Lady Engineer
Senior Member
- Location
- New Jersey
I've never used or spec'd one, but I was hoping someone could tell me if it's worth the money to use these with panels that power sensitive equipment.
Or are you thinking of Sola ferro-resonant transformers?
http://www.solahevidutysales.com/power_conditioning.htm
But the product mentioned in post #4 is entirely from the above.Yours is an isolation transformer product.In post # 4 is a CVT product.
Yes, I saw that. I didn't read it carefully, before I said yes. I can see no one has probably used one here. I was thinking of the ILC or Onyx, like I posted before.
If you know this product is worth it, please tell me, if not I will just ask around to some of my other fellow engineers.
There used to be many different manufacturers of these products.
Although, my experience is that most of time these are not needed, each application needs to be evaluated independently, I would need more information about your system before I passed judgement.
With advances in switched mode power supplies and UPS technology and pricing, I do not see them being specified as much as i used to.
Pretty bland. However on the same page they are hawking this:High Efficiency Power Conditioning Transformer
The ONYX Energy Guard transformer incorporates energy efficient and power conditioning together with a high reliability design suitable for critical loads.
That is very "scammish" in my opinion, they appear to be promoting this as an energy saving device. That would make it a scam.POWER CUBE TRANSFORMER
Features:
Lower operating costs
Lower heat generation / less cooling capacity required
Reduced greenhouse emissions
Meets TP-1 efficiency standards
Qualifies for LEED building criteria
Optional revenue-accurate metering connection port
Integral electrical performance & commissioning capability via ONYX nationwide service team
Customizable load level efficiency maximization
Customer-specific power quality characteristics available
Independently verified efficiency testing & verification
Real-time efficiency status monitoring capability
Long term warranty available
It's basically a shielded isolation transformer and TVSS all in one, but it is only 15kVA. That would be something you would install on an office complex with a data server, something like that. I wouldn't bother with it for "controls".How the ILc-15000 works
This ILc line conditioner utilizes a low-impedance
transformer, capacitors and ultra-fast Metal
Oxide Varistors (MOVs) in an optimized 3-way
noise filtering and IEC 61312 compliant surge
protection design to provide maximum protection
of sensitive industrial and telecommunications
equipment against harmful surges, spikes and
noise produced by lightning strikes, utility grid
switching and heavy machinery turn on and off
cycles. The neutral-ground bond at the output
winding of the transformer also provides
maximum protection against the harmful effects
of stray voltage and/or noise on the neutral
conductor.
The Onyx POWER (not Energy) unit appears to just be an isolation transformer. But they make you sign up as a customer before they let you download information, that always makes me suspicious, like they have something to hide or are trying to make money selling your email address. I refused, so I don't know what it is. But here is the brief description:
Pretty bland. However on the same page they are hawking this:
That is very "scammish" in my opinion, they appear to be promoting this as an energy saving device. That would make it a scam.
The other one from TSI Power is much more legitimate:
It's basically a shielded isolation transformer and TVSS all in one, but it is only 15kVA. That would be something you would install on an office complex with a data server, something like that. I wouldn't bother with it for "controls".
99% of PLC control systems now use Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) as their power source, and the SMPS units will include the line filtering and surge protection. It's OK to add more, but may be unnecessary in most cases. In the "olden days" when they all had linear power supplies, you did have to use power conditioners ahead of them. Not so much any more. Marketing depts for power conditioner companies seem to have not been interested in losing that potential market though, so they still mention it in their literature.
Bottom line if you have equipment that you KNOW is very sensitive to voltage flucutations and spikes, a power conditioner is not a bad idea. For a Water Treatment Plant control system however it seems a bit of over kill in my opinion. But we don't know what your control system is. If it is an old DCS system, might not be a bad idea. Modern PLC based SCADA system? Kind of redundant. If you need a UPS, that's another matter, but if so, then 99% of UPS systems will have this included anyway.
Nice, very good assessment. I told the facility engineer, that he only needs the UPS for clean power. He's hell bent on this conditioning transformer, and I for one will not approve this. I'm the consultant to a Civil Engineering firm, and it's my duty to give the firm my recommendations for the job. However, I'd heard of the conditioning XFMRs, but never actually spec'd one. I just didn't see the need, but if he wasn't going to let it rest, I figured I'd at least see what others thought of it.
Thanks again for your response. This is all I was really looking for.
A UPS may be fed from a power conditioner to enhance the battery life.
I had the same thoughts.I don't see how this is possible. The one of the purposes of a UPS is to take cruddy power and deliver clean. The batteries aren't involved unless there isn't enough energy coming in to make the energy going out (+overhead). Are you/they suggesting that by removing momentary draws on the batteries the life is improved measurable? How much?
This doesn't pass the sniff test here. Can someone else explain?
I don't see how this is possible. The one of the purposes of a UPS is to take cruddy power and deliver clean. The batteries aren't involved unless there isn't enough energy coming in to make the energy going out (+overhead). Are you/they suggesting that by removing momentary draws on the batteries the life is improved measurable? How much?
This doesn't pass the sniff test here. Can someone else explain?
You made the claim.Suspend your judgement .I have sent a e-mail to that company through
http://www.vektek.com/ContactUs.aspx
Let them explain themselves.
You made the claim.
Why don't you support it yourself?