{"id":16619,"date":"2024-05-15T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T17:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modomodostage.com\/_client\/PWS\/PWS101\/?post_type=case_study&#038;p=16619"},"modified":"2025-11-04T21:59:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T21:59:44","slug":"power-system-analysis-for-commercial-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"case_study","link":"https:\/\/modomodostage.com\/_client\/PWS\/PWS101\/case-study\/power-system-analysis-for-commercial-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Power System Analysis for Commercial Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How a Power System Analysis Hatches a Better Plan for Harmonics Compliance At Major Poultry Farm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commercial farms throughout the U.S. are getting larger. In fact, a record 10 billion animals<a style=\"text-decoration:none;\" href=\"#vox-chart\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a> were raised on megafarms in 2022 to support the increasing demand for food worldwide. With this growth comes a huge responsibility to ensure these massive animal populations are well cared for and safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Without question, poultry house ventilation is among the top priorities. Farmers invest heavily to ensure air handling systems are well functioning and provide proper air flow and temperature. A large farm commonly operates hundreds of fans around the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately, when one poultry operator complied with their ethical responsibilities for ventilation, they ran afoul of the local utility grid compliance standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong><strong>The problem? High harmonics emitted by the barn fans.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When a large business connects to the local grid, their utility permit is usually conditional on their operations meeting <a href=\"https:\/\/standards.ieee.org\/ieee\/519\/10677\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IEEE Standard 519-2022<\/a>. This operating standard imposes limits of voltage and current distortion \u2014 harmonics \u2014 coming from customer electricity loads, and is meant to protect grid stability and prevent equipment malfunction and damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Accordingly, this poultry farm was required to adhere to IEEE 519 as part of its utility permit. However, over time, utility meters detected high levels of harmonic distortion coming from this customer site. The utility offered an extensive grace period for farm managers to identify the source of the distortion and bring the issue back into compliance. After engaging a third-party consultant, they traced the harmonics issue to several hundred electronically commuted motor (ECM)\u2013controlled fans ventilating the barns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The farm\u2019s consultant specified a Powerside solution. But Powerside said, \u201cLet\u2019s rewind.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The data analysis performed by the third-party consultant correctly identified the barn fans as the source of the harmonics. However, when the consultant specified the <a href=\"https:\/\/powerside.com\/products\/power-quality-corrections-solutions\/poweract-low-voltage-active-harmonic-filter\/\">Powerside PowerAct<\/a> filter to solve the issue, their recommendation was off the mark because it was undersized for this application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPart of the challenge for the poultry operation was that their consultant\u2019s data didn\u2019t provide the complete picture needed to spec the right solution,\u201d explains Punit Pandya, Application Specialist at Powerside. \u201cWhile they were able to show the average THD (Figure 1), this data didn\u2019t provide the granularity needed to comprehend the full harmonic spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/powerside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/graphic-representation.png\" alt=\"Average THD from Power Analysis at Poultry Farm\" class=\"wp-image-16374 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/powerside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/graphic-representation.png\" alt=\"Average THD from Power Analysis at Poultry Farm\" class=\"wp-image-16374\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>&nbsp;Figure 1<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>PQube<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> 3 and QubeScan provide a clearer view<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To successfully mitigate the harmonics issue, our Powerside team advised starting with a full <a href=\"https:\/\/powerside.com\/services\/power-system-analysis\/\">power system analysis<\/a>. We placed <a href=\"https:\/\/powerside.com\/products\/power-quality-measurement-solutions\/pqube-3-power-analyzers\/\">PQube<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>3<\/a> analyzers in key locations in the barn and pulled precise data sets through our <a href=\"https:\/\/powerside.com\/products\/software-solutions\/qubescan-monitoring-software\/\">QubeScan analytics suite<\/a>. This produced very high-resolution readings that revealed peak harmonic characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After only one week of data collection and analysis, we moved forward with a recommendation based on better characterization of the source and more precise calculation of harmonic correction required. We modified the original PowerAct spec to update its filtering capacity and meet IEEE 519 compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong>Harmonics mitigation is a bird of a different feather for electrical engineers<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Harmonics pose a special challenge for engineers and facility managers. These distortions are difficult to detect, complicated to solve \u2014 and besides failing IEEE 519 compliance, they tend to cause irreparable equipment damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As this poultry operation discovered, general load studies offer limited visibility of harmonic distortion, resulting in trial-and-error attempts at mitigation. Getting the solution right the first time requires a properly designed power quality study that digs deep into system characteristics. Think of it as a \u201cphysical exam\u201d of your power system that sets the stage for healthy operations and utility relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Curious how you\u2019re performing against IEEE 519 thresholds? Wondering if your power systems are running with optimal power quality? Let one of our skilled application engineers perform a <a href=\"https:\/\/powerside.com\/services\/power-system-analysis\/\">Power System Analysis<\/a> of your facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-left is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-63375db1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-fill\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-align-left wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/powerside.com\/services\/power-system-analysis\/\">Learn More<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"vox-chart\"><span class=\"MsoEndnoteReference\" style=\"font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; white-space-collapse: collapse; color: initial; vertical-align: super;\"><span style=\"font-size: 8pt; font-family: &quot;Century Gothic&quot;, sans-serif;\">1<\/span><\/span><span style=\"white-space-collapse: collapse; color: initial; font-size: 8pt; font-family: &quot;Century Gothic&quot;, sans-serif;\">&nbsp;Vox, \u201c9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you realize,\u201d February 26, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16620,"template":"","categories":[149,117,134,115,137,130,121],"class_list":["post-16619","case_study","type-case_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-harmonics-reduction","category-hybrid-harmonic-filter","category-power-issues","category-pq-edge-power-monitor","category-pqube-3-power-analyzers","category-products-software"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modomodostage.com\/_client\/PWS\/PWS101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case_study\/16619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modomodostage.com\/_client\/PWS\/PWS101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modomodostage.com\/_client\/PWS\/PWS101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case_study"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modomodostage.com\/_client\/PWS\/PWS101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modomodostage.com\/_client\/PWS\/PWS101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modomodostage.com\/_client\/PWS\/PWS101\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}