PFC Detuning for a Large Fizzy Drink Manufacturer

After a callout to a significant capacitor failure inside one of the Power Factor correction units, it was noted that the background harmonics had increased since our last annual service visit.

A week-long Power Quality Analysis was carried out on both LV supplies on-site and from the results it was confirmed that there was a notable increase in the load current and harmonic current distortion on the supply during the period of higher occupancy, this was in part due to the recent installation of multiple EV chargers.

The level of voltage harmonic distortion on both supplies was such that the original standard power factor correction equipment on site was magnifying this distortion when in circuit and as such now requires the incorporation of harmonic detuning reactors to prevent harmonic overload of the PFC capacitors.

The solution was to remove the existing PFC units and replace them with two fully detuned FSi200 units incorporating 480V capacitors, soft switching contactors and 189Hz reactors; utilizing the existing cable and C.Ts.

 

All the works were carried out by 2 engineers over 2 days without any disruption to site.