JUMO offers power controllers for significant cost savings

Smart cost-saving thyristor power controller

The JUMO IPC 300 electronic transformer controls the power supply of electric heating elements and combines all the advantages of a variable AC transformer (such as amplitude control and sinusoidal network load) with the advantages of a thyristor power controller (such as current limitation, load monitoring, subordinate control loops).

Optimal use of heating systems in industry and beyond is becoming increasingly important. Depending on the application and the temperature range, gas or oil-fired heating systems are often used for these systems. Electrification of such systems requires changing the energy source of the installation. 

For example, in an industrial oven. Instead of fossil fuels such as oil or gas, powering the ovens can be done using electricity. Lower CO2 emissions are achieved by using heating elements that are preferably supplied with sustainably generated electricity.

Depending on the type of oven, the flue gas consumption of a gas or oil-fired installation can vary from 20% to 40% of the oven's energy consumption. Heat from this flue gas consumption can be partly recovered by passing the flue gases over a heat exchanger. The recovered heat can then be used, for example, to heat process water. This recovery is done using an economizer and/or flue gas condenser. 

However, with an electric oven, these expensive solutions are not necessary, as there are theoretically no flue gases. With the right control equipment, an efficiency improvement can be found in the control of the electric heating elements. Because larger ohmic and inductive loads often have to be switched, peak loads and reactive currents are a problem. By using thyristor power controllers that electrically control heating elements, peak loads and reactive current can be prevented, leading to significant cost savings.