Investing in capacitor banks

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Excerpt: Voltage regulation and volt ampere reactive (VAR) compensation wield the most influence over the efficiency of a power distribution system, according to Sergio Arellano, product line manager with Thomas & Betts. “The fastest way to improve the efficiency of power distribution is to install …

A better way to ride through faults

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Excerpt: A full-power converter design by The Switch features fault ride-through (FRT) capability for better grid-side performance. The new converters match the most stringent grid code in the world to date, the German BDEW 2008 directive. They also comply with E.ON 2006, Transmission Code 2007 and Chine …

Pushbuttons for high temp environs

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Excerpt: The C22 line of pushbuttons has an all-in-one design that includes the operator and contact blocks in one complete housing. It provides high-volume original equipment manufacturers with a broad selection of operators, and features, which can be used in high pressure and high temperature wash-down …

How to network a wind farm

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Excerpt:   Chinese manufacturer Dongfang Steam Turbine Works (DSTW) was working on a wind farm project of 66, 1.5-MW turbines and had to establish a SCADA system to remotely monitor on-site equipment and operations while recording operation data for real-time analysis. To make matters worse, Nort …

Improving Wind Turbine Design Through Advanced Simulation Techniques

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Excerpt: Advancements in simulation technology continue to provide benefits to engineers in the field of wind power engineering. Windpower engineers now have the ability to simulate all aspects of the wind turbine; from detailed structural models of the blades that determine stresses and strains, to highly a …

Filters provide “cleaner” ac power from UPS

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Excerpt:   An uninterruptable power supply or UPS may be a best way to provide stable power to a company network. Current UPS designs store energy in batteries in dc mode. When necessary, the device supplies power in ac mode, thanks to a dc-to-ac converter. It works in switch-mode and so generate …

Flexible automation control

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Excerpt: A manufacturer of automation and control products offers a  high-density, highly configurable modular RTU and programmable logic controller (PLC) system. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) says their SEL-2240 Axion extends their automation and control product family. The system ha …

Hall effect series with 4 to 20mA output

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Excerpt: The continuous shortage of Hall Effect sensors is generating trouble for manufacturers such as those for PV and eolic inverters. So, Premo has introduced a family of Hall effect sensors which are equivalent to the LEM DHR-C420 family. The main characteristic of this series is the output current, …

Energy monitoring made simpler

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Excerpt: Opto 22 has enhanced the capabilities of its most widely used power monitoring modules to give clients broader voltage input ranges and better resolution for their three-phase power monitoring and energy management applications. The SNAP-AIPM-3 and SNAP-AIPM-3V can each monitor 480 Vac, 3-phase …

Big dry-cell battery ready for use with wind farms and solar projects

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Excerpt: Renewable energy projects often cannot consistently deliver electricity so some of the power must be stored, often in larger batteries. For example, the Notrees wind project will be the largest that uses a battery backup, and more such projects are in the pipeline. “We have a few large proj …