Category: SBS Blog

It is our pleasure to announce that we are moving our business to a new location.

The new location is:
1890 West Littleton Boulevard
Littleton, CO 80120

Please update your records with our new address. We will be moving and starting business at our new location as soon as the COVID-19 issue has ceased. Our phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same, as will our website address and social media accounts.

Our new facility offers us the opportunity to better serve our loyal customers and work with our valuable business partners. We look forward to continuing to serve your needs and work with you at our new location.

Feel free to contact us with any questions.

March 23, 2020

Dear Customers,

We appreciate your business and want to let all of you know that SBS is continuing to do well in spite of all the challenges presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic.  Most of our employees already work from their home offices so we have been able to continue SBS business functions with minimal disruption.  Consistent with US federal guidelines, all SBS travel has been placed on hold; as a result of this we are holding project-related meetings, workshops and training remotely and we are prepared to do so as long as necessary.

Many of you have moved your employees to remote work environments and this has required a need for changes to your SBS product licensing.  If you are in those circumstances please contact [email protected] and we will work with you to issue temporary licenses to address these circumstances.  Please note that we have had quite high demand for license changes so please bear with us as we address your needs.  We will endeavor to turn things around as promptly as possible.

During these times there are many things to think about.  At SBS we are all very mindful of the fact that we are in homes that are serviced by electricity, gas, water and telecommunications services provided by so many of you.  We appreciate the tremendous contributions you make to our society and wish all the best to you and your families during this unique time.

Regards,

Dennis

Dennis F. Beck

President / CEO

This open enrollment training is priced per student and is a cost-effective alternative to our group training offerings that cover the same material. Availability is limited and spaces fill up fast, so hurry and book your spot today!

Course cost, descriptions and requirements are below. If you would like to register for this course or have any questions, please contact Jared Yates at [email protected] or Register Here!

Course Cost: $1,495 USD per student

COURSE SCHEDULE: June 8-11 (4-hour sessions each day) June 15-18 (4-hour sessions each day)

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Remote instructor-led web environment consisting of up to 32 hours of training for one (1) attendee. Course participation will be limited to no more than eight (8) students. Training will be provided in daily 4-hour web training sessions over a two-week period. The training covers the topics below:

Remote Web Training Sessions 1-4:

Basic Inventor Topics as required for SDS Physical Design Training

Remote Web Training Sessions 5-8:

Strategic Modeling and Working with Large Assemblies

Remote Web Training Sessions 9-12:

Introduction to Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design, Above Grade Tools (Cable runs, Bus runs, Lightning Protection) and Below Grade Tools (Grounding, Trenching, Conduit)

Remote Web Training Sessions 13-16:

Advanced Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design, Substation Design Content Editor, Design Checks and Substation Output

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: A minimum of four (4) students are required to conduct this course. If the minimum required attendees are not met two (2) weeks prior to the course start date the course will be canceled and the customer or registered attendee will be notified.

SOFTWARE PREREQUISITES: Autodesk Inventor or Inventor Professional Software and the Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design plug-in.

HARDWARE PREREQUISITES: The SDS Physical Design plug-in requires the same hardware specifications as Autodesk Inventor. Autodesk Inventor hardware specifications are shown at the following webpage: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-Inventor-Products.html.

In addition to the list above, 32 GB of RAM (memory) and a Solid-State disk drive is recommended.

Register Today!

An early look at how this new addition to the Substation Design Suite supports LiDAR-based design

When we announced the future availability of AUD for Substations back in November 2019, we noted that this new member of the SBS Substation Design Suite™ holds a lot of potential to improve brownfield substation design workflows. As we have begun some of our early-stage testing we are finding that the initial results continue to hold a lot of promise.

Much of this has to do with the underlying Map3D platform that powers Automated Utility Design™ (AUD). Map3D is based on AutoCAD®, which has been nicely enhanced over the last several releases to support the handling of large point clouds. This, combined with a number of enhancements we are making to AUD to support 3D viewing and editing, has created a particularly interesting opportunity to facilitate brownfield design.

The video below shows AUD 8.1 set up with a template configured for substation design, running on Map3D 2019. The LiDAR data shown in the video is based on a scan performed by a Leica BLK360 3D imaging scanner. The data was then pre-processed using Autodesk ReCap™ 2020.

In the video you can see the capability of AutoCAD to “snap” to a point cloud using LINE feature (creating “construction line”), first snapping to “structured data” (auto-detected surfaces in point cloud) and then snapping to individual points in the cloud. Structured data allows AUD to accurately place and snap new devices to the “real-world” structures/ connectors represented in the LiDAR scan.

