Testing for power quality in an industrial environment

05 November 2018

Power quality is becoming increasingly important in achieving greater productivity and efficiency. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the industrial sector.

With ‘Industry 4.0’ driving change, this article looks at how the industrial environment is changing and how the role of power quality has become important.

Revolution and evolution

It’s said that we are now in the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ or ‘Industry 4.0’. ‘Industry 4.0’ can’t simply be ‘switched on’ though, it needs planned implementation. Some studies have identified IT security as the main issue, followed by concerns about reliability of production and computing hardware. However, even the best hardware is still at the mercy of the factory power supply. Power line quality doesn’t just affect connected equipment; radiated emissions can interfere with other devices and degrade wireless communication between equipment. It’s vital therefore to test and characterise power quality so that problems can be anticipated and mitigated.

Read the full article in the November issue of DPA