Qualita' dell' Energia
Improve Power Factor & System Efficiency
Power quality is a broad term that refers to electric power that drives an electrical load and the load's ability to function properly. Without proper power, an electrical device or load may malfunction, fail prematurely, or not operate at all. Power quality is a very important topic to consider in current applications, especially before putting in a new installation, replacing old equipment, or updating electronic devices.
There are many reasons why electric power may have poor power quality. In power distribution problems such as harmonic distortion, reactive power, power factor correction, and voltage variations and surge are events that occur every day and are present in small facilities to large industrial plants. Sometimes these events are not even generated inside the facility but come instead from the grid generated by neighboring buildings or directly from the power company.
Enerdoor mobile testing performs power quality analysis for any industrial environment or application. Our power meters can record data for months on end to understand the nature of the problem, solve it and protect equipment.
Harmonic Distortion
Harmonics are normally generated by non-linear loads. Typical examples are variable frequency drives (VFDs), servo drives, and large power supplies. Harmonic distortion in itself does not create a significant increase in electricity costs, however, it does create severe problems for electrical components such as transformers, motors, PC servers, phones, and lights.
The major problems caused by harmonics distortion are production downtime and prematurely failing devices. Harmonic distortion is also very damaging to capacitor banks being used for power factor correction because the harmonic distortion can synchronize at the same frequency as the capacitor bank and damage or destroy the device.
For additional information and solutions please view the following product line: Enerdoor Harmonic Filters
Reactive Power
One of the most significant problems a manufacturing plant may encounter is reactive power. Reactive power exists because machines are not purely resistive but have consistent values of capacitors and inductances. The reactive power measured in volt-ampere reactive (var), happens when currents and voltages are not moving at the same time. The most common method of expressing the amount of reactive power in a system is Power Factor. Another negative effect involving power quality is harmonic distortion. This distortion is due to rectifier diodes present in electronic devices such as VFDs and UPSs that draw a non-sinusoidal current.
The Enerdoor active and passive harmonic filter series improves power quality in a cost-effective reliable way. Enerdoor active harmonic filters remove harmonic distortion by generating an equal and opposite waveform. Installed in parallel on the main power line, the active harmonic filter is sized to compensate energy for harmonic distortion and compensates the power factor. It is programmable with specific parameters allowing for control of remaining value above the minimum required for power factor.
Power Factor Correction
Bad power factor is normally generated by a direct load, for example, a motor controlled by a soft start. A bad power factor correction has the opposite effect of harmonic distortion in that it results in a significant cost increase to the consumer's electricity bill.
Power factor goes from the ideal 1 down to the worst at 0. In the United States, many states are charging ten times the cost of the electricity when power factor goes below 0.9. In Europe, some countries have started to charge when power factor correction goes below 0.95.
Power factor is measured in KVAR. On average it is charged 10 times more than the standard power usage KVA. Often customers have difficulty understanding the real cost of KVA because power companies make calculations based on bad power factor, increasing the percentage of the cost of KVA.
For additional information and solutions please view the following product line: Enerdoor Power Factor Correction
Voltage Variation and Surge
Voltage variation and surge is a very common problem generated by the power distribution network that during the day may receive demand of load that creates problems to the power line. Voltage variation is higher in countries where the electric distribution line does not continuously sustain a change of loads causing voltage dips or interruptions.
For additional information and solutions please view the following product line: Enerdoor Voltage Stabilizers
Contact Enerdoor today for a free confidential consultation to ensure your equipment is protected and functioning properly.