CONTROL’s Monthly Resource Guide
Every month, Control’s editors take a specific product area, collect all the latest, significant tools we can find, and present them here to make your job easier. If you know of any tools and resources we didn’t include, send them to [email protected], and we’ll add them to the website.
CONTROL THE DATA
Dranetz Technologies
800/372-6832
“Advances in Data Reduction Techniques for Power Quality Instrumentation” covers recent advances in power quality instrumentation and software post-processing that can help reduce the burden of analyzing the power information. Advances in software technology and artificial intelligence tools are examined for their role in the classification of events and implementation of rules-based expert systems.
POWER QUALITY TROUBLESHOOTING
Fluke
800/443-5853
Application note provides information on how to troubleshoot power quality problems and how to fix them. Power quality covers a wide range of issues, from voltage disturbances, such as sags, swells, outages and transients, to current harmonics and performance wiring and grounding.
MOTOR LOAD SLIDE RULE
Load Controls, Inc
888-600-3247
Free slide rule shows why measuring power is more effective than measuring just amps. Monitoring power gives you valuable information about mixture viscosity, pump or fan flow, beginning or end of a process and optimum feed rate. This easy-to-use tool visually demonstrates the relationship between power, power factor, amps and motor power.
UNDERSTANDING POWER
TSI Power
715/623-0636
Website contains a selection of whitepapers, articles and case studies on many aspects of surge protection, line conditioning, grounding, device coordination strategies, sizing and creating power support for mission-critical systems.
PROLONGING EQUIPMENT LIFE
Ditek
800/753-2345
This paper addresses power issues that have the most detrimental effects on electronic equipment and electronically controlled machinery. The number one cause of equipment downtime (other than user error, neglect or abuse) is poor power quality. Paper lists inexpensive procedures to reduce system downtime due to poor power quality.
POWER QUALITY COURSES
Mindconnection
913/831-7483
Website lists power quality courses on harmonics and other power-quality problems. You’ll also learn how to mitigate underlying electrical problems, so you can improve power quality. Some courses include electrical harmonics causes and cures, grounding versus bonding, and wiring methods and materials.
WHAT IS A UPS SYSTEM?
Tripp-Lite
773/869-1111
Technology Primer defines what a UPS system is. Sections include causes power problems, effects of power problems, how does a UPS work to save power problems, important UPS features, how to compare and choose the level of backup protection needed, and typical UPS applications.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
ONEAC
847/816-6000
Tech Tips on this website presents power conditioning questions and answers. You’ll get answers to questions such as what is power conditioning and why do I need it; what types of equipment can benefit from power conditioning; what causes electrical noise; and what benefits will I see if I use a power conditioner?
MISSION CRITICAL POWER
Chloride Engineering
800/327-8801
Whitepaper “Protect Mission Critical Electronics in the Industrial Environment” addresses issue of the inherently poor power environment of an industrial facility and aging power generation and distribution facilities, both inside and outside of the plant. Subtitles include mission critical elements, levels of protection, total protection solution, power line issues, voltage sags and more.
QUALITY PROBLEMS
Axiom Engineering
416/410-5697
The concept of power conditioning involves a range of topics in order to provide facility wide power protection. As microprocessors become smaller and faster, they are more sensitive and may be damaged by repetitive low-level transients and noise caused by lightning, power grid switching, switching power supplies, large motor loads and variable frequency drives. This whitepaper lists significant types of quality problems that are commonly found in modern installations.
