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 Elliott Sound Products Power Factor 

Power Factor - The Reality
( Or What Is Power Factor And Why Is It Important )
© 2012 - Rod Elliott (ESP)
Last Updated July 2020

Lamps & Energy Index

Main Index

Contents

Introduction
1 - Definition Of Power
2 - Power Factor
2.1 - A Power Factor 'Thought Experiment'
2.2 - Power Factor Waveform Examples
3 - What Poor Power Factor Does
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Based on the number of emails I receive and the astonishing number of websites that provide
erroneous or inaccurate information, power factor must be one of the least well-understood
concepts in the electrical field.  I have seen weird analogies with horses pulling rail carts,
glasses of beer (no, I'm not kidding) and countless vector diagrams, all trying to explain the
concept  [ 1 ].

Most fail, and I have no doubt that I will probably be no more successful than anyone else trying
to explain a concept that is impossible to visualise, and only makes complete sense when you
understand it.  There is a circular reference there - you won't make sense of it until you
understand it, which can't be done until you can make sense of the concept.  I think you see the
conundrum.

However, I shall persevere.  I can promise no vector diagrams or horse-drawn carts, but you
might want to consider the beer - not as an analogy but as a calmative .  However, there are
two diagrams that I hope will help - at least a little.

In essence, if you have a poor power factor (either from a single appliance or the whole
building), you will draw more current from the mains than you actually use.  Enough loads with a
poor PF place an additional burden on the energy supplier's equipment, and larger substation
transformers and distribution wiring may be needed.  Rest assured - they will not pay for that
themselves out of the goodness of their hearts ¹, but will recoup their outlay by charging more.Top
Therefore, it's up to the users to ensure that all current drawn from the mains is put to work. 
With simple loads like motors, PFC (power factor correction) is achieved relatively simply,
provided the motor loading is consistent.  Things get more difficult where the motor load varies,
but this is beyond the scope of a simple explanation.

1. Although 'hearts' were mentioned in regard to energy suppliers, this is only an assumption on my
part.  There appears to be little evidence that any energy supplier is so blessed, so I apologise in
advance for any anguish or offence caused. 

A direct quote from a document I found shows how little regard is paid to nonlinear loads in
particular, even though some of the examples given are responsible for very nonlinear current
waveforms ... "Loads on an electrical distribution system can be categorized as resistive,
inductive and capacitive.  Under normal operating conditions certain electrical loads (e.g.
transformers, induction motors, welding equipment, arc furnaces and fluorescent lighting) draw
not only active power (kW) from the supply, but also inductive reactive power (kVAr)." (Source:
NHP - Power Factor Correction).  There isn't a mention of any nonlinear effect anywhere in the
document, other than a passing reference to harmonic distortion!  However, there appear to
have been some changes in the document, and there a bit more information about nonlinear
loads (but they are not described specifically as such).

In its simplest terms, power factor (PF) is a measure of how effectively electrical power is being
utilised by a system.  It can vary from zero to one, and the higher the number the better.  Only
one component can produce a PF of zero - a capacitor.  It absorbs current with each half cycle
of the mains, then gives all of it back with no work being done.  A high quality capacitor is as
close to an ideal reactive component as we can get.  Interesting, but not terribly useful.

You can (if it helps) consider that power factor states "the degree to which a load matches a
pure resistance".

It's interesting and somewhat depressing that this article was written in 2012, and
as of 2020 virtually nothing has changed on the Net.  Descriptions of power factor
are still (mostly) referring to the simple cosφ (the cosine of the phase angle
difference between voltage and current) formula, and in many cases there is still
little or no mention of nonlinear loads.  There are videos and countless pages
describing power factor, and many of them are either useless (because they don't
mention nonlinear loads) or in some cases just plain wrong.  Given the fact that we
now have more nonlinear loads than ever before, it's a sad state of affairs that
there is so little factual information about the effects of a distorted current
waveform.

