Voltage sag in a highly automated plants

Antonio Moreno-Muoz, Victor Pallars, Pedro Galisteo

Area de Electrnica. Dep. Electrotecnia y Electrnica. Universidad de Crdoba Crdoba , SPAIN [email protected]
Abstract: This paper presents results from a power quality audit conducted at a highly automated plant over last year. It was found that the main problems for the equipment installed were voltage sags. Voltage sag analysis is a complex stochastic issue, since it involves a large variety of random factors, such as: type of short-circuits in the power system, location of faults, protective system performance and atmospheric discharges. Among all categories of electrical disturbances, the voltage sag (dip) and momentary interruption are the nemeses of the automated industrial process. The paper analyzes the capabilities of modern power supplies; the convenience of embedded solution is also discussed. Finally it is addressed the role of the Standards on the protection of electronic equipment.

Juan J.G. de-la-Rosa

rea de Electrnica. Dpto. ISA, TE y Electrnica. Universidad de Cdiz Algeciras-Cdiz. SPAIN [email protected] extremely serious problems. These can create problems to sensitive equipment if it is designed to operate within narrow voltage limits, or it does not have adequate ridethrough capabilities to filter out fluctuations in the electrical supply [3]. Instrumentation and control operations require high quality and ultra-reliable power in the quantities and time frames that have not been experienced before. It was estimated that sags below 87% voltage and greater than 8.3 ms in duration at the utility feed to the plant would likely disrupt production [4]. However, nowadays the situation is worse, because more than 30% of the power currently being drawn from the utility companies is used for sensitive equipment, and this amount is growing up [5]. As of today, no standard exists that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the energy provider, the automation equipment manufacturer, or the automated plant themselves in mitigation of PQ-event-caused losses [6]. Overall, as modern economies move into the 21st century, high-tech users are expected to demand for a high SQRA (security, quality, reliability and availability) power supply. In the new and dynamic deregulated electricity environment, this is opening business opportunities for acute energy providers [7]. Reliability is the ability of the power system to supply energy within accepted standards and in the amount desired. Reliability is measured using various indices characterizing frequency, duration, and magnitude of adverse effects on the electric supply. It has been recognized that measures of reliability should include some other power quality issues (such as voltage sag) that are becoming increasingly significant in the digital age [8]. Contemporary thoughts on this topic are quite differently focused; modern power system reliability relates more to [9]: Security. Reducing the vulnerability of the information technology equipment and electricity infrastructures. Quality. Assuring power quality for very large numbers of digital devices. Availability and Reliability. Supporting extreme bus voltage reliability, for example 'five nines' (i.e., 99.999 availability), or six nines or even higher.

I.

INTRODUCTION

With the generalized use of PLCs, adjustable-speed drives (ASDs), computers and other susceptible devices, the subject related to power quality and its relationship to vulnerability of highly automated plants is becoming an increasing concern to the industry. Among all categories of electrical disturbances, the voltage sag (dip) and momentary interruption are the nemeses of the automated industrial processes [1]. Voltage sag is commonly defined as any low voltage event between 10 and 90 percent of the nominal RMS voltage lasting between 0.5 and 60 cycles. Momentary voltage interruption is any low-voltage event of less than 10 percent of the nominal RMS voltage lasting between 0.5 cycles and 3 seconds. In medium voltage distribution networks, voltage sags are mainly caused by power system faults. Fault occurrences elsewhere can generate voltage sags affecting consumers differently according to their location in the electrical network. Even though the load current is small compared to the fault current, the changes in load current during and after the fault strongly influence the voltage at the equipment terminals. It has been discovered that the 85% of power supply malfunctions attributed to poor Power Quality are caused by voltage sag or interruptions of fewer than one second duration [2] Starting large motors can also generate voltage sags, although usually not so severe. In comparison with interruptions, voltage sags affect a larger number of customers and for some customers voltage sags may cause

1-4244-0493-2/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE.

