The World of Power Quality

Oct 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By Mark Lamendola, Technical Editor

A preview of highlights of the Power Quality Exhibition & Conference

Power quality experts from around the world will gather at the Rosemont Convention Center near Chicago's O'Hare Airport on Oct. 27 to share their knowledge at the 15th International Power Quality Exhibition & Conference.

Instructors, manufacturers, end-user engineers, and consultants will provide insight that's hard to get anywhere else. But powerful topics and quality speakers are just the beginning of what this show offers. Two days of Professional Advancement Courses (PACs) begin on Sunday, Oct. 27, and cover such topics as:

Evaluating the economics of power quality improvement alternatives.
PSCAD transient simulation for power quality analysis.
Benchmarking system power quality and reliability.
Implementing distributed generation.
Managing the lightning environment for increased reliability.
DC plant reliability.
Forensic analysis of lightning damage caused by ground strikes.

Following the keynote address on Tuesday, Oct. 29, UtiliCorp United, an international electric and gas company based in Kansas City, Mo., will make the annual presentation of the John Mungenast Power Quality Award. This award, which is named after a power electronics pioneer, is intended to raise the awareness of power quality as an important engineering discipline, and it honors those who have distinguished themselves in the field.

Perhaps the strongest draw for the attendees will be the quality of the seminars and sessions on Tuesday, Oct. 29, Wednesday, Oct. 30, and Thursday, Oct. 31. Session presenters include many end-users. The case histories and tutorials cover everything from battery monitoring and string charging to combining power quality technologies for total reliability. Here's a quick look at a few presentations you might find useful.

Power Quality for Business and Industry

The Costs of Interruptions, 11 a.m. to noon, Tuesday, Oct. 29

To justify uptime improvement measures, you must accurately quantify the cost of downtime — some of the costs aren't obvious, and most of them vary by industry.

Avoiding Costs from Oversizing Data Center Infrastructure, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30.

The unused capacity of a data center is an avoidable capital cost, and it also represents avoidable operating and maintenance costs.

Exhibit Hours
Tuesday, Oct. 29	10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 30	10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 31	10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A Review of the IEC601 Standard, 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 31.

IEC601 consists of four collateral standards supporting 45 particular standards, which define safety practices in the manufacturing of medical electrical equipment.

Power Quality Technologies and Solutions

From Electrons to Answers, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30.

This seminar will examine how you can use various power monitoring equipment features to diagnose and prevent power quality problems.

Power Quality Applications & Solutions to Improve Ride-Through for Industrial Processes, 11 a.m. to noon, Tuesday, Oct. 29.

This one-hour tutorial will highlight how customers and utility service providers can work together to improve productivity and operations of automated industrial processes and minimize the impact of brief power interruption events.

Residential and Industrial Surge and Lightning Protection, 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 31.

This overview of surge protection will answer the fundamental questions you should ask when developing and implementing a surge protection strategy.

PQ Energy and Power Management

VRLA Batteries — A Life & Death Issue, 11 a.m. to noon, Tuesday, Oct. 29.

This seminar will address the serious issues involved in valve-regulated lead acid (VRLA) batteries, and provide practical information to the average user who has no desire to be a battery engineer.

Short-Term Storage — The Bridge Between Distributed Generation and Quality & Reliability, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 30.

This discussion will highlight technologies such as low- and high-speed flywheels, lead-acid batteries, ultra capacitors, and magnetic storage — providing an overview of performances of these systems with respect to different energy storage and conversion technologies.

Poster Sessions

Poster sessions will round out the technical program from 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Topics covered include:

Sub-Cycle Voltage Sag or Surge Detection. This seminar will address the inherent delay in existing voltage detection systems and propose a delay-free approach suitable for almost any power quality equipment.

Simulation of Power Electronics and Controls for Power Quality Solutions. This discussion will illustrate simulation for two types of power electronic systems used to prevent voltage sags. It will also cover control implementation issues that try to balance speed with misoperation.

An Overview of Power Quality Issues, Symptoms, and Recommendations in an Industrial Facility. This seminar will cover harmonics and mitigation, causes of system sags, non-selective operation of protective devices, grounding, system stiffness and its effect, size of neutrals, transients caused by switching, and misapplication of capacitor banks.

A Novel Single-Phase Shunt Active Power Filter with Adaptive Neutral Network-Based Harmonic Detection. This session will present an advanced single-phase active power filter for the compensation of instantaneous harmonic current components in non-linear current load.

Using Low-Cost, Single-Phase, Power Quality Measuring Instruments with Personal Computers. This seminar will demonstrate the use of two major brands of low-cost, single-phase, solid-state recording power quality measuring instruments based on the strengths of each — without comparing one to the other — to produce power quality reports.

Hospital High-Tech Equipment Susceptibility and Power Quality. This discussion will cover some aspects of the measurement methods and statistical evaluation of power quality indices performed in a survey of 29 sites.

Power Quality is Big Business. This session will examine the following aspects of each power quality market section: electrical system design, system construction, financial aspects, regulatory agencies, instrument manufacturers, consultants, international standards, mitigation equipment manufacturers, and legal and research activities.

If you are serious about uptime, cost-savings, and solving power quality problems permanently, this show is one you shouldn't miss.

To see more details on this conference, register to attend, or see a list of exhibitors, you can visit the Power Quality Exhibition & Conference site at www.powerquality.com.