Instrumentation and Controls, Inc.

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INSTALLATION
SERVICES
Custom Panel Building
Electrical Installation
Mechanical Installation

CALIBRATION
SERVICES
Traceable Calibrations
Loop Checks
Start-Up Support
Documentation

POWER QUALITY
Distribution Losses
Process Interference

ELECTRICAL
CONSTRUCTION
Design Build
Plans and Specs

CONTRACT
MAINTENANCE
Contract Maintenance

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Distribution Losses

Instrumentation and Controls, Inc. has the qualified technicians and the state of the art equipment to identify your losses, track down the source of those losses, document the results, and offer you a cost effective solution that in most cases will show a ROI (return on investment) of three years or less.

Poor quality power can rob your building power distribution system of capacity and efficiency, increase your direct operating cost and short life your expensive power distribution equipment.

Power Factor
Buildings with highly inductive or capacitive loads would be suspect to having these losses. Utility penalties do apply to poor Power Factor situations.

Poor Power Factor can cost you money!
Short term (monthly) as well as long term. Your utility will calculate the difference between the power that you actually use and the power that they have to produce for you to overcome the Power Factor losses resident in your building power system. The difference between these two values, would be your Power Factor penalty. The actual cost of this penalty can vary with your usage (KWH), demand (KW) and utility rate structure. However, it can be substantial.

Harmonic distortion!
System Harmonics are a result of the introduction of non linear loads into your building power system.

Examples of non linear loads on a branch circuit level are:
Computers, copy machines, fax machines, small UPS (uninterruptable power systems), or electronic ballasts(used in building lighting systems). These devices produce distortion on the third harmonic or “triplin”. Third harmonic distortion can cause: premature branch circuit breaker tripping, branch panel heating, branch conduit or cable heating, neutral feeder heating and degradation, transformer heating and subsequent failure.

Examples of non linear loads on the feeder level are:

Adjustable Speed Drives (ASD’s), Variable frequency drives (VFD’s), large UPS (uninteruptable power systems), and Rectifier systems. These device produce distortion on the fifth or seventh harmonic. Harmonic distortion at this level can be extremely destructive to a building power distribution system. Problems with the fifth & seventh harmonic can cause, premature feeder breaker tripping, distribution feeder heating and failure, distribution transformer heating and failure, internal motor heating and failure.

The utility has not passed the losses due the effect of harmonics on to the consumer directly as of yet. However, a harmonic problem can adversely affect your building main distribution system at the feeder and distribution end as well as at the sub system and branch end. The cost to repair system damage can be astronomical. In most cases, harmonics in not identified early on in the diagnosis. Many dollars are spent, for example, replacing the same motor or feeder breaker several times before a harmonic problem is suspect.

This is an area where preventive maintenance is a must! Qualified technicians as well as the proper equipment are key to a successful PM program when it comes to Power Factor and Harmonics related problems.

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