REFLECTIVE REPORT (INDUSTRIAL VISIT)
On 14th November 2018, an industrial visit to Institute of High Voltage and High Current (IVAT) was held on this day from 3.00p.m. to 5.00p.m. The IVAT is located at P06, School of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. All students from section 9 were required to join this visit. This visit was organized by Dr. Zolkafle bin Buntat which is the lecturer of section 9. This visit was organized to give chances for students to explore the field of high voltage and high current.
As we had arrived at the destination, we were welcomed by Deputy Head of Division of Lightning Research and Safety Division, Dr, Zulkarnain bin Ahmad Noorden. We were told that IVAT is the biggest laboratory in UTM and the biggest high voltage laboratory in Malaysia. After that, he showed to us a short video about background of IVAT. There are three main division in IVAT, which are Lightnging Research and Safety Division (LRSD), High Voltage Condition Monitoring and Diagnostics Division (HVCMDD) and Dielectric and Electrical Insulation Division (DEID). In IVAT, they provide research, tests, calibration services, consultancy and training. Other than that, this lab can be use for military and business project. Customer can come to IVAT to do the calibration test and for consultancy and training.
Then, Dr. Zulkarnain brought us to walk around in the lab and showed us some equipment. There were so many high voltage and high current stuff in the lab. Dr. Zulkarnain introduced to us high voltage transformer (power transformer), high voltage ac supply, rectifier, capacitor, glass insulator, lightning impulse voltage generator and high voltage voltage divider. There also have three types of voltage signals which are ac voltage, dc voltage and impulse voltage. After the talk session, Dr. Zulkarnain offered us to watch a demonstration about a high voltage test. This test was carried out to investigate the value of voltage that the glass insulator can withstand before it’s been shorted. In this test, Dr. Zulkarnain was assisted by two assistant engineer, Mr. Mohamad Syahrin Mohamad and Mr. Hairosyam Abd Rani. Below is the picture of the glass insulator.
From this visit, I felt very happy but tired at the same time. At first I thought that this visit would be boring but it turns out to be very interesting. I can get to know about some high voltage equipment which can be related to my course. I am also proud to be a UTM student because I am studying in a place that has the biggest high voltage laboratory in Malaysia! By doing this activity, now I know that there are many uses of high voltage in our daily life. Although high voltages are widely used in various field, I think that there should be more researches about this high voltage so that we can improve the uses of high voltage in our daily life for now.
In conclusion, there are many benefits that we can take from this industrial visit. This visit should be continued so that our young generation can explore more about high voltage and it’s uses. This is because when the young generation are exposed to the stuff like this in the young age, they can develop more about high voltage even they can do some improvement. I hope that activity like this will not stop so that I can join to further my explore about engineering courses.