PROPOSED ESTABLISHMENT HIGH VOLTAGE

MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY OF KENYA

LABORATORY

(HVL)

AT

1.0 INTODUCTION AND GENEAL INFORMATION

1.1

Vision and Mission of Multimedia University of Kenya

1.1.1

Vision Statement

To be a world-class center of excellence in training, research and innovation in cutting edge

technologies.
1.1.2

Mission Statement

To provide quality training in Engineering, Media and Communication, Information Science and
Technology and Business to meet the aspirations of a dynamic society, while inculcating strong
research, outreach, and innovation culture within an efficient team of academic, technical and
administrative staff.
1.2

Philosophy of Multimedia University of Kenya

The educational philosophy of the University is to Endeavour to:(a) Provide high quality and relevant academic and professional training to society, as well as
human wellbeing;
(b) Provide the most adaptable and suitable means to improve the social, moral, economic
and professional status of an individual being and the whole society;
(c) Link and correlate the relationship between education, knowledge, faith and reason as a
matrix for enhancing better human interaction and society harmony; and
(d) Develop modern trends that are fully dependent on emerging technologies and changing
society norms.

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1.3 Faculties of MMU

Currently MMU has five faculties namely: Faculty of Business and Economics, Faculty of
Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Faculty of Computing and
Information Technology and Faculty of Media and Communication.
1.4 Academic Resources
1.4.1

Facilities and Equipment

The University has a number of facilities and equipment to support MMU undergraduate and
postgraduate programmes. These include lecture rooms, state of the art equipped laboratory and
library. However the university continue to source some equipment externally in order to meet
the minimum requirement for the programs offered and staff tends to have collaborative research
to enable them to effectively carry out their research work.
a) Lecture Rooms
The university has a total of forty four (44) lecture rooms. Nineteen (19) lecture rooms have a
teaching capacity of up to 50; twenty two (22) have a teaching capacity of up to 100 and three
(3) lecture rooms have a teaching capacity of up to 450. All lecture rooms are shared amongst the
five faculties at MMU.
b) University Library
Multimedia University of Kenya library supports teaching, learning and research processes in the
university. Its collection consists of both print and non-print resources. The print resources
comprises of slightly over 8,000 volumes of books, while the digital content consists of wellover 20,000 E-journals under subscription and more than 80,000 e-Books. University members
are also encouraged to make use of Open Access Content that is of academic relevance. The
library has a sitting capacity of 200 users. In addition, the library has several sections that
include:
(i)

E-Resources Centre
This is a fully functional computer lab where library patrons can access e-books and ejournals. The University has further installed several hotspot areas for use by the community
to access electronic content using their laptops or smart phones; among other purposes.

(ii)

Faculty Lounge
This is a special room dedicated to the university teaching and non-teaching staff. The room
has computers connected to the internet and has a sitting capacity of 10 users at any
particular time.
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(iii)

Reference Section
This is the area where reference resources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and handbooks
are found.
(iv)
Special Collection Section
This section houses research publications from various organizations, Government of Kenya
publications, Magazines and Newspapers.
(v)

General Collection Area

It consists of information resources that can be checked out for a specific period of time by
library patrons.

c) Laboratories, Workshops/Studios
The university has a total of twenty four (24) laboratories and workshops. The Faculty of
Media and Communication has seven (7) laboratories that comprise of radio lab, IMAC lab,
film lab, and the print media lab; The Faculty of Computing and Information Technology has
a total of seven (7) labs; The Faculty of Engineering has a total of eight (8) labs and the
Faculty of Science has a total of two (2) labs. There are three (3) studios for the Faculty of
Media and Communication. These are the MMU newsroom; radio studio and the TV studio.

d) Kenya Korea Information Access Center

The Kenya Korea Information Access Center has two (2) labs with a capacity of 25 and 28
respectively; it also has an internet lounge with a capacity of 20 seats and a seminar room with a
capacity of 27 seats. The seminar room is used for video conferencing.
e) Internet Access Points
Multimedia University has internet access points for students and staff with laptops. The
University also has intranet and Wi-Fi services. The fixed wired campus network provides access
to University IT systems, services and applications. There is a total of 70 wireless access points
that provide wireless network service which allows staff, lecturers and students the freedom to
make use of Wi-Fi enabled devices. The wireless hotspots ensure that students and staff are able
to connect to the internet from most areas within the university.
1.4.2

Academic Staff

a) Teaching Staff
The University has enough and qualified Academic Staff to service the programme. By March
2016, MMU had a total of 107 full time teaching staff.
b) Technical/Support Staff

