 You can troubleshoot problems caused by distortion to the power supply: intermittent equipment lock-ups and resets, corrupted data, premature equipment failure, and overheating of components for no apparent reason. January 2012 We think there are two main reasons: - You understand the cost of power quality but your customer doesn’t. In general, when equipment fails or doesn’t operate consistently, you need to get in there and fix it. You know that power quality problems will keep happening without a long-term solution, but your boss or customer won’t make the investment without proof of return on investment.
- Management cares about energy efficiency. It can be unusual for management to invest in new equipment before the old units wear out. But an energy study can show that the new units will pay for themselves in lower utility costs.
If only electricians, utility technicians, electrical engineers, field service technicians, and energy consultants could easily determine how much power is being wasted by power quality issues, they could calculate exactly what the extra consumption costs. New energy-efficient, electronically-driven systems—from lighting to motor controls to HVAC—consume less energy as individual installations, but they increase the level of power quality disturbance in the overall electrical system. This decreases the amount of usable power on hand and requires facilities to consume more power from the utility.  The new Fluke 430 Series II power quality analyzers have improved screen quality and battery life, and can monitor systems with up to ten power quality parameters on one screen. Measure energy wasted and calculate the costThe Fluke 430 Series II three-phase power quality analyzers are the first tools to use a patented algorithm to measure energy waste and quantify its cost. These new tools help facilities reduce electrical power consumption and improve the performance and lifespan of electro-mechanical equipment by providing the return on investment justification to mitigate power quality distortion . Previously, only utilities could calculate how much energy was being wasted due to power quality issues. With the new, patented Unified Power function of the 430 Series II, you can automatically determine how much power is being wasted and calculate exactly what the extra consumption costs—with a single handheld tool. More and better Expanded on-board memory—more memory to store more data to enable longer logging periods. Units come with 8 GB of memory, but are expandable to 32 GB, so you can log for months and months, with high download speed. Software with an intuitive user interface, with flexibility in the types of views you can use to see the information. A function that captures large amounts of data, at very fast intervals—analyze equipment startup or UPS switch-over. With the data stored as very fast average values over a longer period. So you can hook up, run the sequence, then go into data. An inverter efficiency function that assesses the decrease in efficiency. Shows input and output in watts, and shows you energy efficiency. You see how much energy you have to use inside the inverter to do the conversion. If it’s too low, you can change the parameters of the inverter to better match supply. You’ll find these things, and more, in the new Fluke 430 Series II Three-Phase Energy and Power Quality Analyzers. Resources 6 Simple Ways to Reduce Costs with a Fluke 434 Power Quality Analyzer »
Basic Power Quality Methodology and Common Culprits »
The Costs of Poor Power Quality » |