Marwell Corporation will feature its AMI Capacitor Monitor adapter in Booth #3708 at DistribuTECH 2015. Marwell will showcase products developed to address the growing need for improved efficiency, reliability and distribution of power using smart grid networks and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) meters at utilities across the nation.
As utility engineers begin to look for ways to use the vast amount of information available from AMI meters to constantly improve overall operation of distribution systems, the new Marwell capacitor adapter allows a standard 120-V AMI meter to provide a method for monitoring and reporting the health of a capacitor bank. The device is compact, accurate and easy to install by lineman and can be used with fixed or switched capacitor banks.
The monitor was initially developed through a partnership with Georgia Power. The concept was based on the AMI meter’s ability to report a neutral current, and analysis of the data would indicate capacitor banks with a high neutral current due to one or two phases being out of service. Also the use of this type of system will determine the root cause of capacitor failures so specifications or material can be changed to lessen failure percentage. Without the AMI monitor, capacitor failures would not be found until scheduled inspection, which in many cases is done annually.
“Because of the success of this initial program with Georgia Power, Marwell AMI capacitor monitors are now being used by other utilities as well,” said Kyle Farmer, Marketing & Sales Manager for Marwell Corp. “We are now partnering with other utilities to develop a system to remotely read capacitor monitor meters for utilities that have not yet started their AMI deployment, as well as those that have AMI in place but want the ability to monitor the health of their capacitor banks, especially during critical peak times”.
