I have known Vinayakam Balachandran (Bala) for approximately twenty-five years. Over that period, we have known each other as competitors, consultants, and collaborators in the development and manufacture of various busbar products. In his several positions, outside of the competitor relationship, he often helped me and the companies I worked for in a variety of ways and I have come to know him as a superb technical mind as well as an intrepid, honest, and always competent entrepreneur and manager. He is expert in his knowledge and understanding of both busbar and switchgear systems, developed through a high degree of technical training and many years of experience in the industry. And we have become friends.
For my part, I spent most of my forty or so years in the electrical equipment manufacturing industry with several great companies (e.g. General Electric, H.K. Porter, Unibus, Delta-Unibus, et.al.) in positions from Engineer to President. Many of those years were in the design, development, and manufacture of busbar systems (isolated-phase, non-segregated-phase, and segregated-phase bus). I was privileged to have been the protégé of the renowned Nathan Swerdlow (then with The General Electric Company), one of the premier designers and inventors of isolated phase bus and its components (among his many other accomplishments and accolades in the industry). My career saw the production of numerous busbar systems and, in some positions, I was solely responsible for their design and development.
This volume contains a wealth of information, gathered from across the industry, valuable for anyone who has an interest specifically in the technical aspects of busbar systems but also those concerned with the technical and/or commercial aspects of electrical equipment in general. Engineers, technicians, Engineering students, purchasers, manufacturers, and specifying consultants will be helped to understand the technical requirements of not only busbar systems but, because many of the parameters and considerations discussed within are applicable, other electrical equipment as well.
This work, I believe, is unique in the industry and there is a great need for it. Few universities provide education in the rather narrow field of electrical power equipment and few manufacturers provide it while the technical requirements are as important as they ever were. Technical understanding is vital to the future of the industry and documenting those requirements is vital to the understanding. While few will ever need to digest all or be required to design a complete bus system, many will benefit from a more complete understanding of the technical requirements that go into a bus system (or other electrical equipment). The more known, the less likely failure, whether that be from a design flaw or a weak specification.
Bala deserves great credit, not only for the incredible breadth of content, but for the amazing amount of energy and diligence it took to put it together in such a manner. While he takes no credit for creating the content, but only for compiling it, that is an understatement. Without his expertise first and foremost, it could not have been done. Several years of intense effort expended. A world of expertise applied.
Kudos, Bala! And thank you for the opportunity to provide this very small addition to your fine work.
Thomas C, Burtnett
Westfield, Indiana
January 12, 2021