Need a little help on power supply and equipment power requirement

[Sirm]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum and I really wish I can use some help and guidance from experts in this forum. First of all, I not sure which place to post my question and I hope this is the right place.

I worked as a trainee in a factory and recently the factory wants to retrofit another piece of equipment for processing its waste product. Here the power supply is 415V, 50Hz and 3 phases. We are interested in buying this particular equipment from oversea, which has different power requirement of 380V, 50Hz and 3 phases.

So my question is can this piece of equipment work if it is to be connected to this factory? I am not familiar with electrical field but I would like to make a bold speculation regardless.

Here is my speculation. The equipment can still run but heating in the wire and circuit board will occur. I think this is because the supplied voltage is higher than required voltage and the excess voltage is gone wasted, turning into heat. Over the time, this can cause failure due to creep and corrosion.

I really hope someone can kindly assist me on this matter. I just want to know some background knowledge on this before and will use your advises as reference. By the way, sorry for my bad English if it is hard to read.

Thank you.

 

[waross]

Get proffesional help.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[itsmoked]

It could work, it probably can't work.

Seriously - Get professional help.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[Sirm]

okay, thank you for your feedback anyway

 

[itsmoked]

Sorry we can't be more helpful but there are scads of show-stopping little details and lots of large trade-offs involved in what you propose. This being Eng-Tips and not Eng-Engineering it would take a month of back-an-forth discussion to ultimately come up with a solution that missed some critical tidbit. Hence, the suggestion to find someone locally who can work with you to solve all the issues and support you through likely start-up problems.

Here's a link to just one myopic part of your task: faq237-1224

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[Sirm]

Okay, I understand now. What I proposed is a bit too broad that any small detail could be contributing factor to equipment reliability. I guess I have no choice but to seek professional help elsewhere. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[jraef]

All that said...

It will depend on the nature and age of the equipment you are buying. If it is new, I would not worry much about it. Most new equipment for use outside of North America will be built to the newish "harmonized" voltage[tt][/tt] standards. Because some countries were 380, some 400 and some 415, equipment manufacturers some time ago began using a common "utilization" voltage design based upon 400V 50Hz, +- 10%, which covers both ends of the spectrum: 360-440V.

If you are buying old used equipment that was never intended to be elected from the country of origin (which is hard to imagine), then it may be of more concern. I would try to contact the equipment manufacturer and ask. It is most likely fine.

We have a similar issue here in the US: older legacy distribution systems might be 440V, new ones are all 480V, the utilization voltage used in equipment design is 460V as a result.

"Will work for (the memory of) salami"

 

[Sirm]

Thank you very much jraef! Your informative explanation has just shed some light on my ignorance. I really appreciate that! Yes, I will contact the manufacturer anyhow just to verify and see what they going to do about it.

 

[crshears]

Topic would probably fit better in the Electric Motors, Generators and Controls Engineering forum, but plenty of us read both this one and it, so no worries )

OP noted that the frequency of both systems is 50 Hz, hence no frequency change is involved, which simplifies the problem considerably.

Employer has two basic choices:

First choice is to ignore the equipment design voltage and just wire it up anyway, with the result that the machine will work until it doesn't. I don't have the experience to say just how long that might be, but I believe I would be correct in stating that the equipment could reasonably expected to fail well before its normal end of service life.

I have seen numerous cases where the decision makers have gone this route.

The other choice would be to obtain and install a three-phase multi-tap autotransformer of the appropriate voltage and current rating and wire up the new equipment to the correct autotransformer output taps which provide the design voltage for the new equipment, in which case the equipment could reasonably be expected to last for the rest of its design life, which could depend upon how worn-out the equipment already is...

I would recommend choice #2...and unless you can afford to lose your job, you should seek professional advice to ensure you aren't the one ending up with "egg on your face" if things don't work out.

Hope this helps.

 

[Sirm]

I have never heard of multi-tap autotransformer before and I guess it's a device that can adjust input voltage to certain desired output voltage. I will do more research about it and it is always to good to know new things! Thanks crshears!

Yes, I would go for choice #2 as well just to be sure that everything will work as it should. That feeling of uncertainty, often due to rash decision making or not following codes and regulations, can haunt you later on. haha.

Btw, I have contacted and asked the manufacturer about this and he said it is not a problem and they can supply the equipment based on 415V power supply. That's reassuring to know. So I guess this question has more or less been answered!

Once again, I want to thank you all for helping and sharing with me your experience and guidance! I really appreciate everyone of it.

 

[crshears]

You're welcome, Sirm.

I must confess I misunderstood your OP; I saw the word 'retrofit' and assumed [yes, I know about ASS U ME] that there was a plan under consideration to buy used, not new, equipment. If in fact the equipment is new and that mfr can build it to run on that factory's voltage, the issue is instead a simple one following the standard pattern of spec out, broadcast a request for proposals, and so forth...