It's also very misleading to categorise transformers as presenting an inductive load.  While an
unloaded transformer (as used by hobbyists and in small systems) with nothing connected to
the secondary is largely inductive, the magnetising current is nearly always nonlinear, and the
inductance of a transformer is usually very high.  Its inductive contribution is generally quite
small due to the low current, and rarely needs more than a few microfarads (at most) to get the
voltage and current in phase.  Consider a fairly typical 250VA transformer, which will have an
inductance of perhaps 30 Henrys (assume linear magnetising current - an 'ideal' transformer). 
It will draw a magnetising current of 24.5mA at 230V, 50Hz, and current will be perfectly in
phase with the voltage with a parallel capacitance of only 340nF.  Once a load is applied, the
power factor is determined primarily by the load, and not the transformer.

With a 230W resistive load, the transformer's phase angle is around 10.4°, a power factor of
better than 0.98 with no PFC capacitor.  This is already an excellent figure!  With 240nF in
Top
parallel with the primary, the power factor is unity at any load.  Interestingly, placing the
capacitor in parallel with the secondary works just as well, provided it's adjusted to match the
turns ratio.  For the example, if the transformer is 10:1 (23V output with 230V input), a capacitor
on the secondary has to be 34µF (the value is adjusted by the square of the transformation
ratio).  Real transformers behave a little differently, because their magnetising current is usually
not a sinewave.

The true power factor of a transformer is the reflected load on the secondary.  If this is a
rectifier and capacitor bank (the most load for many applications), the secondary current is
nonlinear, and therefore, so is the primary current.  Thus, a transformer is not an inductive load,
it nonlinear.  For reasons that remain deeply mysterious, this barely rates a mention - anywhere!

While this also applies to power distribution transformers, these are usually the responsibility of
the power company, and there's not much that can be done at the 'user side' that will correct the
power factor if it's reactive (which means either inductive or capacitive).  While it is certainly
possible for a user to correct the reactive PF of the incoming mains, doing so is not sensible
and would provide no benefit.  Users need to correct the PF of their equipment (where possible),
and no more.

1 - Definition Of Power

First and foremost, we need to define power.  Power is the physical work performed by (or
absorbed by) an electrical machine (the load), determined by the voltage across the load and
the (in-phase) current through that load.  Actual power with DC always follows this simple
definition.  Work can be a mechanical function (commonly rotary, such as with motors), or the
production of heat.  It doesn't matter if heat is the desired work or a by-product of inefficiencies
in the electro-mechanical system.  Efficiency is determined by input power vs. output power.  If
the desired output is rotary motion, heat generated by the machine only contributes to the
power input, and is a 'waste product' (it contributes no rotary motion).

Work is measured in Watts (or multiples thereof).  A Watt is one Joule per second.  Watts
represent real energy, and that's how you are charged by your electricity supplier.  Many
industrial customers are penalised if the power factor at the connection point is less than a
predetermined minimum (typically ~0.9, but it varies).  The new smart meters that are being
installed worldwide are also (apparently) capable of charging residential customers for a poor
power factor if legislation ever allows it.

Unless the reader is familiar with electrical and electronic concepts, defining power is actually
harder than it sounds.  As noted, power is usually defined as the product of current and voltage,
and for DC it works every time.  If we have 10V across a 10 Ohm resistor, it will draw 1 Ampere
and dissipate 10 Watts.  There is no ambiguity - the answer is as accurate as the voltage and
current readings will allow.

Where things get complex is when we no longer have a DC power source.  Alternating current
(AC) is supplied to business and domestic users worldwide, although it's outside the scope of
this article to explain the very good reasons for this.  Suffice to say that this is the case, with
power delivered at a frequency of either 50Hz or 60Hz at a variety of voltages.  Both frequency
and voltage are consistent in most countries, and typical combinations are 230V RMS at 50Hz
(most of the world, including Europe and Australia), or 120V at 60Hz (the US and Canada, and a
few other regions).

Provided the load is still a resistor (as above), 10V RMS across a 10 ohm resistor will still cause
1A to flow, and the resistor will dissipate 10W.  The frequency and waveform are (surprisingly)
irrelevant.  Root-Mean-Squared (RMS) voltage measurements mean that the RMS voltage will
cause identical heating in a purely resistive load as an equal DC voltage.  10V RMS is exactly Top
equivalent to 10V DC - but only with a completely resistive load (e.g. incandescent lamp, heating
element, electric kettle, toaster, etc.).

The simple loads referred to above (plus many others of course) are never a problem.  Power is
calculated as the product of voltage and current ...