Self-healing and Redundant. Using distributed energy sources (DERs) to improve reliability The paper is organised as follows. In section 2 we present the facility overview; section 3 shows the typical power disturbances that affect electronic equipments; section 4 is devoted to the methodological approach, discussion and analysis of preliminary results; in section 5 we describe the customer-side solutions proposed; and Section 6 is devoted to conclusions. II. FACILITY OVERVIEW The Infrico facility is supplied through a 25kV feeder emanating from a distant substation. The facility has its own 630kVA delta-wye transformer which step-down the 25kV to 230/400V for the panel boards distributed through the building. The Infrico plant is an up to date semi-automatic factory devoted to the manufacturing of refrigerators and cold systems for hostelry and pastry industry. Recently it has incorporated a Flexible Manufacturing System (FSM) from one of the world leading supplier; this is a modular sheet metal FSM for the assembly of the stainless steel cabinet manufactured for the different refrigerators included in Infrico catalog. The cells integrated in the FMS feature either integrated bending, right angle shearing or laser cutting, enhanced by including a hydraulic or servo electric turret punch and its automatic loading /unloading function. In addition it has been incorporated a automatic material handling module which can operate as an automatic raw sheet storage and buffer storage between two fabrication processes or skeleton handling system (including even a possibility for sorting according to material type). III. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS In order to identify the most likely causes of problems detected, on-site inspections of equipment and installations were conducted over the first week of this study. The power site survey followed well-known approaches [10], [11], [12]. This process included: A walk-down of the facilitys electrical system to inspect the condition of equipment and to become familiar with the electrical system. Interviewing electrical facility personnel and end-users about failure of equipment. Identifying and collecting information about the electronic equipment that could be most sensitive to power disturbances. Requesting and reviewing equipment literature and electromagnetic compatibility characteristics. Voltage sag analysis is a complex stochastic issue, since it involves a large variety of random factors, most of them outside the factory limits such as: type of short-circuits, location of faults, protective system performance and atmospheric discharges. The depth of a voltage sag at the terminals of the load depends upon the fault current, the distance between the load and the fault, and the impedance of the intervening cables (including transformers and feeders), among other factors. The duration depends upon the clearing time of the interrupting device.

Aiming to reduce the voltage sags effects on Infrico operations a measurement campaign was conducted, in which a monitor device was connected to the low voltage building entrance and to three more locations inside the industrial facility. The monitoring device selected was a portable, stand-alone, three-phase power quality analyzer. Some of the key monitor requirements were: ability to transfer the surveyed data to in-house computer program, appropriate numerical storage and inexpensive and easy to use. The duration of this monitoring campaign was from May 2004 through April 2005. Although the device installed can monitor various power quality disturbances, only RMS variations (sags and swells), interruptions, and outages are considered. A voltage-dip survey is a very common tool to obtain statistical information on the power-quality performance of a site after the period of observation. The combined information obtained from these surveys gives a good impression of the quality of the supply in the facility.
200 180 160 140 Voltage magnitude % 120 110 100 90 80 60 40 20 0 -4 10 Unacceptable Region Unacceptable Region

10

-2

10 10 Duration in sec.

10

10

Figure 1. Anomalies detected at LV locations over the year on ITIC curve.

The above figure illustrates all the RMS variations that were recorded at the facility (all four locations, all phases) during the monitoring period. This kind of diagram is known as a magnitude-duration scatter plot. It also translates information from the well-known ITIC (Information Technology Industry Council) curve [13], formerly named CBEMA (Computer Business Equipment Manufacturers Association) curve. This curve is generally used to evaluate operational voltage limits for electronic equipment power supplies. We consider this curve only as a reference. The study indicated that an average site will experience about 45 voltage sags and five momentary interruptions every month. A common way of presenting voltage-dip survey results is from a density table. Following the method recommended in IEEE Std. 493 [14] and IEEE Std.1346 [15], it breaks the sags and interruptions down into count versus magnitude versus duration. Each bin of the table gives the (average) number of voltage dips within the given range of magnitude and the given range of duration. One step further of presenting the results is through a cumulative table. It shows

the number of events per site per year that are more severe than the given magnitude and duration. The values obtained in the cumulative voltage-dip table can be interpreted as function values of a two-dimensional function that gives the cumulative dip frequency as a function of magnitude and duration. For figure intermediate function values have been calculated by using the interpolation algorithm found in MATLAB software. The voltage dip contour chart corresponding to that figure (not shown here) is the next one, with contours indicated for dip frequencies equal to 5, 10, 50, 100 and 200 events per year.
90 80 70 Voltage magnitude % 60 50 40 30 20 10 Universal Power Supply (1) Universal Power Supply (2) 40 10 0.6 0.7 0.8 53 200 100 55 20

50

0.1

0.2

0.3 0.4 0.5 Duration in sec.

