School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering, University of Wollongong
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Resume
Dr Smith commenced his career in 1973 as an engineering cadet with the Sydney County Council electricity distribution utility and concurrently studied for his undergraduate degree at the NSW Institute of Technology, Sydney. Upon graduation, he was employed as an electrical engineer with the Sydney County Council and worked in a variety of areas including zone substation construction, design and maintenance of protection systems for substations and distribution networks, design of distribution networks, estimating for distribution network alterations and additions, routine and type testing of high voltage switchgear, cables and transformers, dielectric evaluation testing, impulse and interference testing of electronic equipment, cable fault location, electromagnetic interference complaint investigations and dissolved gas analysis of transformer oils.
In 1981, Dr Smith studied for his MSc degree at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), Manchester, UK, while on leave-of-absent from the Sydney County Council.
In 1985, Dr Smith took a research position with the High Power Testing and Arc Studies Laboratory of Sydney University Electrical Engineering and concurrently studied for his PhD degree. He worked on a range of projects including the investigation and modelling of arc-gas flow interactions and energy exchange processes in the high-power arcs of circuit interruption devices during circuit interruption, examination of electrical hazards that are of concern to Australian utilities particularly vegetation contact with high-voltage, overhead lines and high resistance contacts in low-voltage reticulation systems, and the development of a new type of high-voltage switching device, a current-limiting expulsion fuse.
In 1997, Dr Smith joined the Integral Energy Power Quality Centre at the University of Wollongong as a research engineer and was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Centre including administration and budgetary control, research, organisation of courses and seminars, consultancy and publicity.
Research projects
- The implementation of Power Quality standards in software.
- The transient and harmonic response of current and voltage transducers.
- The modelling of distribution systems and their loads in the presence of harmonics.
- Susceptibility of electrical equipment to Power Quality disturbances.
- Earthing, shielding and surge protection of electronic equipment.
- Power Quality aspects of grid-connected inverters.