Surge protection

Eaton rep and contractor partner mitigate surges in manufacturing facility

Based in Glastonbury, Conn., Tulimieri Associates has been providing power quality products and support services throughout the Northeast for more than 40 years. An Eaton manufacturer’s representative, Tulimieri Associates also participates in the Eaton Surge Certified Contractor (ESCC) program.

Summary

Challenge

An industry leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance IT infrastructure solutions was experiencing damaging surges at its Connecticut plant. The company needed a solution to mitigate the destructive surge events, which were resulting in lengthy and expensive downtime.

Solution

Eaton's SPD Series Surge Protector

Results

Thanks to the partnership between Eaton, Tulimieri Associates & D Tech Service, the team was able to remedy the surge-generated downtime issues that had been plaguing the manufacturing plant.

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Background:

Enabling service contractors to help their customers resolve surge issues and address code compliance by supplying industry-leading surge protection solutions, the ESCC program provides comprehensive training and ongoing support through local Eaton experts such as Tulimieri Associates. One organization taking advantage of the program and working with Tulimieri Associates is D Tech Service, which has been providing electrical motor control, customer-specific solutions in the region since 1979. With a team of factory-trained technicians, D Tech Service provides on-site field service and preventive maintenance for both variable frequency drives and surge-related power quality issues.

Challenge:

When a local manufacturing plant experienced two catastrophic power system failures that were attributed to surges, the company reached out to Tulimieri Associates in search of a solution capable of preventing further damaging events.

“The facility manager shared that they were experiencing some power quality issues and wanted a recommendation of what to do,” recalls Vice President Dennis Tulimieri Jr., who scheduled a site visit. While there, Tulimieri learned that a recent automobile accident had taken down a utility pole just outside the building. This, in turn, sparked a transient surge that damaged some of the plant’s manufacturing equipment and completely shut down operations for several days.

“It was a little unusual that the surge came from outside of the building,” acknowledges Tulimieri, pointing to the prevalence of internally generated surges, which commonly occur from the switching on and off of equipment such as variable frequency drives, fluorescent lighting ballasts, light dimmers, photocopiers and fax machines. Upon further discussion with the facility manager, Tulimieri learned that a couple of years earlier, a large power distribution busway within the facility had failed, causing arcing that once again resulted in downtime, lost production and damage to the company’s high tech manufacturing systems.

With the manufacturing company in need of a solution to address both the internal and external transient threats, Tulimieri brought in D Tech Service to implement the required surge suppression solution.

“It is important to understand that the cost of downtime is always much greater than the equipment needed to correct it. By being proactive and implementing surge protection, organizations can minimize that unexpected downtime.”

Dennis Tulimieri, Jr., Vice President

Solution:

To protect the plant’s equipment from both types of damaging transients, Tulimieri Associates and D Tech proposed a cascading surge protection strategy. To begin with, two of Eaton’s sidemount SPD Series surge protective devices (SPDs) were installed at the plant on the main panel boards of the electrical service entrances, where the utility power enters the buildings. Tulimieri Associates and D Tech Service also proposed the addition of surge suppression units on the manufacturing plant’s power distribution panels to help ensure that equipment and processes remain up and running without disruption or damage due to internal surge events.

The latest and most advanced surge protectors, Eaton’s SPD Series units are ULT 1449 4th Edition certified and available in all common voltages and configurations, with capacity ratings from 50-400 kA. Relying on the most advanced technology, the SPD Series sidemount units take safety to the next level with a design that utilizes thermally protected MOVs as the core surge suppression component. When subjected to temporary over-voltages or high fault current conditions, the MOVs are removed from the circuit quickly and safely before a potentially unsafe condition can occur, with no discharge of smoke or ionized gases. The sidemount versions of the unit are also factory-sealed, eliminating potential contact with harmful voltages inside the unit.

Issues resulting from internal switching further reinforces the need for facility-wide surge protection applied at all stages of the electrical distribution system, from the electrical service entrance down to the single-phase loads. The widespread use of microprocessors has also increased the necessity for facility-wide surge protection, as these sensitive components are used within so many devices, including computers, programmable logic controllers and other electronics. Surges can wreak havoc on this equipment, causing catastrophic failures, process interruptions, and premature aging and failure.

“Transient voltages and currents, as well as temporary surges of power, happen frequently within the power systems of industrial facilities,” Tulimieri emphasizes. “When you have a large transient, computer-controlled manufacturing machines can be easily damaged, and often facility managers don’t recognize these issues as part of a larger power quality pattern. It is important to understand that the cost of downtime is always much greater than the equipment needed to correct it. By being proactive and implementing surge protection, organizations can minimize that unexpected downtime.”

Results:

Since deploying the Eaton surge suppression solution, the manufacturing plant has avoided further downtime by successfully safeguarding its equipment against damaging surge events. With the Eaton SPDs in place, the company is now able to:

● Mitigate operational downtime with industry-leading surge protection

● Proactively ensure that critical equipment is safeguarded against damaging internal and external transients

● Leverage Eaton’s complete product line and service partners as other power quality issues arise

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