EATC’s meeting.
A new introductory-level course called Electrical Engineering Basics Specialty Training Conference is on target for the fall of 2021, with plans to co-locate it with Cold Rolling Fundamentals — A Practical Training Seminar.
Information for the Digital Application Technology Steering Committee will now be brought to the EATC by two new committee members,
Ken Kaniewski of Rockwell Automation and Marc Elliott of Eaton Corp., with continued involvement by Ramesh Khajjayam.
Casey Davis gave a report on the Young Professionals Steering Committee. Some key activities of the Young Professionals program include mentoring and university outreach activities, as well as spotlight articles in Iron & Steel Technology.

The SSSC held a virtual meeting 13 May 2020.
The Sensor Systems Subcommittee began their meeting with a review of their mission statement and the AISTech 2021 Call for Papers.
The committee then discussed the role of sensors in the digital transformation of the steel industry and whether the SSSC should be reclassified from a subcommittee of Electrical Applications to subcommittee of Digitalization Applications.
The SSSC then elected the following officers for 2020–2021:

• Chair: Brian Smith, ANDRITZ Herr-Voss Stamco Inc.

• Vice chair: Karl Kessler, AK Steel – Dearborn Works.

The EATC held a virtual meeting 6 May 2020.
The EATC meeting began with a review of the committee mission statement and the AISTech 2021 Call for Papers.
The following committee officers for the 2020–2021 term were elected:

• Chair and digitalization liaison: Ramesh Khajjayam, Primetals Technologies USA LLC.

• Vice chair: Tim Burttram, Big River Steel.

• Papers chair: Poojit Lingam, Primetals Technologies USA LLC.

• Education chair: Kevin Bort, TMEIC.

• Young Professional liaison: Casey Davis, Primetals Technologies USA LLC.

The discussion at this meeting brought renewed focus to areas of prior interest. One earlier topic is the potential development of a basics course in electrical engineering for the steel industry. Work is now underway to reconvene the current set of team members who are advancing this subject. New volunteers are also expressing interest in joining this educational effort.
Tom Dionise brought an update to AIST which was based on his involvement with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Since October 2019, IEEE has established a formal subcommittee for the purpose of working on an AIST-IEEE Industry Applications Society joint effort.

The EATC and DATC jointly met 20–21 February 2020, Dallas, Texas, USA.
Presentations: 

• Scott Christensen, Graymatter, presented “Cyber­security and IIoT.”

• Osvaldo Bascur, OSB Digital, presented “Digital Transformation in the Steel Industry.”

• David Kober, iba America, presented “A Hybrid Approach to Industrial Analytics.”

• Michael Peintinger, QuinLogic, presented “Industry 4.0 — From Reactive to Proactive Quality Assurance.”

Meeting Highlights:
For AISTech 2020, session chairs were encouraged to contact/confirm authors assigned to their sessions.
Kober, outgoing DATC Young Professional chair, requested attendees consider candidates for the position within their Technology Committees.
Jim Hendrickson and Ramesh Khajjayam announced the plans for officer succession for the DATC and EATC, respectively, which will be approved during AISTech.
The last Systems Automation Fundamentals conference was held in September 2018, and while there are currently no plans to organize that training seminar again in the near future, the EATC is planning another training seminar called Electrical 101 to be held in 2021.
The committees reviewed the AIST Steel Industry Fatalities report and discussed a Young Professional Member Conference and the idea of virtual meetings.