ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION III

(ELD331T)
 Chapter 6:
Power Factor Improvement
by

Chaise Khumalo

Department of Electrical Engineering

 Overview:
• Power Factor

• Power Triangle

• Disadvantages of Low Power Factor

• Causes of Low Power Factor

• Power Factor Improvement

• Power Factor Improvement Equipment

Chapter Overview
 Overview:

• Calculations of Power Factor Correction

• Importance of Power Factor Improvement

• Most Economical Power Factor

• Meeting the Increased kW Demand on Power Stations

Chapter Overview
 Learning Outcomes:

• On completion of this learning module

the student should be able to:

a) Explain the concept of power factor.

b) Discuss the disadvantages of low p.f.

c) Explain the causes of low p.f.

Learning Outcomes
 Learning Outcomes (Cont.):

d) Discuss various methods to improve p.f.

e) Derive an expression for the most

economical value of p.f.

d) Do calculations of p.f correction.

Learning Outcomes
 Introduction:

• Most loads are inductive in nature.

• They have a low lagging power factor.

• Causes an increase in current

• Resulting in additional losses of active power.

• From generation to distribution systems.

Introduction
 Introduction (Cont.):

• To have a p.f as close to unity as possible.

• MAIN DISCUSSION

• Various methods of p.f improvement.

Introduction
 Power Factor:

• The cosine of angle between voltage & current in an

a.c circuit.

• Angle ɸ is the phase difference between voltage & current

in a.c circuits.

• Cos ɸ = the p.f of the circuit.

 Power Factor (Cont.):

• There are three types of loads in a.c circuits;

RESISTIVE

INDUCTIVE

CAPACITIVE
 Power Factor (Cont.):
• Resistive Load:

• Unity power factor.

 Power Factor (Cont.):
• Inductive Load:

• Lagging power factor.

 Power Factor (Cont.):
• Capacitive Load

• Leading power factor.

 Power Triangle:

• The analysis of p.f is made in terms of

power drawn by the a.c circuit.

• From power triangle OAB:

OA = V.I.cosɸ = active power in kW

AB = V.I.sinɸ = reactive power in kVAr

OB = V.I = apparent power in kVA

Power Triangle (Cont.):
 Power Triangle (Cont.):

• Apparent power has two components at right angles

to each other;

Active Power

Reactive Power

• Power factor, cos ɸ = kW

kVA
 Power Triangle (Cont.):

• Lagging kVAr is responsible for low power factor.

• The smaller the kVAr component, the higher is the p.f of

the circuit.

• For leading currents, the power triangle becomes

reversed.
 Power Factor Triangle (Cont.):
• The p.f of a circuit is defined in three ways:

a) p.f = cos ɸ = cosine of angle between V and I

b) p.f = R = Resistance
Z Impedance

c) p.f = kW = Active power

kVA Apparent power
 Power Triangle (Cont.):

• Reactive power is neither consumed nor it does any

useful work in the circuit.

• It flows back & forth in both directions in the circuit.

• A wattmeter does not measure reactive power.

Power Triangle (Cont.):
Disadvantages of Low
Power Factor:
 Disadvantages of Low
Power Factor (Cont.):

• For fixed P & V, the load current is inversely proportional

to the p.f.

• Lower the p.f, higher is the load current & vice – versa.

• A p.f less than unity results in the following

disadvantages:
Disadvantages of Low
Power Factor (Cont.):
 Disadvantages of Low
Power Factor (Cont.):
2. Greater conductor size.

• The load current is inversely proportional to the p.f.

• The lower the p.f, the higher the load current.

• This necessitates large conductor size.

Disadvantages of Low
Power Factor (Cont.):
 Disadvantages of Low
Power Factor (Cont.):
3. Poor voltage regulation.

• Large current causes greater voltage drops in

alternators, transformers, transmission lines &
distributors.

• This results in the decreased voltage available at the

supply end.

• To keep receiving end voltage within permissible limits,

extra equipment is required.
 Disadvantages of Low
Power Factor (Cont.):

3. Reduced handling capacity of the system

• Lagging p.f reduces the handling capacity of all the

elements of the system.

• The reactive component of current prevents the full

utilization of installed capacity.
 Causes of Low Power
Factor:
• Low p.f is undesirable from economic point of view.

