capacator bank

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jsodes

Member
I work in a Factory/Foundry. I am an industrial electrician. We have a coreless AJAX Furnace that is used about once a month. Every time we use it the main breaker (200A) on our capacator bank trips out. We hooked up our power quality analizer and monitered the circuit. Shure enough while the furnace was just starting to make the brass glow the capacator bank hit 212A and tripped (like it is supposed to). Why would it draw so much current.
 

bob

Senior Member
Location
Alabama
Re: capacator bank

What is your voltage and capacitor bank size.
Electric Furnace will produce high harmonic load.
I am suprise that a 200 amp breaker would trip on 212 amps. If you have harmonic equipment to monitor the load you can see if this is the problem. A good true RMS clip on meter will also give you an accurate reading.
 

catchtwentytwo

Senior Member
Re: capacator bank

What's the ambient temperature where the breaker is located? It could be contributing to the tripping. Have you used a non-contact thermometer to check for loose connections, etc.?
 

jsodes

Member
Re: capacator bank

We have monitored the cap bank and the harmonics are through the roof. There are about 30 different harmonics that are high. Dose anyone know of an isolation transformer that can knock some of them out?
 

bob

Senior Member
Location
Alabama
Re: capacator bank

Check this site for information on correcting your problem.
http://www.galco.com/circuit/PFCC_har.htm
You will need to install a set of tuned capacitor banks for the fix. Did you get an amp reading on the capacitors? The true reading is equal to
the sq root of the sum of the individual harmonic
amps squared.

[ August 05, 2004, 11:03 PM: Message edited by: bob ]
 
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