Power Reliability Center Offers Hands-On Learning

German electronics manufacturer Phoenix Contact has established an interactive power reliability hub at its longstanding Customer Technology Center in Houston, Texas. Engineers can explore the company’s power protection solutions through hands-on simulations and demos.

The 15,000-square-foot Power Reliability Application Center targets system integrators and design engineers, including Phoenix Contact employees, customers, and partners. The facility adds to the company’s Houston Customer Technology Center, which opened in 2007 to serve energy- and process-sector customers. In the early 2000s, Phoenix Contact was focused on meeting the demands of the oil and gas industry through advanced communications systems.

The company’s power reliability solutions serve the ever-evolving industrial market, offering power distribution and energy monitoring, surge protection, and uninterruptible power supply solutions.

An engineer works out of Phoenix Contact’s Power Reliability Application Center in Texas. Image used courtesy of Phoenix Contact

Interactive Engineering Training

Phoenix Contact tapped expert staff specializing in power reliability to run the application center, including those with experience in automation, storage, hydrogen generation, and dispensing systems, uninterruptible power supplies, energy meters, and electronic circuit breakers incorporating Modbus, PROFINET, and other industrial protocols.

The facility will hold three-day free training sessions covering designing, building, and operating power systems for various applications. Attendees will perform measurements and tests to see how power systems interact together. They’ll also wire and configure components, like basic and critical power supplies and National Electric Code Class 2 circuits, and learn how to integrate circuit breakers and battery backup systems, communicate energy data through industrial networks, and design redundant power circuits.

Phoenix Contact’s power reliability training and education center in Houston. Image used courtesy of Phoenix Contact

Breakout workshops will cover specific “application scenarios.” Participants will work independently and present their designs to the group at the end of the program.

Engineers can schedule training on the company’s website.

Phoenix Contact’s Power Reliability Expertise

Phoenix Contact’s Power Reliability Application Center complements its web-based interactive tools for engineers interested in its products. Its website features a digital power reliability demo, allowing users to simulate various functions with multichannel circuit breakers, surge protection devices, and QUINT power supply products.

A digital simulation of Phoenix Contact’s surge protection device in action. Image used courtesy of Phoenix Contact

Phoenix Contact’s power reliability solutions protect against overcurrents and transient surges and provide battery backup, fault monitoring, and power distribution. Its catalog includes modular terminal blocks, DC and AC uninterruptible power supplies, and customizable breaker systems, among other high-demand products for industrial engineers.

Each product line offers unique features fitting customers’ specific applications. For example, its surge protection devices mitigate transient threats across power, data, signal, and coaxial systems. The company sells power surge protectors for all standard U.S. voltage systems, with a 200 kA short circuit current rating and a pluggable, hot-swappable design to simplify maintenance. Its signal surge protection devices meet high-density requirements with one of the world’s thinnest designs, at 3.5 mm.

Phoenix Contact’s uninterruptible power supplies also cover several applications and functions. The QUINT UPS module incorporates a battery module for AC systems, while the maintenance-free QUINT-4 buffer modules can bridge short failures up to 30 seconds. The UPS-BAT battery modules maximize system availability in various conditions, such as extreme temperatures and long buffer times.

Phoenix Contact’s new interactive Power Reliability Application Center. Image used courtesy of Phoenix Contact

Phoenix Contact regularly adds products to these portfolios. Earlier this year, it launched the QUINT HP AC UPS, incorporating its new intelligent monitoring technology and battery management system for simplified troubleshooting. While 1.5 and 2.5 kVA applications previously required two UPS modules and at least four batteries, QUINT HP saves space to accommodate high-energy systems. The intelligent battery management feature tracks health and charge data and adapts charge currents to maximize service life.