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MMU has also employed support/technical staff to provide support in the computer laboratories,
administration and admissions. The technical support staffs are allocated to the respective
faculties where technical teaching support is required. The staff have the relevant qualifications.
2. MMU - A TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Multimedia University of Kenya is one of the ten public technical universities in Kenya which
emphasizes in impacting skills through teaching, research and innovation. The faculty of
Engineering and Technology is one of the main drivers in accomplishing the task of research and
innovation. The Faculty has two departments include: Mechanical and Manufacturing and
Electrical and Communication (ECE).
After the charter in March 2013, the university established two departments above in the Faculty
of Engineering and Technology. The ECE Department has several laboratories in electrical and
telecommunication which are used for teaching and research by Faculty members. These
laboratories have been established through the efforts of the government of Kenya, grants,
internally generated resources and donations. Among the equipment denoted include Fibre optic
splicer by JICA and water pump unit6 from Davis & Shirtliff. The equipment are worth Kshs. 10
million and 0.15 million respectively. Despite all these efforts the faculty still lacks vital
equipment for training and research. This has necessitated the university to outsource training
facilities from other institutions and industry partners.
It is in this spirit that MMU is requesting Kenya Power as one of its potential stakeholders to
assist the faculty of Engineering and Technology to enhance its training and research capacity by
establishing a High Voltage Laboratory (HVL).

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The purchase of modern module on High Voltage Lab will introduce new technologies to
students and also strengthen the teaching-learning and research methodologies for
undergraduate and graduate programs. Students will not only be upgraded theoretically but
also practically keeping very close contact with the laboratory and faculties of new High
Voltage Laboratory The theory courses related to High Voltage Laboratory are expected to
be improved greatly.
This multi-purpose high voltage facility is designed to provide the necessary environment for
academic research in high voltage engineering. . It will enable to make research on
thundering and lightning. As an integral part of our national high voltage technology
structure, the laboratory serves as a means of strengthening the country position in this
specialized technical area.
3. ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGH VOLTAGE LABORATORY AT MMU
3.1 Introduction
One of the key laboratories that need to be established is the high voltage laboratory. The above
laboratory will be used for training and research, while being a source of training for short
courses to industry. However, this also opens opportunities for short course training for
industry including Kenya Power, KENGEN and KENTRACO.
MMU aims to establish a modern high voltage laboratory to improve training and research.
Establishment of HVL will be a millstone for MMU as well as Kenya. The High Voltage
Laboratory is expected to have a state-of-the-art equipment that can be used in the testing of
materials and the study of different HV phenomena.
The main activities of the project will be:
(i) Purchasing necessary equipment and materials,
(ii) Installations,
(iii)
Training and teaching students and staffs. Our proposed High Voltage lab consists
of
(iv)Generation and measurement of alternating, direct and impulse voltage
(v) Power frequency and impulse voltage tests on power transformer
(vi)Experiment on solids, insulating liquids, partial discharging, corona, and gliding
discharges, and
(vii)
Break down of gases.
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The HVL test laboratory consists of an indoor laboratory and an outdoor laboratory test bay.
This Laboratory can undertake the following tests as per National & International Standards:
(i)
(ii)

Lightning impulse voltage tests up to 2,800 kV (Peak) level.

Switching Impulse Voltage Dry & Wet Tests up to 1.2 MV peak level.

(iii)

Steep front impulse test on ceramic insulators and on polymer insulators of length
up to 500mm.

(iv)

Steep front Impulse puncture test for insulators up to & including 33 kV

insulators.

(v)

Corona Inception and Extinction Test and RIV measurements up to & including
400 kV system

(vi)

Power frequency voltage Dry & Wet withstand tests up to 1,000 kV (rms) level

(vii)

Porosity test on porcelain insulator fragments.

(viii)

Electro-Mechanical test up to 40 tonnes on porcelain insulators.

(ix)

Mechanical performance/mechanical test up to 40 tonnes on polymeric insulators.

(x)

24 hour mechanical test up to 40 tonnes

(xi)

Under oil puncture test for porcelain insulators up to and inclusive of 33kV rating.

(xii)

Temperature cycle test on insulators up to & including 110kV rating.

(xiii)

Ferro Resonance tests on CVT at rated voltage up to 220 kV.

(xiv)

Surge withstand test.

(xv)

Voltage distribution tests on insulator strings

(xvi)

DC withstand & flashover tests under dry &wet conditions.

(xvii)

Performance tests on high voltage dividers.

(xviii)

Calibration of digitizers used for impulse measurements.

