Do not disturb

Sep 1, 2005 12:00 AM, By Katherine O'Brien

Even tiny power disturbances can be costly

Troubleshooting

Do you have any Eisenhower-era presses in your plant? Probably not. Unfortunately, there’s a circa 1950s power grid driving your gleaming, fully automated press iron.

Remember the 2003 blackout? Its impact was immediately apparent—22 million customers from Detroit to New York lost power at a cost of at least $6 billion dollars. But according to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), 500,000 customers in the U.S. lose power every day for an average of two hours, and an even greater number are subjected to momentary events, including voltage sags, surges, transients and harmonics.

Flickering lights can lead to failing presses
While you might barely notice the lights flicker in your pressroom, even a tiny 0.1-second power disturbance—something that literally happens in the blink of an eye—can wreak havoc with the circuit boards controlling your press. And some problems caused by fluctuating power levels can sneak up on you—without warning a damaged circuit will fail and your press will suddenly go down.

The Three ‘Ds’ of power disturbances
According to Dennis Ver Mulm, vice president and director of marketing for PowerVar (Waukegan, IL), there are three distinct failure modes associated with electrical power disturbances: destruction, degradation and disruption. 1. Destructive power disturbances occur when an electronic device is overwhelmed by a large-amplitude, high-energy, short-duration power event. Lightning and thunderstorms typically are the culprits.

2. Degrading power disturbances contain enough energy to microscopically erode an integrated circuit. You won’t notice a problem right away, but eventually the exposed circuits will fail.

3. Disruptive power disturbances typically are caused by electrical noise the computer’s “neighbors” in the electrical system create. This problem exists in every installation and facility regardless of age or size. “This is the single largest cause of lockups, garbage data and ‘no trouble found’ service calls,” says Ver Mulm.

Avoiding power problems
Why not run to Best Buy for a few surge protectors? Even if you could find one big enough for your press, most surge suppressors will only guard against destructive power disturbances—your equipment might withstand lightning strikes, but it will still be vulnerable to degrading and disruptive events.

For a higher level of power protection, consider a power conditioner. Power conditioners combine surge supressors and noise filters with a low-impedance isolation transformer. In addition to eliminating the Three “Ds” of power disturbances, power conditioners provide an electrical environment free of electrical noise and transients.

But you’re not likely to find a power conditioner at Best Buy, either. That’s because presses—which are constantly stopping and starting—have unique electrical load requirements. There are times when the peak current demand of the system is much higher than the normal operating current. A press, for example, might have an average 130-kVA power consumption. But during makeready, peak current demand can easily top 250-kVA. For maximum efficiency, the power conditioner’s transformer must be sized to the average current requirements of the load while still being able to satisfy peak current needs without a significant voltage drop.

Juerg Spittler, vice president of business development, sheetfed operations, MAN Roland (Westmont, IL), says printers who ignore power quality are overlooking “hidden costs tucked in unexplored operational corners. We have to take a wider view of what it takes to run a business efficiently. There are only two ways printers can improve their margins: Increase revenues or decrease costs.”

Power conditioners ensure consistent power for better press reliability. As computerized equipment continues to dominate the pressroom, even minor power supply disturbances can have devastating consequences in terms of lost productivity and profits.

And don’t forget about that old-fashioned power grid. As New Jersey Governor James McGreevey said following the massive August 2003 blackout: “America has an Internet economy running on an Edsel engine. Our grid is simply not designed for a world dominated by digital technology.”

Avoiding power grid problems
Everyone knows a dirty press will print poorly. But even the most pristine blankets, cylinders and ink fountains are useless if you don’t ensure the press has a steady supply of good, clean power.

MAN Roland and PowerVar have worked together to develop EnergyLink, a press power interface that can withstand worst-case power disturbances. Based on the two companies’ years of on-site customer research and experience, EnergyLink incorporates noise filters, surge diverters, and isolation transformers that older power conditioners do not. See www.manroland.com.

PowerVar also offers Global Power Interface Series 2000, a power conditioner designed specifically for the printing industry. For more information, see www.powervar.com.

Katherine O’Brien is the editor of AMERICAN PRINTER. Contact her at kobrien@primediabusiness.com.