The Faraday Exchanger Performance on Voltage Dips
Voltage dips are the most common supply disturbances that cause interruptions in production plants.
They occur when power voltage levels drop to below 90% of the standard voltage level for a minute or less, and can be triggered by system faults such as switching and lightning surges, short-circuit faults, overloads, and transformer inrush currents amongst other causes.
Voltage dips can also be triggered by external factors such as overgrown vegetation, wild animals and damaged equipment. For example, overgrown trees close to powerlines have been regarded as a contributory cause of the recent Californian wildfires. Most dips only last between 0.5 and 1 second, with longer durations being a sign of severe faults in the system and leading to more complex longer-term problems.
Although voltage dips do not normally interrupt power supply, they worsen power quality, and under special circumstances may cause blackouts. Some customers may experience momentary dimming or flickering of their lights, while other consumers with more sensitive rectifier-powered equipment such as computers and other electronics, may experience more adverse effects.
An example of sensitive equipment experiencing adverse effects would be motor drives which are particularly susceptible to damage resulting from voltage dips. This is due to the load still requiring energy that is no longer available save for the inertia of the drive.
Another example would be air conditioners in an apartment building. In the aftermath of a voltage dip, the voltage level would return to normal and the reactivation of the air conditioners would spike up the electricity current by 3 or 7 times above the normal level. This would in turn cause the main power switch of buildings to switch and result in power outages.
Voltage dips also lead to an increase in costs related to power quality problems. These costs include idled labour, lost production, costs to repair damaged equipment and the cost of recovery. These costs increase in relation to the duration of the voltage dip.
The engineers at Faraday Grid conducted tests on RMS and instantaneous voltage signals from a conventional transformer and a Faraday Exchanger and compared the effects of a voltage dip on both signals.
The experimental results clearly demonstrated that the Faraday Exchanger can significantly reduce the impact of voltage dips on networks. While the regular transformer is unable to suppress the impact of the dip in secondary voltage, the FE can almost nullify the dip impact in the secondary voltage.
This results in improved power quality and reliability throughout the network, an increased lifetime of equipment, and reduced capital investment on other mitigating technology.
These power system improvements have significant flow on benefits to consumers through increased productivity, particularly in industries where power quality can adversely affect operations.
For more information, please download the original White Paper by Jagadeesh Gunda HERE.