Understanding and resolving voltage sag related problems for sensitive industrial customers

In the modern industrial facility, many electrical and electronic control devices are routinely integrated into automated processes to increase both energy efficiency and productivity. In many cases these controls turn out to be very sensitive to power quality variations. In fact, they can be just as sensitive to minor power system voltage sags as they are to complete power failures. The end result being that the process experiences a costly interruption in production or output. This paper describes many of the common causes of voltage sags and contrasts some of the methods currently in use to mitigate the impacts of sags at the industrial process level. A new technology used to generate "sags-on-demand" and help to fis weak links in the process is also described.