Figure 2. voltage dip contour chart.

The sensitivity of equipment (power supply in the figure) to voltage sags is usually expressed only in terms of the magnitude and duration of the voltage sag. For this purpose, rectangular voltage-tolerance curve is used. This curve indicates that voltage sag longer than the specified duration and deeper than the specified voltage magnitude will lead to a malfunction. The information obtained from a device can be directly related to the voltage dip contour chart corresponding to the facility. Thus in this case, if a power supply can tolerate voltage dips down to 37% for duration up to 20 ms, the equipment will trip 53 times per year. The first conclusion of this study is that the occurrences of voltage sags at the facility were, indeed, greater than normal. Each event results in 30 min of downtime. Following the financial evaluation method proposed in annex A of the IEEE 1346 Std.[15], each disruption cost about 1300 . The results from the audit show that from the total disruptive sag per month, 7 occur when the plant is in production. IV. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS The general recommendation is to follow well-known ITE installation general guidelines [16]. However, distressed by the frequency of voltage sag occurrences and wishing to avoid an overwhelming capital expenditure in power conditioning equipment, the audit addresses embedded solution approaches. Basically, an embedded solution is the result of a product re-engineering effort undertaken by the manufacturer to

reduce the sensitivity of the equipment to variations in the quality of the power supplied. These measures can range from fairly minor design substitutions for the most sensitive components in a system to major product revisions that incorporate new technologies and possibly require revamping the power scheme inside the equipment. All electronic equipment is supported by an AC-DC diode rectifier followed by a DC-DC voltage regulator. The latter transforms the non-regulated DC voltage from the DC-link into regulated levels. A capacitor is connected to the DClink to reduce the voltage ripple at the input of the voltage regulator. If the AC voltage suddenly drops, the capacitor is discharged not only for half a cycle, as in normal operation, but for a longer period. This drop will continue until a new equilibrium is reached and the DC voltage is lower than the input AC level. The new operation point will have a lower voltage on the DC-bus. The duration of the discharge of the capacitor is directly dependent to the magnitude of the voltage sag, the size of the capacitor and load current. A larger capacitor or higher operating voltage will increase the ride-through capability of the power supply (typicaly raged from 10 to 30 ms). The evaluation of the facility equipment reveals that effective voltage sag ride-through could be achieved by conditioning an extremely small percentage of the facilitys total electrical load. This small percentage consisted of the PLC and microprocessors that control production and facility equipment. It is of common sense that equipment that is designed with built-in power quality immunity is the best way to achieve system compatibility at lower cost, lower complexity, and higher performance compared to the hindsight practice of retrofitting existing equipment with power-conditioning equipment. Specifically, there are three types of embedded solutions: 1. Component Replacement. Replacing the typical weaklink components on the system with more robust devices in order to improve its immunity. 2. Modified Designs. Designing the system to make it more power-quality robust. 3. Supplemental Energy Storage. Embedding on-board energy storage to hold in weak components or subsystems during voltage sag. However, manufacturers of digital equipment may well underinvest in PQ, primarily because it would increase the cost of their products in highly competitive markets whose customers have not yet shown a willingness to pay extra for better power conditioning. Broadly speaking, there are three basic options to improve the robustness of DC power supplies in a system [1],[17]: Upsize existing power supply. Because the amount of voltage sag ride-through time available from a typical linear or switch-mode power supply is directly related to the loading, power supplies should not be running at or near their maximum capacity. Upsizing by at least two times the nominal load will help the power supply

