MV & LV Capacitor

Sizing

Capacitor Sizing
Basics....
Fundamental Circuit Elements
Resistor

Current in phase with Voltage

Inductor

Current lagging voltage by 90 deg

Capacitor

Current leading voltage by 90 deg

Capacitor Sizing
Reactive
Power....
Electrical Power has 2 components
Active Power

Power used for the functional output requirements

Reactive Power

Power consumed by load to meet its magnetic field

requirement

Capacitor Sizing
Basics....
What is Power factor
Cosine of the angle by which apparent power
(KVA) is out of phase with respect to active
Power

Capacitor Sizing
Effect of reactive Power on the
system....
Overloading of transformer
Higher voltage drop throughout system
Increase I2R losses
Increased rating of equipment
Higher kVA demand
Levy of Penalty by EBs

Capacitor Sizing
Some more basic formulas....
KVA = (kW2 +kVAR2)
Cos =
kW / kVA
ie. kW/ (kW2 +kVAR2)
As we can see as the power factor
increases the reactive power reduces
Hence power factor improvement is the
key to reduction of reactive power.
The best method for this is using
capacitors

Capacitor Sizing
Selection of capacitors....
KVAR requirement
Type of compensation
Where to compensate

Capacitor Sizing
Where to compensate....
HV level or LV level
Capacitor at individual
compensation
Group compensation
Load characteristics
Reactor required

loads

or

central

Capacitor Sizing
Type of compensation
Fixed (For HT motor terminals)
Variable ( LT bus level )

Capacitor Sizing
KVAR requirement
Calculation LT capacitor
KVAR required = Connected load x
Demand factor
Demand factor = [Tan (cos-1 initial pf) Tan (cos-1 Final pf)]

Capacitor Sizing
KVAR requirement
Calculations - HT capacitor

Capacitor Sizing
Points to be noted
Capacitor kVAR should be less than the
No load kVA of the motor
In case series reactor is used, capacitor
voltage to be increased to account for
reactor voltage drop