We wanted to share an exceptional article with you from the Copper Development Association (CDA). If you’re not aware, the CDA is a not-for-profit association that influences the use of copper through research, development, education and technical and end-user support.
Many of the notes in this research article are exactly the points and foundation of the messages we want to convey to electricians and installers. Here are some snippets, but we invite you to take in the entire article. If you have any questions at any time on good power quality management of a premises, please give us a call, we are happy to help.
- “The proliferation of computers and other sensitive devices throughout our manufacturing and office environment has fostered the need to design the electrical systems of buildings with an eye toward power quality issues.”
- “The term “power quality” means different things to different people. One definition is the relative frequency and severity of deviations in the incoming power supplied to electrical equipment from the customary, steady, 60 Hz, sinusoidal waveform of voltage or current. These deviations may affect the safe or reliable operation…”
- “Poor power quality affects the reliable operation of computers and computer-based equipment, which are now so ubiquitous. Often more important than the physical effect on the equipment is the loss of productivity resulting from computer equipment failure, mis-calculations and downtime. In fact, it has been estimated that the total cost to US businesses of this lost productivity is a staggering $15-30 billion per year.”
- “How often does a power quality problem arise? According to a study of 112 sites of differing location, size and type, performed by National Power of Neceda, WI, the average site had 106 disruption events per month, with the worst location having over 4,000 such events. Most disruptions show up in random, difficult-to-reproduce ways, such as a PC that locks up, a PBX that loses calls or a motor that fails prematurely.”
- “The most serious consequence of poor power quality, frequently, is not the physical hardware that may be damaged, but the lost data, reduced productivity and costly downtime. Like most ailments, they are much easier and cheaper to prevent than to diagnose and cure.”