THE CLIENT
A global leader in glass production with 35 production facilities in 12 countries.
THE NEED
One of the plants located in Northern Italy was faced with a significant challenge: the inefficiency of the electrical infrastructure due to a number of technical factors related to the production process.
Electric furnaces, glass handling motors and compressors generated high inductive loads, resulting in a low power factor.
In addition, glass production, characterised by load variations, harmonics and disturbances, and high power consumption, made an effective power factor correction solution essential.
OUR SOLUTION
After a careful analysis of the customer’s requirements, a high-performance power factor correction equipment was designed and manufactured: the MULTImatic FV25V 700kvar-400V-50Hz switchboard. This solution was designed to guarantee maximum performance and safety in highly critical environments such as glass production.
Below are the main technical characteristics of the implemented solution:
- Designed for systems with harmonic distortion in current (THDI%) up to 100% and in voltage (THDV%) up to 8%, guaranteeing stability in the most critical working conditions.
- Capacitors with increased polypropylene and very low losses, capable of operating at temperatures up to 70°C, guaranteeing high durability and reliability.
- Structure consisting of 4 cabinets with a single power supply disconnector, equipped with a current-carrying coil for maximum operational safety.
- Aluminium busbars, sized with specialised software to comply with IEC 60831-1 and withstand the stress of short circuit currents expected at the point of installation.
- Very high linearity copper harmonic blocking reactors, preventing iron resonance phenomena during capacitor insertion.
- Automatic capacitor bank protection via MCP5 module installed in the reactive power regulator.
- Reactive power controller on each power cabinet, configured in MASTER/SLAVE mode with RS485 communication for optimised monitoring and management of all electrical and thermal quantities.
- Designed to operate 24/7 for 365 days a year, with an expected lifetime of more than 10 years.