You have your own transformer for an event or facility. Or you’re relying on your local power supplier’s facilities to run your operation. Either way, if you can’t afford to have a power outage, you should have your own backup power supply. There are many situations where transformers fail—it’s not just about bad weather conditions.
There are possible problems to transformers that you can’t predict, and you should be careful to have a backup plan in case of failure. After all, failure may mean loss of production time, cancelling major events, damaging your credibility, and even lawsuits.
Here are six situations where an emergency backup power supply is needed.
1. Manufacturer Mistakes
Unfortunately, some transformers are just not built to the high standards you expect from your equipment. There are three general mistakes a manufacturer can make that cause your transformer to fail early or unexpectedly:
- Poor design: Design choices, like round-wound cores, can significantly increase or decrease the reliability and lifespan of a transformer.
- Poor materials: Using poor materials, or using less of a material than is ideal, can cause early failure in a number of ways.
- Poor workmanship: Quality control is absolutely essential in the production of transformers. Many manufacturers use completely automated processes and don’t take extra precautions to guarantee good results.
2. Inadequate Maintenance
So many things can go wrong with a transformer if it does not get the maintenance it needs. For example, if the cooling fans break or there is an unchecked oil leakage, the transformer can fail to cool itself and break down. Transformer maintenance is complicated, so it’s often best to have outside professionals help you with it.
3. Line Surges
Surges in your transformer line can cause damage, especially over the long term. For example, frequent fault currents can degrade the insulation. Many electrical failures are the result of poor or damaged insulation. This can result in arcs from one winding to the ground or another winding.
4. Sabotage
It is rarer than other transformer failures, but failure due to sabotage does happen. Local unrest and targeted sabotage are both hard to predict and can render your transformer completely inoperable.
5. Overloading
While even routine overloading won’t ruin transformers for years, once that threshold is reached, failure is unpredictable. If you’ve subjected your transformer to overloading, as many do, then your transformer may fail at any time.
6. Lightning
Having an emergency back-up power supply isn’t always about extreme weather events, but sometimes it is. Lightning strikes can cause transformers to explode and render you without power. As with other kinds of transformer, it is unpredictable.
Having a back-up is essential to keep your operation or your event on schedule and protect the reputation of your business. When you need emergency backup power supple trust the experts from VCM Solutions. We offer everything you need to get your operation up and running.
Sources:
https://www.engineeringworldchannel.com/transformer-failure/