Power = Volts × Amps

There is no ambiguity, and the answer is always right.

Naturally, there are countless machines and appliances that are not a simple resistor.  Motors
(large and small) and discharge lighting (fluorescent, metal halide, mercury vapour, etc.) have
been the traditional 'problem' loads in the past, but there are now many loads - some extremely
large - that are nonlinear.  The applied voltage is a (nominal) sinewave from the mains, but the
current drawn by the load is not.  This causes problems that cannot be calculated by the
'traditional' formula and cannot be corrected using otherwise tried and true methods.

Herein lies the problem!

2 - Power Factor

I don't know why, but it seems that perhaps 75% or so of electrical engineers are still stuck
firmly in the past, and fail to understand (or comment on) power factor as it applies to nonlinear
loads.  Most rely on an old short-cut formula that considers only one thing - phase angle.  The
correct, and ideally the only way to determine power factor is to use the right formula ...

Power Factor (PF) = Real Power / Apparent Power

Real power is that which is measured by a wattmeter, such as the one in your meter box.  Real
power is always measured in watts, and was previously considered to be that part of the
supplied mains that performs work.  The reactive part of the current waveform is 'returned' to
the grid when a motor (for example) is running, and you are only billed for that fraction of the
current that is used to perform work.  'Apparent' power is the product of RMS voltage and RMS
current - volts × amps (VA).  Unlike the DC condition, VA is no longer the same as watts with AC
mains!

Note:  To measure 'true' power with AC, you need a wattmeter.  There is a project for a
wattmeter to measure true audio power (see Project 189), and that can be adapted for use with
mains.  However, this is not recommended, because everything is at mains potential.  A better
solution is to use a wattmeter module, as described in Project 172.  The audio version is useful
reference material, and shows how it's done (albeit using analogue techniques rather than
digital).

Modern switchmode power supplies have changed the definition, because they are not reactive,
and nothing is returned to the grid.  There is no significant out-of-phase component in the
current waveform, but the current waveform is often highly distorted and rich in harmonics. 
Countless websites and/or engineers will try to claim that these supplies are somehow reactive,
and any explanation that claims any significant (measurable) reactance is quite simply wrong. 
Not just woefully inaccurate, wrong!

In reality, there actually is a tiny amount of reactance caused by the EMI

(electromagnetic interference) filter.  However, its influence is very small indeed,
the mains waveform is not materially affected, and any 'phase angle' that may
be introduced has absolutely no bearing on the overall power factor.  The power Top
factor is changed by such a tiny amount by the addition of the filter
 components that it's not worth considering.  The difference can be measured
on a simulator, but is unlikely to even register on typical test instruments.  I
mention this purely in the interests of completeness, and to save people the
trouble of complaining that I had failed to address it.

A nonlinear load such as that shown in Figure 2 may draw 2.8A from a 230V supply and deliver
a power of 296W.  The RMS current drawn (based on a similar simulation) will be 2.8A.  This
gives a VA rating of 644VA, so determining the power factor is based on the following
formula ...

Power Factor = W / VA
Power factor = 296 / 644 = 0.459

An interesting formula is shown in the article Power factor from Wikipedia (which is otherwise
IMO not particularly well explained or genuinely useful).  It refers to 'distortion power factor',
another way to describe the effect of a nonlinear load.  Unfortunately, measuring distortion of
the mains current waveform is much harder than measuring the RMS voltage and current, and it
assumes that the input voltage waveform is a pure sinewave, which is rarely the case.  Using
this formula is reasonably accurate, but is not as good (or as easy) as the accuracy you obtain
by measuring 'apparent power' (VA) and 'real power' (watts) and using the formula shown
above.

Power Factor = 1 / ( √ 1 + THD² )

In the above, THD is the total harmonic distortion expressed as a decimal value, e.g, 50% THD
would be expressed as 0.5 in the formula.  If we use an example circuit such as the nonlinear
current waveform shown in Figure 2, the distortion will be about 180%.  Applying the formula
gives ...

PF = 1 / ( √ 1 + 1.8² ) = 0.485

This compares well with the value that's obtained by measuring the RMS voltage and current
(VA) and the actual power as measured with a true power meter (watts).  As noted though,
while it works, it's much harder to measure THD than it is to measure volts, amps and power. 
This makes it interesting, but not particularly useful for 'real world' applications.  It's made less
useful by the fact that the 'typical' mains waveform already has a THD (total harmonic
distortion) of between 5% and 10%, and it's difficult to factor that into the equation.

