t

1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

PLC based Power Factor Correction of

3-Phase Induction Motor

Rishabh Jain', Shashank Sharma2, Mini Sreejeth3 and Madhusudan Singh 4

,234
, , , Deptt. ofElectricalEngg., Delhi Technological University, India
. 2
E-mail: jrishabh95@gmail.com. shashanksharma9194@ gmail.com.
3 4
minisreejeth@dce.ac.in, madhusudan@dce.ac.in

Abstract-A Programmable Logic Controller (pLC) range of pf [6]. This paper is organized into five sections
based power factor correction method for a 3-phase in addition to the introduction and conclusion, which
Induction Motor (IM) through switching of shunt capacitors include Improvement of Power Factor through Capacitor
is proposed in this paper. A 3 phase IM has a low power Switching, PLC as a Power Factor Controller, System
factor (pt) at no load as it draws large magnetizing current
Hardware Archi tecture, and Determination of Capacitor
and the active power delivered to the motor is low, which is
values for improvement of Power Factor followed by
utilized to overcome the no-load losses. The PLC based
ResuIts and Discussions.
power factor improvement algorithm is developed and
implemented on a 3 Phase laboratory prototype IM coupled
11. IMPROVEMENT OF POWER F ACTOR THROUGH
to a DC generator and the effectiveness of the algorithm is
CAPACITOR SWITCHING
tested under no-load and loaded condition. Based on the
instantaneously measured value of power factor, the PLC The total current drawn by an IM from the supply is
switches the appropriate bank of capacitors into the circuit
the vector sum of the magnetizing current and torque
depending on the load condition to improve the pf. Large
producing component. The magnetizing current is required
scale use of PLC in industrial automation, adaptability,
to overcome the reluctance of the air gap present between
simple implementation and economics justitied its selection
the stator and rotor of the induction motor by producing
as the switching controller. A significant improvement in
power factor under different loading conditions is observed.
the required tlux in the air gap. It does not contribute to
Keywords-3-phase Induction Motor; Power Factor; the real power of the motor, but contributes to the power
Power Factor Correction; Programmable Logic Controller dissipated in the supply and distribution system. The real
current of the motor depends on the load on the IM.
I. INTRODUCTION At no-load operation, an IM has a very low pf of about
0.1 lagging, as it draws a large magnetizing current
Induction motors are the most widely in industrial
component and a small real current component to meet the
applications such as elevators, cranes, lathes, drilling
no load losses. Under loaded condition, the IM draws a
machine, blower, fans, pumps, etc. due to their reliability,
low cost, robustness and easy maintenance. However, IMs larger amount of real current to meet the increased load and

take reactive power from the supply system to setup its losses while the magnetizing component of the current

working air gap tlux causing the IM to always operate at remains almost constant. As a result, the pf of the motor is

lagging pf Hence, organizations having a large number of increased. The pf is about 0.8 to 0.9 lagging. At different

IMs cause huge transfer of reactive power from the utility loading conditions the pf of an IM can be irnproved to a

through the network. This results in an increase in the range of 0.9 to 0.95 lagging by use of appropriate capacitor
network losses and reduction in the voltage level leading to banks in parallel with the IM. These capacitors provide the
poor reliability, safety problems and higher energy costs. required reactive power for the IM i.e. the capacitors provide
The lower the system pI, the less economically the system a leading current to the IM in phase opposition to the
operates [1]. Thus from an energy conservation perspective magnetizing current component, as shown in Fig. 1,
there is always a need to irnprove the system load pf resulting in pfirnprovement even at no load condition.
Capacitor
The designed scheme is concerned with irnproving CUJTent
the pf of the distribution network by switching of static
shunt capacitor of suitable value through a PLC based
Real Current Voltagc
control algorithm [2]-[3]. Recent development in PLCs,
the rapid adoption of the PLC for industrial control
application, easy availability and low cost motivated its
use as aPower Factor Controller (PFC) [4]-[5]. The range
of capacitor value required for pf improvement for
different loading conditions is determined by considering Magnclizing Currcnt
the per phase equivalent circuit of the IM and using Currcnl

boundary values of slip to solve the circuit for the desired Fig. I: Phasor Diagram of iM ShowingpjCorrection using Capacitor

978-1-4673-8587-9/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE [1]

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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

Power factor correction capacitors reduce the total

current drawn from the distribution system and
subsequently increase the system's capacity by raising the pf
level. By supplying the reactive power requirement at the
load end, the industrial user frees the utility from having to
supply it, resulting in reduction of the total amount of
apparent power supplied by the utility thus leading to
conservation of energy and reduction in energy cost.

