Guardian Life Insurance Company—Allentown, PA

After receiving daily complaints about computers locking up, the onsite facility manager at this large regional life insurance company called TCI. The problem seemed to be located on the third floor of an office building in a room housing 30 computer stations.

TCI collected data from the two electrical transformers and panels feeding the computers on the third floor. The Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) at the transformer connected to the problem area was 23% THD—a combination of 3rd, 5th and 7th harmonics. The transformer for the other side of the building recorded 17% THD*.

TCI chose to replace the existing transformer with one designed to cancel harmonics (in this case, a Powersmiths T1000).

Shortly after the equipment was installed, the department added 30 more computers to the room.

Initial feedback from the client was a remarkable decrease in the temperature of the electrical closet. Not only that, but the computers stopped locking up. A final test reading revealed that the THD reading was reduced to 2%. This is most impressive considering the load had doubled since the initial reading!

*The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard 519 defines an acceptable level of harmonics as 5% THD for a facility smaller than 69 kV.