Industrial environments are becoming increasingly automated and the sensitivity of industrial processes to power quality issues is always on the rise.
Voltage SAGs, micro interruptions and power quality failures generally cause problems and damage to equipment, including interrupting the production cycle in the most serious cases. The energy used at the mains connection point, while within the regulatory requirements, may not be optimal for use.
Price and quality of the power are often complementary; together, they define the value attributed to electricity consumption.
A voltage SAG is the ‘Temporary reduction of the rated voltage below a specific threshold at one point of the electricity supply line’ (standard IEC EN 50160).
A micro interruption is defined as all severe voltage SAGs (classified in standard CEI EN 50160) and transient interruptions.
A voltage SAG occurs when the residual voltage is reduced to values ranging between 90 and 10 per cent of the rated voltage. The length of the voltage sag is considered between 10 ms up to 1 minute. The majority of voltage sags lasts less than 1 second and has a residual voltage greater than 40% of the rated voltage.
A micro interruption occurs when the residual voltage drops to 100 per cent of the rated voltage. The duration of a micro interruption is considered to be between 10ms up to 500ms. Most micro interruption last between 200ms and 500ms.
60% of costs due to low power quality are attributable to voltage SAGs and micro interruptions. The total incidence of these costs can be quantified up to 4% of the company’s annual turnover (source: Leonardo Energy).
If the quality of the electricity supplied to plants falls below a certain level, equipment no longer functions properly and problems are likely to occur.
The impact on the production process of SAG or micro interruption is certainly less than that of an outage, but it must be considered that they are much more frequent.
In many companies, optimisation of the production process can be achieved by improving power quality.
When it comes to voltage SAGs and micro interruptions, especially if the powers involved are significant, equipment with energy back-up, typically UPSs, are unnecessarily bulky and expensive, both in terms of battery maintenance costs and low efficiency due to dissipated energy.
Oxygen is the ideal solution for voltage SAGs.
Oxygen Zero is the ideal solution for micro interruptions.
