Fundamentals of Lighting Systems II

Today, we shall be talking on the general characteristics of lighting systems. The key indicators that shall help us understand the lighting designs, specifications, guidance in the upgrading and retrofitting lighting systems for optimal efficiency. Lighting Efficacy The efficacy of a lamp is expressed as the ratio of its light output over the energy input. […]

Fundamentals of Lighting Systems I

The electrical consumption in most industrial and commercial facilities can easily account for 50 -75% of the total utility costs. Hence, special attention must be paid into evaluating electrical systems. Electrical system audit cover the Lighting systems, Motors & drives and Power factor. Lighting system audit Lighting accounts for a significant portion of electrical energy, […]

LIGHTNING SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR TELECOMS & ICT INFRASTRUCTURE

Every year, lightning and associated damages to telecommunications & ICT infrastructures run into billions of US dollars besides the loss of revenue, inactivity and production losses from industrial and business downtime. Lightning, Voltage Surges and improper Earthing are major power quality problems in telecoms & ICT facilities. Without warning lightning and electrical surges can devastate […]

HARMONICS

In commercial buildings and industries, engineers are confused as to why transformers overheat, while supplying average loads. Neutral conductors overheat from excessive loads, while the circuit is balanced. Circuit breakers tripping for no apparent reason. Yet all standard checks confirm everything is normal and ok. What then is the cause?  –   HARMONICS. Harmonics What are they? Harmonic […]

Voltage Disturbances

Voltage disturbances is a critical power quality issue today perhaps second only to earthing (grounding) & wiring in frequency of occurrence and devastating effects.Costing industries and businesses over hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Cost Per Dip for different sectors in euro (from case studied laboratory) Particularly hit are continuous manufacturing and high tech concerns. […]

Energy auditing – Getting the job done II

Having gone through the previous steps of obtaining utility bills, estimated heating and cooling loads, Site visitation, meeting with the facility manager (s) or equivalent (s) and concluded the facility survey. Our next steps will be to put it all together by analyzing the data collected and calculations for step 6. The final step 7 […]

Energy Auditing – Getting The Job Done 1

We are now all aware that energy audit or assessment is an inspection, survey and analysis of how energy is used in a building or facility. The sole aim being to conserve energy, achieve optimal efficiency and save costs without affecting the output. The next relevant and big questions are how do I get started? […]

Power Quality – An overview IV

Power Quality problems come with a lot of consequences and cost. Costing organizations millions of dollars, causing systems and equipment downtime with loss of productivity. The culprits are Lightning Utility Automatic Breaker Reclosure Utility Capacitor Switching Commercial high rises without enough distribution transformers Gen-sets not sized for harmonic loads Applying P.F correction capacitors without considering […]

Energy Audit – A Matter of Level (Type)

Before stating an energy audit, it is helpful to have some idea of the scope of the project and the level of effort necessary to meet expectations. Here we shall discuss  the levels of surveys and assessments necessary to perform commercial building or industrial audits.  American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) […]

Power Quality – An overview III

  Poor power quality affect electronic systems that drive automated processes in buildings and facilities.In as much as they enhance efficiency, they leave behind consequences at great cost.It is therefore, important to know what causes these problems in order to eliminate and mitigate these problems.Power quality problems are caused by environmental and weather conditions, facility […]