AC/DC Power supply.

The new BET-0900-T, a highly efficient and very robust external AC/DC power supply unit for industrial use with an output of 90 W has been introduced by Bicker Elektronik . It meets the stringent requirements of the US Department of Energy (DoE) for energy efficiency level VI, as well as the current European energy efficiency standard EU-CoC-Tier2. This applies in particular to the power consumption in standby mode, which is less than 0.15 watts and the typical efficiency of 90%.

The external AC/DC power supply with wide-range input of 90 to 264 VAC and active PFC also impresses with its high reliability (MTBF >869,000 hours), which is ensured by the exclusive configuration with +105°C premium electrolytic capacitors and a robust circuit design. Thus, the BET-0900-T is ideally suited for 24/7 continuous operation in the wide operating temperature range of -20°C to + 60°C. Three models are available with accurately regulated DC output voltages of +12V, +19V or +24V. For additional reliability, the BET-0900-T has short circuit and overload protection with auto-restart, as well as over-voltage and over-temperature protection. The isolation voltage between input/output is 4242 VDC. The protective conductor PE (primary) is connected to -Vout (secondary). No base load is required at the output so that the latest generation Intel® Core™mainboards with special power saving modes can be supplied safely. In addition to the current energy efficiency standards, the BET-0900-T has the EN/UL60950-1 safety approvals.

The standard built-in DC hollow connector on the power supply output can be customized for specfic applications by special connectors, such as locking dc plugs. Optional accessories are available from Bicker Elektronik: The Cling Pad KP-01 for quick and easy mounting of the external AC/DC power supply on smooth surfaces, a practical adapter PSZ-1008 (DC jack to screw terminals), the three-pin power cable Y1-132 with IEC-60320-C13 and the DC extension cable CB-TRG-EXT. In addition to the long-term availability of at least 5 years Bicker Elektronik grants a warranty of 3 years on the external AC/DC power supply BET-0900T.

@bicker_de #Pauto 

AC/DC power sources.

The AFV-P Series of precision, programmable AC/DC power sources have been introduced by Intepro Systems. The compact rack-mounted units are available in four power levels – 600VA, 1250VA and 2500VA (2U) and 5000VA (5U) – and provide clean power with distortion less than 0.3% at 50/60Hz.

The AFV-P series delivers output voltage from 0 to 310 VAC and frequency from 40 to 500 Hz (15 to 1000 Hz with the high-frequency option). The devices can also be programmed to provide DC power from 300W to 2500W at 0-210/0-420 VDC. The units feature 300 µs slew rate (for 0-90% change in output voltage) and can deliver up to 4.5 times peak current (crest factor) from its max rated current. The APF-V Series is ideal for commercial, defence and aerospace test applications, from design verification and quality assurance to automated production testing.

Their graphical user-interface software makes it easy to set up complex testing sequences. Transient generation functions provide simulation of voltage variations, surges, drops and frequency disturbances with 1msec programming resolution. The five-inch touch screen with rotary knob allows quick adjustments and configuration of voltage, current and frequency. Users can remotely control the unit via standard interfaces of USB, RS232/RS485, LAN or optional GPIB and analogue control. Free control software and LabVIEW driver are available for easy programming and remote control.

“The AFV-P Series’ high crest factor capability makes it ideal for switching power supply and motor testing,” said Gerard Sheehan, Intepro's Chief Technical Officer. “And its high slew rate enables testing for compliance with IEC-61000-4 or MIL-STD-704F.”

@InteproSystems  #PAuto

Flexible programmable DC power supplies.

Intepro Systems has introduced the PS9000 2U Series of auto-ranging programmable DC power sources with models rated at 1.5kW and 3.0kW. The panel-mounted units operate at 92-93% efficiency. Compared to alternative products in this price/performance class that operate at 82-87% efficiency, Intepro’s PS9000 2U series offers lower heat dissipation and lower operating cost.

Auto-ranging is a unique feature of the PS9000 2U and other Intepro programmable power supplies. Unlike competitive DC sources that provide rated power only when maximum voltage is applied to the load, the auto-ranging output stage is capable of delivering maximum rated power to the load when test requirements call for lower output voltage or current. This feature eliminates the need to purchase a unit with a higher power rating to accommodate a range of test conditions.

“The many companies – from aerospace and industrial to automotive and telecommunications – that integrate DC power supply units into test stands know that dealing with proper cooling is always something that must be considered,” said Gerard Sheehan, Intepro's Chief Technical Officer. “The higher efficiency of the PS9000 2U can better meet their cooling needs while also simplifying system design and reducing infrastructure costs.”

DC power relay!

To address the growing market for high voltage DC battery powered systems and renewable energy applications, Omron Electronic Components Europe (OCB-EU) has added an efficient new DC power relay suitable for bicycle and scooter charging stations, UPSs, battery management systems, elevators, industrial robots, solar / wind generation systems and other applications.

