Rialto
Located on Melbourne’s renowned Collins Street, Rialto is at the heart of the city’s emerging mid-town. It is the location for many of Melbourne’s big names in finance, law, media, investment, consulting and technology.
Location
Melbourne CBDSystem Size
800 kVArProject Installed
2010Key Equipment
Thyristor Switched Power Factor Correction SystemProject Warranty
3 yearsProject overview
Quality Energy’s long history at the Rialto dates back almost 20 years. 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.
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.
The lift switchboard was tripping and shutting down areas of the building. There was also the risk that CitiPower would shut down the supply due to their poor power factor issue with power authority regulations.
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.
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.The Consequences
The lift switchboard was tripping and shutting down areas of the building. There was also the risk that CitiPower would shut down the supply due to their poor power factor issue with power authority regulations.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.
Project Outcomes
Ensuring the Rialto complied with electrical code was the primary outcome and with the building now compliant, business could continue as normal. A power Factor of over 0.98 ensure no further action was required.
The Benefit
After this installation, the Rialto enjoyed improved reliability and safety. Further financial benefit was gained in 2017 when CitiPower switched from kW to kVA demand charges.
After this installation, the Rialto enjoyed improved reliability and safety. Further financial benefit was gained in 2017 when CitiPower switched from kW to kVA demand charges.
