A DS200NATOG3 circuit board. This board can be used as part of a combined cycle power plant’s control system.
In this short blog post we’ll answer some of the most common questions about combined cycle power plants.
What is a combined cycle plant?
Power plants generate electricity by driving a generator rotor through connected turbines. Power plants use different ways to generate the force to turn turbine blades. A mechanical force from wind or water or energy capture from fuels like coal, diesel, natural gas, and uranium changing states turn the blades.
A combined-cycle plant is a kind of thermal power plant. It uses a combination of two cycles of different energy capture. The first cycle uses natural gas combustion, which drives the generator. The heat from this cycle is used to create steam. The steam is used in the second cycle to produce energy via a steam turbine before the steam condenses back into water.
Despite a shrinking job market due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing sector showed job growth in twelve states.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, US manufacturing jobs showed growth in twelve states.
Over 700,000 workers lost their jobs in March across all sectors of the economy; 34,000 of those were manufacturing jobs. While news of large manufacturing layoffs and furloughs like ones at GE and Boeing have sparked alarm about the strength of the industry as a whole, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows manufacturing posting significantly less than 1% job loss across all states. Twelve states, including Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Utah all posted gains in employment that totaled 9200 jobs during the month of March. Additionally, four states reported no job losses.
Data below is broken down by state and compared to February 2020 employment numbers. All data was sourced from the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Updated March employment numbers can be found in our next post regarding April unemployment. These numbers were updated and released by the BOL on May 22, 2020.
Manufacturing Jobs Data by State
State
Feb 2020
March 2020
change
% change
Alabama
270,400
272500
2,100
0.78%
Alaska
11,200
10900
-300
-2.68%
Arizona
176,900
177300
400
0.23%
Arkansas
159,600
158100
-1,500
-0.94%
California
1,306,600
1,304,500
-2,100
-0.16%
Colorado
150,500
149,000
-1,500
-1.00%
Connecticut
161,300
162,100
800
0.50%
Delaware
26,800
26,600
-200
-0.75%
District of Columbia
1,400
1,300
-100
-7.14%
Florida
388,100
389,100
1,000
0.26%
Georgia
402,000
401,100
-900
-0.22%
Hawaii
13,900
13,900
0
0.00%
Idaho
67,500
67,700
200
0.30%
Illinois
573,300
573,200
-100
-0.02%
Indiana
532,900
530,100
-2,800
-0.53%
Iowa
222,300
221,800
-500
-0.22%
Kansas
167,500
168,200
700
0.42%
Kentucky
252,200
251,700
-500
-0.20%
Louisiana
133,900
135,300
1,400
1.05%
Maine
52,300
52,100
-200
-0.38%
Maryland
113,700
112,500
-1,200
-1.06%
Massachusetts
243,000
242,800
-200
-0.08%
Michigan
621,600
619,200
-2,400
-0.39%
Minnesota
318,100
317,400
-700
-0.22%
Mississippi
148,600
147,700
-900
-0.61%
Missouri
276,300
274,600
-1,700
-0.62%
Montana
20,200
20,000
-200
-0.99%
Nebraska
99,000
98,900
-100
-0.10%
Nevada
59,000
58,400
-600
-1.02%
New Hampshire
71,200
70,800
-400
-0.56%
New Jersey
251,800
252,700
900
0.36%
New Mexico
28,800
28,800
0
0.00%
New York
436,600
435,800
-800
-0.18%
North Carolina
476,700
473,000
-3,700
-0.78%
North Dakota
25,600
25,700
100
0.39%
Ohio
700,900
698,300
-2,600
-0.37%
Oklahoma
137,600
137,400
-200
-0.15%
Oregon
193,200
192,300
-900
-0.47%
Pennsylvania
573,700
571,000
-2,700
-0.47%
Rhode Island
39,200
39,500
300
0.77%
South Carolina
258,400
258,400
0
0.00%
South Dakota
43,400
43,800
400
0.92%
Tennessee
354,100
353,900
-200
-0.06%
Texas
910,500
900,700
-9,800
-1.08%
Utah
135,400
136,300
900
0.66%
Vermont
29,300
29,000
-300
-1.02%
Virginia
241,400
240,100
-1,300
-0.54%
Washington
290,900
290,000
-900
-0.31%
West Virginia
46,200
45,800
-400
-0.87%
Wisconsin
477,600
477,400
-200
-0.04%
Wyoming
10,000
10,000
0
0.00%
Puerto Rico
75,300
75,000
-300
-0.40%
Virgin Islands
800
800
0
0.00%
Totals:
12,778,700
12744500
-0.27%
A chart showing manufacturing job numbers by state.
GE Multilin has been around since 1995. This part of General Electric focuses on industrial controls and manufacturing relays. This includes flexible process bus solutions and dual and multi-feeder protection for industrial applications. It also includes integrated motor protection for medium/large induction and synchronous motors.
Industrial motors, feeder systems, transformers, and generators can use Multilin relays. These management relays protect while offering advanced monitoring functions.
GE Multilin is part of GE Grid Solutions. GE Grid Solutions is the renewable energy subsidiary of GE. It offers products and technology for control, metering, and communication. It is applicable for industrial, commercial, and transportation applications.
How are GE Multilin Relays used?
Many industries make use of GE Multilin relays. For example, utilities use the 850 Feeder protection system to ensure continuity within the power grid. Small and medium-sized distribution transformers, also part of the power grid, use the Multilin 350 feeder protection series.
Additionally, distributed generation interconnect protection and bus blocking often use the 750/760 Feeder management system. The 489 Generator Management Relay design protects and controls small to medium-sized generators. Moreover, the 369 and 469 Motor management relays offer management and protection to three-phase medium (369 AC only), and large (469 only) HP motors and driven equipment.
What are the benefits of Multilin Relays?
Multilin relays must stand up to rugged industrial standards. Most have front panel displays for viewing and programming in the field as well as RS232/RS485 ports to network and download data. Front panel LEDs are easy to read and the front keypad makes it simple to toggle through values and fault diagnosis information, as well as to set new data points.
A note about the FM2 Multilin and resetting trips
The FM2 Feeder series has a reset key that will allow a tripped state to be reset. However, earth faults or thermal overloads cannot be reset using this key. But the Lockout Reset feature will assign a fault to the programmable switch inputs. Overriding this lockout can occur through the lockout reset interlock.
How do I program my GE Multilin or update firmware?
GE is great about providing technical help to its users. There are over 100 Multilin videos on the gegridsolutions.com website covering everything from how to update the firmware to how to set a transient recorder. These videos are available in French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, and sometimes Russian.
AX Control carries a wide variety of GE Multilin products, including the GE Multilin 750.
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