{"id":969,"date":"2015-08-14T12:42:10","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T12:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/?p=969"},"modified":"2015-08-14T12:42:10","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T12:42:10","slug":"3-phase-voltage-monitoring-at-a-water-pump-station-using-vfds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/?p=969","title":{"rendered":"Leveraging VFD & Energy Analytics to Monitor 3-Phase Voltage at a Pumping Station"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"admin\"

Jim Mimlitz, NRI<\/p><\/div>\n

In rural areas \u2014 due to a combination of\u00a0long power transmission line lengths and the relative isolation of the remote pumping facilities\u00a0\u2014\u00a0it is not uncommon for stations to suffer from power quality problems.\u00a0 Therefore, it is always recommended that a station’s power status be monitored, trended, and alarmed for outages.<\/p>\n

In the most basic sense, monitoring the\u00a0digital (ON\/OFF) power\u00a0status through use of a 3-phase monitor is recommended.\u00a0 However, knowing the analog<\/em> status\u00a0(voltage level) would deliver a more detailed picture.<\/p>\n

\"Shark<\/a>

Shark 100 Power Meter, by Electro Industries\/GaugeTech<\/p><\/div>\n

In order to collect detailed power telemetry information, sophisticated telemetry devices are commercially available for monitoring voltage, power, current, power factor, etc.\u00a0 An excellent, Modbus-capable\u00a0device\u00a0that NRI has used successfully in the past is the Model Shark 100 by Electro Industries\/GaugeTech<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, if you are looking for a more basic and economical method of monitoring the electric utility’s 3-phase voltage level, then an excellent alternative\u00a0is\u00a0to request it from\u00a0a pump station’s VFD.<\/p>\n

How is this possible?<\/p>\n

In this past year, NRI introduced\u00a0a new firmware library \u2014 “VFD & Energy Analytics for Telemetry, SCADA, and Control Systems<\/a>” \u2014 which\u00a0empowers\u00a0an RTU with the capability to extract a variety of useful information\u00a0from a VFD through a network.\u00a0 In this case,\u00a0we leverage the\u00a0faculties of this\u00a0library to request the VFD’s DC bus voltage.\u00a0 We know that the DC bus voltage is derived from a full-wave-rectification of\u00a0the incoming 3-phase power, and therefore…<\/p>\n

Utility Voltage\u00a0\u2245 DC Bus Voltage\u00a0 \/\u00a0 \u221a2\n                          \u2245 DC Bus Voltage\u00a0 \/\u00a0 1.4142<\/pre>\n
For example,\u00a0if the DC Bus Voltage is read from the VFD as 685 VDC, then we know \u2014 based on both theory and actual measurements \u2014 that the incoming utility voltage (average\u00a03-Phase RMS) is \u00a0approximately 484 VAC.<\/p>\n
Recently, we had the opportunity to retrofit\u00a0such voltage-monitoring capability at\u00a0two rural water district\u00a0pumping stations.\u00a0 Both stations had been experiencing voltage-related problems; and this upgrade was designed to alert the operators whenever the incoming voltage was outside acceptable tolerances.\u00a0\u00a0Each\u00a0station was already\u00a0equipped with a Modbus\/RTU network for collecting data from various smart devices, including EtherMeters<\/a>, pressure transducers, and a\u00a0tank mixing system.\u00a0 The station was also\u00a0equipped with VFD-driven pumps.\u00a0 The Modbus\/RTU network was expanded to collect an approximation of the utility’s average\u00a03-phase\u00a0voltage from the VFDs: (VAB<\/sub>+VBC<\/sub>+VAC<\/sub>)\/3<\/p>\n
\"Modbus\/RTU\/RS485<\/a>
Modbus\/RTU\/RS485 Isolation Repeating Equipment.<\/p><\/div>\n
\"Modbus\/RTU\/RS485<\/a>
Modbus\/RTU\/RS485 Bus Terminal Block<\/p><\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"VFD<\/a>
VFD Network Interface Port<\/p><\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"RJ45-Terminal<\/a>
RJ45-Terminal Block Adapter – Top View<\/p><\/div>\n
\"RJ45-Terminal<\/a>
RJ45-Terminal Block Adapter – Bottom View<\/p><\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"Pump<\/a>
Pump Station Flat Panel User Interface. Note The\u00a0Displayed 3-Phase Voltage Level.<\/p><\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
\""24\"<\/a>
24 Hour History Chart. Note that the Voltage Levels are erratic and reaching higher-than-acceptable levels, especially 11PM-6AM, which was the main reason that the Water District requested this capability. History trending charts such as these can be useful tools for documenting voltage problems \u2014 and for conveying the problems to the local electric utility.<\/p><\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n
Are you interested in implementing this type of basic, economical 3-Phase Voltage Monitoring capability\u00a0at one or more of your stations?<\/p>\n
This feature \u2014 and many more \u2014 are now available as part of our new VFD & Energy Analytics Package for Telemetry, SCADA, and Control Systems<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Give us a call, and we\u2019ll be glad to discuss this with you in further detail.<\/p>\n
Telemetry, SCADA, & Controls Newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n
Was this article helpful?\u00a0 Would you be interested in receiving updates such as these in our occasional email-delivered newsletter?\u00a0 If so, here’s our sign-up page:<\/p>\n
Subscribe to\u00a0Navionics Research’s\u00a0“Telemetry, SCADA, & Controls Newsletter”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In rural areas \u2014 due to a combination of\u00a0long power transmission line lengths and the relative isolation of the remote pumping facilities\u00a0\u2014\u00a0it is not uncommon for stations to suffer from power quality problems.\u00a0 Therefore, it is always recommended that a station’s power status be monitored, trended, and alarmed for outages. In the most basic sense, …<\/span> Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,16,17,20],"tags":[89,102,162,167],"class_list":["post-969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-applications","category-historical-trending","category-sensors","category-troubleshooting","category-vfd","tag-modbus","tag-power-monitoring","tag-vfd","tag-voltage-monitoring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wireless-telemetry.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}