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Industrial & Process Control
There are few applications as demanding as Industrial Process Control. Precision, repeatability, safety and up time are all paramount. The computers, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), microprocessors and software controlling this equipment yield levels of performance and accuracy not imaginable a decade ago. For this reason, power protection, especially with an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), is critical. Why do Industrial Applications Demand Clean Power? The technology that makes these systems so powerful often exhibits sensitivity to power-related problems, resulting in costly, unreliable or inaccurate operation. The magnitude of these problems is often multiplied due to nearby production equipment such as motors and electrical devices “polluting” the facility’s electrical power. Common mode noise and ground loops between pieces of equipment or sensors can cause inaccurate readings or positioning. All of these problems can result in equipment damage, line stoppages, safety issues or the premature termination of critical processes. The resulting cost to your company can be substantial. To the uninitiated, the cause of these problems may not be readily obvious. Power problems affecting the equipment’s microprocessor controllers often result in controller hangs or sensor and encoder glitches with the associated loss of accuracy. As an example, a large Southern U.S. soft drink bottling company had a computer controlled mixing valve that malfunctioned without any apparent reason. As a result, a large amount of defective product was being bottled. The production line had to be stopped for a period of time, and the defective product was scrapped each time. The resulting cost was enormous. The company called Falcon Electric for a solution. We shipped them one of our On-line UPS units. Since installing the Falcon On-line UPS, the company’s production line has been operating without a problem for the last three years. Why is an On-line UPS the Best Solution? It is simple: Off-line and Line-interactive UPS products leave your sensitive controllers and computers connected directly to the polluted utility power source 100% of the time when the utility power is present. The UPS inverter powers the equipment only when utility power is lost. These UPS designs provide only minimal voltage regulation and transient protection. The On-line UPS continuously rectifies the incoming AC utility power to a filtered and regulated DC current. The DC is then fed into a continuous duty Pulse Width Modulated Inverter, which regenerates new, clean, tightly regulated AC sinewave power. When utility power is lost, the batteries take over supplying energy seamlessly, without the transfer glitch associated with Off-line and Line-interactive designs. The On-line approach eliminates more types of power problems. These problems include generator frequency and voltage instability, voltage surges and sags, voltage drop-outs, high voltage transients, sustained brownouts, blackouts, and noise. The On-line UPS provides superior output voltage regulation (±2% typical) while operating from a wide-range input voltage (+15 to -20% typical). Since the On-line UPS has a continuous duty inverter, it typically has a much cleaner sinewave output (3% THD @ full load) than the Off-line and Line-interactive types. Heavy Industrial Applications In many heavy industrial applications the diversity of environmental factors that can render a computer-grade on-line uninterruptible power supply (UPS) inoperable is only exceeded by the number and magnitude of power quality related problems that are often encountered. Most on-line UPS products have been designed for installation in a fixed location, protected environment with a controlled temperature range of 0⁰C to 40⁰C (32⁰F to 104⁰F). They will provide many years of reliable operation when installed in a laboratory, office or computer room environment and their price is very attractive. However, many heavy industrial UPS applications demand that the UPS be installed in an environment more like a battlefield than a computer room. They are often subjected to higher levels of shock and vibration, airborne contamination, wider operational temperature extremes, in addition to having to provide clean computer-grade output power while operating from extremely polluted power sources. Falcon's SSG, SSG-RP and SSG-M product families can provide a viable solution in meeting the demanding requirement of heavy industrial applications. A wide operational temperature range is a real asset in industrial applications where it is not desirable to use a NEMA enclosure. For many applications an on-line UPS must be located where heating and air conditioning are not available. The UPS must survive the wide temperature extremes of the local environment. Outdoor locations include gas and oil well sites, tollbooths, foundries, mills, communications transmitters and repeater sites. Indoor applications include food processing, mining, power generation, farming and warehousing. Falcon Engineering Support Power problems in an industrial environment can be complex and difficult to solve. Falcon's Power Engineers are only a telephone call away and can assist in determining the most effective solution to your company's specific power problems. SSG® and SSG-RP™ UPS: Industrial-Grade UPS Products SSG UPS: 1.5 to 3kVA Falcon's wide thermal design of the SSG Series Industrial-Grade UPS assures reliable operation over an impressive -20°C to +55°C temperature range. All models carry UL, cUL Listings and CE Certification for use over the same temperature range. Hot-swap batteries are located in thermally insulated, slide- out packs for easy replacement. The batteries feature a service life of 4 years when operating at 50°C and up to 12 years operating at room temperature. In a high temperature industrial environment, office-grade UPS batteries typically last only 8 months operating at 50°C requiring costly replacement and frequent maintenance. SSG-RP UPS: 1 to 3kVA Falcon has selected components and optimized the cooling to create the SSG-RP Ultra-Wide Temperature UPS. This on-line dual-conversion UPS family operates in ultra- wide temperature environments of -30°C to 65°C (-22°F to 149°F). The batteries used inside the UPS were specifically selected due to their wide operational temperature range of -40°C to 80°C (-40°F to 176°F), far in excess of the maximum 65°C UPS specification. The SSG-RP Series also features a dual communication option for communicating with both web-based and simple-signaling methods simultaneously. FN UPS Series: Parallel Output or N+1 Redundant Operation The Falcon FN Series™ Parallelable and N+1 Redundant UPS family offers the same superior level of On-line UPS protection and the ability to connect the hardwire outputs of up to four units together in parallel. The models are offered in 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10kVA models. Rackmount models are also available. Four 10kVA units connected in parallel deliver 40kVA of power. The same four 10kVA UPS units configured for N+1 operation would provide 30kVA of power with the added advantage of supporting applications that demand 24/7 uptime. In the event that one of the four UPS units detects that it requires servicing, it automatically disconnects itself from the output bus and sounds an audible alarm. It is then a simple matter of disconnecting and removing the UPS while the remaining three UPS units continue to provide protection to the connected equipment. To eliminate the need to power down any of the UPS units requiring a battery replacement, battery packs are simply removed through the front panel of the individual UPS units. The addition of optional extended battery banks, chargers, REPO, SNMP/HTTP, USB and contact closure interface cards are supported. Supports Centralized UPS Monitoring and Management All Falcon SSG and FN UPS models support adding an optional USHA SNMP/HTTP Agent communications. In large industrial environments, tens to hundreds of UPS units may be distributed throughout a facility or in facilities located worldwide. Localized monitoring and management of these UPS units is too costly. Our SNMP/HTTP Agent board provides an Ethernet based TCP-IP IPv4 and IPv6 addressable solutions to the problem. The board provides a secure method of UPS monitoring and management from one centralized location. Security includes SNMPv3 encryption, RADIUS sever support and communication port reassignment. Client software is supplied with an unlimited license. The software facilitates the shutdown of multiple workstations and servers via the network. The user has the option of using Network Management Software (NMS) SolarWinds™ or most web browsers like Internet Explorer (IE) or Firefox as an interface. Trap addresses may be programmed into the agent facilitating the automatic notification of a centralized workstation in the event of a UPS event. These agents also support remote switch contact, temperature, humidity and water detection monitoring, as well as 802.11 and GPRS wireless connectivity.
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