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Thursday, November 6, 2014

Case Study: Power Quality Problems Can be Costly; Lost Revenue, Interrupted Operations


www.dranetz.com
Despite their differences, continuous-process industries share underlying characteristics: they maintain continuous operations in facilities that represent substantial start-up costs and time, yet can be interrupted or disrupted by seemingly minor fluctuations in power quality. If the product stream is disrupted, lost productivity and lost product can create a large financial burden. For example, a voltage sag in a paper mill can waste a whole day of production and inflict a $250,000 loss, while a 5-cycle interruption at a glass manufacturing facility can cost a minimum of $200,000. It is estimated that three percent of every sales dollar in the US is spent on power quality problems. Seventy five percent of all power quality problems occur inside customer facilities, requiring power engineers and electricians to diagnose and solve these problems themselves.
Unfortunately, these percentages will only increase as loads become more sensitive to power quality events and the power utilities become more decentralized. For facility managers and engineers, understanding and managing power system infrastructure is essential to ensuring reliability of production, optimizing equipment performance, and controlling escalating energy costs. Power monitoring can potentially detect deterioration in power quality before problems arise.
The Dranetz Encore Series Power Monitoring system enables users to proactively monitor their power system, potentially identifying and correcting problems before they occur. Additionally, with the proprietary AnswerModules, this system aids in troubleshooting by quickly identifying the direction, or source, of the problems before and after they occur.