Samsung installs Elspec’s Power factor correction systems in the world’s largest pharma manufacturing plant

Samsung’s biotech division, Samsung Biologics, which provides production services to pharmaceutical companies, has installed Elspec’s new line of voltage stabilization systems in her plant in Songdo, South Korea. The new Medium Voltage Equalizer is designed to stabilize medium voltages (1000 to 25000 Volts). It corrects voltage drops, harmonics, and reactive power in real-time, thus eliminating the risk of damage to equipment and power supply irregularities, caused by voltage disturbances.

Considered the world’s largest commissioned pharma manufacturing center, Samsung’s plant in Songdo boasts a 360,000-liter production capacity. It is the first public customer Elspec reports as embracing their new product line, which presents new market opportunities for them in the industrial sector, including water utilities, infrastructure, and ports.

The Medium Voltage Equalizer, typically installed in a standard electricity cabinet, or near machines operating at high loads, consists of capacitors, reactors, and a switching & monitoring system, that apply corrections whenever a mismatch appears between current and voltage, caused by overloads or power supply irregularities. According to Elspec, what sets their products apart from their competitors’ solutions is the Equalizer’s quick response time (measured in tenths of a second), and a remarkable 99.2% energy efficiency score.

In addition to the power factor correction capability, many plants are integrating similar systems to avoid penalties. Heavy industry plants consume reactive energy, in addition to their active consumption (known as Watt). Reactive energy is considered waste by the utilities. Violating standard regulations could lead to penalties, which vary by country. 

Among Elspec’s customers are power and water utilities and renewable energy companies, automobile, plastic, and steel mills, as well as applications vulnerable to power quality disturbances, such as hospitals and data centers. 

Along with power quality solutions, Elspec offers a wide product range of power quality meters and analyzers, that continuously records waveforms at high resolution (up to 1024 samples per cycle), and for long periods of time (up to 2 years) – compared to typical metering devices whose storage capacity does not allow saving data in such a high resolution for long periods of time. This data facilitates fault diagnosis and preventive maintenance.

Renewable Energy producers are integrating these products at their substations, where the production plant meets the national grid. These systems serve as both analyzers and “Black Boxes”, that monitor all relevant grid parameters continuously and at high resolution, so that when failure occurs, a precise root cause analysis is conducted of its nature and origin, and preventive maintenance can be planed accordingly.

Elspec estimates that 25% of the world’s wind farms have already installed their analyzers and metering devices, following successful collaborations with the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturers.