Andreas Breitkopf, Advanced Energy Industries, Denver, CO
High-performance and complex systems for coatings and deposition need to deliver reliable operation over many years, during which time equipment is likely to be in use for many hours - if not 24 hours - a day. Operators of these systems demand stable and repeatable processes that keep operational costs as low as possible without compromising on quality. As with any high-power application, a key focus for cost reduction is the price of energy used.
One way to minimize energy costs is to employ power architectures that improve power factor by reducing total harmonic distortion (THD). This leads to increased efficiency, lowering utility bills and eliminating the cost of hardware filtering. Better power factor also minimizes the risk of having to pay penalties to utility companies as they seek to cover the cost of wasted energy and the need for larger equipment.
In this presentation, Advanced Energy will consider the power demands of high-power coating and deposition processes and explain how using digital SCRs (silicon-controlled rectifiers) with voltage sequence control (VSC) in electrical heating zones can minimize OPEX by delivering THD reductions that improve power factor.