The Importance of Line Conditioner Efficiency

Efficiency is a good thing. We all know that it’s better to produce more from less, and in power equipment, that translates into lower input power for the same output.  Lower input power means lower energy cost for the user and environmental benefits for all of us.

General Transformer manufactures EMAX DEFENDER line conditioners that provide high efficiency while meeting your power requirements.

How Much Energy and Cost Does Higher Efficiency Save?

Consider, for example, a “typical” 1 kva ferroresonant line conditioner with efficiency of 80%. With 1,000 watts output, input power is 1,250 watts. That difference between input power and output power, 250 watts, is loss, dissipated as heat.

Compare that with a 1200 va EMAX DEFENDER line conditioner, operating at 1,000 watts output. We can see from the chart below, that efficiency will be approximately 90.2%.

This means that input power will be 1,109 watts, with losses of just 109 watts.  We’ve cut losses by 141 watts.

How much does that save in energy cost? For continuous operation, it’s a savings of 1,235 kw-hr per year, or nearly $124 per year at an average rate of 10 cents per kw-hr. With a service life of 20 years and moderate increases in energy costs, lifetime savings could exceed $3,000 for just a single 1,000 watt load!

Other Benefits of Higher Efficiency in Line Conditioners

There’s another benefit to higher efficiency, something which may well be of greater importance to the user or OEM than just lower energy cost. Higher efficiency means less heat must be removed from user equipment, enclosures, cabinets, and buildings.

Looking at power losses puts this in perspective more clearly than looking at efficiency percentages. In our example above, the heat which must be removed from the line conditioner and enclosure has been reduced from 250 watts to 109 watts, a very significant reduction which:

• Cuts heating of surrounding devices and equipment
• Reduces ventilation requirements
• Cuts energy costs.

An efficiency improvement of 10.2% has reduced heat dissipation by more than 56%.

For OEM’s especially, reduced power loss may mean reduction or even elimination of fan cooling, and enable more compact packaging. Energy savings are significant, but in many applications, reduced heating may be an even more significant benefit of EMAX DEFENDER’S high-efficiency technology.

Contact General Transformer Today for EMAX DEFENDER Line Conditioners