UPSs and SPDs: A powerful duo in the fight against power outages

Batman and Robin, Mario and Luigi, Wallace and Gromit. In film, the role of the sidekick is crucial in aiding the protagonist to achieve their overall goal. In the fight against power outages we explain the necessity of protecting uninterruptable power supply (UPS) systems with a surge protection device (SPD) that accounts for transient surges.

The role of a UPS is to provide a secondary or backup power in the event of loss of utility power. The UPS protects electrical and electronic systems, process controllers and data against the loss of the primary power source.

A common misconception is that SPDs are unnecessary due to the built-in protection already provided by UPS systems themselves. The downside of this "built in" suppression is that the typical UPS, if subjected to a line to ground transient, may allow a significant amount of the transient downstream to the loads.

Transient protection should exist at the input to all electronic loads and the UPS is no exception. This is where SPDs come in, to prevent excess voltage appearing at the terminals of sensitive equipment. Integrating one of these devices into a systems architecture, ensures the life of the UPS and importantly any equipment to which the UPS is supplying power.

High voltage surges are normally covered by surge protectors. However, traditional SPDs do not account for low level transient surges. These transient surges in the sine wave are very damaging to electrical equipment, as the additional peaks and troughs in the sine wave cause confusion to sensitive devices and machines downstream. Transient surges can lead to false zero crossings of the sine wave — the instantaneous point at which there is no voltage present.

During maintenance and downtime on the UPS, the SPD will filter out the transients and surges from the line during the static by-pass mode or maintenance by-pass mode of operation, protecting the connected computer equipment from damage.

However, not all SPD technology is the same. The SineTamer cascade system for example, offers much more than a standard surge protection device. It is an engineered transient disturbance filter, designed to monitor all 360 degrees of the sine wave. Using 360-degree monitoring, the device can prevent issues caused by false zero crossings of the sine wave.

If an organisation has already committed to investing in sophisticated computer equipment and a UPS unit to protect against power outages, the investment in an SPD is minimal by comparison and a very natural progression. The benefits of this additional protection can be significant, resulting in fewer maintenance problems and less downtime, which can reap havoc for businesses.

While a UPS may function on its own, the SPD is a reliable and necessary sidekick, providing complementary functions in the fight against power failure problems.

Understanding the vital differences between SPD technology can be key to protecting your devices. For more information about CP Automation’s SineTamer product offering or alternative surge protection devices, please visit www.cpaltd.net.

Launch of compact power quality filter

We have introduced the new Comsys ADF P25 small compact active filter to our supply range. This ultra-compact filter addresses recurring power quality issues in industry for applications where space is at a premium.

Power quality is a growing concern for utility providers, manufacturers and data centres. The more advanced technology in today’s facilities is putting higher demand on the electrical grid, making machinery particularly susceptible to power quality issues and unexplained equipment malfunctions and stoppages.

This coincides with the dwindling space in today’s facilities — there often isn’t room for a bulky power filter. Improved space optimisation for this equipment enables higher production volumes in the same footprint, saving business huge sums of money in floorspace.

“We have taken 20 years of know-how in high power active harmonic filters and built the most robust small size active harmonic filter on the market,” explained Rickard Jacobson of Comsys.

The Comsys ADF P25 addresses the need for an ultra-compact power filter, without compromising on protection. It filters a variety of electrical disturbances, including transients and harmonics, which could go on to cause overheated transformers, nuisance tripping and non-compliance with grid codes.

“Our customers are attempting to maximise on every inch of floor space,” explained John Mitchell of CP Automation. “At the same time, they are also optimising energy efficiency and proactively protecting machinery from unnecessary downtime. Luckily for them, the ADF P25 offers the same performance as its big brothers, the ADF P300 or ADF P100, but in a much smaller size.

“The filter is suitable for new build facilities or as part of a retrofit approach and it is compatible with all three-phase low voltage applications. To get the filter commissioned, all that is needed is a laptop with an ethernet port and recent web browser. Investing in this is a no-brainer to save on footprint, downtime and parts replacement costs.”