Watts Versus Volt-Amps

Watts VA
Power Type Real Apparent
Calculation (DC) VDC × IDC VDC × IDC
Calculation (AC) ∫ V(t) × I(t) Δt VAC × IAC
Calculating heat generated/
Sizing cables, fuses & circuit
Used For dissipated & calculating energy
breakers
cost
To add together Add Wattage Linearly Not easily done ¹
Measurement Instrument Wattmeter RMS Multimeter

Note ¹ - While VA ratings can be added, the result may not represent the true value.  In many
cases, linear addition will provide a figure that's higher than the actual figure, but it will never be
less.  This is true whether the loads are reactive or nonlinear.  For DC, there can be no reactive Top
power, but nonlinear (e.g. pulse current) requires that the meter used correctly averages the
current.  This will usually be true, but it's not guaranteed.  Some digital multimeters may not
perform averages well, especially if the current changes slowly.

2.1 - A Power Factor 'Thought Experiment'

There is a simple thought experiment that I hope will give you and idea of both reactive and
nonlinear loads.  I've not seen this one used before, but I'm hopeful that it will convey the idea
better than some of the more traditional explanations.  If not, I apologise in advance .

Figure 1 - Reactive Power, Nonlinear Power & Work

The diagram shows the general principle of reactive power (A) and nonlinear power (B). 
Imagine that the surface is slippery, and there's no 'stiction' (static friction, where it takes
additional force to get something to start moving [ 3 ]) With the reactive case, your task is to
push the brick along the plank of wood, but you have to do it with little pulses of energy, all
exactly equal and preferably at 100 or 120 times a second.  When you push, the spring
compresses and the brick moves forward a little (some work is performed).  As you release
(this is AC, remember), the spring will return some of the energy you used.  It's not useful and
performed no work, but you had to expend the energy to compress the spring, and absorb the
energy it returns to you.  This is a reactive load, and the power factor is determined by how
much energy is used to perform work, versus how much is just absorbed and returned by the
spring.

So, when the load is reactive (with the spring) not all of the energy you expend (incoming
power) is converted to work - moving the brick.  This system has a poor power factor.  If you
Top
remove the spring, all of the energy you put in will move the brick, as long as it's enough to
overcome friction (resistance).  In this case, there is no reaction (energy return), and thus
approximates unity power factor.  In an electrical machine, you don't have the option of simply
removing the spring if you don't like it, because it's part of a circuit that can't function if it's not
there.

Should you decide to use a different circuit, you can move the brick with a hammer (again,
swing it back and forth 100 or 120 times a second), there will only be a power transfer in the
brief period when the hammer strikes the brick at the peak of the swing (please ignore any
rebound - that's a physical phenomenon that's not part of this thought experiment).  The
remainder of the swing is basically 'idle-time' when no useful work is performed.  So it is with
the mains - nonlinear loads may only draw current for a few milliseconds each half cycle.  The
rest of the time the mains voltage still swings back and forth much like the hammer, but
converts zero energy into work - namely moving the brick.

To see the electrical waveforms, have a look at Figure 2.

2.2 - Power Factor Waveform Examples

Apparent (aka 'reactive') power is only possible with AC, and used to be the result of reactive
loads - most commonly motors, but also includes traditional iron-core ballasted discharge
lamps.  More recently, we have had more and more nonlinear loads, such as computer power
supplies, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) LED lighting and DC plug-pack power supplies. 
Even standard transformer based power supplies used for hi-fi amplifiers are nonlinear.  There
are also much larger nonlinear loads, such as inverter technology air-conditioners and
microwave ovens, induction cooktops and many other products (TV sets, home theatre
systems, etc.).  Indeed, there is an almost infinite number of appliances small and large using
switchmode power supplies.  A large majority of these switchmode supplies draw a highly
nonlinear mains current, commonly so different from the voltage waveform that it's sometimes
hard to imagine how the supply network survives.