The new Omron G9EJ-1-E is capable of interrupting 15A at 400VDC yet draws only 1.2W while switching. In order to allow the relay to interrupt high currents without the contacts deteriorating, the device features a proprietary high efficiency magnetic circuit that suppresses arcing. The G9EJ-1-E also benefits from Omron’s proprietary contact driving system, which improves inrush current withstand performance and enhances component life.

Sized at just 31mm x 27mm x 44mm, the new relay weighs just 50g and offers a compact, efficient solution for switching in high voltage DC powered systems. Features include a high insulation of 1000 MegaOhms between contacts and a sealed housing. A wide contact gap gives a high dielectric strength of 2500 VAC. The mounting brackets allow the application designer to secure the relay in any position. The relay is supplied with spade terminals allowing quick connection with industry standard connectors. The relay carries UL/CSA and VDE approval to support international applications.

High power contacts for VPC Mass InterConnect systems

The Peak Group has a range of high power contacts in the British market for the Mass InterConnect systems produced by Virginia Panel Corporation (VPC).

Designed for use in high power testing, the new contacts offer current ratings up to 150 A. Rapid connection is ensured when the contacts are installed in VPC’s iCon and i1 high power InterConnect solutions, with six contacts possible in the iCon and four in the i1.

Both the iCon and i1 systems have an innovative engagement mechanism with spring-loaded locking tabs and built-in lubrication that secures the connection with a quick half-turn of the handle. The engagement mechanism ensures a quick and easy connect and disconnect every time.

VPC's high power contacts are gold-plated for signal integrity and reliability, and use highly flexible Cooner 2 AWG wire for maximum reliability.

Applications include testing high power battery systems for hybrid and electric cars.

Annual Marketing Budgets for Suppliers in the Power Industry

The overall size of the marketing budgets of power industry supplier companies reveals the current investment into this area by competitors. The average size of the global, annual marketing budget of power industry supplier respondents in 2009 was US$3 million (€2.3m), a figure that has declined to US$2.8 million (€2.1m) in 2011 according to this report from ICD Research. This implies that companies have a keen focus on continued cost control to adapt with lower demand and are therefore exercising caution in allocating their marketing budget.

For 2011, 75% of supplier respondents projected low marketing budgets of less than US$250,000 (€190,287). The advancement of technologies such as email and social media marketing has increased focus on these low cost and highly effective marketing channels. Companies are spending an increasingly higher proportion of their marketing budgets on more effective marketing strategies. In order to reduce their marketing expenditure, many supplier companies plan to enhance the internal alignment between sales and marketing functions, which will enable them to create consistent messaging using limited marketing resources.

This table shows the annual marketing budgets of respondents from 2009 - 2011 (©IDC Research)

Mission critical at eBay!

Infrastructure investment to avoid $2,000 per second impact for downtime

When one of the largest companies in the e-commerce industry, looks to increase the stability of its data center, a critical component to its business strategy, a central “must-have” is continuous power. To that end, eBay chose a mission critical system that includes Quad PAC Redundancy Control Systems from GE Intelligent Platforms.

eBay reports that its transactions total approximately $60 billion per year in goods, which translates to almost $2,000 per second.

The company started a strategic infrastructure project called Topaz in 2010 that would increase the stability of eBay’s data centers as well as enable further growth. Topaz, located near Salt Lake City, Utah, was the first data center that the company built from scratch and was also the beginning of a project to reduce eBay’s use of co-located data centers and simultaneously reduce company-owned facilities. In addition, management was interested in an eBay-only facility that would maximize efficiencies by tailoring capacity and availability to needs specific to its core business.

“Our data centers make up more than 50% of our global power usage,” said Dean Nelson, eBay Senior Director of Global Foundational Services. “I pay that power bill, so economic and ecological efficiency was a must.”

eBay worked with RTKL, a global design firm that provides services to deliver a comprehensive and customized design of mission critical projects. The Topaz facility was a “green field” development focused on the design principles of reliability, maintainability, sustainability and efficiency. As a result of the design and construction efforts and the subsequent power usage savings, the Topaz facility achieved a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold rating in 2010.

In order to provide the high availability (Tier IV design) that eBay wanted, and minimize the requirements of redundant switchgear and generator plant, a ring bus with six breaker transfer switchgear was specified at Topaz. The Tier IV design not only required that distribution equipment be fault tolerant, but the controls need to be as well. Generator control switchgear from Russelectric was commissioned. The Russelectric team pre-tested, qualified and implemented the GE Quad PAC redundant control system on the project.

