ABB’s intelligent low-voltage circuit breaker to provide smart solution for data centres

ABB will be at Data Centre World at London’s ExCel on 26 and 27 February. On stand G25, it will be showcasing its complete portfolio of data centre products and integrated solutions.

Taking centre stage will be Emax 2, the first low-voltage circuit breaker with integrated energy management functions. Replacing existing traditional breakers with the Emax 2 breaker has the potential to achieve annual savings of 5.8 million megawatt-hours (MWh), which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 1.4 million EU households per year.

These energy savings would reduce CO2 emissions by 4 million tonnes per year, which is the same as the annual emissions from one million cars. By installing the new Emax 2 in place of traditional breakers, a typical building installation can expect reduction in peak power of up to 15 percent.
The Emax 2 is ideally suited to applications where protection and control of large amounts of energy are used in a low-voltage environment. Data centres as well as industrial and commercial buildings are all well suited to the new switchgear.

Replacing an existing circuit breaker with the new Emax 2 is technically simple and energy savings will typically pay for the new equipment within one year.

Central to the operation of the Emax 2 is a protection trip relay with an integrated power controller that measures and evaluates energy consumption, then manages the loads to maintain or reduce the peak power usage as determined by the user. This will also help to reduce blackouts, the root cause of which is often that peak power demand exceeds supply.

To manage energy, the Emax 2 switches off the power to non-essential equipment, returning it as soon as acceptable power levels are reached. A built in controller and software used complex algorithms to deliver intelligent decision making by deciding when it is appropriate to switch the power while maintaining the overall functionality or productivity of the connected equipment.

The breaker also has a communication module that allows it to share vital consumption and system reliability data directly with smart grid and other protocols.

The development of the new Emax 2 breaker took several years and was led by ABB’s development centre in Bergamo, Italy.

“Breakers provide one of the largest untapped opportunities in the electric system to achieve energy savings. They have been used to increase safety and protect electric circuits but now for the first time we can use them to save energy too,” said Tarak Mehta, Head of ABB’s Low Voltage products division.

“Because breakers are all around us, the total energy saving s potential is massive. It’s a great example of how we can use smart technology to reduce energy wastage. This is good news for the environment and for our customers who can achieve significant cost savings by switching to our new device,” added Tarak.