LAB 6

SINUSOIDAL STEADY STATE POWER MEASUREMENTS

& POWER FACTOR CORRECTION

Equipment and Materials:

 Digital Function Generator.
 Digital Oscilloscope with Probes.
 2.2 mH inductor, 180 & 100 Ω resistors.
 Digital Multi-meter.

Theory:
Power: Electrical Power is the rate of doing electrical work by transferring the electrical
charge from one point to the other within the circuit.
w=dq /dt

Real Power or Active Power: The power dissipated in the Resistor is the Active Power. It is
also called Real Power. This power is unidirectional (Source to Load). It does not flow back
to the Circuit. In AC the time averaging of instantaneous power is done over a complete
cycle. It is usually denoted by P.

It is calculated as P=VI cos θ

It is measured In Watts.

Reactive Power: The Power dissipated in the Inductance or Capacitance is known as the
Reactive Power. This power is bidirectional (Source to Load to Source).It moves back and
forth. It is usually denoted by Q.

It is calculated as Q=VI sin θ

It is measured in VARs
Procedure:
 First of all we will construct the circuit on the PCB according to the circuit diagram
(Fig 2) given below. We will choose values according to the values specified

 We will measure the current (I) through an Ammeter.

 We will measure the voltage (V) through a Voltmeter.
 We will then calculate the apparent power S by multiplying the Voltage and Current
already measured in steps 2 and 3.
 We will measure the real Power (P) by means of a Wattmeter.
 We can determine the Power Factor by the Formula
 cosθ=P/S .If its value is not near to unity (1).We will then try to
rectify it

 We can correct this power factor by inserting a Capacitor C of appropriate value in

Parallel by doing the necessary calculations.)
 We will draw the Power Triangle by using the P and S values and power factor angle
from cosθ and by the knowledge we have for the angle between P and Q.
 We will then calculate the value of Q by using the Pythagorean Theorem. We can
also determine the value of Q by measuring the length of the Side of the Power
Triangle.
1
C=
 We will then find the value of C by virtue of the formula 2 π fX
According to this value of C we will insert a closely valued Capacitence.in the circuit

Circuit Diagram:
Observation and Calculations:
For RL = 1200 Ω

PARAMETER UNIT WITH CAPACITOR WITHOUT

CAPACITOR
|V| V 10 10
|I| mA 2.635 1.09
p.f - 0.68 0.986
P Mw 4.16 4.16
Q mVAR 4.8 0.73
|S| mVA 6.35 4.22

Conclusion:
In AC circuits, the power factor is the ratio of the real power that is used to do work and the
apparent power that is supplied to the circuit. The power factor can get values in the range
from 0 to 1. When all the power is reactive power with no real power (usually inductive
load) - the power factor is 0.

AC power flow has three components:

 Real power or active power (P), expressed in watts (W)

 Apparent power (S), usually expressed in volt-amperes (VA)

 Reactive power (Q), usually expressed in reactive volt-amperes (var)

The VA and var are non-SI units mathematically identical to the Watt, but are used in
engineering practice instead of the Watt in order to state what quantity is being expressed.
The SI explicitly disallows using units for this purpose or as the only source of information
about a physical quantity as used.
The power factor is defined as:

In the case of a perfectly sinusoidal waveform, P, Q and S can be expressed as vectors that

form a vector triangle:
If   is the phase angle between the current and voltage, then the power factor is equal to
the cosine of the angle,  :

Since the units are consistent, the power factor is by definition a dimensionless
number between −1 and 1. When power factor is equal to 0, the energy flow is entirely
reactive and stored energy in the load returns to the source on each cycle. When the power
factor is 1, all the energy supplied by the source is consumed by the load. Power factors are
usually stated as "leading" or "lagging" to show the sign of the phase angle. Capacitive loads
are leading (current leads voltage), and inductive loads are lagging (current lags voltage).