Transients Your Number 1 Power Quality Problem
In today's digital age, companies are more reliant than ever on electronic systems and microprocessor-based controls to efficiently run and maintain their operations while maximizing profits. These electronic control circuits are found in many of these critical systems such as water and waste water treatment facilities, traffic control systems, point of sale terminals, automated manufacturing, accounting, air traffic control systems, computer systems, 911 communications centers, health care facilities, security systems, emergency trauma centers and countless other components of our industrial, commercial and military sectors.
Powerful yet delicate, electronic circuit controls are susceptible to damage from common, often undetected, everyday voltage surges called transients. As the single most common and destructive power quality event, transients cost companies billions of dollars per month in equipment damage or failure, system downtime and lost profit-generating opportunities.
What is a Transient?
Transients are brief but powerful over-voltages and over-currents lasting up to a few hundred microseconds (as defined by ANSI/IEEE C62), reaching in excess of 100,000 volts. Transient sources vary from external sources such as lightning, power system faults and utility grid switching, to internal sources which are generated by load switching (turning equipment on and off) and normal equipment operation, including electronic equipment. While much lower in voltage and current as compared to external sources, internal switching transients can occur over 1,000,000 times per hour in active industrial environments (ref. Figure 1).
Figure 1: Actual power quality survey test plot showing repetitive transients at the output of a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) drive.
The Effects of Transients
External Sources
While dramatic and frequently catastrophic, lightning and power distribution system faults represent only about 20% of overall transient-related activity. A single high-energy transient can cripple an entire system for extended periods of time, causing process interruptions, costly downtime and rapidly eroding profits from the costs associated with equipment repair or replacements, low customer satisfaction and lost opportunity.
Internal Sources
Internally generated load switching can produce over 1,000,000 transients per hour in active industrial environments causing cumulative damage and eventual system failure. Even without a single lightning strike, power system anomalies and internally generated transient activity cause premature board failure, operational errors and decreased productivity.
Surge Suppression Incorporated Provides You with a Competitive Edge
From Fortune 500 corporations to small businesses, the need for quality surge protection exists for every sector of commercial, industrial, and governmental applications. Integrated protection systems, like our Optimal Protection Network™, provide critical protection against damage and even more costly downtime and lost productivity. Safeguarding critical systems is not only a prudent precaution, but it also provides a significant competitive advantage.
Your Cost for Prevention Is Already Paid
The investment needed to protect your systems from damaging transient-related activity using our Optimal Protection Network™ is already in your budget! In many cases, the reduction in your yearly electrical-related equipment maintenance and repair cost will yield an ROI in less than one year, or immediately with the next lightning strike, downed power line or overly curious squirrel in a power transformer.
Rapid Return on Investment
Annual Pre Install Maintenance $7,814,718
Annual Post Install Maintenance $2,865,107
SPD Cost $2,679,350
Annual Savings $4,949,611
Payback Period (yrs.) 0.54
U.S. NAVY Analysis of Pre/Post Installation of Surge Suppression Systems on 23 Surface Ships