Simplifying Power Quality
Whilst being a complicated subject simple monitoring of Power Quality and subsequent actions can result in substantial savings both short and long term.
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The first step to understanding Power Quality, is to monitor the incoming power supply. These can determine the quality of the incoming supply as well as the effects of the loads downstream and if you are supplying “bad power” back to the grid.
Improving Power Factor increases how efficiently power is being used across an estate, whilst poor power factor can contribute to harmonics and inaccuracy of meter readings.
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Balanced loads reduce strain on individual phases and prevent overloading. If the load is distributed efficiently, there will be minimal power wastage, reduced energy consumption and reduced costs. Achieving phase balancing reduces the risk of excessive heat generation and premature wear on electrical equipment, prolonging the lifespan of electrical devices and appliances.
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With the increased use of electronics in the modern world, harmonics is becoming a more frequent issue. Ultimately the main effect of harmonics is heat, again impacting efficiency of an Estate. Harmonics can cause other effects including nuisance tripping, noise, and interference on IT systems.
Advanced Power Quality
The monitoring of voltage is central to the fundamentals of Power Quality, where transients, dips and swells, can have a major impact on equipment, resulting in lost revenue/damage.
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Complying with EN 50160 facilitates the monitoring of the quality of the supply being received from the network. Furthermore, monitoring will highlight the quality of the power being put back on the grid.
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Event recording according to EN 50160 will pick up voltage dips, outages and swells, all of which can cause IT equipment to go off, destruction of electronic equipment or premature wear.
Technology
MPL offers two types of metering to measure Power Quality:
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Power Quality Analyser:
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Highly accurate measurement of power quality and events
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Waveform capture, built in memory
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Conforms to IEC 61000-4-30, EN 50160/61000-2-4
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PQDIF reports
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Generally fitted on Point of Common Coupling
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Often deployed for large installations/critical loads
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Power Quality Meter:
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Highly accurate measurement of power quality and events
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Conforms to EN 50160/61000-2-4
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Suitable for main incoming metering and smaller installations, critical loads
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Visualisation & Reporting:
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N-GEN Estate delivers simplified business intelligence through the provision of dynamic and historical reporting of all key parameters
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N-GEN centralises information across the EPMS infrastructure offering site wide views of utilities, total consumptions and the granular monitoring of plant equipment, sub distribution and individual payloads. Power Quality reporting is an integral part of the reporting capabilities of N-GEN Estate
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N-GEN Estate adopts a multi-tiered approach to visualisation and reporting of an estate to facilitate and meet the needs of multiple roles within an organisation from Board Level reporting requirements through to more granular operational day-to-day management information.
