• Dranetz News
  • Dranetz-BMI is Now Dranetz
  • EP1 Product Release
  • Changes at Dranetz/Global Power Technologies
• Application Note: Using th EP-1 for a Comparison of Compact Fluorescent Lights to Incadescent Bulbs
• Application Note: Case Study: PUMA load study also helps uncover problems!
• Modbus Communications with Encore Series Software and Hardware
• Seminars
• Trade Shows

That said, Dranetz is pleased to announce the formal launch of our Energy Platform EP1 - targeting energy audits and power demand studies. The EP1 is a handheld electrical energy and power demand analyzer specifically designed for conducting facility energy audits and power demand studies. The EP1 is the ideal tool for gathering, recording and reporting "where, when and how much" electricity is used. Applications in industrial, commercial and institutional facilities include energy/cost reduction programs, alternative energy monitoring and power/harmonic studies. With the growing emphasis on "green" facilities, the EP1 with its handy Energy Platform Report Writer (EPRW) software offers facilities engineers and electrical contractors a cost-effective means of gathering and reporting the data required to document energy savings. The EP1's ability to record both forward and reverse energy is essential in grid-tied alternative energy system analysis. The EP1 is the ideal instrument to certify a facility's energy consumption and carbon footprint. Full product information is available here.

We are pleased to announce that Robert (Bob) Hart has been appointed President of Global Power Technologies, Dranetz, Eletrotek Concepts and Daytronic. Bob has been with the company since July 2008, and most recently served as our Vice President of Finance. Bob has a very extensive Finance and Operations background in the manufacturing area. Prior to joining Global Power Technologies, Bob was the Vice President of Finance for Dialight Corporation, a UK listed company that is one of the world's largest suppliers in the field of applied LED technology.

Dranetz is also pleased to announce the promotion of Ross Ignall to Director of Product Management. He will report directly to Dranetz's President, Bob Hart. Ross has worked for Dranetz for 20 years and has extensive background and experience in Engineering, Sales and Applications of Power/Energy Test and Measurement Instrumentation. This commitment to strengthening the Product Management function within Dranetz is a change intended to help lead Dranetz in the direction of new products and markets in the future.

Tech Tips of the Month

Application Note: Using th EP-1 for a Comparison of Compact Fluorescent Lights to Incadescent Bulbs

With the proliferation of Compact Florescent (CF) lighting, we thought it would be interesting to do a side by side comparison to an incandescent bulb using our new Energy Platform EP1. Not only is it a great demonstration of the capabilities of the EP1 but it's also an opportunity to explore the energy savings advantages while also looking at the potential effects on power quality. Energy Star (www.energystar.gov) promotes the energy savings of CF lighting verses traditional incandescent bulbs. The industry claims a 75% reduction in energy usage of CF bulbs vs. incandescent. Is this true? To find out we used an EP1 to conduct a simple test to validate this claim. We randomly selected a 60W incandescent bulb and the equivalent (light output) 13W compact florescent. The CF bulb was connected to Channel A of the instrument while the incandescent was connected to channel B. Current was measured using two of our TR2501, 1A CT's.

	CF	Incadescent
Vrms	118.6	118.6
Freq	60.0
Irms	0.187	0.495
W	14.15	58.71
PF	-0.638	1.000
ITHd%	106.9	4.14

As you can see from the EP1 screen capture above, the CF bulb does indeed consume 75% less energy than the equivalent incandescent. What about the power quality effects? Let's look at the waveshapes...

From the DranView screen shot above you can see that unlike the linear resistive load of the incandescent bulb, the electronic ballast in the CF is a non linear load. Like a computer power supply, it's rich in harmonics. There are other PQ concerns such as start up currents but we'll focus on the harmonics since it seems to be getting the most concern. The CF current looks quite bad with a very high current THD of about 107%. However, when taking a closer look the actual current levels are quite small. The predominant harmonic is the 3rd at about 80ma.

Will these low level harmonics cause any problems? If you Google something like 'compact fluorescent thd' you'll find numerous results on this topic. CF manufacturers claim no significant impact from such harmonics. Utilities are keeping a close eye on this issue as the proliferation of compact fluorescents continues to see if THD levels increase on their systems. One thing is clear; it will be the cumulative effects of a large number of such bulbs that would ultimately cause an issue. Even though 100+% current THD sounds bad, at such low current levels one bulb rich in harmonics clearly isn't a problem. What happens when each house has 10, 20 or more of such bulbs operating simultaneously? That remains to be seen, hence the utilities concerns. However, as consumers, saving 75% in energy costs is the overriding factor!

Application note: Case Study: PUMA load study also helps uncover problems!

David Santiago, a Specialist in the PQ group at Consolidated Edison in New York City recently tried the new Dranetz Point of Utilization Monitoring Adapter (PUMA) and a PX5 to measure the load of a computer workstation in their lab. While setting up for the test David found the source of a problem with the computer monitor being chased for quite some time. David writes:

I was testing the PUMA and used it to test the load of my workstation using the PX5. My workstation was attached to a power strip but I made sure I always had the PC and the Monitor power on this power strip. If either was plugged into different outlets and not on this strip I would get really bad screen interference and hum bars. I didn't know that all along the source of the problem was with the power strip. While setting up the PX5 I noticed the Circuit Type Wizard was showing a possible wiring error. The meter display of the PX5 showed the Line current (channel A) was returning on the Ground (channel B) with none on the Neutral (channel C).

I pulled out other wiring checking equipment to verify what I had just discovered thinking that I had a wiring error in my cubical outlet. This was not the case and what the PUMA lead me to was that the power strip was at fault. I never tried without the power strip to see if it would be ok.

Thanks to the use of the PUMA to monitor my workstation power consumption I was able to solve the mystery. Now that the power strip has been replaced the PX5 meter display now shows correct load flow on Line and Neutral currents.

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We have a very full calendar for our Spring Seminaors. Please refer to http://www.dranetz.com//seminars.cfm for the complete schedule.

Dranetz is preparing for our Fall series of Energy Management and Power Quality seminars. If you have an interest in sponsoring a seminar; providing a meeting room and helping us organize it, we would be happy to hear from you. Please contact Jerry Olechiw at jolechiw@dranetz.com to discuss this further.

EPRI Power Quality & Smart Distribution 2010 Conference and Exhibition
Quebec City, Canada
Jun 14 - Jun 17, 2010
Booth: Fairmount Le Chateau Frontenac

28th West Coast Energy Management Congress
Washington State Convention & Trade Center
Seattle, WA
Jun 15 - Jun 16, 2010
Booth: 228

AAMI 2010 Conference & Expo
Tampa, FL
Jun 26 - Jun 28, 2010
Booth: 540

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