The Quad PAC solution features “Smart Redundancy,” an algorithm that continually calculates the relative system availability in real time and delivers predictive analysis on key process input variables. A quad redundancy control system has a Master Controller and three synchronized backup controllers. It leverages Ethernet-based I/O devices that can seamlessly arbitrate its control from one of the four controllers in the system. If the Master Controller, or any of the system components fail, the system identifies the best backup controller to take over and provides the system with the most capability to withstand the next sequence of multiple or cascaded system failures.

“Within the physical infrastructure, our backups need to have backup,” said eBay’s Nelson. “We have to be prepared for multiple failures at any different point. This system offers three complete levels of backup which provides us with the near-zero downtime we need for our mission critical data centers.”

The Quad PAC controlled switchgear was designed with a voting scheme where triple inputs are sent to the PLC system. The best of the three dictates the state of the device. This helps reduce wiring issues, loose connections over time and the impact of human error which accounts for approximately 60% of all failures in a data center.

“The Quad PAC is a great solution for data centers, hospitals and other facilities where critical processes are automated,” said Bernie Anger, Vice President of GE Intelligent Platforms Control & Communications Systems. “It uses a unique and revolutionary ‘predictive intelligence’ that provides security and peace of mind for organizations that just can’t afford to go down.”

Software deployed in coal, wind and gas power generation

Predictive diagnostics to be used in combined-cycle, coal, wind, and gas storage—along with new research project on boiler tube leaks

SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) is widely expanding its use of GE Intelligent Platforms' Proficy® SmartSignal predictive-diagnostic software and services. This is in recognition of initial value achieved by implementing the SmartSignal solutions in its coal and combined-cycle plants and SSE’s desire to provide this same level of protection for all of its critical equipment across all diversified assets.

SSE supplies energy to 10 million customers throughout Great Britain, is independently recognized as the best energy supplier for customer service on the island, and is Britain's leading generator of electricity from renewable sources. In the spring of 2010, SSE chose Proficy SmartSignal solutions to protect its entire large thermal fleet. This agreement covered all coal and combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants in Britain, consisting of 6.5 GW of generating capacity. The contract included fleet-wide licenses of GE’s flagship Proficy SmartSignal Epi-center solution, along with Proficy SmartSignal xConnector software, which provides a comprehensive gateway between Epi-center and the OSIsoft PI System™. This purchase also included implementation of the first two units: a CCGT unit at Medway and a coal-fired unit at Fiddler’s Ferry.

With the new agreement, SSE will expand its use of Proficy SmartSignal software beyond its thermal fleet to wind farms and gas storage. SSE will begin trials at its Toddleburn wind site, including all 12 Siemens turbines, along with the Aldborough Gas Storage site, including three Siemens gas compressors. If successful, these tests will lead to further expansion across the wind fleet and incremental gas storage assets.

Also, SSE will expand implementation across combined-cycle units by adding the Keadby and Peterhead plants. Covered equipment will include all combustion turbines and generators, steam turbines and generators, HRSGs, feed pumps, condensers, and condensate pumps.

According to Erik Udstuen, GE Intelligent Platforms Vice President, Software and Services, SSE and GE also will be partnering in an unusual and innovative R & D project to develop a software product to provide early warning and location of boiler tube leaks.

“Tube leaks in coal-fired boilers are leading causes of forced outages and lost production. GE will expand upon its initial work in this area, along with SSE boiler-expert and operator feedback. A resulting product would revolutionize the industry, helping operators to minimize the damage caused by leaks, reduce the time to repair, and make repairs during off-peak production,” he said.

Neil Connolly, Engineering Centre Manager of SSE, further explained the partnership, “Through our initial purchase, GE has proven its industry leadership and engineering expertise, and we’re really excited about working with them—and having the best monitoring and maintenance equipment across our gas storage and wind farms.”

Dual voltage programmable power source

 Provides regulated output and voltages for dips and drops testing

Teseq has released the VAR 3005, a dual voltage power source controlled by Teseq’s NSG 3000 series of EMC test generators. This new programmable power source not only regulates test voltage, but also generates the reduced voltage for dips and drops testing of EUTs (Equipment Under Test).

The VAR 3005, controlled using either the NSG 3000’s front panel display or the WIN 3000 PC software, has internal advanced microprocessor based electronics. The unit features advanced self-regulation and has several self-test features including self-check, AC power voltage check and phase rotation check, as well as the ability to either inform users or stop a test if the test conditions are not correct.

With electrical performance parameters in compliance with IEC 61000-4-11:2004, the VAR 3005, together with NSG 3040 or NSG 3060 generators, can generate mains dips, drops and variation tests for equipment with a current rating below 16 A. The EUT supply input voltage range is from 10 to 240 VAC, while the output voltage is adjustable from 0 to 265 VAC.

Based on plug and play technology, the VAR 3005 auto-configures tests for the user in order to prevent user errors such as setting voltages out of range. The unit also has the ability to automatically turn off the EUT in the event of a power overload.

