Puckett Engineering PLLC

Lighting one of Nashville’s oldest parks

brent — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:15:48 +0000

Puckett Engineering designed new lighting systems for Shelby Park, one of Nashville’s oldest city parks, that are currently under construction. The new lighting will extend park hours, enhance visibility, and provide increased security. Further, Puckett Engineering’s design conforms to Metro’s goals for sustainability through the use of high performance, energy-efficient luminaires. The signature luminaire will incorporate modern component technologies with a form characterizing the rich architectural history of the park.

Phase 1 of the project will be the Western Field Area. This area will include a new Baseball field, an Events Field that will double as a Soccer Field, Parking, and pedestrian pathways surrounding the Events Field that will interconnect folly and sentinel structures. The image at left is from the Shelby Park Master Plan by EOA Architects and Hawkins Partners.

MNPS Data Warehouse Called One of the Best

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:56:07 +0000

In a recent article, the Nashville City Paper highlighted the information technology system of Metro Nashville Public Schools and how invaluable it is in supporting teachers, students, and administrators. Metro Schools operates 140 schools serving 80,000 students. The IT system is fundamental to Metro Schools’ mandate for efficiency and improving tracking of school performance. The data warehouse is getting noticed:

The district’s so-called “data warehouse” –– a term used to describe the newly restructured wealth of information on its 80,000 students and 140 schools, packed together in a computer format easily accessible to teachers and administrators –– is increasingly garnering attention as not only one of the best in Middle Tennessee or the state, but across the entire nation.

Puckett Engineering has been MNPS’ mission-critical engineer for the past several years. Puckett Engineering recently designed and oversaw the upgrade to MNPS’ Primary Data Center and creation of their Backup Data Center, enhancing MNPS’ critical infrastructure.

Big Machine Getting Bigger

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:00:59 +0000

Final construction is taking place at the expanded digs for Big Machine, one of Nashville’s hottest record labels. Big Machine was Billboard’s Top Country Album Imprint of 2009, the award given to the highest-selling record label group on Music Row. The Big Machine Label Group’s current artist roster includes Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Reba McEntire, and other big-name artists. Puckett Engineering provided electrical engineering for their new office facility on Music Row. Design included lighting, power, surge protection. and lightning protection. The lightning protection was crucial since the offices are being created from more than one building. See previous article about lightning protection for more info on bonding buildings together.

When Lightning Strikes: Part 1

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:58:29 +0000

Lightning seems mysterious. Awesome in power and seemingly random in its execution, lightning strikes cause $4-5 billion in damage each year, according to NOAA. But the mystery of lightning can be understood, and the risk of damage can be managed, when science and engineering are applied to the problem.

Gladeville Baptist Church Exterior

Puckett Engineering has provided lightning studies and design for lightning strike protection on many projects, from churches to data centers. Churches are often vulnerable because they tend to grow by adding new buildings for education, gymnasiums, or worship centers. With the advent of digitally controlled HVAC, PA systems, security, and network cabling, it presents a huge vulnerability for lightning damage.

Jumper cable installed to bond buildings together

When two or more buildings share network wires, HVAC and alarm control wires, and other cabling, but are not bonded together and grounded as a single structure, the mega-voltage from a lightning strike will seek ground through whatever pathway it can find. If it travels through network or control wires, look out! Damage in the thousands of dollars can result from a single strike, not counting the downtime.

The photos and illustrations on this page are from Puckett Engineering’s lightning study and protection project for Gladeville Baptist Church in Gladeville, TN.

Field sketch of Gladeville Baptist's grounding map