Many industrial machines also draw nonlinear current, and these machines can be very large -
massively so (think of electric arc furnaces for example).  Even more traditional high-power
loads such as 3-phase rectifier systems (used to power electric trains and other large DC
motors, electroplating tanks, etc.) present a very unfriendly distorted current waveform back to
the grid.  Being distorted, the current waveform is rich with harmonics ready to cause havoc. 
Again, the standard phase-based (cosφ) power factor calculations cannot be used with these
nonlinear loads.

With AC, apparent power is defined as the product of voltage and current (RMS for both).  This
gives us a figure that's called VA (volt-amps), and it may or may not be the same as the power
measured by a wattmeter.  VA can never be lower than the power in watts, but with purely
resistive loads they will be exactly the same.  This is a power factor of unity - the best that can
be achieved.  This means that the voltage and current are not only in phase, but have the same
waveform (nominally a sinewave).  There is no 'excess' or 'wasted' current.

Traditionally, the favourite formula has always been that PF = cosφ - the cosine of the phase
angle difference between voltage and current (also known as 'displacement' power factor,
because the voltage and current waveforms are displaced in time/ phase).  It's a nice short-cut
that only works with undistorted sinewaves and linear reactive loads.  The simple fact is that a
vast number of electrical loads are nonlinear, and the formula doesn't apply - it can't apply, and it
is nonsense to imagine that a formula that applies only to clean sinewaves is appropriate with
any nonlinear load.

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 Figure 2 - Reactive Power, Nonlinear Power, Voltage & Current Waveforms

Above, we can see the two main kinds of load - reactive (top) and nonlinear (bottom).  The
reactive load's current is not in phase with the voltage, and just like the spring in Figure 1 (A)
fails to keep the pressure (voltage) and displacement (current) working at the same moment in
time.  The same happens with a reactive load.  The current lags the voltage by a number of
degrees, and we can work out the power factor by taking the cosine of the phase difference.  As
noted though, this only works with reactive loads that have no nonlinear function.  We can also
have capacitive reactive loads, but they are much less common and won't be covered here.

In particular, look at the upper waveforms for the reactive load.  There is a point
during a cycle where the voltage is positive while the current is negative (and
vice versa).  This is shown by shading at the relevant parts of the waveform. 
For any load to be considered reactive, this condition must exist during each
cycle.  If it doesn't, then the load is not reactive.  This is an important concept to
understand.  Knowing this instantly allows us to look at the lower nonlinear
current waveform and note that these prerequisite conditions for a reactive load
do not exist!  When the voltage is positive, so is the current, (and vice versa),
and there is no point in the waveform where they assume opposite polarities.

The lower (nonlinear) waveform is created by a circuit such as that shown next.  You might
imagine that if there's a transformer between the mains and the rectifier, filter and load that
things would be different.  They're not - the transformer (as used in almost every 'linear' power
supply) simply reflects the load waveform back to the primary, and the mains 'sees' the same
waveform.  It is modified (very slightly) due to the transformer's inductance, but the general
principle is unchanged.

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 Figure 3 - Nonlinear Power Supply Example

With a typical nonlinear load, the voltage causes no current flow at all until it almost reaches the
maximum.  There's a short burst of current and then nothing until the next half cycle.  The
traditional formula does not work with a load such as this.  Not even a little bit!  A vast number
of loads combine both reactive and nonlinear functions.  A perfect example is a traditional
fluorescent tube and magnetic ballast, which can never be corrected for a unity power factor. 
One can get close, but the nonlinear current prevents total correction.  The typical best case
power factor for a fluorescent lamp and ballast is around 0.9 - all other discharge lighting is
similarly affected.

Until such time as the 'old-school' electrical engineers of the world wake up to reality and
understand that their favourite formula does not work with nonlinear loads, we will continue to
see non-sensible replies to forum posts, completely inaccurate claims being made and
expensive reports that totally fail to address the real issues.  There are many otherwise
excellent papers about power factor and the benefits of power factor correction (PFC), but
some fail to even mention the 'elephant in the room' - nonlinear loads.  Some of these reports
(they are in the minority) will mention harmonic currents - these are the direct result of nonlinear
loads, and cannot be created by any truly linear load.

