ADF Reduces Flicker at Henrad NV (Comsys AB)

Todays industry constantly faces new challenges. When society expands in Herentals, Belgium, Henrad was faced with the challenge to reduce their flicker emission level in order to not disturb other industries on the public grid

henrad

“Comsys provided the most advanced and
cost efficient solution at the same time!”
– William de Winter, General Operations Manager, Henrad

“We at Laborelec conducted the reference measurements prior to and after the installation – the solution is approved.”
– Michele de Witte, Laborelec

Background

Henrad is a Belgian radiator manufacturer in the Caradan Group. The 55000 square meter factory in Herentals, Belgium consists of six production lines that totally can produce about 5000 radiators a day. The production process are presses, seam welding and spot welding, the nature of the process is very energy demanding and therefore puts great demands on the power grid. This together created large voltage drops in the feeding substation with the result of to high Pst values which would lead to flashing lights when Eandis, the local utility company, would connect other consumers to the same transformer.

Challenge

The local utility company demanded that the Pst 95% value must not exceed 0,7. Measured values during 2009 provided by the well-known Belgian consultancy firm Laborelec showed tops in the Pst equivalent to 1,6. The task was very challenging since it’s a rapidly fluctuating load and also the many different load patterns that could occur since its very high number of welding machines.

Key benefits | Welding – Flicker:

  • Pst reduced from 1.6 to 0.63
  • Only solution with desired flicker mitigation performance without integration with welding lines – easier to instal
  • Fully autonomous solution – will work with future production line upgrades
  • Integrated with existing passive compensation system

Flicker level before compensation
henrad before sm
Flicker level after compensation
henrad after sm

Solution –
the ADF P300 Active Filter system

Henrad chose to invest in the ADF P300 Active Filter system, a well proven solution. The market leading response time was a necessity for the customer to reach the values that the utility company demanded. The system totally consists of six P300 units, making it a total of 2,1 MVAr continous power to compensate for the voltage drops.

Result, after installing the ADF Active Harmonic Filters

After installing the ADF Active Harmonic Filters Henrad has managed to keep their Pst value below 0,63 regardless of how many welding lines that are running. The reference values has been measured by Laborelec and approved by Eandis. As a side effect of the lowered flicker value Henrad has also seen stabilized production environment.
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