Sinexcel SVG Reduces Printing Plant Operating Costs

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Beacon Print

Features

  • Reduced power bills
  • Outstanding performance
  • Unaffected by harmonics
  • Simple installation
  We are pleased Pope Electrical recommend the SVG to improve our power factor after the continued failures we were having with our old capacitor based system. The SVG has all but completely eliminated our power factor penalty charges Scott Povery, General Manager, Beacon Print

Hastings based Beacon Print are a commercial offset web printers offering a variety of newspaper print options. A recent operation relocation threw up some issues around power factor correction that need resolving. Although their old premises had an automatic power factor system, it was capacitor based and Beacon Print’s electrical contractors, Pope Electrical, were regularly replacing failed capacitors at the old plant.  The new premises had no power factor correction equipment and the operation was being penalised some $7,600 per year for poor PF by their electricity suppliers.

Given their experience with the old maintenance intensive PFC system, Pope Electrical sought a superior PFC solution on behalf of their client.  Power Electronics’ sales engineer James Laugesen was asked by Pope’s Gary Johnston whether the recently launched Sinexcel SVG inverter based PFC equipment would be suitable.  James arranged the installation of PENZ power quality meters and collated power data from the site.  After analysing the recorded power data and the power utilities billing, James and the Power Electronics NZ engineers concluded that the site required around 180kVAr of PFC. 

There was also a question as to the performance of the SVG system, given the harmonic loading generated by the printing press main DC drive (peaking to around 40% THDi).  It was this high peak THDi that was deemed to be responsible for the repeated capacitor failures at the old plant.

A 100kVAr SVG module was temporally installed to prove its ability to handle the relatively high background harmonics.  Over the 4 week trial, the 100kVAr module was operating at 100% capacity and although too small for the application, it was actually correcting to around 0.95 Cos Phi, apart from the times that the printing press was being inched in preparation for a print run.

Scott Povey, Beacon Print General Manager, was acutely aware of the PF penalties that were appearing on every electricity bill. He was advised by James and Gary that the SVG system would eliminate these penalties (averaging  $640.00 per month), and the news that the improved PF would also allow the site to drop one electricity tariff band, providing an additional $2,555.00 savings per annum, was music to his ears - in all, providing an annual saving of $10,132.00 per year.

The go ahead was given to proceed with the installation of a 200kVAr SVG system, which had a payback of less than 2 years.

The PF graph taken from the power utility’s website says it all.

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