By definition, a reactive load both absorbs power from the source (e.g. the supply grid), and
(most importantly) returns at least a portion of the power absorbed back to the source.  A
nonlinear power supply does not satisfy this criterion, regardless of whether there is a capacitor
following a diode rectifier or not.  It seems that many people imagine that the load (which
includes the filter capacitor) is capacitive, but this is simply not true.  The diodes preclude any
possibility of power being returned to the source, and the capacitor is irrelevant.

Some (but not all) commercial/ industrial power factor correction systems include harmonic
filters that are designed to filter out the harmonics generated by nonlinear loads.  A system
that's designed to correct an overall factory or commercial building where the power factor is
lagging (inductive loads) cannot correct for nonlinear loads unless it includes harmonic filters.

3 - What Poor Power Factor Does

In a nutshell, poor power factor causes a load to draw more current than it needs to convert into
work.  It doesn't matter why the power factor is bad - the result is that the grid has to supply
more current than the equipment actually uses to perform the work.  Some poor power factor
loads can be corrected - either near the machine responsible or elsewhere, and others cannot
be effectively corrected at all.  Motors and iron-core ballasted lighting equipment are easily
corrected, although with discharge lighting systems there are actually two reasons for the badTop
power factor.  As mentioned above, all (magnetically ballasted) discharge lighting causes a
lagging (inductive) power factor, but the current is also nonlinear.  This means that it is
impossible to get unity power factor, because only the inductive component can be corrected.

Nonlinear loads cannot be corrected with any conventional PFC system.  The current drawn
from the mains is distorted, and there is very little that can be done externally to remove the
distortion.  While it can be done, it is a difficult and expensive exercise, and very few external
correction systems currently exist.  The best way to solve the problem is to use more
sophisticated power supplies that incorporate active PFC (see active power factor correction
for a much more complete analysis of power factor correction techniques).

If a load has a power factor of 0.5, that means it will draw twice as much current from the
mains compared to an equivalent load with unity power factor.  A 230 watt appliance with a PF
of 0.5 will draw 2A from the mains (460VA), while only performing useful work amounting to
230 watts.  In most cases, householders are not billed for the extra current, only for the power
used - 230W in this case.  Most large industrial users are charged for poor power factor, and
there is a financial incentive to make it as good as it can be.

Since so many loads today are nonlinear, the old cosφ formula is useless - it can only ever
create wrong answers.  I've seen laboratory reports claiming that a LED lamp has a power
factor of (for example) 0.85 ... leading!  What rot!  The measured power factor is due to
nonlinearity, not phase shift.  It's neither significantly leading nor lagging - it's nonlinear, and the
sooner certified test labs and official standards are brought into the 21st century the better. 
The traditional formula doesn't even work properly with many 'legacy' lighting systems.  As
already noted, all discharge lighting creates a nonlinear current waveform that cannot be
corrected - even if the voltage and current are perfectly in phase!

So, having a power factor of less than unity simply means that the appliance (whatever it might
be) draws more current from the mains than it can put to effective use.  It really doesn't matter
why (when only the PF is being quoted), but by knowing about it an electrician can take the
extra current into account when running cables for an installation.  It's no longer possible to just
look at the power rating - just because an electronically ballasted lamp (for example) is rated
for 23W doesn't mean it only draws 100mA from the 230V mains.

If the power factor is 0.5, each lamp will draw 200mA, so an 8A lighting circuit can only handle
40 of them - not 80 as might be imagined.  The same applies for any electrical device with a PF
of less than 1.  Note that for a variety of reasons, it may only be possible to use perhaps 10 of
the hypothetical lamps mentioned above on an 8A lighting circuit, especially if all lamps are to
be turned on at the same time (with a single switch for example).  This is an issue that has
already caused grief in some modern lighting installations.  CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps)
have really lowered the standards, with many struggling to manage a PF of 0.5 - and some are
worse.  These are nonlinear loads that have a current waveform that looks remarkably similar to
the one shown in Figure 2.

One often-repeated claim is that power factor is a measure of a machine's 'efficiency'.  This is
misleading in the extreme, and is a completely false representation of the word.  Efficiency is a
measurement of power in (energy consumption) vs.  power out (work), and power factor
generally has zero influence over that.  Correcting the power factor of a machine (e.g. an
electric motor) does not improve its efficiency one iota, nor does it make the motor run cooler
(another completely false claim that you may see).