A single output source model of the VAR 3005 is also available for applications where dual source is not required.

Valves for Chinese nuclear plants

Emerson Process Management has been awarded two multi-million dollar purchase orders from Westinghouse Electric Company for critical control valves to be used in the first of two AP1000™ pressurised water reactors at both the Sanmen and Haiyang nuclear power plants in China.

Emerson’s Fisher® air-operated control valves will serve several functions related to operational safety in the nuclear containment area. As part of the safety-related system, the valves are engineered to comply with government requirements, including ASME Section III standards for components of nuclear facilities, and undergo rigorous qualification testing at the new Emerson Innovation Center in Marshalltown, (IO, US). The valves' actuators are sized in accordance with EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) guidelines to ensure adequate operating margins that meet industry standards. To confirm they can operate after a seismic event, they are also designed and tested to survive 6g (6 times gravity) vibration loads in three axes.

In the passive residual heat removal system of the AP1000™ nuclear power plant, Emerson’s Fisher control valves will help achieve proper plant cooling during shutdown. Engineers at Emerson have developed a specially modified ball valve that fits into the limited space available while meeting three key requirements: highly efficient flow during shutdown to provide cooling through a natural convection process without the assistance of the reactor coolant pump; tight shut-off when the plant is in operation to maintain efficiency; and accurate throttling control for all flowing conditions. Extensive testing demonstrated to Westinghouse that the new valve design could meet all specified flow requirements.

Wind turbine monitoring

Bently Nevada™ ADAPT™.wind condition-based monitoring decreases downtime, reduces cost, and improves reliability

With a massive fleet of wind turbines coming off warranty and an anticipated installed-base growth of 475% over the next 5 years, companies are adopting condition-based maintenance (CBM) strategies to decrease down time, reduce cost, and improve reliability. CBM in wind turbines, like in combustion and steam turbines and generators, is the process of monitoring the condition of machinery, scheduling maintenance, and avoiding failures. This solution already has over 700 units in the order and installation process.

Wind farms are exposed to some unique challenges. Change of wind speeds, load conditions, and environmental conditions all contribute to the complexity of operating wind turbines. In addition, wind farms are spread out over acres or even across miles, and the gearboxes are located several hundred feet into the air. This makes it difficult for a technician to predict or diagnose an issue with the turbine. Advanced condition monitoring techniques and experience are critical to reliably monitor the wind asset.

One integrated condition-based monitoring system, Bently Nevada™ Advanced Distributed Architecture Platform Technology (ADAPT™.wind) from GE, enables operators to understand the condition of the asset without having to physically examine the machinery. By utilizing the intelligence of the system, operators can understand the severity of the defect, make corrections, and continue to generate revenue if the defect is insignificant.

ADAPT.wind CBM also allows operators to plan for maintenance, coordinate outages for closely clustered units, and proactively monitor units with anomalies, instead of running to failure or tripping the unit on an anomaly. Being able to understand the condition and health of the wind farm’s machinery, an operator can consolidate maintenance for one time and schedule one crane, realizing hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.

The ADAPT.wind software is the standard condition monitoring solution on GE’s wind turbine units and can be readily deployed on most manufacturers’ equipment.

Power sources reduces energy consumption

Power source reduces energy consumption in grid-tied inverter testing

The California Instruments brand MX Series AC / DC Power Source from AMETEK Programmable Power is now available with a power sink option (SNK) that dramatically reduces the total energy consumed in the production testing of grid-tied inverters designed for distributed resources such as solar energy systems. By utilizing the MX Series to simulate the interconnection with the utility grid, the output power generated by the inverter is returned to the grid saving over 85% of the energy consumption. The MX Series programmable source may be programmed to simulate utility power variability (voltage, frequency, harmonic distortion) necessary to test the inverter's ability to source energy to the grid. In addition, the unit can dynamically test the inverter's ability to comply with the anti-islanding tests required of grid-tied distributed resources. Islanding is the term used to describe the unsafe operation of a distributed resource in the event of a loss of utility power.

“The use of the MX Series in this application can result in significant reduction of energy usage in production testing,” comments Eric Turner, AMETEK product manager for solar energy test systems. “Instead of using a load bank to dissipate the energy in the form of heat, over half of the energy is returned to the grid. And the added energy costs needed for cooling are also eliminated.”

The California Instruments MX Series is available in power levels from 15 kVA to 270 kVA. The MX Series uses a sophisticated digital signal processor-based arbitrary waveform generator and power analyzer. This integrated, multi-instrument approach effectively eliminates the need for additional equipment to create a complete AC and DC power test system. Using a large graphical LCD display, the advanced measurement and analysis capabilities can be accessed directly from the front panel without the need for remote control. IEEE-488, RS-232C, USB and Ethernet interfaces are included and Windows™ Graphical User Interface application software comes with each MX unit.