The ADF P25, as with the other Comsys products that CP Automation supplies, are engineered and manufactured in Sweden to extremely high standards. The expert engineering has enabled several ADF P25s to be combined, offering modular and scalable design as facilities increase power demands.


For more information on CP Automation’s range of ADF filters in stock, or to discuss a small-footprint automation project that depends on high power quality, email sales@cpaltd.net.  

Third time’s a charm

Industrial supply and repair specialist, CP Automation, has been named as Roxburgh EMC’s distributor of the year for the third time. The award reinforces the strong alliance between both businesses and highlights the importance of effective supply and distribution in today’s competitive industrial climate.

CP Automation has been a distributor for Roxburgh EMC for six years, stocking over 80 industrial filter lines, including three phase, neutral products and high current single-phase ranges. The business has previously taken home Roxburgh EMC’s distributor of the year award in 2015 and 2016, making the most recent win a hattrick.

“The recognition reinforces our long-standing partnership with Roxburgh EMC,” explained John Mitchell, global sales and marketing director at CP Automation. “The company's products are reliable, UK manufactured and have excellent lead times, which helps us do what we do best — provide customers with effective problem-solving products.

“For this reason, we’ve recently stocked up on Roxburgh EMC 820 Amp mains filters to extend our range of three phase filters for cranes, escalators and HVAC systems. With this a huge focus sector of our business, we look forward to another great twelve months.”

“CP Automation stocks an extensive range of our industrial filters. They thoroughly deserve the Distributor of the Year award,” commented Tom Downing, product manager of Roxburgh EMC. “Throughout 2018, they once again showed exceptional sales performance and dedication to the brand by offering valuable EMC solutions and technical advice to their customers.

“Our partnership with CP Automation has strengthened our brand and enabled Roxburgh EMC to enter new markets. We presented this award to them in recognition of their commitment and effort. We have enjoyed working with CP Automation and we look forward to celebrating more success in the near future.”

The alliance has never been so important, with the office for national statistics announcing steady growth for the construction, manufacturing and production industry. With high-stakes projects taking place in all sectors, it’s vital that filtering and protection devices are readily available, so that timelines are met without the common problems associated with poor power quality.

For more information about CP Automation and the range of Roxburgh EMC products available for supply and installation, please visit www.cpaltd.net or email john.mitchell@cpaltd.net. 

Precise alignment for tissue converting

Industrial sales and repair specialist, CP Automation, has introduced the Re Spa web guiding (WG) series to its product portfolio. These intelligent retrofit parts are set to solve common problems for tissue, aluminium foil, paper and plastic film manufacturing and processing plants, by offering precise alignment of web winding and consistent printing and cutting processes.

Effective alignment from the unwinder to the rewinder is a must for any converting businesses wanting to increase productivity and product quality. Re Spa’s web guiding systems are an ideal retrofit option that can be added directly to the existing system’s unwinder, to guarantee a fast and accurate correction of material position.

The Re Spa WG705 web guiding product is designed for reels up to 600mm in width, while the WG2003 suited to reels larger than 600mm. Both are fitted with ultrasonic sensors that feedback the position of the material to the web guiding controller, which sends a correction signal to the roller to reposition the material accordingly.

A further source of frustration for converting is the alignment of the web prior to folding after the cutting process has taken place. At this point, the web is smaller, so there is less room for error. The material must therefore be perfectly aligned on the roller in order to create precisely central folds. The WG705 offers easy pre-folding alignment correction, guaranteeing a precise fold in the middle of the product.

“Re Spa has identified a clear need for this product in the converting industry,” explained Tony Young, director of CP Automation. “Factories in all industries are becoming smarter, and tissue, film and foil processing and manufacture certainly won’t get left behind. Alignment issues don’t need to be a costly or recurring problem anymore, as these devices from Re Spa are now available for post-unwinding and post-cutting precision.

“Businesses that have retrofitted these parts are already reducing their production waste, reducing time spent on setup and increasing print quality.”

For more information on CP Automation’s Re Spa product range, visit the CP Automation website and Re SpA website, or e-mail sales@cpaltd.net.  

