In India, all electrical equipments are designed for 230 / 400 volts single / threephase. Voltage variation is a common phenomenon all over the country. Normally voltage variation 300 – 480 Volts, 3 – Phase (170 – 275 Volts, 1 – Phase)
Power Consumers running 24 hours face problems of low & high voltage. Generally, voltage is low during the daytime and high during the night hours. Moreover on holidays, peak hours, rainy days and when the agricultural / factory load is switched off, the voltage rises quite sharply – which is more dangerous.
High Voltage: At high voltage, the no-load current of electrical/electronic equipment increases sharply.
The high current increases the losses of equipment resulting overheating, and weakens the insulation of electrical/ electronic equipment & pre-mature failure of equipment as explained in the chart
The power consumers having a high failure rate of electrical equipment, low power factor, higher MDI can reduce the failure rate of equipment & reduce power consumption bills, MDI according to the high voltage range. This can be saved by maintaining the rated voltage at 400/415V by installing AVC as per their requirement.
Low Voltage: – At low voltage, no-load current of electric equipment does not increase and does not affect the life of the equipment. In case of very low voltage (i.e. 370V), the customer needs to run the unit on DG set which is very costlier (approx. double than the normal electricity charges).
So, the Payback period (in both cases i.e. very low/high voltage) of the AVC is 6 – 24 months, depending upon input voltage variation and working hours of the plant.
For more details, contact at jemc@jindalelectric.com
