Much of the talk around Arlington these days is about the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. One of those who could be talking is Frank Daniel, a 1975 BSEE graduate. Frank is a senior engineer with Oncor Electric Delivery and he designed the distribution automation system for the Cowboy Stadium; this includes a redundant fiber optic communications system that runs to all of the switches at the stadium as well as back to both of the substations serving the stadium. It also incorporates metering at the stadium, a corporate LAN and VOIP phones
But his work on the stadium is not what he really enjoys talking about. That would be his summer trip to Ganta, Liberia, where he and a group of eight volunteers from his church installed an electrical system for the United Methodist hospital there. During a 14-year civil war, the hospital facilities were looted and all but obliterated by fighting forces. The hospital reopened in 2004 and, with only 80 beds, currently serves a population of 450,000.
“I was responsible for designing the system and putting together the list of materials and tools that we will need while we are there,” Frank recounted. It would be a major installation, involving 15,000 feet of underground primary cable, an additional 15,000 feet of secondary cable, 17 pad-mounted transformers and a battery inverter system to operate critical loads in the operating room (both 50 Hz and 60 Hz loads).
Ganta is about 140 miles northeast of the port city of Monrovia. Two 40-foot shipping containers were scheduled to be delivered to the hospital before his team arrived. “Because of road conditions it took us over five hours to get there. However, our shipping containers got held up and didn’t arrive until three days later.”
Those three days weren’t wasted, as the team discovered the job might be a little bigger than they expected. “The area was a little larger than we had anticipated (approximately 2 miles by .75 miles). During this time we worked on trenches for the cables. The trenches were dug by both hand and machine, thanks to the Bangladesh Army.” A Bangladesh Army engineering group was stationed nearby as a part of a UN peacekeeping force to stop any further up-risings from occurring. The group was also responsible for keeping some of the major roads in the area open.
“They brought over a large digging machine and dug about half of the trenches; for the other half we utilized some of the local labor to hand dig the trenches. The soil was fairly easy to dig in and we had anywhere from 40 to 80 workers. All totaled, we dug between two and three miles of trenches.”
Digging trenches wasn’t the only assistance the team received from the army. “They were a great help in unloading and distributing the material around the site. We had one transformer that weighed 6,000 lbs. and without them it would have been very difficult to unload and move this unit.” In the photo below, Frank can be seen in the lower right (wearing a College of Engineering “20,000 Graduates” t-shirt) installing one of the transformers.
The weather conditions in Ganta were about 90 degrees and 99% humidity. “This was a very work intensive trip. We worked every day from about 7:00 in the morning until 7:00 at night; the last day we finished at around 8:30. We also provided training classes for the local electricians to learn about installing primary underground systems.”
Others were learning, too. “Of the nine volunteers on the trip, two of us were engineers and most of the rest of the group had backgrounds in installing electrical equipment. One of the volunteers was an accountant; he now has experience in installing electrical equipment.”
Now that the job is complete, Frank is back to his usual duties of planning and designing the distribution automation system for Oncor. This includes evaluating equipment for automating the system as well as evaluating communications options such as wireless and fiber optics. He determines where switches will be located to provide the greatest improvement to system reliability.
“As we worked in Ganta, a lot of the local people would walk by and simply say ‘thank you.’ There were no long discussions, but we knew that we were making a difference and, just as our work influenced their lives, their sincere appreciation influenced our lives.
When we finished, it became clear to us that we had just installed the only working distribution system in the country and the first underground system there ever. We had set out to just make the electrical system at the hospital better, but then we realized that we may have started a whole revitalization of the electrical system in the country and, in doing so, we were improving the lives of everyone there. We also became more keenly aware of what we take for granted back at home. We all look upon our lives differently after this experience.”
Frank provided his thoughts about being an UT Arlington alumnus and remembrances of his time at the College of Engineering:
What does it mean to you to be a Maverick and how does this apply to you?
“I am proud to be a Maverick and I guess that the name has rubbed off on me a little. I am somewhat of a rebel that comes up with new ways of doing things instead of staying on the standard path. I feel that the knowledge I got while at UT Arlington prepared me to utilize technology to its fullest in meeting the demands of my job.”
What do you know about UT Arlington that others do not?
“I sometimes think that UT Arlington is a best kept secret. It is one of the best if not the best engineering school in Texas, or anywhere else for that matter. I know that some employers will hire graduates for UT Arlington over some of the other schools because they know that the students from UT Arlington are some of the best trained engineers around.”
What is your fondest memory of your time on campus?
“I guess that my fondest memory was many of my professors. Not that they were easy or that they were just a lot of fun, but because they really cared about the students. I never met an engineering professor that would not eagerly help any student with a problem. You did not have to be a student of theirs, you just needed their help and they would always take the time.”
How has the College of Engineering changed since you were a student?
“The College of Engineering has become a lot bigger and is offering more specialties in the engineering field than when I was a student, but maybe more important is what has not changed. The professors that I have been involved with since graduation show that the professors still care about the students.”
What lessons of life have you discovered, before or since then?
“I would say that knowledge by itself is of little value, but having knowledge and how to apply that knowledge is what sets an engineer apart from his peers. UT Arlington not only gave me the knowledge, but it taught me how to use that knowledge to provide the best solutions to everything that I do.”
What is most interesting about being an engineer?
“‘Creativity’ probably sums it up the most. Being an engineer allows me to explore many different solutions and also use what I have learned and what I am still learning to create solutions to problems. Creativity challenges the mind and provides satisfaction when you provide a solution, especially to a problem that is really challenging.”
What do you want your legacy to be, both professionally and personally?
“I hope that others will look at me as someone who cares about people. I hope that the work that I have done or will do as an engineer will make life easier for everyone and that it is a safe and reliable application of what I have learned over the years. I hope that I never stop learning and increasing my engineering knowledge.”
