Did you know that electrical power damage can cost industrial firms thousands of pounds? Uncontrolled power surges can severely damage industrial equipment, leading to expensive repairs or full replacements. More importantly, these electrical surges rarely affect just one component; they often compromise multiple systems within your industrial electrical system. This puts your complete industrial setup at great risk and leads to costly downtimes.
However, this damage and inconvenience can be avoided by investing in measures and electrical upgrades that offer advanced industrial surge protection to your critical systems and components.
In this blog, we explore what electrical surges are, how they impact your business, the most effective ways to protect your operations from potential damage and how to safeguard your business from them.
Electrical surges, also known as transients, are sudden spikes in voltage or disturbances in the power waveform that can damage or even destroy electronic equipment. These surges can be caused by a variety of factors, including power outages, lightning strikes, faulty wiring, and switching operations within the electrical grid. Although these events last only between a few nanoseconds to microseconds, this short duration is enough to put high amounts of pressure on electrical devices. These surges travel through power lines, telephone lines, and even coaxial cables and can affect multiple systems simultaneously.
Industrial setups often have heavy machinery and sensitive electronic systems, and electronic surges can completely wreck them. This is why it’s pivotal to safeguard the integrity and functionality of your electronic devices and industrial equipment with anti-surge protection.
Let’s further understand the importance of setting up advanced industrial surge protection on your unit.
Industrial surge protection works in three main stages:
In this stage, the surge protection device does not influence the system where it’s installed. It acts as an open circuit and maintains the isolation between the active conductors and the earth.
The device becomes active and drives the surge current back to its source or to the ground. It behaves like a closed circuit, where the overvoltage is short-circuited and limited to an acceptable value for the electrical equipment connected downstream.
The surge protector returns to its original impedance and its open circuit condition.
Without adequate industrial surge protection in place, unexpected power surges can cause your equipment to malfunction, lose data, and even start fires. The consequences are often severe, ranging from costly repairs and equipment replacements to operational downtime that directly impacts productivity and profitability.
Advanced surge protection reduces these risks by diverting excess voltage from sensitive systems and helps it withstand and recover from unexpected power spikes.
The various benefits of implementing surge protection solutions include:
Protecting your valuable industrial equipment and systems from power spikes extends their lifespan as well as lowers the frequency of repairs and replacements.
With anti-surge protection devices in place, your unit’s operations continue to run as usual without any unwanted downtimes caused by equipment malfunctioning.
Implementing surge protection solutions lowers the risk of electrical fires, voltage spikes, and related hazards, improving and maintaining overall safety on your site. You’ll have peace of mind and you can continue to operate as normal, knowing that your site and its operations are protected.
Safeguarding your electrical and electronic equipment from unpredictable surges means reduced repair and replacement costs, which leads to significant cost savings.
Surge protection devices are specially designed to protect your equipment from surge damage. There are various types of surge protection devices, and we recommend you know the options available when choosing a surge protector.
Common types of surge protection devices:
These devices are installed at the main electrical panel. They work by diverting high-energy surges to the ground, in turn protecting your entire facility.
These surge protection devices are installed at the point of use and are ideal for localised protection of individual machines and workstations.
These devices offer backup power during outages and also offer surge protection features to protect connected equipment from transients.
These are typically either plug-in adaptors or power plugs with pre-built surge protection on the device that they connect to mains sockets.
These devices provide complete protection for sensitive electronic devices by regulating voltage levels and filtering out electrical noise.
Choosing the right industrial surge protection device for your industrial facility requires careful consideration of multiple factors, including your facility’s electrical infrastructure, the types of equipment in use, and the potential sources of electrical surges.
It’s best to consult a licensed electrician for a surge protection risk assessment and select the most appropriate anti-surge protection devices for your setup.
Implementing an industrial surge protection solution for your setup is not a one-time strategy to install and forget. It works best when fully integrated into your industrial facility’s broader electrical safety plan. A complete and reliable surge protection solution is developed along with grounding and bonding practices, proper wiring, and strict adherence to electrical codes.
Collaborate with Oaktree Electrical for safeguarding your industrial premises from unexpected surges and protecting your people and machines against possible negative ramifications. Our team is happy to assist you in selecting, installing, and maintaining the proper type of electrical surge protection solution for your industrial facility.Call 01322 552888 to get in touch with our team.
