AUDIT OF OTHER DEVICES

What else do we Audit besides the Lighting

Systems?
 Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning
(HVAC) Equipment
 Electric Motors
 Water Heaters
 Waste Heat Sources
 Peak Equipment Loads
 Boilers & other Energy-Consuming Equipment
 Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning
(HVAC) Equipment
• All HVAC equipment should be inventoried.

• Prepared data sheets are used to record type,

size, model numbers, age, electrical
specifications or fuel use specifications, and
estimated hours of operation.
The equipment should be inspected to
determine the condition of the:
 evaporator
 condenser coils,
 air filters, and
 insulation on the refrigerant lines.
• Air velocity measurement may also be made
and recorded to assess operating efficiencies
or to discover conditioned air leaks.

• This data will allow later analysis to examine

alternative equipment and operations that
would reduce energy costs for heating,
ventilating, and air conditioning.
 Electric Motors
• Make an inventory of all electric motors
above 1 horsepower.

• Using prepared data sheets record motor size,

use, age, model number, estimated hours of
operation, other electrical characteristics,

• Also record the operating power factor.

• Measurement of V, I and power factors may
be appropriate for some motors.

• Note and record motors, that are not

frequently used
• These might be candidates for peak load
control or shifting use to off-peak times.
• All motors with times of use of 2000 hours per
year or greater, are likely candidates for
replacement by high efficiency motors—at
least when they fail and must be replaced.
 Peak Equipment Loads
• The auditor should particularly look for any
piece of electrically powered equipment that
is not used frequently

• or whose use could be controlled and shifted

to off-peak times.
Examples of infrequently used equipment
include:
 trash compactors,
 fire sprinkler system pumps (testing),
 certain types of welders,
 drying ovens, or
 any type of back-up machine.
 Offpeak operations
• Some production machines might have to be
scheduled for offpeak.
• Water heating could be done off-peak if a
storage system is available, and off-peak
thermal storage can be accomplished for
on-peak heating
• Electrical measurements of voltages, currents,
and wattages may be helpful.
• Any information which leads to a piece of
equipment being used off-peak is valuable,
and could result in substantial savings on
electric bills.

• The auditor should be alert of the infrequent

on-peak uses that might help explain
anomalies on the energy demand bills.
 Power Factor
• Power factor is a measure of how effectively a
device converts input current and voltage into
useful electric power.
• Or how effectively electrical power is being
used.
• A power factor of 1 (unity) indicates an
effective use of power while a 0.5 is an
indication of a very inefficient use of power.
 PF
• PF of any value other than unity may be
caused by inductive or capacitive reactance
and harmonics on the system.
• A device is said to have “normal power
factor” (NPF) if the PF is between 0.5 and 0.9.

• “High power factor” (HPF) refers to a device

with power factor greater than 0.9.
• Generally PF may vary over time, and

• A high PF indicates effective utilization of

electrical power.

• A low PF means you’re not fully utilizing the

electrical power for what you are paying for.
 Brief analysis on PF
• In electrical domain, electrical power is the
amount of electrical energy that can be
transferred to some other form (heat, light
etc) per unit time.

• Mathematically it is the product of Voltage

drop across the element and current flowing
through it.
• Let us consider first the DC Circuits, having
only DC voltage sources,
• The Inductors and capacitors behave as short
circuit and open circuit respectively in steady
state.
• Hence the entire circuit behaves as resistive
circuit and the entire electrical power is
dissipated in the form of heat.
• Here the voltage and current are in same
phase and the total electrical power is given
by:

• Electrical Power = Voltage across element x

current through the element (W or J/s)
• Now coming to AC circuit, here both inductor
and capacitor offer a certain amount of
impedance given by:

• Inductive reactance – XL 

• Capacative reactance - XC
• The Inductor stores electrical energy in the
form of magnetic energy and

• Capacitor stores electrical energy in the form

of electrostatic energy.

• Neither of them dissipates it. Further, there is

a phase shift between voltage and current.
• Hence when we consider the entire circuit
consisting of a resistor, inductor, and capacitor,
there exists some phase difference between
the source voltage and current.
• The cosine of this phase difference is called
electrical power factor.
• This factor (-1 < cosφ < 1 ) represents the
fraction of the total power that is used to do
the useful work.
• The other fraction of electrical power is stored
in the form of magnetic energy or electrostatic
energy in the inductor and capacitor
respectively.
• The total power in this case is:

• Total Electrical Power = Voltage across

element x current through the element

• This is called Apparent power and its unit is VA

(Volt Amp).
• A fraction of this total electrical power which
does our useful work is called Active power.

