34.5kV Plastics Manufacturing
Primary Power Services successfully completed the turnkey installation of an electrical power distribution system at the Client’s specialty plastics manufacturing facility. As the Client’s engineering consultant, we collected data on current and voltage distortion, identified the source of the problem, and made recommendations for their original facility. As a result of our ability to identify and mitigate the problem, the Client awarded Primary Power Services the electrical power and control design and installation for their new, expanded facilities.
The original facility’s major load was four (4) plastic extrusion lines that, when operated simultaneously, produced voltage and current distortion levels in excess of IEEE 519 standards. The local utility had adopted this standard as the upper limit for the facility’s service. After analyzing the data collected onsite, we recommended installation of passive harmonic filters and isolation transformers. The Client acted upon Primary Power Services’s recommendation, which provided a temporary solution to excess harmonic distortion.
Growth in the Client’s customer base required that the facility be relocated and expanded to ten (10) extrusion lines. The relocation/expansion design involved re-using some of the original passive harmonic filters and isolation transformers, as well as ten (10) new harmonic-canceling transformers. Alternate distortion mitigation methods were considered, but given the technology available and the facility requirements, Primary Power Services recommended this as the best solution to the problem. Power factor, which had been a problem at the original facility, was also addressed in the new design. The facility’s present voltage distortion does not exceed 1% total harmonic distortion (THD), with the current distortion below 4% THD on most days. Additionally, the facility’s power factor operates within the limits prescribed in local utility’s tariff.