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For this purpose, the HVL will require equipment and accessories, physical facilities.
3.2 Physical facilities and Equipment and accessories
3.2.1 Physical facilities/infrastructure
It is important to house the HV equipment in a specially designed laboratory. Fencing and
grounding of the test room are very important since the voltages involved are quite high
(KVs). Good earthling is absolutely necessary for the test room and a must for impulse
voltage test equipment. The HV laboratory should be built in accordance with the following
guidelines to so as to conform to the HV safety regulations.
High Voltage laboratory is a specialize laboratory which requires adequate earthing and
protection. It is therefore necessary to have as isolated building to house this laboratory.
Indoor laboratory is a high voltage test hall of dimensions 20m X 20m X 35m.
A test room of minimum floor space of 4 x 5 meters with a height of 2.5-3 meters.
The test area should be enclosed by a metal fence of at least 1.8 m in height and the mesh width
not exceeding 50 mm.
A control desk outside the test room where the HV meter, variable autotransformer and other
controls should be located.
All doors (at least two) leading into the test room must be equipped with door contacts, which
lock when the door is closed. All these contacts shall be connected in series and fed to the
appropriate sockets on the control desk.
Red and green warning lamps must be installed on all doors leading into the test room. These
lamps should be connected to the control desk.
Earthing/grounding Connections should be done with low inductance connections (copper bands
100x0.6mm) which connect all components of the high-voltage circuit that must be earthed
to ONE earth terminal. Earthing connections should be done without loops. A recommended
earthing technique is to cover the lab floor with aluminum sheets (2mm thickness) which are
bolted to the floor and connected internally with copper bands and to the earth terminal.

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Any screening surfaces, test objects and/or measuring instruments should be connected to the
same earthing point which should be located INSIDE A SAFETY FENCE and have a lower
earthing resistance (less than 2 Ohms) than the surrounding building.
Screening/shielding should be used to eliminate all external and internal interference and can be
achieved by building a Faradays cage. The easiest way to obtain this is to hang a closemeshed metal net on the walls of the laboratory.
The apertures for power and communication leads must be blocked for high -frequency currents
with low-pass filters.
The floor should be covered with non-skid sheet metal to avoid accidental falls.

3.2.1 Equipment and accessories

(i) High voltage testing meter 0-150kV.
(ii) Single phase HV test transformer. Input 240V, 50Hz, output 100kV, 50Hz.
(iii)
Variable Autotransformer (Variac). Rating 240V, 50Hz; variable from 0-100%
(iv)Voltage divider capacitor Bank. Rating 100kV, 50Hz PF angle 22.5degrees.
(v) Assorted Test specimen having air and other dielectric insulations. Specimens include
rods of iron, aluminum, copper, and brass of different shapes and sizes. Insulation include
air, glass, rubber and PVC
(vi)Inter-connection Cables (HV insulated with porcelain)
(vii)
Megger DETEX voltage detectors and testers for high Voltage
(viii)
High voltage laboratory equipment to generate positive and negative voltages by
changing the polarity of the DC voltage generators and high voltage pulse generators.
(ix)TERCO high voltage laboratory to handle: HV AC lab. 100-300kV, HV DC Lab 140400kV, HV impulse lab 240-420kV (this includes HV9000 high voltage modular training
set)
(x) Induction motor machines of different sizes and phases. (1kW, 3kW, 5.5kW, 10kW, 16kW
etc), Single phase and three phase transformers of different sizes.

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4. ESTIMATED BUDGET
For our University to establish the proposed HV laboratory it will require Kshs.22 million for the
physical infrastructure (building) and Kshs.2.886 million for the equipment giving a total
cost of Kshs.24.886 million.
The budget estimate for the HV equipment and accessories is summarized in the following table.

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S. No

Item description

Unit

Quantity

Unit
Cost(ksh
)

Total
Cost
(Kshs)

1.

High
voltage No.
testing
meter

810,000

810,000

2.

Single phase HV No.

transformer

200,000

200,000

3.

Variable
No.
Autotransfor
mer.

10,000

10,000

4.

Voltage divider No
capacitor
Bank

100,000

100,000

5.

Test specimens

No

10

1,000

10,000

6.

Interconnection
cables

20

5,000

50,000

7.

HV dc generator

No

100,000

210,000

Surge generator

No

100,000

100,000

9.

HV

DETEX No
Megger

170,000

170,000

10

HV ac generator

No

200,000

200,000

11.

Miscellaneous

10

186,000

186,000

12.

Control Panel

No.

13.

Computers (Core No.

i3@3.60GH
z,
4GB
RAM,
500GB
HDD)

GRAND TOTAL

600,000
120,000

240,000

2,886,000
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