THE CLIENT
The client is an Italian company specializing in the design and construction of complete milling plants for processing wheat, maize and other cereals.
THE REQUIREMENT
For a new plant designed for the Middle East, the company required a power factor correction system designed around the specific electrical configuration planned for the installation.
The plant required a total power factor correction rating of 1840 kvar, with a rated voltage of 400 V and a frequency of 60 Hz.
A system of this rating is normally built using several cabinets, each equipped with its own incoming line switch-disconnector. This configuration would have required several circuit breakers, each dedicated to protecting a single cabinet.
The plant designed by the client had only two circuit breakers, suitably rated to protect the capacitor banks.
It was therefore necessary to develop a customized solution, compatible with the available electrical architecture and capable of ensuring operator safety during access and maintenance activities.
OUR SOLUTION
Ortea’s engineering department developed a MULTImatic FH20 power factor correction system consisting of two 920 kvar units, for a total rating of 1840 kvar.
Each unit was built with three cabinets and a single incoming line switch-disconnector, making the supply compatible with the two circuit breakers available in the plant.
To ensure maximum safety, the main switch-disconnector was equipped with a trip coil. The system trips if an operator opens one of the cabinets without a switch-disconnector before disconnecting the main power supply.
The two units were configured respectively as MASTER and SLAVE. Once connected in parallel, they communicate via RS485 modules, coordinating their operation as a single 1840 kvar power factor correction system.
The customized solution based on a MULTImatic FH20 made it possible to adapt the system to the plant’s electrical configuration, using only two circuit breakers while ensuring safety, reliability and coordinated operation.