PFC Replacement at UK Rubber Manufacturing Plant

We were asked to carry out a full maintenance of a panel built Power Factor Correction unit at a UK rubber fabrication plant.

The existing PFC on site had not had a full service before despite being installed in 1997. The unit has a multitude of component failures including the failure of capacitor banks, contactors that had welded closed, burnt-out inrush coils and operated fuses.

Due to the age of the equipment and the lack of annual servicing we recommended an end-of-life replacement to the panel and the installation of a new FSi200 fully detuned PFC unit.

The new unit would consist of 3 stages of 50kVar and 2 smaller stages of 25kVAr all controlled by an 8 stage Lovato DCRL 8 digital control relay. We would also include additional forced air ventilation and filtered louvres.

Due to the construction of the existing panel, we were able to remove the PFC section entirely and put the new unit in its place. New power cables were installed and connected to the existing MCCB that fed the old equipment.

 

All the works were carried out by 2 engineers during normal working hours without any disruption to the site supply.