Get in touch

Resolve Voltage Surges & Unplanned Lift Outages for Rialto

Name: Quality Energy
Address: 27 Roberna Street, Moorabbin Victorian, VIC, 3189, AU
Telephone: 1800 736 374

The problem

A low Power Factor was causing large current surges on the lift switchboards and tripping the circuit breakers. CitiPower also stated that the power factor of each supply had to meet a minimum requirement of 0.8. Given the electrical load profile of the Rialto because of the large lifts in the building, this project required engineering intervention not seen on most commercial sites.

The solution

Quality Energy installed a thyristor-switched capacitor bank on the lift switchboard to cope with the rapidly changing load of the lift circuits. If a standard contactor switched capacitor bank is used on such a rapidly varying load, the capacitor bank response would be too slow to maintain the correct power factor and combat the large surging of the load. A Thyristor switched unit will react in milliseconds, maintain the power factor at the predetermined level and keep the load fluctuations as low as possible.

Benefits and Outcomes

Quality Energy's Power Factor Correction solution helped Rialto improved their Power Factor to 0.98, achieving the project outcome of electrical compliance, facility reliability and safety. When CitiPower switched their demand charges from kW to kVA in 2017, Rialto was not impacted and enjoyed savings in their reduced electricity bills.