Project description
Improving power quality of industrial electrical equipment
Power quality refers to the ability of voltage, frequency and waveform of a power supply system to stay within a prescribed range. Industrial facilities are particularly prone to power-quality problems because of the density and complexity of electrical equipment involved in daily operations. The EU-funded ELECOTECH project plans to develop a smart system that improves power quality without affecting the electrical devices (loads). ELECOTECH’s system will be autonomous and will be installed in the power-line header that maximises energy efficiency, reduces electrical consumption and eliminates any issues arising from power supply disturbances.
Objective
One of the key approaches for Energy Efficiency (EE) in Industry is to improve the quality of energy, known as Power Quality (PQ). A EU Power Quality survey report estimated that EU suffers from a loss of 150 billion Euros per annum
due to various PQ issues in the industry, service and transport sectors, from which 90% of the total losses are
accounted to the industries. The more worrying statistic, however, is the Electric Power Research institute (EPRI) finding that 80% of PQ disturbances are generated within a facility, rather than from utility-supplied electricity. This can be explained because most of current solutions perform isolated PQ issues that do not take into account the load requirements, which is another key approach to improve global EE in facilities.
In this context, the main objective of ELECOTECH project will be the optimization, demonstration and commercialization of a
smart system for energy efficiency through improving power quality without affecting loads.
ELECOTECH solution is an autonomous system mainly installed in the powerline header that maximises energy efficiency,
reduces the electrical consumption and eliminates problems caused by power supply disturbances such as non-stabilized
input power, over-voltages or noise. It is an integrated approach composed of:
(1) a dynamic power electronics system with continuous information of the voltage wave, the intensity and phase shift;
(2) a zero-latency switching system that allows direct access to the network, avoiding stops in customer’s premises;
(3) a voltage regulation system to generate suitable responses based on several network parameters and load needs;
(4) a smart control system that is in charge of controlling and adapting ELECOTECH actions based on load requirements on
network parameters.
The integration of these systems in ELECOTECH device provides an increase of the energy efficiency (15%) and the
security level of energy in facilities, among other technical advantages.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectrical engineeringelectric energy
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systems
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
Programme(s)
- H2020-EU.3.3. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy Main Programme
- H2020-EU.2.1.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
- H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
03203 ELCHE ALICANTE
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.