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Power quality portfolio senses and mitigates problems
Published:  30 September, 2013

Rockwell Automation has announced a series of power quality identification and monitoring products and services designed to help identify power irregularities and to mitigate their impact.

“Power quality issues are responsible for a significant amount of unplanned downtime, yet power quality is often overlooked as a key productivity variable,” says Scott Harlan, product manager for Rockwell’s power-quality portfolio. “Our new monitoring and mitigation solutions help identify where and when voltage sags and outages occur, and offer corrective actions to improve performance.”

Rockwell says that data it has collected from several thousand sites suggests that most downtime events are the result of short-duration voltage sags, commonly lasting less than 0.1s. While barely perceptible, these sags can impact the performance of individual equipment and the facility as a whole.

The new portfolio includes voltage monitor called i-Sense, a dynamic sag corrector called DySC, and a service called i-Grid that logs, analyses and corroborates i‑Sense data in real time.

The i-Sense monitors read incoming power for an entire site. The data can be used to pinpoint voltage-based power events, and to reveal relationships between voltage sags and downtime.

Rockwell Automation's i-Sense can monitor power across a site

The subscription-based i-Grid service logs and analyses i‑Sense data via Ethernet or modem connections to confirm whether power-quality issues are the result of a grid event. The service also can send instant notifications to facility managers that a power event has occurred, enabling them to diagnose downtime and to resume operations quickly.

The DySC dynamic sag corrector uses a patented, double-conversion inverter technology to protect against brief voltage sags and momentary outages. The corrector can be scaled from 0.25–2000kVA, offering machine- to facility-wide protection. It provides 100% sag protection without needing batteries, compressors, pumps or flywheel bearings. The system is optimised to respond quickly at voltage peaks, with a typical peak voltage detect time of 1ms, and can provide continuous, uninterrupted power for up to 5s.