Uncharted territory

Supply, installation and repair specialist, CP Automation is undergoing radical changes to the structure of its business, to manage the rapid growth in its international markets. To enable business growth across EMEA and America, John Mitchell has been promoted to global sales & marketing director. 

Mitchell joined CP Automation in 2011 as global business development manager. He was tasked with developing CP Automation’s product portfolio and breaking into new market territories.  His role at CP Automation has enabled the company to install downtime reducing solutions all over the world.

The new director-level role adds a new depth to Mitchell’s work, who will now be responsible for managing CP Automation’s growing international market.

“This promotion has been entirely organic,” said Tony Young, director of CP Automation. “It is not only a way of showing gratitude for John’s success over the last seven years, but meets a crucial business need for CP Automation, as we build on new product portfolios and territories.   

“Breaking new markets requires agility and adaptability, and this internal promotion will set us up to continue our upwards trajectory. John has a unique ability to anticipate and deliver what a particular market needs and prepare for this ahead of demand. For unfamiliar territories, this will be integral to our success”

In the last few years, Mitchell has been involved in various international projects for CP Automation. This includes the installation of 14 sine filters for a Namibian water project, UPS and harmonic filters for power stations and even high-power motors for earthquake simulation machines.

To further facilitate growth at CP Automation, the company has recently begun recruiting for five new positions. These vacancies are for sales engineers to drive the uptake of CP Automation’s power transmission, power quality and repair services.

CP Automation’s portfolio includes active and passive harmonic filters, brake choppers, rectifiers, regen units, DC to DC converters, EMC filters, line and motor chokes, sine filters, AC and DC motors, and surge protection devices to its offering. The company is also developing its material handling and crane portfolio.


For more information on CP Automation’s services, partnerships or vacancies, e-mail sales@cpaltd.net.

Going up

There are over 900,000 elevators in operation in the US alone, many of which experience mind-boggling lock ups and loss of programming.  John Mitchell, global sales & marketing director at supply, installation and repair specialist CP Automation, explains how elevator maintenance managers can prevent these annoying occurrences.

On average, 20,000 people are carried by each of these elevators every year. That equates to 18 billion trips made by elevator annually, just in North America. Elevators play a crucial role in human logistics and thus present a lucrative opportunity to improve the efficiency of buildings worldwide.

Modern buildings are being erected to greater heights than ever before. As a result, newly implemented elevators are required to travel higher and faster than their predecessors. With these changes come a new set of problems and maintenance issues for engineers.

To manage these new heights, today’s elevator software and hardware are more complex, and therefore more sensitive to fluctuations in power surges. This does not only refer to the strong surges from lightning strikes or utility companies, but also the transient surges that can happen thousands of times a day.

Transient surges are a change in fundamental frequency of power that can occur multiple times a day on the power supply network. These surges are a result of switching operations of inductive loads, such as air-conditioning units, transformers and lift motors.

Surges related to lift motors are most commonly linked with elevator power quality issues. If the lift motor is controlled by a variable frequency drive (VFD), the business may benefit from increased efficiency and reduced energy costs. However, this does not manage the low-level transient surges that can occur countless times a day, exaggerated by VFD usage.

Transient surges can lead to false zero crossings of the sine wave — the instantaneous point at which there is no voltage present. In a sine wave, this normally occurs twice during each cycle. Devices can be falsely triggered because of fast changing signals caused by transients, as they believe the zero point has been crossed, even when it hasn’t. It can cause confusion for all equipment on the grid.

Whether it is caused by transients or a freak utility power surge, insufficient power quality is destroying many elevators and their related equipment. For elevator operation, this can cause recurring random failures, lockups and deprogramming of human machine interfaces (HMIs) on each floor. However, this downtime and maintenance can be eliminated if the right protection is in place.

Typical surge protection devices are unable to prevent these issues as they are voltage triggered only. This means built in surge protection systems are not a feasible option. The answer to this problem is using a SineTamer® cascade system.

This system offers much more than a standard surge protection device. It is an engineered transient disturbance filter, designed to monitor all 360 degrees of the sine wave. Using 360-degree monitoring, the SineTamer® can prevent issues caused by false zero crossings of the sine wave.

