Active Power Conditioners for Harmonics

18/12/2013 Active Power Conditioners For Harmonics

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Active Power Conditioners For Harmonics

Read on to know about a power conditioner that can sense power load requirements and handle fluctuationsevery 200 microseconds

JALAJA RAMANUNNI

AUGUST 2011: Business organisations are constantly looking for

efficient energy solutions, especially with the government regulationsgetting stricter, and rising costs involved with power usage.

P2 Power Solutions, a Noida-based company has developed iConan

active power conditionerwhich it claims will help in power factor (PF)correction, harmonics filtering, load balancing, neutral protection andbring a facilitys energy consumption down by at least 50 per cent.



Inside view of iCon 210A

iCon is an insulated gate bipolar transistor IGBT-based active filtercontrolled by a digital signal processing (DSP) microcontroller. It sensesthe load requirement of a machine every 200 microseconds and thusmanages to handle any fluctuation in the loads. It was developed by

Shwetank Jain, an IITian, with help from his professor Dr GautamPoddar, as part of his BTech project. Later, he ventured out with hisbusiness organisation P2 Power Solutions, an engineering solutionsprovider that focuses on energy-efficiency and power-qualityenhancement.

Problems faced in normal scenarioiCon takes care of power quality issues like poor PF, harmonics in thesupply system, unbalanced loads and over-current in the neutrals. Thenormal electricity supply we get has a frequency of 50 hertz. However,due to some heavy loads and equipment like motors, drives, UPS,lighting loads and other non-linear loads, wave-forms of other

frequencies which are odd multiples of 50, e.g., 150, 250, 350 or 550hertz, are introduced in the supply system. As a result, harmonicscurrents cause over-heating of the cables and transformers, randomtripping of circuit breakers, or even damage to other machinesconnected to the system. Traditionally used capacitor-banks for PF

improvement further intensify the ill-effects of the harmonic currents. This causes the maintenance costs, energy bills and other overheadcosts to substantially rise up, illustrates Rajeev Pandey, head, product development.

Plugging a power conditioner can help to produce a clean flow of regulated current to the equipment. Pandey feels that iCon is different

from other power conditioners. What sets iCon apart from other power conditioners is its ability to sense the load requirement every200 microseconds, and hence, manage severe fluctuations in the power distributed to equipment. Meanwhile, factor correction system(RTPFC) takes a response time of three to five milliseconds and capacitor-banks controlled by relays take up to three seconds to sensethe load and then do the necessary correction. Therefore these traditional solutions are comparatively much slower in managing the

power fluctuations. Further, the ability of iCon to handle the Holy Grails of power related issueslow PF, harmonics, unbalanced loadand neutral currentsets it apart from all the available products in the market, he says.

How it works?The hardware and software are integrated through an assembly of correct rating,

make and type of the various components, and a proper algorithm to control theworking of these components. The two things interface through a centralmicrocontroller installed in the product. iCon comprises IGBTs, DC capacitors,microcontrollers, current sensors, voltage sensors, relays, inductor chokes and heat



iCon 210A

sinks. It also includes other common hardware components like power supplies,switchgear items, resistors, capacitors, cables/bus-bars and fans/blowers.

The hardware of iCon is quite similar to an inverter. We use self-mademicrocontrollers and the best components available in the market like IGBTs from

Mitsubishi, Fujitsu or Infineon, and LEM sensors, says Pandey.

iCon uses P2 Powers patent-applied software algorithm that is implemented through the two microcontrollers installed in the product.The software in the DSP microcontroller controls the functioning and operation of all the components assembled in the product. Itidentifies an effective physical layout and modifies the design of the load after observing various parameters, area of malfunction and theroot cause of the problem.

The microcontroller breaks down the current requirement of the load into harmonics, reactive current required to make the powerfactor unity, unbalanced current and neutral current. For example, if 100A reactive current, 50A unbalanced and 50A harmonics are

required, a total of 200A is generated and is distributed to the loads as per the requirement. The software algorithm controls thisdistribution of current. The output current is controlled by IGBTs, which is also controlled by a microcontroller. We initially faced manyproblems in trying to stabilise the product and arrive at a perfect tuning between the products hardware and software. This resulted inseveral iterative improvements of the components and the software used to drive these components, thus, helping us make the productvery stable and suitable in all electrical environments, Pandey comments.

Application and costAfter buying the product the user can connect iCon anywhere in the supply systemto thetransformer or to any desired sensitive electronic equipment. The power saved depends onthe power factor of the equipment. For example, if you maintain a high power factor ofabout 0.8, a minimum saving of 50 per cent is guaranteed. If your power factor is 0.4, youwill save at least 75 per cent, says Pandey.

Wherever there is a requirement of power, load-balancing harmonics is an importantaspect. This product is suitable for any industry that consumes power and faces issues inload-balancing.

It can be used in industries like cement, steel, paper, printing, hospitals and shopping malls,just to name a few. The government is trying to enforce regulations on the powerconsumption and the quality of power being maintained by the industries, Pandey adds.



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iCon has been priced significantly lower than similar products. As the product wasdeveloped in a university lab, costs on research and IP has been brought down. Theproduct is available in various current ratings including 15A, 35A, 70A, 100A, 140A,

210A, etc. These units are typically priced between Rs 3500 and Rs 4000 (excluding taxes) per ampere. However, these prices are notapplicable to the units of rating lower than 70A.

Besides these costs the customer has to pay for the packaging and freight charges. P2 Powers scope of work covers the installation andcommissioning of iCon but the customer has to bear the basic cost of trunking and cabling of the unit, and installation of CTs at their site.All these are nominal costs and the total expenditure on installation never exceeds Rs 10,000. Apart from ensuring regular cleaning of theunit, and a dust- and moisture-free environment, iCon doesnt require much maintenance. Its typical life is greater than 40,000 hours.

Whats in store?P2 Power is planning to develop other variants and ratings of iCon in the near future. The company is working on several new featuresrelated to user-interface and user-customisation in the product.

The design of the system will keep on improving. Other special features based on the study of grid-condition at the clients sites andfeedback from the client itself would guaide the type of improvements to be incorporated in the system, Pandey concludes.

The author is from EFY Bureau, Bengaluru

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Active Power Conditioners for Harmonics