New SUBCOE VAM – Realtime Hands Free VFD Voltage, Current & Frequency Monitoring

With ARC Flash being a major concern for modern operators, and the risk of injury and death being recognized within the electrical industry a need has been generated for realtime monitoring and reporting of electrical variables, especially in medium voltage systems, without direct human interaction.

Currently to obtain live readings from a power system is it necessary to secure the appropriate permits, suit up in ARC Flash PPE and to then use a meter to measure the values, often this is a three man operation with one operator holding the probes, a second taking the reading while a third watches in case of accident.

This is very inefficient and inevitably reduces the frequency of routine and extra ordinary power checks. In an industry where the use of a step-up transformer is quite common and, this data is routinely needed, SUBCOE is addressing this need and especially the need for monitoring of power after transforming it to Medium Voltage levels with our new VAM system.

SUBCOE has built upon the existing proven technology developed for our range of CUBE Motor Controllers to develop a full range monitoring device that is capable of reading three phase voltage, current and frequency in a severely distorted power system.

The monitoring is performed outside of the control system to offer a secondary, watchdog, value that may be used to setup the primary control system. It also adds the normally not present Medium Voltage measurements to the control system.

With all data being processed on a digital systems in the voltage & current relays, all of the measured variable are available through a standard Modbus RTU RS485 communication system.

The voltage shunt is rated for 0 – 5000V and the current coils are 0 – 400A, both are mounted in the output power junction box and connected directly to the output power system.

In cases where a local readout is required then this can be accessed through a CUBE Motor Controller or through a standalone display device, both of which have logging capabilities. The VAM may be temporarily or permanently installed depending upon the needs of the site that is being monitored.