The video continues by showing the placement of lightning arresters that snap to locations along the scanned structural support. AUD can then display the feature attributes of this intelligent design element. Other pieces of equipment, such as the new transformer shown in the video can be placed and connected to the arresters with flexible conductors.

We hope you find this sneak-peek look at AUD for Substations interesting and helpful as you plan out your substation design needs. We welcome your feedback on how AUD for Substations might be able to support your needs for intelligent substation design.

 Substation Design Suite brings improved stability with over 40 new product enhancements between the two modules.

Substation Design Suite™ – Physical

Among the new product enhancement, the SDS – Physical code has been redeveloped in order to bring more extensive new features in future SDS – Physical releases. SDS – Physical also has a new tool to extract work point coordinates from a selected part to work with the SDS – P&C tool for control cable lengths.

Substation Design Suite™ – Protection & Control

We are excited to announce among the new features in SDS – P&C is a user modifiable SDS Tools ribbon that will provide a better workflow for our customers. With this new menu, the F1 keystroke “Help” now displays the 150-page SDS Tools Command Reference with TOC hotlinks to jump to and display the desired commands. Job/Work-order, status assignment, tracking, and reporting has been significantly enhanced. The original limit of three predefined status levels are now unlimited.

These are just a few on the many new enhancements for Substation Design Suite 7.4.2. For a more extensive demonstration of all the SDS-Physical and P&C features, SBS will be hosting two webinars this month.

Substation Design Suite (SDS) Physical Design Webinar – Review of 7.4.2 Release

Wednesday, February 26th 11:00am – 12:00pm CST

Register for this webinar at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2480574503441751820

Substation Design Suite (SDS) Protection & Control Design Webinar – Top 10 Improvements in SDS – P&C 7.4.2

Thursday, February 27th 11:00am – 12:00pm CST

Register for this webinar at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1251077511669730829

SBS would like to thank the members of the Substation Design Solution Industry Consortium (SDSIC) for their continued feedback and recommendations on SDS feature development.

New Looping Feature Provides More Flexibility for Rules-Based Design

AUD 8.1 brings improved stability and over 20 new product enhancements. For example, the AUD rules engine now has a looping feature that simplifies the process for performing advanced functions in AUD. AUD looping streamlines the creation of iterative rules that can be used to support such things as specialized design calculations and more elaborate engineering analysis.

AUD is being extensively enhanced to support additional 3D capabilities.  These enhancements support both distribution design as well as substation physical design per SBS’ recent announcement of AUD for Substations at Autodesk University, November 2019.  AUD now supports direct 3D editing and digitizing for points and lines.  This enables such things as placement of flexible and rigid bus conductors.  Improvements to 3D viewing and clearance checking are also provided.

We continue to listen to feedback and ideas from our SBS Peer Utility Group. Please consider submitting your thoughts and ideas by joining the Peer Utility Group.

For additional information on Automated Utility Design please contact Stefen Dobrec, [email protected].

February 24-27, 2020

March 3-6, 2020

Back by popular demand! Many of our customers have utilized this lower cost option for SDS Training. This open enrollment training is priced per student and is a cost effective alternative to our group training offerings that cover the same material.

There are still spaces available for SDS Remote Physical Training so hurry and book your spot today!

Course cost, descriptions and requirements are below. If you would like to enroll for this course or have any questions, please contact Jared Yates at [email protected]

Course Cost: $1,495 USD per student+$395 for SDS Physical Design eLearning Schedule

COURSE SCHEDULE: February 24-27 (4-hour sessions each day) March 3-6 (4-hour sessions each day)

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Remote instructor-led web environment consisting of up to 32 hours of training for one (1) attendee. Course participation will be limited to no more than eight (8) students. Training will be provided in daily 4-hour web training sessions over a two-week period. The training covers the topics below:

Remote Web Training Sessions 1-4:

Basic Inventor Topics as required for SDS Physical Design Training

Remote Web Training Sessions 5-8:

Strategic Modeling and Working with Large Assemblies

Remote Web Training Sessions 9-12:

Introduction to Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design, Above Grade Tools (Cable runs, Bus runs, Lightning Protection) and Below Grade Tools (Grounding, Trenching, Conduit)

Remote Web Training Sessions 13-16:

Advanced Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design, Substation Design Content Editor, Design Checks and Substation Output

COURSE PREREQUISITES: Each student is required to purchase eLearning training material.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: A minimum of four (4) students are required to conduct this course. If the minimum required attendees are not met two (2) weeks prior to the course start date the course will be canceled and the customer or registered attendee will be notified.

