McGranaghan is also a co-author of the book Electrical Power Systems Quality, widely considered to be the best textbook on utility power quality issues. It is the result of over 20 years of experience analyzing and solving power quality problems.

NEMA Third Quarter Industrial Control Business Indices Released
The National Electrical Manufacturers Assoc. (NEMA), recently announced that in the third quarter of 2004, its Primary Industrial Control Index improved by nearly 14% from the same period last year. The third quarter's index level of 84.4 marks the highest the primary index has reached since the first quarter of 2001.

Although the index has not recovered all the ground it lost after peaking above 102 points early in 2000, this indicator has now improved for seven of the last nine quarters.

The Primary Industrial Control and Adjustable Speed Drive Index slipped slightly from its second quarter level, but the third quarter 2004 index value of 104.8 was 8% higher than in the third quarter last year. This index extends only back to the first quarter of 2001, but with the third quarter results, it has remained above 100 for three consecutive periods for the first time in its short history.

According to Steve Wilcox, NEMA's director, market research, "Continued recovery in the production of industrial machinery, which was up nearly 13% from a year ago, as well as relatively low interest rates and a steady climb in the manufacturing capacity utilization rate, have helped boost the industrial automation sector in recent periods."

The Industrial Control Business Indices are issued quarterly by NEMA. The Primary Industrial Control Index represents U.S. shipments for motor starters, contactors, terminal blocks, control circuit devices, motor control centers, sensors, programmable controllers, and other industrial control devices.

This index represents monthly sales information collected by NEMA from its members, the major industrial control manufacturers in the U.S. market.

PQ Articles in EC&M Magazine in December
Look for these interesting and informative articles in the PQ Advisor section of the December 2004 issue of EC&M Magazine:

Inside PQ: "Industrial PQ Considerations: The Economics of Voltage Sag Ride Through Solutions" by Mark McGranaghan, Mark Stephens, and Bill Roettger, EPRI PEAC. McGranaghanm, Stephens, and Roettger discuss the costs of voltage sags in industrial facilities and the resulting high costs. They then detail a procedure to evaluate the cost of the downtime against the cost of implementing conditioning equipment to justify the purchase deceision.

PQ Corner: "Harmonics and Power Distribution Busways" by Keith Lane, P.E., SASCO. Lane details a case history where the intial design concepts of a design/build industrial project took into account the extent of nonlinear loading and the resulting presence of harmonics. The end design included plug-in busway and harmonic-mitigating equipment at step-down transformers.

Ask the Experts: Mark McGranaghan and others from EPRI-PEAC, Mike Lowenstein of Harmonics Limited, Ralph Fehr, EC&M Contributing Engineer, and John DeDad, EC&M Editorial Director, answer questions from EC&M and PQNewsBeat readers on harmonic and/or power quality problems, including discussions on electronic equipment performance and operation.

To apply for a subscription to EC&M Magazine, to renew your subscription, or to change your mailing address, click here.

UPS Supplier Orders Fuel Cells
Hydrogenics Corp., Toronto, Canada, recently announced that it has secured a follow-on order for 25 HyPM® fuel cell power modules, which will be incorporated into back-up power products for one of the world's largest suppliers of uninterruptible power. Hydrogenics expects to deliver two units in 2004 and the remainder throughout 2005.

According to Pierre Rivard, President and CEO of Hydrogenics, "This ushers in an exciting stage in Hydrogenics' continuing strategy of providing solutions for early-adopting markets like back-up power. This is Hydrogenics' largest sale of hydrogen power modules to a singular OEM customer. Now, with costs coming down so steadily, our fuel cell HyPM is clearly becoming a viable option for those looking for a clean and reliable alternative."

Hydrogenics' HyPM power modules require only hydrogen fuel to produce DC electrical power and have been used in applications ranging from light mobility to stationary to portable power solutions. In addition to a fuel cell stack, the power module includes the associated components, subsystems, and control software.

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DIN-Mounted UPS for 24V Devices
Phoenix Contact, Harrisburg, Pa., recently introduced its new Quint Buffer and Quint DC-UPS DIN rail-mounted UPS systems that ensure continuous operation of all 24V devices. A buffer module and three UPS modules provide the right response to every demand on output current and buffer time. These power supplies also make sense wherever smooth process flow is required in spite of poor power grid quality and unreliable power sources. For brief power interruptions lasting up to four seconds, the Quint Buffer module supplies the required current from maintenance-free electrolytic capacitators. The Quint DC-UPS module responds to longer outages with durable, hybrid, lead-acid storage batteries. The model with 10A output includes an integrated 1.3 Ah battery. The 20A and 40A models can be combined with 3.4 Ah, 7.2 Ah, and 12 Ah battery modules as desired. For more information, call the Technical Service Department, (800) 322-3225, E-mail: info@phoenixcon.com, or visit www.phoenixcon.com.

Data Center Grade UPS
MGE UPS Systems, Costa Mesa, Calif., recently introduced its Galaxy 4000 UPS, designed to meet the stringent power demands of critical data centers and industrial facilities. The UPS features Digital Power Quality Management and advanced IGBT technology that eliminates damaging input harmonics. The 40kVA, 50kVA, 65kVA, and 75kVA online double-conversion units greatly improve the input power quality by using the Galaxy's IGBT rectifier to eliminate input harmonics from the utility-supplied power and correct the input through power factor correction. These features allow the UPS to be installed using smaller cabling and breakers as well as the lowest UPS-to-generator sizing of any UPS on the market today, saving up to 50% in generator costs. In addition, the Galaxy's power surge stabilization system regulates voltage during surge conditions. MGE has incorporated advanced battery management into the new Galaxy 4000 series that can quickly determine precise battery performance parameters and alert operators to any irregularities before they have a chance to affect the UPS performance. In addition, automatic predictive failure analysis of the batteries allows users to know exactly when they should replace their batteries. The Galaxy 4000 series interfaces with the leading universal communication protocols and incorporates four communication slots that can support SNMP, J-Bus/ModBus, TCP/IP and (RS232-RS485) protocols. Operating with MGE's Solution-Pac power management software, the Galaxy 4000 can gracefully control and shut down multiple servers over the network and can be programmed to issue server shutdown commands via XML tags when MGE's "webi-card" is installed. The Galaxy 4000 UPS is UL-1778 and cUL (Canada) approved and conforms to FCC Class A parts, 15 sub parts. The new Galaxy also meets ISO 9001 design and manufacturing standards. For more information on MGE's Galaxy 4000, call (800) 523-0142 or go to www.mgeups.com/us.

Three-Phase UPS Systems for Lighting
Chloride Power Protection, Lake Forest, Ill., recently introduced the EPEM, designed to meet the extended UL 924 power requirements of a minimum of 90 min. The EPEM is available in 10kVA to 75kVA sizes and is a true on-line, double-conversion UPS that protects emergency lighting systems for a minimum of 90 minutes. The EPEM operates incandescent, magnetic, and electronic ballast, fluorescent, high power factor compact fluorescent, and high intensity discharge (HID) lamp types and features an IGBT PWM inverter along with automatic low battery voltage disconnect. The system is housed in a free-standing NEMA 1 enclosure, and uses maintenance free, sealed lead calcium batteries. High-end metering and controls are located in the EPEM's multilingual, alphanumeric display. For more information, go to www.chlorideups.com.