Sounds similar to a consulting job I turned down a few years ago.

Essentially it was a dimmer.  A micro would turn the triac on a few
hundred uS to a few mS after zero crossing.  Configurable by the
installer.

It would certainly work at many levels against some of the claims you
mention above.

Some of the other claims, though, such as motor heating may be
worsened by treating them in this manner.  I suppose AC/DC motors
would be fine, but induction motors, transformers, etc would have much
higher heating - though may still use less electricity overall, while
delivering significantly less power to their load depending on how
exactly they were mistreated..

PC power supplies and many cheap SMPS wouldn't be affected, since most
use rectifiers and/or voltage doublers right off the bat and deal with
DC.  Wouldn't get much savings in this area either.

You'll probably find that they'll require a consultant to come in an
do an energy audit and determine what devices could use their
solution, and then they'll do the installation themselves.

Of course, it was more technically complex than described above, but
it boils down to the essential (and not under NDA) description and
simple analysis above.

To meet all of the aforementioned claims would take a more complicated
device than what I was asked to design.  Perhaps they have a variety
of solutions for each load type.

-Adam

On 1/24/07, Mark Scoville <mscoville@unicontrolinc.com> wrote:
> Hi Piclisters,
>
> My boss has asked me to evaluate a device (which I can't get a hold of to
> see) which supposedly saves gobs of money on electricity (sound familiar).
>
> Anyway, this device, hooks to the incoming power. My initial reaction was
> "Oh, power factor correction". My boss says "oh no, they say this is not
> power factor correction". Ok what is it then. Nobody is telling me. This is
> all I am being told - I don't have any details.
>
> Some of the claims for this magical device... (Feel free to laugh out loud
> at some, most or all of these)
>
> Motors run cooler
> Light bulb and ballasts run cooler
> Transformers, panels, switchgear, breakers, starters, controls run cooler
> SCRs, diodes, switching transistors and microprocessors all run cooler
> Switching power supplies are more stable
> Process and production controls are more accurate and reliable
> Air conditioning and refrigeration is more effective and reliable
> In-House and outside maintenance and repair labor costs decrease
> Equipment repair and maintenance parts cost decrease
> Light bulb and ballast replacement costs decrease
> Costs to production or process downtime are decreased
> Computer data is more secure and safe
> Computer operation is more reliable and safe
> Communications systems are more reliable
> Lights flicker less
>
> I do know you can save some $$ with power factor correction - but I
> seriously doubt some of the above claims. For example, how is hooking a
> gizmo to my mains going to make my uP run any cooler? Light bulbs run
> cooler?
>
> They do stop short of telling me my hair will grow back and I'll lose 20
> pounds.
>
> I'm curious to hear comments from the list on some of the more "interesting"
> claims :) Have fun.
>
> -- Mark
>
> Doesn't matter what your business card says...
> We're all in the results business.
>
>
>
> --
> http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
> View/change your membership options at
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
>


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