Results from the field
In Central America, one business was faced with a major utility generated power surge, destroying several elevators and related equipment in its facility. Yet, right next door, being fed from the same transformer, not a single elevator component was damaged. When investigated, the foreman of the unaffected building explained they had installed SineTamer®.

Over in South America, the Montevideo World Trade Centre contained 30 elevator systems, routinely experiencing 5-7 issues daily. In addition to those were the constant deprogramming failure of HMI’s on each of the 22 floors. Upon installation of the SineTamer®, all failures, lockups and loss of programming ceased by 100 per cent.

The US boasts huge numbers of elevators in operation today, and interestingly around 914,000 new are sold across the world each year. As worldwide construction of tall buildings continues to increase, improving management of transient surges will mean that new and old elevators will now have a fairer chance in lasting the test of time — without costly maintenance issues.

To enquire about the SineTamer®, e-mail John Mitchell at john.mitchell@cpaltd.net.

Keeping waveforms in check

Whether a data centre is onshore or offshore, the universal electrical issue that affects them all is harmonics. Here, John Mitchell, global business development manager of supply, repair and field service specialist CP Automation explains the most effective way to mitigate harmful harmonics in a data centre. 

Associated with alternating current (AC) power lines, harmonics can infiltrate both the voltage and current of electricity. This results in costly and disruptive damage to the electrical distribution systems found in data centres and many other facilities. Let’s delve deeper into the issue.

For the best efficiency and performance in a data centre, the goal is to have voltage and current waveforms primarily consisting of the fundamental frequency, with minimal higher-order frequencies. Most utilities provide power with a reasonably smooth waveform, however, non-linear loads such as servers, variable frequency drives (VFDs) and other electrical devices can distort current and voltage waveforms.

These distortions are known as harmonics. These changes appear as supplemental frequencies higher than the fundamental frequency, which is 60 Hz in the U.S. and 50Hz in most other countries.

Harmonic currents are often exaggerated by the power supply units (PSUs) within the IT equipment itself, or by VFDs in cooling and ventilation equipment. Harmonic currents can then distort the voltage that is consumed by IT equipment, as the devices pull current distortion through an impedance.

Why harmonics matter
Minimising energy costs and maximising reliability are top priorities for most data centre operators, but harmonics make both these goals harder to achieve.

Arguably the most prolific concern about harmonics is the increased losses on the power system conductors and transformers, adding heat to the power chain that drives up power and cooling costs. This has a knock-on effect on capital expenses, as harmonics reduce the lifespan of electrical equipment. Because of this, businesses may need to purchase replacement devices prematurely.

Harmonics can also result in costly utility penalties, as energy companies must compensate for harmonic-related waste by deploying additional generating capacity. For this reason, and to discourage harmonic pollution, many utility providers penalise customers that exceed distortion limits as defined by the IEEE-519 standard.

While these power quality issues are generally understood in the technical community, less appreciated is the effect of harmonic currents on the overall efficiency of a data centre. Ultimately, harmonic currents are wasted energy that appear as heat. This means the amount of heat that must be removed from the data centre is increased — a common and highly-publicised issue for data centres.

The answer
While there are a range of options for mitigating harmonics, the right option depends on the data centre in question, the facility’s budget and the loads it supports. CP Automation recently helped one customer that was upgrading the cloud-based servers in a data centre in Middlesex, UK.  By assessing the data centre facility and evaluating the current power quality issues, the audit identified any issues that could arise from the upgrade.

After this assessment, it was clear the best option for this facility was an active filter. CP Automation then supplied and installed a Comsys ADF P300 active dynamic filter to alleviate any potential issues associated with harmonics.

Active harmonic filters are the most flexible solution on the market. They monitor the network and inject the necessary amount of compensation current at any given time, which restores current waveform and lowers current consumption. This makes them ideal for installations for applications in which current load changes constantly, as was the case with the data centre in Middlesex.


Line harmonics continue to be a costly issue for data centres, but fortunately, IT and facilities managers have access to a wide array of harmonic-mitigation technologies. If you’d like to discuss your own needs for harmonic filtering, contact the CP Automation team on +44 (0)1724 851 515.