One of
the biggest expenses a small start up business in manufacturing or
fabricating faces is finding a place to start out in that has 3 phase
power available. If you do find that place there is a good chance
the rent or purchase price is very high. There is an alternative
available. Unfortunately, three phase converters are very expensive
and they are not always tailored to your specific needs and requirements.
We can build a deliver converters custom designed
and built to fit your specific requirements for less than you will pay for
commercially available units.
You may
be wondering how this could be of benefit to you. There are many
reasons but here are just a few. There are three basic types
of converters available. The least expensive is the design that
actually does not produce three phase power but instead tricks a three
phase motor into running on single phase power. They do that by
using a time delay relay to momentarily pulse the third phase line to the
motor to get it rotating and then let it run on single phase power. That
may sound like a economic solution but it isn't. Here's why, first
off, the motor will at best produce only 70% of it's rated output power
and will probably not work if it has to start under a load. This
type of set up will probably only work with very small rated motor that
aren't required to start under a load. Also the efficiency of a set
up like this is terrible. That just means higher utility bills.
The second type is a true static converter that uses electronic circuitry
to produce a true three phase output. These units are probably the
best solution regarding efficiency but they are very expensive. The
best middle of the road solution is the rotary phase converter. They
use a three phase motor running on single phase power to generate a third
phase. This is done by starting the motor and then operating with
oil filled run capacitors to balance the output. A general rule of
thumb is that if you want to operate a three phase motor with the output,
the converter motor should be 33% higher rated in HP than the load motor.
In other words, you should use a 10 HP converter to run a 7.5 HP motor.
The real problem with commercial units is that they have to be a very
generic design to accommodate all sorts of applications. Here is
where we fit in. We design the converter to fit your particular
application. You are probably thinking that should make it cost
more. That is not the case because we more than save you the
difference by buying surplus new old stock from a variety of sources at
mere pennies on the dollar. Typically we buy components in bulk at
around 10% to 15% of the actual cost for these components through
conventional supply sources Also there is the need to buy extra
components and pay for installation of additional required circuitry to
make the commercially available unit fit your specific needs. Third
and final is the fact that we service what we build. A lot of the
commercially available units are from Asian sources who are merely sales
companies that have no service available to their customers.
There is
another factor to consider. If you opt to have an expensive three
phase utility company service provided to you there will be an extreme
difference in you utility bill. All three phase services are
considered commercial or industrial and they usually charge based on peak
demand rates which are higher and variable. This means the rate
level per KWH is set based on the highest peak demand you have used during
a given billing cycle. So, if you have one or two days in the
billing cycle where your use was exceedingly high, this will raise your
rate for the entire billing cycle. This is not good for a small
business. It makes it virtually impossible for you to plan a budget.
There is no way of knowing what your rate will be until you have cycled
through and entire year.
We think
that all the above factors prove that it makes sense for the small shop or
manufacturing facility to go with one of our custom built converters.
We take on each job based on your needs and how much you want to do of the
installation yourself. If you want to do part of the work we will
visit your facility and tell you what we think you need. we will
also provide technical assistance at no extra charge. As you expand
we can expand your system to handle the extra load. Most of our
converters are designed and built to accommodate an upgrade in load size.
You may
be thinking that it would be a lot cheaper to buy all single phase
equipment. Unfortunately most industrial equipment is three phase
nowadays. It cost more to have it special ordered and you will have
to buy it new. There is so much good used industrial equipment
available at a fraction of new cost that it just makes sense to buy it and
set up to run it even with the additional cost of conversion equipment.