III. PLC AS APOWER F ACTOR CONTROLLER

A PLC is a solid state industrial computer that

controls system by continuously monitoring the state of
input devices and making decisions based on
predetermined program to control the state of output
devices. The basic repetitive steps in the operation of all Fig. 3: Laboratory Prototype ofpfController
PLCs, include, scanning the input, during which the state
PLC is used as thePFC owing to its easy maintenance
of all the inputs connected to thePLC is scanned as given
due to modular assembly, tlexibility offered in ease to
in Fig. 2. This is followed by Program Scan, wherein the
change in logic, capable of handling of complicated logic
PLC scans and executes the user defined program logic in
operations, provision of a large number of input and
a sequential manner, which generates the output states.
output ports and ability to handle both analog and digital
During the Output Scan the generated output states are
inputs. The 24V DC operated Allen BradJey Micrologix
updated in the output status registers to energize or de­
1400 Series 'B' used as the PFC in the laboratory
energize the outputs devices that are connected to thePLC
prototype has 20 digital inputs and 12 digital outputs, with
output module. Housekeeping includes communication
six embedded 100 kHz high speed counters, two serial
with programming terminals, internal diagnostics, etc.
ports with DFl, DH-485, Modbus RTU, DNP3 and ASCII
START
protocol support with up to 128KB memory for data
logging and 64KB memory for user ladder logic program.
Whenever the pfreduces below the pre-set value it sends a
Output
Scan signal to the contactor and energizes the coil of the relay
for connecting delta connected capacitor with the IM for
improvement of pf The SAN Telequip, SC04 RS485 to
Program
Scan RS232 converter has power consumption of 1.2W and
transfers data at rates varying from 1200 to 115000 Bps.
Fig. 2: Scan Cycle ofthe PLC

IV. SYSTEM HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE

The developed laboratory prototype, as shown in

Fig. 3, consists of a 3 phase IM coupled to a DC generator
with resistive load arrangement. The IM is provided
power, supplied through a 3 phase variac, The Micrologix witching

1400 PLC is used as the PFC along with power analyzer Si nal

for pf measurement, which is integrated to thePC through

a RS-485 to RS-232 converter. The specifications of the
IM and DC Generator are given in Table I.

TABLE I: SPECIFICATIONS OF 3 PHASE IM AND COUPLED DC

GENERATOR Fig. 4: Schematic Layout ofPLC basedpflmprovement
Parameters I Value Laboratory Prototype
3 Phase,{j, Connected, 3 HP,4 Pole,230V,8.5A IM
Rated speed 1500 rpm The schematic layout of the developed PLC based pf
Stator,rotor resistance 3. 3 0, 3.22 0 improvement laboratory prototype is shown in Fig. 4.
Stator,rotor leakage inductance 0.0133 H, 0.0133 H Under normal condition when switching signal is absent,
Mutual inductance 0.144 H the relay connects the capacitors to delta connected
Moment ofinertia ofmotor 0.002 kgm'
rheostats to keep the capacitors discharged. The Multi­
2.2HP, 3kW Generator
Field voltage,current 220V,0.8A Function Meter (MFM) reads the pf of the IM and feeds it
Armature voltage, current 220V,10 A to PLC. In accordance with the switching logic, the PLC
Rated speed 1500 rpm generates the DC output which excites the contact coil of

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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

the relay thus connecting the delta connected capacitors

across the input terminals of the IM. A single pole-double Re Xe
�J\fI/'v--f ffi'- o-
X, -f01f1f'- �

throw mechanical relay is used to switch the capacitors into

the circuit. The switching logic dictates the pfimprovement
Ve � R(l r
T T
to begin only when input phase voItage becomes more than Fig. 8: Thevenin Equivalent Circuit
220V thus ensuring only rated voItage operation. The
Slip at maximum torque is given as:
system connection diagram is given in Fig. 5.
Smt
Rr
=
1 (1)
[Re2+(xr2+Xe2)]2
-
(Xs' Xm)
Xe - (2)
(Xs+Xm)
(Rs ' Xm)
R - - (3)
e (Xs+Xm)
To keep the power factor between the desired range
1 phase of 0.93 and 1.0 the value of capacitance switched in the
Resistive
load circuit is derived using the well-known relation among pf
angle, <\>, equivalent resistance and reactance of the per
phase equivalent circuit Req and Xeq respectively
including the capacitor as given below:
xeq
tan<\> = - (4)
Fig. 5: System Connection Diagram Req
For loaded and no-load conditions, the value of
V. DETERMINATION OF CAPACITOR VALUES FOR capacitors correspond to slip S such that Smt 2:: S 2:: O.
IMPROVEMENT OF POWER FACTOR Slip of the IM is dependent on the loading condition.
Accordingly, different capacitor values are evaluated and
The value of capacitor required for pfimprovement is
switched into the circuit for improvement of pf
determined by considering the per phase circuit of the IM
as given in Fig. 6 and using boundary values of slip to The ladder logic program developed for the control of

