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Arctic Sands Thermal Industries contacted T&T Power Group on behalf of Weil Group Resources, a developer of global energy and resource projects, to supply power solutions for a large helium processing facility in Saskatchewan.
This new $10 million facility, completed in April 2016 by the Weil Group, supplies refined industrial-grade helium to North American markets. This state-of-the-art facility purifies inert gas from existing wells to a “Grade A” industrial helium, producing over 40 million cubic feet of helium per year. Saskatchewan is excited to welcome the revival of the helium industry through this project, an industry that has been inactive in the province for 50 years.
“At 600V, no other manufacturer/packager offered a proven system for VFD start - synchronize and bypass run.” -Mike Keevill, Artic Sands Thermal Industries
Our client required a custom Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) solution delivered within a set time frame to be successfully integrated into an E-House with its space restrictions and other limitations.
T&T Power Group designed and built a VFD Line Sync system within a short eightweek time frame, including delivering the product to Calgary for integration into an E-House.
Challenges for Weil Group's helium project included:Challenges aside, our team was able to design a solution whereby a Vacon VFD running a Line Sync application, starts the 675 HP reciprocating compressor under VFD control until it is at line frequency and then switches on a contactor to run directly from the line.
Once the unit is up to line frequency, the Danfoss VACON NXP VFD is able to make small adjustments to the internal frequency reference so that the line voltage angle and VFD voltage angle are within set limits. At this point the VFD is disconnected from the motor and the motor is directly connected to the line with no noticeable power disturbance.