Note:   Power factor correction does improve the overall efficiency of the power network, because the
relationship between kVA and kW is closer to unity, so the full capacity of the distribution network can
be utilised.
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Conclusion
This short article is intended as a primer into the mysterious world of power factor.  It is quite
deliberately devoid of vector diagrams, complex formulae or other distractions, and will
hopefully give the reader at least a basic understanding of the topic.  The most important
message is to forget the cosφ formula, because as long as people keep using it they will most
often get a nonsense answer.

There are innumerable sites on the Net that will also describe power factor, but the vast
majority completely omit any reference to nonlinear current waveforms and naively assume the
only sources of a poor PF are motors and other inductive loads.  Energy suppliers (who should
know better) are just as guilty of this as anyone else.  Whole reports [ 2 ] have been written (no
doubt at great expense) that have totally ignored nonlinear loads.  Not a mention.  Nothing!

The article Active Power Factor Correction has a great deal more information, and there you will
find detailed graphs, waveforms and a detailed explanation of PFC in general and active PFC
systems in particular.

In case anyone is wondering why I have used so many examples of lighting products, that's
because lighting is generally considered to be the largest single user of energy [ 4 ] of all. 
Inefficient lighting also has other flow-on effects, because additional cooling is often needed to
remove excess heat generated by lighting systems, adding to the overall impact.

Overall, there is a net gain when (for example) incandescent lamps are replaced by LED (or even
CFL) lamps, because although the power factor may be much worse, their current draw is far
less and the power consumed is also lower.  Many of the latest LED lighting products (mainly
high power fittings, but some lower power tubes/ fittings as well) are now more likely to use
active PFC, so not only do they draw far less current, but also present a friendly current
waveform back to the supply grid.

There are a great many companies who sell (expensive) automatic PFC equipment, but only a
few will mention nonlinear loads.  There is definitely a benefit to installing a PFC cabinet if your
business operates many motor-driven machines, but if those machines are fitted with VFD
(variable frequency drive) then the mains loading is likely to be nonlinear unless the VFD utilises
active PFC in its circuitry.  Adding a 'traditional' switched capacitor PFC system will achieve
nothing useful in either case.

Transformers are regularly cited as a contributor to poor power factor, with their magnetising
current taking most of the blame.  This only applies when the transformer is lightly loaded.  At
any reasonable load, power factor is usually excellent, provided the load on the secondary of
the transformer is linear!  If the secondary is used to obtain DC (as with amplifiers and
countless pieces of industrial equipment), the load is not linear, and low power factor is again
the result of the nonlinear load.  Traditional PFC systems won't work, and nor will the outdated
and pointless cosφ formula.

It is extremely important that novice readers in particular read the article The Great 'Power
Saver' Fraud, lest they think that there might be some (financial) benefit if they improve the
power factor of their home's electrical products.  The devices offered are almost all total frauds,
and will not save you a cent.  Indeed, if enough people installed these units (which contain only
a small capacitor in almost all cases), the grid could be faced with a leading power factor that
can't be corrected by most existing substation equipment.

References

1. PFC as a 'green' approach (Link has vanished) Top

2. Power Factor Correction Evaluation - Prepared for the Australian Building Codes Board
(Link & information have vanished)
 3. Wikipedia - Stiction
4. Energy Star Website
5. Active Power Factor Correction

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), most of the direct links that I included have vanished.  A
web search will provide similar information, but you'll have to sort the fact from the fiction
yourself.  Providing references seems to get harder every year, because 'webmasters' never
seem to think that anyone might want to see material again.  It gets moved (often to very
obscure places on the site, or is removed altogether.

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Copyright Notice. This article, including but not limited to all text and diagrams, is the intellectual property of Rod
Elliott, and is Copyright © 2012.  Reproduction or re-publication by any means whatsoever, whether electronic,
mechanical or electro- mechanical, is strictly prohibited under International Copyright laws.  The author (Rod
Elliott) grants the reader the right to use this information for personal use only, and further allows that one (1)
copy may be made for reference.  Commercial use is prohibited without express written authorisation from Rod
Elliott.
Page created and copyright © Rod Elliott, 23 December 2012./ Updated Jun 2017 - added a small amount of extra info.  Jul 2020 - Added Figure
3 and table, updated (deleted) links.

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