solve the circuit for the desired range of pf The developed the PLC and to obtain the desired switching of the
laboratory prototype uses a pf range of 0.93 to 1.0. In capacitors is given at Appendix.
Fig. 6 all the notations have their standard meanings, i.e.
VI. RESUL TS AND DISCUSSION
Vs is the phase voItage, Rs is the stator resistance, Xs is the
stator leakage reactance, Xm is the magnetizing reactance, The full load slip is determined experimentally for the
Rr is the rotor resistance referred to stator, Xr is the rotor IM and the values of the capacitance obtained for no-load
leakage reactance referred to stator and s is the slip of IM.
and full load conditions are tabulated in Table 11. In
The stable operating region of the motor is small and lies
absence of any compensating capacitor the no load current
between the slips Smt (slip corresponding to maximum
of the induction motor is found to be 7.9A with a lagging
torque) and S = 0 as shown in Fig. 7.
power factor of 0.14. To improve the no-Ioad pffrom 0.14
-'T6T'--. .-'T6T'--
-JVVv-
Rs Xs Xr to 0.93. the value of the capacitance to be switched in to
{$)vs xm� R(l t the circuit is 60llF which is in agreement with calculated
I ! ! range.

Fig. 6: Per Phase Equivalent Circuit of iM TABLE 2: EXPERIMENTALLY EVALUATED VALUES OF CAPACITANCE FOR
NO-LOAD AND FULL-LOAD OPERATION OF IM
t - - �u..!!.o!!!t�q�
Slip pfRange Capacitor Range(�F)
E.MTorque 0.93 to 1.00 87 to 154
SlIIr
0 0.93 to 1.00 62 to 64

A single phase reslstlve load is connected to the

output terminal of the generator, which is coupled to the
5=1
slipofl.M ...
IM. As the resistive load on the generator coupled to the
IM is increased gradually, the PFC switches the
Fig. 7: Torque Slip Characteristics of iM
appropriate value capacitor in accordance to the optimal
The equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 6 is solved to value of pf range, which is given in Table III. The
evaluate different values of capacitors within the boundary variation in pfwithout the use of the developed algorithm
values of slip, i.e. S = 0 and S = Smt. The approximate is given in Table IV. It is observed that the no-load pf
expression for slip at max torque is evaluated using the improves from a value of 0.15 to 0.3 with a substantial
equivalent Thevenin model [6] as given in Fig. 8. reduction in line current.

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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

TABLE 3: POWER FACTOR OF IM UNDER DIFFERENT LOADING 4 8.45 0.4

CONDITIONS WITH PFC 5 8.5 0.4
Phase Voltage Load Switch Line Current Compensated
(V) Position (A) pr VII. CONCLUSION
230 o (No load) 3.95 0. 3
I 4. 35 0.54 A PLC based power factor improvement scheme is
2 4. 3 0.54 implemented to improve the pf of an IM under different
3 4.8 0.67 operating conditions. The PFC uses a lookup table created
4 5.2 0.68
based on the measured value of pf Based on the look
5 5. 3 0.68
table, the PLC switches the capacitor in each phase
TABLE 4: POWER FACTOR OF IM UNDER DIFFERENT LOADING through relay operated switches. Use of PLC as a PFC has
CONDITIONS WITHOUT PFC
proved to be a versatile, efficient and cost effective tool
Phase Voltage Load Switch Line Current Un-compensated
for an industrial application, especially for organizations
(V) Position (A) pr
230 o (No load) 7.95 0.15 employing large number of IMs. This resuIts in
I 8.05 0. 3 improvement of the power quality and substantial saving
2 8.15 0.28 in energy cost and conservation of energy.
3 8. 30 0.4

ApPENDIX

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Fig. I: Ladder Logic developed for Switching of Capacitors for Power Factor Improvement

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1s IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics. Intelligent Control and Energy Systems (ICPEICES-2016)

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th
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[5]