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T.M.Haja Sahib
Guest
Does the Code admit that a voltage stabilizer can also be used for reduction in energy usage in a building?Thanks
- Status
- Location
- Massachusetts
The 'code' neither admits or denies any such thing.
But the NEC allows voltage regulators to be installed.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
The so-called "voltage stabilizers" I have seen advertised are a scam (they are not voltage regulators in the traditional sense). Their theory (if you want to call it that) is that minor variations in voltage cause a significant loss of energy efficiency and must be "stabilized" to improve performance of devices. Their method is to use SCRs to lower all incoming voltages to the lowest level among them. That's it. They are helpful in a few cases where you have severe voltage imbalances and the lowest is still within tolerance, but otherwise they have the potential to do more harm than good, because a much more likely scenario is that one voltage level is significantly low, not high, so you end up bringing all down to that low level. These scammers operate on the knowledge that most people understand very little about electrical power distribution or use and are desperate to reduce energy costs, so they will believe any good story.
:slaphead:
:slaphead:
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T.M.Haja Sahib
Guest
Actually,some power companies effected significant saving in energy consumption by reducing the grid voltage.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
Good for the power company, not for the consumer.
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T.M.Haja Sahib
Guest
How so? The lessons learned by the power company in this case may be applicable to the individual consumers.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
When a utility does a system wide voltage reduction, the total kW may go down (temporarily) from their prespective. But at each individual point of use, that reduced voltage can have very negative effects on the equipment. AC induction motors will lose torque, increase slip and still attempt to put out the power required to do the work they are designed to do. That means higher current and more heat in the motor. DC motors will slow down. Power Supplies will run hotter. Air Conditioning systems will have less capacity, so will have to run longer to do the same cooling capacity. Incandescent lighting and resistive heating systems will use less power during the voltage lowering period, but the output will be less. So for many of these point of use systems, whatever they do will take longer which means the kWh will be the same, just the production values per hour will drop for the user. So the utility gets the same NET revenue for the energy they produce, but the end users get less productivity for it and increased maintenance.
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T.M.Haja Sahib
Guest
The subject power company dealt with a grid system of predominantly resistive loads and whatever savings they realized were in turn realized by their customers in proportion.As for the increased maintenance and other costs,they could be set off against the total savings of individual customers with a net positive energy savings.What more is required?
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
With resistive heating you have not reduced the amount of energy required to make the heat. You have just spread the energy use over a longer period of time. The cost to user does not change.
With lighting, you get less light and if the reduced amount of light is acceptable (that is you don't turn on more lights to get the lighting level you want) there is some energy (cost) savings.
iMuse97
Senior Member
- Location
- Chicagoland
Proof.
Plant managers don't deal in the theoretical. They need solid numbers, and have to show them at the end of the quarter, or take a charge for the quarter and then the expectations for the next quarter are twice as high.
- Status