Carlos Katz, an engineer whose pioneering and vital research on moisture prevention in power cables has extended product life and saved utility companies substantial money worldwide, is being honored by IEEE with the 2010 IEEE Herman Halperin Electric Transmission and Distribution Award.

The award, sponsored by the Robert and Ruth Halperin Foundation, in memory of Herman and Edna Halperin, and the IEEE Power & Energy Society, recognizes Katz for developing and understanding of factors that influence life of XLPE- and EPR-insulated cable systems. The award will be presented on March 22, 2010 at the IEEE Power & Energy Society General (PES) Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.

Extruded cables insulated with polyethylene (PE), cross-linked PE (XLPE) and ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) have been used by power utilities worldwide in electricity feeder and distribution systems since the 1960s. As these power cables age, moisture diffuses into their insulation and in the presence of electric stress a degradation phenomenon originates. Known as “water trees,” this phenomenon was leading to premature cable failure during the 1970s. It was research conducted by Katz that helped to discover and explain the water tree phenomenon, and it was through his efforts that a solution was found to combat the moisture effects, extending the life of the cables significantly and saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars in the process.

Katz first envisioned removing the moisture by heating the cable. This was not practical, so he and his colleagues then proposed a method by which the cables were flushed continuously with dry gas through the spacing existing between the conductor strands. The flushing process pulls the moisture out of the insulation and thus improves the dielectric characteristic of the cable. Although this process worked, the utility industry needed a less demanding method. Undaunted, Katz then developed a method that involved running a dielectric liquid through the inter-strand spacing of the aged cables. Dielectric liquids were selected that could diffuse into the insulation to replace the moisture and render the cables suitable for continued operation, inhibiting the further development of water trees.

The injection methodology developed by Katz and his early patents have paved the way for present-day silicon injection methods. The use of this type of method is practiced in many countries around the world. Cables that were on the way to failure and were injected with suitable dielectric liquids in the early 1980s continue in service today, extending their life by over 25 years and saving the retirement or replacement of millions of feet of cable.

An IEEE Fellow, Katz holds 16 U.S. patents, has published over 40 technical papers and has contributed to numerous industry reports. He has received a number of awards, including the IEEE Power and Energy Society’s Dr. George H. Bahder Memorial Award in 2002 and a Prize Winning Paper Award in 2007. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the National Polytechnic School, Quito, Ecuador, and a master’s degree in management science from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.J. He is currently the president of Cable Technology Laboratories, Inc., New Brunswick, N.J., which provides testing services to manufacturers and utility companies to assure cable system reliability.