Issue 27

–|VArticle|–

Optimum step size selection guidelines in APFC panels:

Major part in the design of APFC panels is the selection of step size of capacitor banks and number of
steps. The right selection of step size and number of steps plays a significant role in the performance as
well as cost of the APFC panel. This article focuses on the need and ways of good step size (maximum
and minimum sizes) selection and number of steps.

1. Maximum step size selection:

The maximum capacitor rating in an APFC panel depends up on the following:

i. Maximum amount of load variation that happens in the industry at a time: Large load variations
demand bigger capacitor steps so that target power factor is achieved in short time, by less
number of switching operations.

ii. Current and voltage transient withstand capabilities of the system:

o Current transients: Switching of big capacitors (usually above 100 kVAr) introduces large
magnitude of inrush current (current transients) for a small duration. This results in high
thermal and electrical stress on capacitors, short circuit protection devices and mainly,
the switching device. This may lead to their nuisance tripping and premature failures.
o Voltage transients: Switching of big capacitors may cause transient over voltages, which
might result in failure of sensitive electronic devices.

Thus, the maximum size of the capacitor step is a trade-off between the points i and ii. Practically
acceptable maximum possible rating in any APFC panel shall be 100 kVAr. If this 100 kVAr rating
capacitor is switched using power contactor, the peak inrush current may reach as high as 75 kA. Hence,
the capacitors should be switched using either capacitor duty contactors or thyristor switching module.

However, thyristor switching module or capacitor duty contactor for 100 kVAr rating is not readily
available. Hence, the best way to switch a 100 kVAr bank is by connecting two 50 kVAr TSM / contactor
in parallel, each with a separate physical 50 kVAr capacitor banks. The control supply to both the 50
kVAr TSM/contactors shall be common (one relay output of the controller), so that both of the devices
are triggered at the same time. To achieve this, the common output of the APFC relay should be
programmed as 100 kVAr. Hence, physically they are two separate 50 kVAr banks, whereas electrically
they behave as a single 100 kVAr bank.

A sample connection diagram for switching a step of 100 kVAr capacitor using two 50 kVAr capacitor
duty contactors / TSM is shown as under:
 Figure 1: Connection diagram showing switching logic of 100 kVAr bank

2. Minimum step size selection:

The minimum capacitor rating depends on how precise the power factor needs to be maintained. This
minimum kVAr rating depends upon the minimum current sensitivity (typically around 2.5%) of the
APFC controller. However the change in PF due to these minimum selected kVAr rating would be usually
in the 3rd or 4th decimal places (depending on panel size or kVAr requirement), whereas the electricity
board is concerned only with the first two digits of PF (like 0.99).

Typically many industries want the desired target PF to be unity (exactly 1.00), in order to get incentives
from some EBs. But practically, the optimum target PF has to be 0.96 to 0.99. These are healthy levels of
power factor as it will have safety margin that avoids the leading power factor as well as any dangerous
harmonic amplification (due to more capacitance in the system).

Hence, as a rule of thumb, the minimum kVAr rating in an APFC panel can be chosen to be 5-10% of
overall rating of APFC panel. For smaller rating APFC panels (up to 100 kVAr), the smallest step can be 5
kVAr and for bigger rating APFC panels (above 600 kVAr and up to 1000 kVAr) the minimum rating can
be 25 kVAr.

3. Number of steps / branches in APFC panels:

Once the minimum and maximum kVAr rating of the APFC panel is selected, the number of branches
can be decided upon based of the following:
 i. Technology of APFC controllers: Latest APFC controllers like etaCON L Series employ self-
optimized intelligent switching where the controller calculates the exact kVAr requirement and
switches ON / OFF the appropriate capacitors irrespective of the capacitors already in circuit.
Traditional controllers employing linear or circular switching require more number of smaller
steps (like 1:2:2:…) for effective power factor correction. Whereas the latest controllers like
etaCON can have a mix of large and small steps reducing the number of steps in capacitor bank
as well as the cost of associated switchgear.
ii. Size & cost of APFC panel: More the number of steps more will be the cost of APFC panel, due to
more number of switchgear, bigger size of panel and others.

An APFC panel should have:

a. Maximum number of electrical steps (combination of physical steps) to ensure more accurate
and flexible power factor correction
b. Minimum number of physical steps to reduce the size and cost of the panel

Let us consider a few examples of step size selection in APFC panels.

I. 100 kVAr APFC panel

Case A Case B
Step configuration 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + … 10 times 50 + 25 + 15 + 5 + 5
Step resolution 10 kVAr 5 kVAr
Electrical Steps 10, 20, 30, 40, 50,… 100 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, … 100
Physical Steps 10 5
No. of Electrical Steps 10 20
In Case B, 20 electrical steps are possible with only 5 physical steps; whereas in Case A, 10 physical steps
are required to achieve 10 electrical steps.

