Improving process reliability by filtering harmonics in an Amusement Park

“We have been very pleased with the performance of Merus^® Active Harmonic Filters. The Dragon Tower no longer causes power quality problems and the park operations now run smoothly.” — Petri Sariola, Technical Manager

Challenges in the customer’s amusement park

AC and DC drives are commonly used in amusement park rides, and they cause power quality problems such as harmonics and commutation notches. The Dragon Tower ride in Finland’s Power Park offers freefall experiences and has DC drives which disturbed other rides and devices in the amusement park. For this reason, a third party performed power quality measurements and found out that voltage fluctuations and harmonics deriving from the Dragon Tower were the reason for power quality problems.

Such power quality issues lower the equipment’s lifetime and have a negative effect on the reliability of their function. It was clear to the customer that they wanted to ensure the safety and reliability of the Dragon Tower ride.

Our Merus^® Solution

Power Park was supplied with low-voltage Merus^® A-Series Active Harmonic Filters through a third party, who performed the power quality measurements. Merus^® Active Harmonic Filters were chosen due to their reliability, excellent performance, and Merus Power’s short delivery time. The active harmonic filters were installed in parallel with the loads. Merus^® Active Filters are configurable to meet various customer requirements and thanks to their modern touch screen human-machine-interface (HMI), the configuration is simple and just a few clicks away.

Results after installation

Merus^® Active Harmonics Filters have proved their reliability with effective and fast response time. Harmonic distortions were compensated up to the 25^th and the power quality issues have been resolved. Other rides and devices now function without disturbances and people who visit Power Park are able to safely enjoy the reliable rides of Dragon Tower.