The Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering (CSEE) and the Power & Energy Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE PES) jointly established the “Gu Yuxiu Electrical Engineering Award” in 2010. This award is selected once a year to reward one expert who has made significant achievements in the field of electrical engineering and has made important contributions to the progress of electric power science and technology.

In accordance with the provisions of the Gu Yuxiu Electrical Engineering Award, CSEE and IEEE PES have jointly organized the selection for the 2023 Gu Yuxiu Electrical Engineering Award. After nomination by experts, evaluation by the international selection committee, consideration and approval by the Executive Council of CSEE Board of Executive Directors and IEEE PES Board of Directors, it was decided to grant Professor Chen Cixuan from Wuhan University the “Gu Yuxiu Electrical Engineering Award” in 2023 for her outstanding contributions to grounding technology and overvoltage protection in power systems and education in electrical engineering.

Chen Cixuan

Professor Cixuan Chen, born in Shanghai in March 1933, was graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University in 1953 as an undergraduate and Harbin Institute of Technology in 1956 as a postgraduate student. Since 1956, she has been teaching at Harbin Institute of Technology, North China University of Electric Power, Wuhan University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, and Wuhan University. From 1981 to 1983, she was engage4d in research as a visiting scholar at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Ohio State University in New York State, USA. She became an associate professor in 1980 and was promoted to professor in 1984. From 1984 to 1992, she was the dean of the Department of Electric Power Engineering and the director of the Institute of Electric Power Science of Wuhan Institute of Water Conservancy and Electric Power. She is a member of the Standing Committee of the Sixth People’s Congress of Hubei Province and a delegate to the Seventh and Eighth National People’s Congresses.

Professor Chen Cixuan is one of the pioneers of power system grounding technology and overvoltage protection in China, and has made important contributions to the basic theory of AC/DC power system grounding technology, basic theory of power system overvoltage, numerical calculation methods for grounding systems, and development of lightning arrester protection devices. In 1958 she presided over the construction of China’s first high-voltage oscillation circuit device at Harbin Institute of Technology, creating the conditions for the development of lightning arresters, and in the same year she developed China’s first 30 kV magnetic blow-out arrester. From 1959 to 1960, she participated in the research of “330 kV power transmission technology” and made the 330 kV magnetic blow-out lightning arrester, which won the prize of National Science Congress in 1978. She developed China’s earliest zinc oxide cable sheath protector in 1974, a new type of zinc oxide lightning arrester for the protection of rotating motors at 10 kV in 1978, and a series of low-voltage AC and DC system surge protector in 1980, promoting the intergenerational progress of overvoltage protection technology. She developed China’s first general procedure for grounding calculation based on boundary element method, and proposed a series of new formulas for the calculation of grounding resistance and step potential for power system towers and substations, which were applied to the grounding calculation of giant power stations such as Three Gorges Power Station and transmission and substation systems, which solved the difficulties in numerical calculation of complex grounding systems in homogeneous and inhomogeneous structure soil environments, and achieved great engineering application benefits.

Professor Chen Cixuan has long been engaged in higher education in electrical engineering and has made outstanding contributions to the publication of university textbooks and academic works. She has written or co-authored textbooks and works such as “Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering” (Part 1 and Part 2, 4 editions successively), “High Voltage Electrical Appliances”, “Principles and Operation Techniques of Overvoltage Protection”, “Power System Overvoltage” (2 editions), “Power System Grounding Techniques”, “Overvoltage Protection”, “High Voltage Electrostatic Field”, “High Voltage Electrostatic Dust Removal” and “Keys to Wisdom”, many of which are the first work in this field with systematic theoretical framework and high academic quality, classical works on electrical engineering and are widely loved by professional technicians and teachers and students. The book “Power System Overvoltage” won the first prize of excellent teaching materials for water conservancy and electricity in colleges and universities of the Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity, the book “High Voltage Electrical Appliance” won the second prize of excellent teaching materials of the Ministry of Energy, the book “Power System Grounding Techniques” won the second prize of excellent teaching materials of the Ministry of Electric Power Industry, and book “Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering” was rated as “Excellent Teaching Materials for Electrical Majors in Colleges and Universities” by China Electric Power Education Association. Professor Chen Cixuan is a hardworking teacher, teaching many courses for undergraduate and graduate students, which are well received by students, and many of her students have become well-known scholars and business leaders in the industry.

This article is copied from the WeChat official account of CSEE