II. 300 kVAr APFC panel

Case A Case B
Configuration 25 + 25 + 25 + 25 + … 12 times 1x100 + 3x50 + 2x25
Step resolution 25 kVAr 25 KVAr
Electrical Steps 25, 50, 75, 100, 125,… 275, 300 25, 50, 75, 100, 125,… 275, 300
Physical Steps 12 6
No. of Electrical Steps 12 12
Case B is better as same electrical steps are achieved with just 6 physical steps.

III. 600 kVAr APFC panel

Case A Case B
Configuration 50 + 50 + 50 + 50 + … 12 times 3x100 + 5x50 + 2x25
Step resolution 50 kVAr 25 KVAr
Electrical Steps 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, … 600 25, 50, 75, 100, 125,… , 600
Physical Steps 12 10
No. of Electrical Steps 12 24
In Case B, 24 electrical steps are possible with only 10 physical steps; whereas in Case A, 12 physical
steps are required to achieve 12 electrical steps.

Summary:
 APFC panels with more number of steps (more than 12) does not always mean better step
resolution.
 With the latest APFC controller technology, fewer steps are sufficient to achieve better step
resolution and control of power factor
  Hence, usually a combination of large, small and very small ratings is used in steps of capacitor
banks, as given below:
1. Large rating capacitors (100 kVAr maximum) are required to PF compensation of base
load and coarse power factor compensation
2. Medium rating capacitors are meant for variable part of the reactive power
compensation.
3. Small rating capacitors (usually 5 to 10% of total kVAr or 25 kVAr for panels above 500
kVAr) are meant for fine tuning of the power factor.

Considering the above points, following table suggests optimum number of steps and step sizes from 35
kVAr to 1000 kVAr. Beyond 1000 kVAr, it is always better to split the APFC panels and install them at
different PCC/MCC levels.

Panel No. of No. of

Physical Step size Electrical / Logical Steps
Rating Physical Electrical
(kVAr) (all possible combination of physical steps )
(kVAr) Steps Steps
35 2x12.5 + 2x5 4 5, 10, 12.5, 17.5, 22.5, 25, 30, 35 8
5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 25, 27.5, 30, 35,
50 2 x 12.5 + 2x10 + 1x5 5 15
37.5, 40, 45, 50
75 2 x 25 + 2x10 + 1x5 5 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55,… 70, 75 15
100 50 + 25 + 15 + 5 + 5 5 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55,…95,100 20
125 2 x 12.5 + 2 x 25 + 50 5 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50, 62.5, 75, 87.5, 100, 112.5,125 10
150 2 x 12.5 + 3 x 25 + 50 6 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50, 62.5, 75, 87.5,… 137.5, 150 12
175 2 x 12.5 + 2 x 25 + 2 x 50 6 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50, 62.5, 75, 87.5,… 162.5, 175 14
200 2 x 12.5 + 25 + 3 x 50 6 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50, 62.5, 75, 87.5,… 187.5, 200 16
225 2 x 12.5 + 4 x 50 6 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50, 62.5, 75, 87.5,… 121.5, 225 18
250 4 x 50 + 2 x 25 6 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250 10
275 5 x 50 + 1 x 25 6 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 250, 275 11
300 1x100 + 3x50 + 2x25 6 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 275, 300 12
350 1x100 + 3x50 + 4x25 8 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 325, 350 14
400 2x100 + 2x50 + 4x25 8 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 375, 400 16
450 2x100 + 4x50 + 2x25 8 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 425, 450 18
500 3x100 + 3x50 + 2x25 8 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 475, 500 20
550 3x100 + 3x50 + 4x25 10 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 525, 550 22
600 3x100 + 5x50 + 2x25 10 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 575, 600 24
650 4x100 + 4x50 + 2x25 10 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 625, 650 26
700 3x100 + 5x50 + 6x25 12 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 675, 700 28
750 5x100 + 3x50 + 4x25 12 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 725, 750 30
800 5x100 + 5x50 + 2x25 12 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 775, 800 32
850 6x100 + 4x50 + 2x25 12 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 825, 850 34
900 7x100 + 2x50 + 4x25 12 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 875, 900 36
950 8x100 + 2x50 + 4x25 12 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 925, 950 38
1000 9x100 + 1x50 + 2x25 12 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200,… 975, 1000 40
The above table is for illustration only, which may be applicable for majority of industries. For accurate compensation, step
ratings shall be decided after studying the load profile of the industry.

DISCLAIMER:
For accurate compensation, the load profile of the industry needs to be studied. This gives an indication
of the size of peak loads, base loads, possible harmonics, power factor and thus, helps determine step
sizes based on load variations. In some cases, the load requirements can also be established from
equipment lists.