Due to factors such as climate change, in recent years the risk of power outages and dips* has been rising. Even extremely short voltage drops, such as dips caused by lightning strikes, can cause production equipment to malfunction or stop. These may lead to serious damage.
*A dip (instantaneous voltage dip) is defined as a voltage decrease lasting 0.07 to 2 seconds often caused by trouble in transmission lines or other grid faults
Company J, a beverage manufacturer that processes milk and manufactures dairy products and soft drinks, had been experiencing power supply problems for several years. Ms. K, manager of the production control department, shared her experiences with us.
"Every time there was a power failure or dip, equipment would shut down, significantly reducing our production efficiency. The biggest problem was the homogenizer stopping. A homogenizer is a machine that emulsifies the particles in liquids. Dairy products such as milk tend to settle and float, so homogenizers are used to agitate them to mix the material. However, when a power failure or dip occurs, it takes about three hours to restart, and raw materials would often need to be discarded. Wasting food is painful, but even more painful is our inability to stabilize production," lamented Ms. K.
Ms. K then decided to investigate backing up the power supply with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
"When I talked to a manufacturer we had dealt with, they suggested a UPS with a larger capacity than I was expecting. They said the reason for selecting it was the inrush current from the motor in the homogenizer. During startup, this motor requires an inrush current several times higher than the normal current. However, the cost to install such a large-capacity UPS is very high, and it would be difficult to install it in a food-related factory like ours," she remembered.
So, Ms. K. consulted one of Company J's suppliers. They introduced her to a SANYO DENKI sales representative, whom they had worked with before. After listening to her problems, the SANYO DENKI sales representative proposed the SANUPS A11J UPS.
"They found that voltage fluctuations were the main factor and focused on measures against dips. Also, by limiting the backup to just the system's control section the motor startup inrush current could be disregarded, and UPS capacity could be reduced. Because the capacity of the proposed SANUPS A11J was only 5 kVA, the installation cost and running costs could be significantly reduced. We felt that this proposal really hit the nail on the head," recalled Ms. K.
The SANUPS A11J is a double conversion online topology UPS model that always provides rectified commercial power for high reliability. In addition, the wide input voltage range reduces the frequency of switching to battery power even in unstable power supply environments, reducing battery degradation. Satisfied by this proposal, Ms. K quickly conducted an internal verification.
"Shortly afterwards, we received a response from the SANYO DENKI sales representative, who quickly arranged for a demo unit and provided us with support during the introduction process. Thanks to that, the verification went smoothly," exclaimed Ms. K.
After receiving approval from the head office, Ms. K installed the SANUPS A11J in the factory without delay.
She concluded by saying, "After installing SANUPS A11J we were able to eliminate sudden shutdowns and production downtime that used to happen many times a year and stabilize production at our plant. I would be happy to ask SANYO DENKI for help again."