• Active power = Total electrical power * cosφ

(unit is watt)
• The other fraction of power is called Reactive
power.
• Reactive power does no useful work, but it is
required for the active work to be done.

• It is given by:
• Reactive power = Total electrical power *
sinφ
• Its unit is VAR (Volt Amp Reactive)
• This reactive power oscillates between source
and load.

• To help understand this better all these power

are represented in the form of a triangle.
Power Factor Triangle
• The reactive power (in kVAR) is generated due
to the delay between voltage and current
known as phase angle. It does not perform
any work.
• The square of the sum of the actual power &
reactive power gives the apparent power.
• In an ideal system kVAR would be very small
and kW and kVA would be almost equal, such
that the power factor ≈1.

• It is under this condition that we are able to

get the maximum output from a system. 
• Real power (Actual or Active power) is
considered to be the work producing
component in kW. It is the amount of power
needed to perform the work in a perfect
world while
• Apparent power is the product of the total
current and voltage used by the load, which
includes power used for electromagnetic
fields.
 Reasons of Lower Power Factor?

• Caused by a large KVAR in a system

• Inductive loads are the sources of Reactive

Power
• Transformers
• Induction motors
• Induction generators (wind mill generators)
• High intensity discharge (HID) lighting
• Inductive loads of fluorescent ballasts
• Rectifiers providing a DC power supply
• Arc welders
• Solenoids
• Induction heaters
• Lifting magnets
• Transformers etc.
• These inductive loads constitute a major
portion of the power consumed in industrial
complexes.

• Reactive power (KVAR) required by inductive

loads increases the amount of apparent power
(KVA) in the distribution system.
• The increase in reactive and apparent power
results in a larger angle θ (measured between
KW and KVA).

• NB. as θ increases, cosine θ (or power factor)

decreases.
• Hence the inductive loads (with large KVAR)
result in low power factor.
 Benefits of improving the system
power factor
• Reducing Peak kW billing demand
• Increase in reactive power (KVAR) causes an
increase in apparent power (KVA), which is
what the utility is supplying.
• So, a facility’s low PF causes the utility to have
to increase its generation and transmission
capacity in order to handle this extra demand.
By raising PF, we reduce savings of the utility
• Eliminating the power factor penalty

• Increased System Capacity and Reduced

System Losses in our Electrical System
• For example, a 1,000 KVA transformer with an
80% power factor provides 800 KW (600
KVAR) of power to the main bus
• With PF of 90%, more kW can be supplied for
the same amount of kVA.(kW=PF*kVA)
• The kW of the system increases to 900 kW and
the utility supplies only 436 kVAR.
• Uncorrected PF causes power system losses in
most distribution system.
• By improving the PF, these losses can be
reduced.
• With lower system losses, we are also able to
add additional load to the system.
• A factory operating a 70kW load could be
powered by a Generator and cables rated for
70 kVA if the factory has PF equal to 1.
• But, if the PF drops down to 0.6 then even
with the same load of 70 kW, a larger
generator rated for 116.67 kVA (70/0.6) will be
required, as the generator will have to supply
the additional power for the reactive load
 Eliminating the power factor penalty

• Inductive loads require reactive power,

which cause low power factor.
• This increase in reactive power (KVAR)
causes an increase in apparent power (KVA),
which is what the utility is supplying.
• Low power factor causes the utility to increase
its generation and transmission capacity in
order to handle this extra demand.
• By raising power factor, we use less KVAR. This
results in increased KW, which will help in
savings of the utility.

• Utilities usually charge customers an

additional fee when their power factor is low.
• The penalty fee can be avoided by increasing
the power factor.
How to correct the power factor?

• The first step in the process of correcting your

power factor is identifying what is causing the
low power factor.
• This information will be extremely important
in determining the right approach for bringing
your power factor closer to unity.
• Different strategies can be used to correct low
power factor. A few of these strategies are
• Install capacitors in the distribution system
• Minimize operation of idling or lightly loaded
motors
• Install variable frequency drive (VFD) systems
to lightly loaded induction motors
• Install new motors that will be operated near
their rated capacity
• Replace lightly loaded motors with motors
sized to be operated near their rated capacity

• Avoid operation of equipment above its rated

voltage.
• The most practical and economic power factor
improvement device is the capacitor.

• Capacitors produce capacitive reactive power,

which is the opposite of inductive reactive
power that is the primary driver behind low
power factor values.
• The inductive reactive power causes the
current peak to occur after the voltage peak
(lagging),
• where the capacitive reactive power causes
the current peak to occur before the voltage
peak (leading).
• So careful selection of capacitance to add to a
low PF system, is possible to totally cancel out
the inductive reactive power