SOFTWARE PREREQUISITES: Autodesk Inventor or Inventor Professional Software and the Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design plug-in.

HARDWARE PREREQUISITES: The SDS Physical Design plug-in requires the same hardware specifications as Autodesk Inventor. Autodesk Inventor hardware specifications are shown at the following webpage: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-Inventor-Products.html.

In addition to the list above, 32 GB of RAM (memory) and a Solid-State disk drive is recommended.

March 30 – April 2, 2020

April 6-9, 2020

Due to the popularity of our SDS – Physical Remote Training, we are now offering remote training for our SDS – P&C software. If you are looking for a lower cost option for SDS Training, this open enrollment training is priced per student and is a cost effective alternative to our group training offerings that cover the same material.

There are still spaces available for SDS Remote P&C Training so hurry and book your spot today!

Course cost, descriptions and requirements are below. If you would like to enroll for this course or have any questions, please contact Jared Yates at [email protected]

COURSE SCHEDULE: March 30 – April 2 (4-hour sessions each day) April 6-9 (4-hour sessions each day)

Remote Web Training Sessions 1-4:

Basic Workflow, Project Basics and Schematic Wiring

Remote Web Training Sessions 5-8:

Schematic Components and Schematic Editing

Remote Web Training Sessions 9-12:

Project-wide Editing, Schematic Reports and Wiring Diagram Cables

Remote Web Training Sessions 13-16:

Panel Layouts, Settings and Configurations and Automation Tools

COURSE PREREQUISITES: None

SOFTWARE PREREQUISITES: AutoCAD Electrical and the Substation Design Suite™ Electrical Design plug-in

HARDWARE PREREQUISITES: The SDS Electrical Design plug-in requires the same hardware specifications as AutoCAD Electrical. AutoCAD Electrical hardware specifications are shown at the following webpage: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-electrical/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-AutoCAD-Electrical.html

In addition to the list above, a Solid-State disk drive is recommended

January 28 – 30, 2020 | San Antonio, TX
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center | Halls 1-4

SBS will be at DistribuTECH International 2020 Booth #1869. We will showcase our industry leading software design tools, Automated Utility Design™ (AUD), Substation Design Suite™ (SDS), Utility DataHub™ (UDH) and Utility Content.
During the week, we will showcase capabilities such as:

• AUD workflow integration with ESRI’s Utility Network
• AUD rules-based design for electric distribution systems
• SDS Physical and Protection and Controls Overview

Also, stop by to get a sneak peek at our new product launching in 2020, AUD for Substations! See everything intelligent utility design has to offer!

February 3-10, 2020

Looking for a lower cost option for SDS Training? This open enrollment training is priced per student and is a cost effective alternative to our group training offerings that cover the same material.

There are still spaces available for SDS Remote Physical Training so hurry and book your spot today!

Course cost, descriptions and requirements are below. If you would like to enroll for this course or have any questions, please contact Jared Yates at [email protected]

Course Cost: $1,495 USD per student+$395 for SDS Physical Design eLearning Schedule

COURSE SCHEDULE:

February 3-6 (4-hour sessions each day)
February 10-13 (4-hour sessions each day)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Remote instructor-led web environment consisting of up to 32 hours of training for one (1) attendee. Course participation will be limited to no more than eight (8) students. Training will be provided in daily 4-hour web training sessions over a two-week period. The training covers the topics below:

Remote Web Training Sessions 1-4:
Basic Inventor Topics as required for SDS Physical Design Training

Remote Web Training Sessions 5-8:
Strategic Modeling and Working with Large Assemblies

Remote Web Training Sessions 9-12:
Introduction to Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design, Above Grade Tools (Cable runs, Bus runs, Lightning Protection) and Below Grade Tools (Grounding, Trenching, Conduit)

Remote Web Training Sessions 13-16:
Advanced Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design, Substation Design Content Editor, Design Checks and Substation Output

COURSE PREREQUISITES:

Each student is required to purchase eLearning training material.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

A minimum of four (4) students are required to conduct this course. If the minimum required attendees are not met two (2) weeks prior to the course start date the course will be canceled and the customer or registered attendee will be notified.

SOFTWARE PREREQUISITES:

Autodesk Inventor or Inventor Professional Software and the Substation Design Suite™ Physical Design plug-in.

HARDWARE PREREQUISITES:

The SDS Physical Design plug-in requires the same hardware specifications as Autodesk Inventor. Autodesk Inventor hardware specifications are shown at the following webpage:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-Inventor-Products.html.

In addition to the list above, 32 GB of RAM (memory) and a Solid-State disk drive is recommended.