Power Quality Study and Analysis in Mexico

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Power-Quality-Analysis-in-Mexico

Care Labs offers a variety of services for electrical installations such as electrical safety inspections, electrical system design simulations, power quality analysis, power systems study, and analysis.  We are offering comprehensive power quality analysis service to all types of electric installations as per the relevant standards- IEEE 519, EN50160, and IEC 61000. 

Care Labs offers power quality study and analysis using the ETAP – Electrical Transient Analysis Program software to identify the power quality issue and recommend an appropriate solution to mitigate this problem.   

What is Power Quality?

The quality of the power refers to the ability of electrical components/ equipment to consume the supplied energy effectively. A number of power quality problems including electrical harmonic distortions, poor power factor, voltage instability, and imbalances affect the efficiency of electrical system and equipment.  

However, good power quality is not easy to explain because a good power quality for an electric motor may not be good enough for modern day personal computer and other sensitive electronic and other loads. 

This has a number of consequences including: 

  • Higher energy usage and costs.
  • Higher maintenance and repair costs.
  • Instability of equipment and failure leads to process or business disruption.

Sources of Disturbances: 

Electrical power quality is majorly affected by disturbances feed into the systems. The sources of these power quality disturbances are: –  

  • Disturbances origin from utility network due to faults that disturb the source supply voltage waveform and can be isolated within few seconds to a minute by protective system, or supply interruption will occur. 
  • Disturbances originating from consumer’s networks and devices are mainly due to three-phase loads, connection unbalances, absence of appropriate neutral wire, absence of earthing system, or low circuit breaker rating.
  • Non-linear characteristics of loads and equipment are other sources of disturbances.

Benefits of Power Quality Analysis:

  • Assist in preventative and predictive maintenance
  • Identify source and frequency of events
  • Establish exact location and timing of particular events
  • Develop maintenance schedules
  • Monitor and trend conditions
  • Analyse harmonics, flicker, transient frequency variation, voltage variations 
  • Ensure equipment performance
  • Analyse the sensitivity of processing equipment to disturbances
  • Evaluate performance against specifications

Types of Electrical Power Disturbances:

This IEEE defined power quality disturbances organized into 

Seven categories based on wave shape: 

  • Power Outage
  • Transient (Surge)
  • Sag / Swell
  • Noise
  • Harmonic Distortion
  • Undervoltage/Overvoltage

Power Outage: 

Long-term outage, that last longer than 1 minute 

Momentary outage, that last up to 0.5 cycles – 3 seconds. 

Temporary outage, that last from 3 seconds to 1 minute. 

Possible causes: 

  • Accidents, acts of nature, etc. which needs the proper working operation of utility devices/ equipment.
  • Internal short circuits requiring the proper operation of breakers and fuses

Symptoms/Effects: 

  • System shutdown
  • Loss of computer/ controller memory
  • Hardware damage
  • Product loss or damage

Transient (Surge)  

A sub-cycle disturbs in the current waveform, evidenced by a brief, sharp discontinuity of the supply waveform. 

Possible causes: 

  • Surges are caused by lightnings, operation of utility fuses, breakers, and reclosers turning on or off large electrical equipment, and capacitor switching.

Symptoms/Effects: 

  • Computer lock up, processing and functioning errors, and data loss.
  • Circuit boards burn, electrical insulation damages, and equipment damages.

Sag /Swell:

Any short term of 0.5 cycles – 1 minute dip-sag or increase- swell in voltage wave. Sag disturbances are the main causes for up to 87% of all power quality disturbances (according to a study by Bell Labs) 

Possible causes: 

  • Major equipment shutdown or restart.
  • Short circuits
  • Utility equipment failure or utility switching.

Symptoms/Effects: 

  • Memory loss and data errors.
  • Equipment shutdown
  • Flickering lights
  • Motor stalling or stopping and decreased lifetime of motor.

Noise:

An unnecessary high frequency electrical signal that alters the normal voltage sine wave pattern. 

Possible causes: 

  • Interference from radio or TV transmission.
  • Operation of electronic equipment.

Symptoms/Effects:               

  • Lock-up of sensitive equipment.
  • Data loss and processing errors.
  • Distorted audio and video reception.

Harmonic Distortion: 

The alter of the normal voltage sine wave pattern because of the equipment generating frequencies other than the standard 50 or 60 cycles per second. 

 Possible causes: 

  • Electronic devices, ballasts and other non-linear loads like SMPS- switch mode power supplies and variable frequency drives.

Symptoms/Effects: 

  • Overheating of electrical equipment and wiring.
  • Decreased motor performance.
  • Improper operation of breakers, relays, or fuses.

Undervoltage / Overvoltage: 

Any long term alters last more than a minute, below or above normal voltage waveform.  

Possible causes: 

  • Overloaded wiring or equipment.
  • Large load swing or improper settings of transformer.
  • Undersized cable and poor or faulty electrical connections.

Symptoms/Effects: 

  • Dim or bright lights
  • Equipment shutdown
  • Overheating of motors or lights
  • Reduced efficiency or the life of electrical equipment

Power Quality Analysis Methodology:

  • Program start-up & orientation 
  • Onsite Assessment
  • Data collection from various locations 
  • Final report preparation 
  • Submission & Presentation of report, 
  • Presentation of products & solutions along with application guide & notes.

Contact us to book a power quality analysis today or get a quote. 

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