In March 2006, the insulator world lost one of its most respected and ardent contributors – Claude de Tourreil, who succumbed after a short but brave battle against leukemia. Now, more than a decade and a half after his passing, it might have been easy for his memory and lifelong dedication to the field to be obscured by the passage of time. It was for this reason that, in 2009, INMR instituted an annual award to commemorate his achievements and to recognize individuals who, like Claude, made important and lasting contributions to promoting progress in the design, manufacturing, testing and application of electrical insulators.
Past recipients have included such industry luminaries as:
LIANG Xidong, China
Wallace Vosloo, South Africa
Ravi Gorur, United States
Igor Gutman, Sweden
Frank Schmuck, Switzerland
A.J. (Tony) Carreira, Canada
Alberto Pigini, Italy
Vaclav Sklenicka, Czech Republic
William Chisholm, Canada
Jean-Marie George, France
Andrew Phillips, United States
Raouf Znaidi, Tunisia
Dan Windmar, Sweden
Jens Seifert, Germany
INMR is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2023 Claude de Tourreil Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Electrical Insulators is Prof. Masoud Farzaneh, Professor Emeritus and now retired from the Université de Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC).
Prof. Farzaneh received his power engineering degree from Polytechnic of Tehran in 1973. After obtaining his Masters jointly from Institut National Polytechnique and Université Paul Sabatier in France, he received his PhD (Dr.Ing.) in 1980, from the same institutions. Later, in 1986, he obtained a Doctorat d’état ès sciences from Université Paul Sabatier.
Over an impressive career, he has done pioneering research in the field of high voltage engineering, particularly in regard to such topics as:
• impact of pollution and cold climate on overhead power network equipment;
• corona induced vibration;
• partial and arc discharge on iced and polluted insulators; and
• de-icing techniques, self-cleaning and icephobic coatings for power networks.
Professor Farzaneh is recognized for his significant and pioneering research in these areas through extensive publications comprising 300 papers in archival journals, 400 papers in international refereed conference proceedings, 4 books and 15 book chapters as well as 350 technical brochures, standards, guidelines and technical reports; for a lifetime total of almost 1200 publications. As mentor, he has trained about 250 qualified personnel, including 48 PhDs, 44 Masters and 38 Postdoctoral.
Professor Farzaneh promoted and supervised construction of the icing pavilion at UQAC housing icing, nano-coating and high voltage laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and regarded as the largest of their kind.
He has been actively involved with IEEE, CIGRE and IET, in particular as President of IEEE DEIS, Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, and Editor-in-Chief of the IET High Voltage journal. He served as Chair or Member of Task Forces of IEEE, Convenor of CIGRE WG B2.29, WG B2.44 and WG B2.69 on de-icing techniques and on coatings for protection of power network equipment. Indeed, IEEE and CIGRE standards, guides, technical brochures and position papers have been realized with his contributions and leadership.
Professor Masoud Farzaneh is an IEEE Life Fellow, IET Fellow, CIGRE Fellow, EIC Fellow, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His accomplishments have been recognized by numerous prizes and awards and, in recognition of his work, the Masoud Farzaneh Award was established by UQAC in 2010 to recognize an outstanding researcher in power network engineering.
INMR and the world’s high voltage community salute Prof. Masoud Farzaneh and offer warmest congratulations to him on this latest recognition of his many accomplishments over a truly stellar career.
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