•Power factor in an AC circuit is not calculated just by

dividing the power with product of current and voltage

because these readings can be easily obtained from
wattmeter, ammeter and voltmeter.
• Obviously there various limitations of using this method as
it may not provide high accuracy, also chances of increment
of error is very high. Therefore this method is not adopted in
industrial world. Measurement of power factor accurately is
very essential everywhere.
 In power transmission system and distribution system we
measure power factor at every station and electrical substation
using these power factor meters. Power factor measurement
provides us the knowledge of type of loads that we are using
and helps in calculation of losses happening during the
power transmission system and distribution.
 Hence we need a separate device for calculating the
power factor accurately and more precisely.
General construction of any power factor meter circuit
include two coils namely pressure coil and current coil.
Pressure coil is connected across the circuit while current
coil is connected such that it can carry circuit current or a
definite fraction of current.
 By measuring the phase difference between the voltage
and current the electrical power factor can be calculated on
suitable calibrated scale. Usually the pressure coil is splits
into two parts namely inductive and non-inductive part or
pure resistive part. There is no requirement of controlling
system because at equilibrium there exist two opposite
forces which balance the movement of pointer without any
requirement of controlling force.
Now there are two types of power factor meters-
Electrodynamometer type
Moving iron type.
Let us study electrodynamometer type first.
Electrodynamometer Type Power Factor Meter
In electrodynamometer type power factor meter there are
further two types on the basis of supply voltage
Single phase
Three phase
The general circuit diagram of single phase electrodynamometer power
factor meter is given below.
Now the pressure coil is split into two parts one is purely inductive another is
purely resistive as shown in the diagram by resistor and inductor. At present
the reference plane is making an angle A with coil 1. And the angle between
both the coils 1 and 2 is 90o. Thus the coil 2 is making an angle (90 o + A) with
the reference plane. Scale of the meter is properly calibrated as shown the
value values of cosine of angle A.
Let us mark the electrical resistance connected to coil 1 be R and inductor
connected to coil 2 be L. Now during measurement of power factor the
values of R and L are adjusted such that R = wL so that both coils carry equal
magnitude of current. Therefore the current passing through the coil 2 is lags
by 90o with reference to current in coil 1 as coil 2 path is highly inductive in
nature. Let us derive an expression for deflecting torque for this power
factor meter
Now there are two deflecting torques one is acting on the coil 1 and another
is acting on the coil 2. The coil winding are arranged such that the two
torques produced, are opposite to each other and therefore pointer will take a
position where the two torques are equal. Let us write a mathematical
expression for the deflecting torque for coil 1-
 Where M is the maximum value of mutual inductance
between the two coils, is the angular deflection of the plane of
reference. Now the mathematical expression for the deflecting
torque for coil 2

At equilibrium we have both the torque as equal thus on

equating T1=T2 we have A = B. From here we can see that the
deflection angle is the measure of phase angle of the given
circuit. The phasor diagram is also shown for the circuit such
that the current in the coil 1 is approximately at an angle of
90o to current in the coil 2.
Energy Meter
Definition: The meter which is used
for measuring the energy utilises by the electric load is known
as the energy meter. The energy is the total power
consumed and utilised by the load at a particular
interval of time. It is used in domestic and industrial AC
circuit for measuring the power consumption. The meter is
less expensive and accurate.
Construction of Energy Meter
The construction of the single phase energy meter is shown in the
figure below.
The energy meter has four main parts. They are
the
Driving System
Moving System
Braking System
Registering System

The detail explanation of their parts is written below.

1. Driving System – The electromagnet is the main component of the driving
system. It is the temporary magnet which is excited by the current flow through their
coil. The core of the electromagnet is made up of silicon steel lamination. The
driving system has two electromagnets. The upper one is called the shunt
electromagnet, and the lower one is called series electromagnet.
The series electromagnet is excited by the load current flow through the current
coil. The coil of the shunt electromagnet is directly connected with the supply and
hence carry the current proportional to the shunt voltage. This coil is called the
pressure coil.
The centre limb of the magnet has the copper band. These bands are adjustable.
The main function of the copper band is to align the flux produced by the shunt
magnet in such a way that it is exactly perpendicular to the supplied voltage.
2. Moving System – The moving system is the aluminium disc mounted on the
shaft of the alloy. The disc is placed in the air gap of the two electromagnets. The
eddy current is induced in the disc because of the change of the magnetic field.
This eddy current is cut by the magnetic flux. The interaction of the flux and the
disc induces the deflecting torque.
When the devices consume power, the aluminium disc starts rotating, and after
some number of rotations, the disc displays the unit used by the load. The number
of rotations of the disc is counted at particular interval of time. The disc measured
the power consumption in kilowatt hours
3. Braking system – The permanent magnet is used for reducing the rotation of
the aluminium disc. The aluminium disc induces the eddy current because of
their rotation. The eddy current cut the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet
and hence produces the braking torque.
This braking torque opposes the movement of the disc, thus reduces their speed.
The permanent magnet is adjustable due to which the braking torque is also
adjusted by shifting the magnet to the other radial position.
4. Registration (Counting Mechanism) – The main function of the registration or
counting mechanism is to record the number of rotations of the aluminium disc.
Their rotation is directly proportional to the energy consumed by the loads in the
kilowatt hour.
The rotation of the disc is transmitted to the pointers of the different dial for
recording the different readings. The reading in kWh is obtained by multiply the
number of rotations of the disc with the meter constant. The figure of the dial is
shown below.
Working of the Energy Meter
The energy meter has the aluminium disc whose rotation determines the power
consumption of the load. The disc is placed between the air gap of the series
and shunt electromagnet. The shunt magnet has the pressure coil, and the series
magnet has the current coil.
The pressure coil creates the magnetic field because of the supply voltage, and
the current coil produces it because of the current.
The field induces by the voltage coil is lagging by 90º on the magnetic field of
the current coil because of which eddy current induced in the disc. The
interaction of the eddy current and the magnetic field causes torque, which
exerts a force on the disc. Thus, the disc starts rotating.
The force on the disc is proportional to the current and voltage of the coil. The
permanent magnet controls Their rotation. The permanent magnet opposes the
movement of the disc and equalises it on the power consumption. The cyclometer
counts the rotation of the disc.
Theory of Energy Meter
The pressure coil has the number of turns which makes it more inductive. The
reluctance path of their magnetic circuit is very less because of the small
length air gap. The current Ip flows through the pressure coil because of the
supply voltage, and it lags by 90º.
The Ip produces the two Φp which is again divided into Φp1 and Φp2. The
major portion of the flux Φp1 passes through the side gap because of low
reluctance. The flux Φp2 goes through the disc and induces the driving
torque which rotates the aluminium disc.
The flux Φp is proportional to the applied voltage, and it is lagged by an
angle of 90º. The flux is alternating and hence induces an eddy current
Iep in the disc.
The load current passes through the current coil induces the flux Φ s. This flux
causes the eddy current Ies on the disc. The eddy current Ies interacts with the
flux Φp, and the eddy current Iep interacts with Φs to produce the another torque.
These torques are opposite in direction, and the net torque is the difference
between these two.
The phasor diagram of the energy meter is shown in the figure below.
Let
V – applied voltage
I – load current
∅ – the phase angle of load current
Ip – pressure angle of load
Δ – the phase angle between supply voltage
and pressure coil flux
f – frequency
Z – impedance of eddy current
∝ – the phase angle of eddy current paths
Eep – eddy current induced by flux
Iep – eddy current due to flux
Eev – eddy current due to flux
Ies – eddy current due to flux
The net driving torque of the dis is expressed
as