• The p.f of the whole load on the supply system is in the

region of 0.8 – 0.9.

• The following are the causes of low power factor:

 Causes of Low Power
Factor (Cont.):

1. Induction motors which have low lagging p.f.

• At light load the p.f is 0.2 to 0.3

• Rises to 0.8 or 0.9 at full load

 Causes of Low Power
Factor (Cont.):

2. Arc lamps, electric discharge lamps & industrial

heating furnaces.

• Operates at low lagging power factor.

 Causes of Low Power
Factor (Cont.):
3. Varying load on the power system.

• Being high during morning & evening & low at other times.

• During low load period, supply voltage is increased which

increases magnetization current.

• This results in the decreased p.f.

 Power Factor Improvement:
• Inductive loads take lagging currents & causes low p.f.

• To improve the p.f, a device taking leading power is

connected in parallel with the load.

• One of such devices can be a capacitor.

• It draws a leading current & neutralizes the lagging

reactive component of load current.
 Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:

• The following equipment commonly used to improve the

p.f:

Static capacitors

Synchronous condenser

Phase advancers
 Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:
1. Static capacitors
 Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:

• Advantages:

a) They have low losses

b) Require little maintenance

c) They can be easily installed

d) They can work under ordinary atmospheric conditions

 Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:

• Disadvantages:

a) They have short service life ranging from 8 – 10 years.

b) Easily damaged if the voltage exceeds the rated voltage.

c) Once damaged, their repair is uneconomical

 P.f Improvement Equipment:

2. Synchronous condenser:
 P.f Improvement Equipment:
• Over-excited sync. motor running at no-load & taking
leading current.

• Advantages:
a) Any capacitive reactance can be provided by changing
the field excitation.

b) The motor windings have high thermal stability to short

circuit currents.

c) The faults can be removed easily.

 P.f Improvement Equipment:

• Disadvantages:

a) There are considerable losses in the motor

b) The maintenance cost is high

c) It produces noise
 P.f Improvement Equipment:

d) The cost is greater than that of static capacitors of the

same rating, except in sizes above 500 kVA

e) An auxiliary equipment has to be provided for starting

purposes.
 Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:

• The reactive power taken by a sync. motor depends

upon two factors:

a) The d.c field excitation

b) The mechanical load delivered by the motor.

• Max. leading power is taken by a sync. motor with max.

excitation & zero load.
 Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:

3. Phase advancers

• Used to improve the p.f of induction motors.

• Induction motor’s stator windings draws exciting current.

• This current lags behind the supply voltage by 90° &

lowers its p.f.
 Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:

• Phase advancers relieves the stator windings from

exciting current.

• This results in an improved p.f of the motor.

• Phase advancer is an a.c exciter mounted on the shaft of

the motor.

• Is connected in the rotor circuit of the motor.

 Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:

• It provides exciting ampere turns to the rotor circuit

• Advantages:

a) It reduces the lagging kVAr drawn by the motor

b) It can be applied where the use of sync. Motors is

unadmissible.
Power Factor Improvement
Equipment:
Calculations of Power
Factor Correction:
 Importance of Power Factor
Improvement:

• The improvement of p.f is important for both consumers

and generating stations.

1. For consumers:

• Pay electricity charges for his max. demand in kVA plus

the units consumed.

• Improving p.f reduces max. kVA demand.

 Importance of Power Factor
Improvement (Cont.):

2. For generating stations:

• P.S generators are rated in kVA but the useful output

depends upon kW output.

• Station output:
kW = kVA x cosɸ

• Number of units supplied depends upon the p.f.

 Importance of Power Factor
Improvement (Cont.):

• The greater the p.f of the station, the higher is the kWh it
delivers to the system.

• Improved p.f increases the earning capacity of the station.

• The value to which the power factor should be improved

so as to have maximum net annual saving is known as
the most economical power factor.
 Meeting the Increased kW
Demand on Power Stations:
 Example 1:

• A 3-phase, 5 kW induction motor has a p.f of 0.75 lagging.

A bank of capacitors is connected in delta across the
supply terminals and p.f raised to 0.9 lagging.

• Determine the kVAr rating of the capacitors connected in

each phase.
Solution:
THANK YOU!!!