Balancing act

Electricity supplied by through the grid can often come at voltages higher than necessary for modern electrical equipment.

According to voltage optimisation (VO) company Powerstar, energy supplied by National Grid can often be as high as 242V, yet modern electrical appliances are designed to operate efficiently at just 220V.

This excess energy often manifests itself as unwanted heat and vibration. Powerstar offers its customers a VO system that optimises the voltage levels.

This system, says Powerstar, reduces energy consumption and helps prolong the lifespan of electrical appliances and plant equipment by reducing harmonics and the peaks and troughs of unstable voltage supply.

One such customer is Trelleborg, a world leader in polymer engineered solutions.

Since installing a VO system at its site in Rotherham, Trelleborg has experienced a reduction in energy consumption of 11.2% and a saving of 78.8 tonnes in carbon emissions.

Founded in 1905 and now with 15,500 employees in over 40 countries, Trelleborg delivers engineered polymer solutions that seal, damp and protect critical applications in demanding environments, from the deep sea to space, where safety and performance are critical.

In addition to these essential criteria Trelleborg is committed to using sustainable solutions and having a positive impact on society by helping to save energy, reduce emissions and improve efficiency.

At Trelleborg’s site in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, a number of sustainable technologies have been installed to help reduce the site’s overall energy consumption.

Following a site-specific energy audit Powerstar’s specialist VO engineers recommended the installation of Powerstar MAX at the company’s purpose built 50,000 sq ft manufacturing facility.

Even after the installation of a number of other energy saving solutions, such as high efficiency T5 fluorescent lighting and large inverter drives, the VO engineers estimated that Powerstar would deliver savings of 7.7%.

As with all Powerstar installations, a guarantee based on the site-specific estimate prepared by Powerstar engineers was provided.

In fact, the guaranteed savings were surpassed by 3.5% with the site enjoying savings of 11.2% following the installation with voltage now supplied to the plant at the correct level for the plant equipment.

This equates to 160,751kWh saved per annum.

“Here at Trelleborg we actively and systematically work with environmental management to reduce the consumption of energy and minimise emissions,” says Trelleborg Sealing Solutions production engineer Daniel Durrant.

“With this aim, we installed a variety of energy saving solutions at the Rotherham facility. After this, Powerstar presented their findings and showed us we could make further, significant reductions as well as reducing harmonics and correcting the incoming voltage for our equipment on site. The guaranteed savings presented were exceeded and the installation was quick with minimal disruption. I’d fully recommend voltage optimisation through Powerstar.”

Established over 13 years ago, Powerstar offers a range of solutions, including the original Powerstar and Powerstar MAX, both Low Voltage (LV) side optimisation systems, and Powerstar HV MAX, a High Voltage (HV) side optimisation system with a super low-loss amorphous core, which Powerstar claims is 99% efficient.

“We offer a full supportive approach to all our clients to ensure we only install the best engineered solution for their site,” says inventor and Powerstar managing director Alex Mardapittas.

“As a UK based manufacturing company we know that our clients, especially those in the manufacturing sector, appreciate this tailored, personal approach. Voltage optimisation particularly benefits the manufacturing sector as reducing voltage lowers the operating temperatures of motors thus reducing maintenance costs. Powerstar has helped to radically cut energy costs in this sector.”

Powerstar products are manufactured by EMSc (UK) in Sheffield where the company conducts all its research, development and sourcing. Powerstar is the only product with a patent on its design and comes with a 15 year warranty and a 50 year life span.