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Load Study & Power Quality Management
Load Study: A Power Quality Approach
The power system in a facility is like the heart in a live body. It pumps energy to all the electric apparatus jus as the heart pumps energy all over the body.
If the heart works well, proper and reliable energy reaches to the apparatus and so the function and performance of the system is safe and secure.
On the other hand, multiplied voltages and amplified currents caused by unstable and noisy circuits, overloaded conductors, unbalanced loads, excessive har
monics
, undue phase displacement, and similar defects, create over heated disconnectors, fuses, transformers and motors, finally ending up with break down or fire.
Hence, there are good reasons for giving appropriate care and attention to the power system.
And like the heart, the need for care increases with age.
The remedy is: a full load study and power quality report.
A customary routine is to read the power load of all equipment on their nameplates, sum them up, and insert a load factor to get an estimae of the load in a branch circuit. This procedure is of course somehow inacurate. For one thing the power load printed on the equipment nameplate i
s no more valid after some time as the equipment wear out. Besides, the apparatus do not work all the time. So this procedure is neither precise nor is it comprehensive.
In order to get a real picture of the load profile, you need to monitor the power parameters over a reasonable period of time. Normally a few weeks to a few months would be sufficient depending on the type of activity. Retrieving the data stored over the test period, you have the actual values of loads and other parameters on different times of the day, or days of the week, etc. So you get a true picture of the power system load profile as well as its performance, impending hazards, etc.
We use "NTPM" as the main tool for measuring and recording the power parameters for a reasonable period of time, and the reports are based on the files retrived from "NTPM" units.
The procedure is simple:
- Install NTPM power meter/ recorders, synchronize its time and date with the computer, and enter the basic settings like frequency and CT ratio
- Allow a few weeks for the data to be recorded
-
Retrieve the recorded files and make reports (to be used by maintenance engineers):
- Harmonics report
- Power factor report
- Voltage sag report
- Load balance report
- Maximum demand report
- Keep watchning the system through the realtime views
- Reproduce the reports every month (with the power meter/ recorders installed)
Reports based on recorded Data
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