to ride-through voltage sags. This can also be accomplished by adding another identical supply and sharing load with the existing unit. Change to three-phase input DC power supplies. It has been demonstrated the robust responses from standard linear and switch-mode DC power supplies that utilize a three-phase input scheme. Change power supplies to use universal input switching power supplies in every location possible. Typically, the universal input type power supply has a voltage range of 87 to 264Vac. When connected phase-tophase, the power supply can continue to operate for voltage sags as low as 41 percent of nominal (even at full load). In addition its typical hold-up-time or shutdown-time-off can range between 20ms and 170ms. Recently an innovative DC buffer block has been presented, which provides a backup power source or a shutdown time off process for at least 500ms (at 2.5A) to 1s (at 1A) in the event of a glitch or transient interruptions in the supply of power[18] [19]. This dc block, with free-maintenance builtin capacitors, can be connected directly to the 24dc-bus of the power supply to comply with the SEMI F47-0200 standard [20] [21]. Using this complement of power supply for PLC, controllers, and I/O will lead to excellent voltage sag ride-through. In addition and after requesting the utility, it was determined that the feeders serving the facility were experiencing abnormally high fault rates compared to the system average during lightning storms. To alleviate this problem, the utility modified the supply scheme by feeding the plant from another substation. A. Combined heat and power. The most important decision adopted as a consequence of this study has been the installation of a Combined Heat and Power (also known as CHP; cogeneration; or cooling, heating, and power) plant. It can be used to provide thermal energy for buildings or processes while generating at the same time a significant portion of electricity needs. CHP schemes recover the waste heat of thermal generating plants for either industrial processes or space heating and are a well established way of increasing overall energy efficiency. These heating loads include space and water heating, and building cooling and refrigeration loads that can be met by converting waste heat into cooling with absorption chillers. CHP systems are usually more than twice as efficient as the electric power grid for three reasons. The generators can be more efficient than the average of the electric grid. Waste heat can be used on site. And the normal losses from electric transmission and distribution are avoided. In addition, they eliminate UPS, batteries and backup diesel generator, reducing capital and operational cost by 20% or more. Because of these energy efficiency aspects, CHP is also an important technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by electric power generation [22]

There has been a recent upsurge in interest in CHP among distributed energy resources (DER) project developers, because these systems have the potential to significantly reduce key power sector constraints. They offer an opportunity to meet increased energy needs, reduce transmission congestion, cut emissions, increase power quality and reliability, and increase a facilitys overall energy security. In our case the CHP system has the primordial use of meeting plant cooling needs. A compressor-driven cooling system running on electricity could be replaced by an absorption chiller that provides cooling by using rejected heat from power generation or from a natural-gas-fired burner. This system reduces peak load demand by shifting what is typically a large peak-coincident electrical load from air conditioning to a thermal load. From the perspective of the utility, this strategy reduces peak system load at times of greatest demand where the marginal cost of power is the highest. As in most EU Member States, this CHP plant receives a premium payment for the external benefits they generate in terms of environmental protection and improving energy efficiency. Such premiums include the following financial schemes: Investment subsidy for a specific environmentally sound technology, this is a fixed amount received to make the upfront investment possible. Subsidy or other form of extra revenue for the green value of the electricity (feed-in tariff or the sale of a green certificate), this subsidy is received per kWh of electricity produced. Subsidy for the fuel used or a tax exemption (e.g. natural gas consumed for CHP operation may be free of energy tax). V. CONCLUSIONS Common voltage sag not only stops production but can also affect the performance of the cells integrated in a FMS, which directly impact the quality of the product. In each occasion, the equipment must be restarted, and in some cases re-programmed or repaired before production can resume. In this highly automated process the control is the critical system that requires embedded solution. It has been seen [23] that the level of immunity for some power quality phenomena would be insufficient to adequately protect terminating equipment from the disturbances defined in EN 50160. The 95% per week basis for assessing most parameters means that actual power quality could result in considerable disruption in equipment performance and yet meet EN 50160. As stated above, this level of reliability should consider not only service interruptions but also power quality conditions that may cause process disruptions. To educate customers about PQ is vital to the interests of energy providers. Surveys have shown that there is usually a difference between what the customer wants and what he

actually needs. Since an energy provider cannot provide "perfect power," it must educate customers about this while helping them understand that there are several options available for mitigating PQ problems. In conclusion, power quality considerations need to be incorporated into FSM engineering design, exploring the availability and suitability of existing mitigation devices to make the industrial processes more robust under PQ event conditions [7]. VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science for funding the project DPI200300878 which partially supports this work. VII. REFERENCES
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