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Mitigation
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The Cost of Poor Power Quality
The issue of poor Power Quality, is one that largely goes unnoticed. Often, the consequences of poor Power Quality can be blamed on hardware and software issues, and relationships between clients and suppliers can sour over disagreements about who is at fault (and most likely who’s picking up the bill).
The whole time, there could be a frequent Power Quality event occurring that causes hardware or software to malfunction, and any efforts to remedy the problem without consideration for the electrical supply will be wasted the next time the same type of event happens again.
This can all be very costly:
- Loss of supply due to frequent tripping of breakers.
- Wasted products and materials, due to malfunctioning process control components (eg. misfiring sensors).
- Production downtime to carry out repeat repairs or restarts.
- Replacement parts and components with continued repeat failure.
- Critical experiments ruined due to anomalies and damaged equipment.
- Soured relationships between key suppliers and customers that result from the above.
These are to name just a few of the potential problems associated with no consideration for Power Quality. We have seen many more, but in most cases, the cost of mitigation is very small compared to the overall cost of the problem.
Popular Solutions
Surge Protection
External Voltage events can damage sensitive electronic equipment. Capture them before they can do any harm with high quality surge protection.
Active Harmonic Filtration
Tackle troubling levels of harmonics and meet G5/5 recommendation limits with active filters that can target individual harmonics
Voltage Conditioners
Replace flicker, dips and disruptions with smooth, stable and balanced by installing dedicated conditioners. Provide the perfect environment for your most critical equipment.
How We Can Help
Power Quality projects come in all shapes and sizes; here are some of the ways we help our customers get to the bottom of their issues:
- Telephone Consultation:
Sometimes it’s great to be able to schedule a call with one of our Power Quality experts and get to the bottom of something quickly and easily. With over 50+ years of experience in power quality problem solving – making an initial call may be the only thing you need. - One-Day Analysis:
If the problem you’re facing is frequent enough, we can deploy one of our engineers to attend site, equipment in hand, to set up and troubleshoot power quality issues in person. Any findings will be recorded and documented in a report and subsequent recommendations will be made on how to rectify the problem. - Week-long Analysis: [MOST POPULAR]
This is our most comprehensive power quality service; useful for a whole host of reasons. Whether it’s investigating patterns and events over a longer period of time, or perhaps you need to have a G5/5-1 assessment carried out to get permission for new equipment, our week-long analysis using top-end power quality analysers has you covered. - Supply & Installation of Mitigation Equipment:
Not only are we able to investigate power quality issues and make recommendations, we’re also able to supply and install the equipment to fix the issues with our in-house installation team.
Contact us on 01799 530728 or complete our contact form and a member of our team will be in touch.
Power Quality Analysis
Why should we have a Power Quality Analysis?
A Power Quality checks are usually carried out in response to a power related issue that has occurred on site however by the time a resolution has been found this problem could significantly impact production time along with damage to sites electrical equipment.
By carrying out Annual or Bi-Annual Power Quality Health checks you can keep a head of any potential issues before they effect your business.
During an initial survey we will collect information on a variety of site specific data such as:
- Makeup of the sites load, making note of specific harmonic producing equipment such as UPSs, Inverter drives, LED lighting and more.
- A history of the sites infrastructure over the last few years factoring in any power quality issues not previously noticed.
- Presents of existing Harmonic Filtration installed on site
- Presents of Power Factor Correction Equipment on site and its configuration such as standard or de-tuned capacitor stages.
Once this information is collected, one of our engineers will visit site at a time that suits you and connect a power quality analyser to your mains supply that will monitor and record over a minimum period of one week. Some of the main parameters monitored during this time include:
- Harmonics
- Voltage Dips & Swells
- Voltage Transients
- Votage Flicker
Additional parameters can be monitored on a as required basis and we can advise you on these during our initial assessment.
When the monitoring is completed we will collect the analyser and review the collected data. We will then produce a report on our findings along with any recommendations.
To find out more about arranging a Power Quality Health Check, please feel free to contact us.
G5/5 Power Quality Assessment
What is a G5/5 Assessment and why do we need one?
As of June 2020, the Energy Network Association introduced Engineering Recommendations G5/5 (ENA EREC G5/5). The main propose of this, is to provide design limits for harmonic voltage, and ensure IEC compatibility limits are not exceeded when new or additional load is connected.
Due to the increasing amount of harmonic producing equipment, it is important that any load added to an existing, or load added from a new supply, does not affect other users on the network, protecting all consumers from poor electrical environments.
How we can help
PFC Engineering can provide a full G5/5 assessment including carrying out measurements of pre-existing harmonic distortion, assisting in the collection of supply information from your DNO and ultimately providing you with a full G5/5 assessment report.
Feel free to contact us to further discuss your G5/5 Harmonic project
Power Quality FAQs
Why should we have a Power Quality Health Check?
Having an annual or bi-annual power quality health check provides the potential to prevent costly power issues that might arise from things such as installation of new equipment or site expansion.
What is involved in a Power Quality Analysis?
An initial site survey is required to evaluate the makeup of the site, this can be done over the phone or in person at site. Following this a engineer will visit site to connect a power analyser to the LV supply which will be left of a minimum of one week where upon it will be collected and the data reviewed. This will be followed up with a full report and any recommendations.
What parameters are checked during a Power Quality Analysis?
Analysis include the following parameters as standard:
- RMS Voltage
- RMS Current
- kW
- kVA
- kVAr
- Total kWh & kVArh energy consumption
- Power factor
- Harmonics up to 50th
- Voltage Unbalance
- Voltage Flicker
- Voltage & Current transient events
How do we connect our Power Quality Analysers to the supply?
Typically our Power Quality Analysers are connected via the sites existing LV Metering system, utilising the three phase voltage references for power and clamping onto the S1 side of the C.T circuit for three phase current.
Carrying out connection in this way results in no downtime or power outage for site during connection and subsequent removal of the analysers.
If LV metering is unavailable, alternative connection methods can be carried out and would be discussed directly with site during our visit.
