Power Factor Improvement CHAPTER OBJECTIVES > After reading this chapter, you should be able to: ™ Provide the reasons for poor power factor = Understand the various methods of power factor improvement ™ Determine the best economical power factor @ 10.1 INTRODUCTION Electrical power or energy, generated at power stations and transmitted through transmission lines, is then distributed to the consumer. The quantity of power transmitted and distributed is based on the power factor (pf) of load and the parameters of the transmission lines. Almost all the power system loads are of the inductive type and have undesirably low lagging power factor. Low power factor and increase in current results in additional losses in all the components of power system from the generating station to the consumers. A power factor close to unity is preferred for the economical and better distribution of electrical energy. In this chapter, various methods are discussed to improve the power factor of the system. Figure 10.1 shows a power factor meter. ® 10.2 POWER FACTOR Power factor is the ratio of real power P to apparent power S or the cosine of angle between voltage and current in an AC circuit and is denoted by cos@. For all types of inductive loads, the angle between voltage Vand current / is negative and the cosine of this angle is called the lagging power factor. Similarly, when the angle between V and / is positive it is called leading power factor (this occurs for capacitive loads). The phasor diagram for lagging power factor is shown in Fig. 10.2(a). Ifall the components of Fig. 10.2(a) are multiplied by voltage V, the power triangle as shown in Fig. 10.2(b) is obtained.362 ELECTRIC POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION Fig, 10.1 Power factor meter Pp ! é cos¢ ‘ Ising Q f Fig. 10.2(a) Phasor diagram Fig. 10.2(b) Power triangle 2: Power factor = cosg = = 5 P __ Active power ‘Apparant power 10.2.1 Causes oF Low Power Factor i, The induction motors work at a low lagging power factor at light loads and improved power factor with increased loads. ii, The transformers have a lagging power factor because they draw magnetizing current. iii, Miscellaneous equipment like are lamps, electric discharge lamps, welding equipment etc., oper- ates at a low power factor. iv, The industrial heating furnaces operate at a low lagging power factor. v. The variation of load on the power system also causes low power factor. 1. Why is low lagging power factor undesirable? 2. Why do power systems generally operate at a lagging power factor?364 ELECTRIC POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION * @ 10.4 METHODS OF IMPROVING POWER FACTOR In case of induetive loads the power factor is lagging. This lagging power factor can be compensated by using devices that are called compensators. These are: i. Static capacitors Synchronous condensers, and iii, Phase advancers 10.4.1 Static Capacitor Static capacitors are connected across the mains at the load end. This supplies a reactive component of the current to reduce the out-of-phase component of current required by an inductive load ic., it modifies the characteristics of an inductive load by drawing a leading current which counteracts or opposes the lag- ‘ging component of the inductive load current at the point of installation. So the reactive VAr's transmitted over the line is reduced, thereby the voltage across the load is maintained within the specified limits. By the application of the shunt capacitor to a line (Fig. 10.3) the magnitude of source current can be reduced, the power factor can be improved and consequently the voltage drop between the sending and receiving ends is also reduced as shown in Fig. 10.4. However, itis important to note that it does not affect the current or the power factor beyond their point of installation. A shunt capacitor of 25 PF is shown in Fig. 10.4(c). LR 4, Ve ' wR Fig, 10.4 Phasor diagram of Fig. 10.3(a) and (b), respectively Voltage drop of the line without shunt capacitors is given by: Vs = IR cosp + 1X, sing (10.1) With shunt capacitor, Vy = 1.R cosp + (i, ~ 1) X: sing (10.2) where, J is the reactive component of current leading the supply voltage by 90°.