India continues to be dogged by power and voltage fluctuation problems, particularly in rural segments, causing the voltage stabiliser business to flourish. “Looking at the power problem woes, it is expected that the market will be good for another five to six years at least. The present demand for voltage stabilisers is increasing by 10-15 per cent per year,” says Anoop Lalwani, CEO, Sai Enterprises. The size of the voltage stabiliser market at present is around Rs 10,000 million.
By Jesus Milton Rousseau S.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009: Voltage stabilisers are used in almost all applications where stabilised power supply is required. The various kinds of voltage stabilisers include power line conditioning systems (PLCS), automatic voltage stabilisers, static voltage stabilisers, CVT, servo voltage stabilisers, constant voltage constant frequency (CVCF) stabilisers, automatic solid state stabilisers, servo stabilisers and magnetic voltage stabilisers. “In the Indian market, the fast moving stabilisers are ones that are relay controlled and the servo stabilisers. The constant voltage transformer (CVT) even though is costly, offers much better features and functionality,” informs Lalwani.
The cost factor
The chief expenditure involved in stabilisers is the cost of input raw materials required like electronic circuits, transformers, copper, iron, etc. According to Anoop Lalwani, CEO, Sai Enterprises, “The cost of stabilisers is dependent on the basic cost of raw materials. However, since our company’s manufactural portfolio does not only consist of stabilisers, but also transformers and electronic controllers for the stabilisers, we can provide customers with stabilisers of exemplary quality at competitive prices,” he said. Sunil Bafna, proprietor, Pixel Electro Controls, explains, “There are basically three main raw materials—copper, core and electronic components. Each one of these three variants is subject to the whims of the international market. In the recent past, their rates have seen sporadic ups and downs, causing manufacturers to be confused about issues like cost pricing.
Future prospects
The latest stabilisers are microcontroller-based and insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) controlled. “They are of the totally solid state variety, albeit a little expensive and not meant for general consumption or home usage,” informs Lalwani. Throwing light on a worrying trend that has recently challenged the industry, Bafna says, “Nowadays, a few companies are launching appliances that are independent of voltage stabilisers, which has had a negative impact on a few segments.”
The future of stabilisers lies in small-sized stabilisers, speciality stabilisers and low-cost stabilisers. Elaborates Lalwani, “The future is in size-reduction of various models and promotion of special types of stabilisers like CVT for certain types of applications and in introducing low-cost stabilisers.” Shaji S, director, Convergence Power Systems Pvt Ltd, adds, “The latest version of voltage and frequency stabilisers, that is, CVCF are used mainly in the food processing and medical industries. The latest version of PLCS is also available in the market.”
Following are some of the manufacturers that are thriving in the voltage stabiliser market.
Sai Enterprises/Advance Industries:
A manufacturer of stabilisers, Sai Enterprises offers stabilisers ranging from 250 VA upto 100 KVA in the single phase and third phase categories. The company has designed stabilisers starting from 50-400 volts AC in the single-phase version and in a range of 270-550 volt in the third phase version. The company produces CVT, servo stabilisers and relay type stabilisers. Their other products include single phase/third phase battery chargers, SMPS, DC-DC converters, fibre optic light guides, solar panels and related products, all types of transformers/torodial/R-core type upto 100 KVA, audio/video and pancake erasers, variacs upto 500 AMPS, solid state drives, etc.
Convergence Power Systems Pvt Ltd:
The company manufactures, distributes and exports power products. Their product range comprises online UPS systems ranging from 1-100KVA, industrial and domestic inverters starting from 600VA to 60KVA and from CVCF 3-60 KVA. There are also CVT, AVR, battery cell PI devices (for BSNL), industrial voltage stabilisers ranging from 5-50KVA, servo stabilisers starting from 1-1000KVA and PLCS starting from 1KVA-100KVA.
Pixel Electro Controls:
Pixel Electro Controls manufactures power control equipment like inverters, UPS systems, online UPS systems, voltage stabilisers, servo controlled stabilisers and CVTs. The company has a gamut of power conditioning equipment for domestic, commercial and industrial applications. The company also manufactures sleek wall mounted stabilisers for air conditioners under the brand name AC Guard.
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