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Course E-3017

Power Factor Correction

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Power Factor Correction

Robert J. Scoff, PE Copyright 2007, Robert J. Scoff

Copyright Robert J. Scoff

Table of Contents
1. Introduction 2. First, Consider a DC Circuit 3. Reactance 4. Demand 5. A Parallel LC Circuit 6. A Closer to Real World Example 7. Industrial World Considerations 8. So, How Do We Pay to Run This Motor? 9. Power Factor Correcting a Single Motor 10. Power Factor Correction by Adding a Fixed Capacitor 11. A Better, and Still Inexpensive, Way 12. A Completely Automatic System 13. How to Apply Power Factor Correction at Your Facility 14. Conclusions

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Copyright Robert J. Scoff

List of Illustrations
Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2 Figure 2.3 Figure 2.4 Figure 2.5 Figure 2.6 Figure 3.1 Figure 3.2 Figure 3.3 Figure 3.4 Figure 3.4 Figure 3.5 Figure 3.6 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2 Figure 5.3 Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2 Figure 6.3 Figure 6.4 Figure 6.5 Figure 7.5 Figure 9.1 Figure 9.2 Simple DC Circuit Waveforms of Voltage and Current in a Resistive Circuit Vector Diagram of Voltage and Current for a Resistive Circuit Waveforms of Voltage, Current, and Power for a Resistive Circuit DC Circuit Showing Line Resistance Resistive Circuit with an AC Source Inductive Circuit Waveforms of Voltage and Current in a Pure Inductive Circuit Voltage, Current, and Power Flow for the Circuit of Figure 3.1 Vector Diagram for an Inductive Circuit Simple Capacitive Circuit Waveforms of Voltage and Current for a Capacitor Graph of Voltage, Current, and Power for a Capacitor Resistor Inductor Series Circuit Graph of Voltage and Current lagging Voltage by 45o Waveforms of Voltage, Current, and Power in a RL Circuit Vector Diagram Showing the Current Lagging the Voltage by 45o Parallel Inductor Capacitor Circuit Waveforms of the Voltage and Currents in an LC Circuit Vector Diagram of Voltages and Currents in a Parallel LC Circuit Series RL Circuit Voltage, Current, and Power Waveforms for a RL Circuit Series RL Circuit with Parallel Capacitor Currents in a Parallel Power Factor corrected Circuit Vector Representation of the Waveforms of Figure 6.4 Power Vector Diagram for a 100 Horsepower, Three Phase Motor Power Factor Correction Added to a 100 Horsepower Motor Power Factor Change by Using the Recommended Capacitor for a 100 HP Motor Figure 10.1 Power Vector Diagram for Peak KVA Use for a Typical Factory Figure 11.1 Power Vector Diagram of Factory with Larger Motors Power Factor Corrected Figure 11.2 Power Vector Diagram for factory needing only 100 KVAR to Correct to Unity Power Factor Figure 12.1 A Completely Automatic Power Factor Correction System

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Copyright Robert J. Scoff

1. Introduction In todays world, and for most of recorded history, men and women have looked for and sought the most economical way to procure those things that have made or are making their lives more comfortable. Today one of the things that we use a lot is electricity. Because someone uses their time and talents to produce electricity and transport it to our homes and businesses, they expect us to pay for it. This is only fair and right. After all, when we do something that benefits mankind, we expect to get paid for our results. When the cost of electricity is considered, one of the few ways that the residential customer can save on his or her electricity is to turn off the lights, or other electrical devices. It is also possible for some residential customers to save by reducing the number of appliances that are turned on at any given time. In other words, the power to the electric hot water heater can be automatically turned off when either the dryer, air conditioner, or other large load is turned on. This has the effect of lowering the peak load delivered to the customer. If the control scheme is chosen correctly, this technique can save some residential customers some money on their electric bills. If you want to see if this can apply to your personal electric bill, the utilitys rate schedule for your electric service needs to be obtained, and studied, to see if it has provisions that can save you money. The rest of this course is concerned with reducing the peak current that flows to larger loads, such as manufacturing facilities, without reducing the actual power usage. This can lead to significant reductions in the power bills of manufacturing plants. 2. First, Consider a DC Circuit To understand the concept and need for power factor correction, we first need to look at basic DC electrical principles. First, we have something called voltage, which is electrical pressure. Then, we need something for this pressure to push, and we call it current. And finally, we need somewhere for this current to flow through, and we call that resistance. Resistance is a property of materials. The resistance of any piece of material depends upon three things. These are the length, cross section area, and a material constant called resistivity. Resistance increases as length increases and decreases as cross section area increases. The relationship is:

R = ( * l) / A
Where l is length, A is area, and is resistivity. For American units, l is in feet, Area is in circular mills (CM), and resistivity is in Ohm-CM per foot. As a matter of interest, the resistivity of copper is 10.37 Ohm-CM per foot. Also, as a matter of interest, a circular mill is the area of a circle 0.001 inches in diameter. Figure Number 2.1 shows the relationship of these three items voltage (V), current (I), and resistance (R). These three items are related to each other by the most important concept in understanding electricity, Ohms Law. Ohms Law says that Voltage is equal to Current times Resistance, or:

V=I*R
Copyright Robert J. Scoff 4

Figure 2.1 Simple DC Circuit If a Voltage is placed across a Resistance, as shown in 2.1, causing a current to flow, the Resistor, R, will dissipate power and get hot. Power can be thought of as the time rate of doing work. The relationship between Voltage, Current, and Power is Power is equal to Voltage times Current, or:

P=V*I
These two simple equations are, arguably, the two most important relationships in all of the Electrical Engineering field. If voltage and current for an AC resistive circuit are plotted versus time, a graph like Figure 2.1 will result.
Graph of Voltage and Current in a Resistive Circuit
6 Volts and Amps 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 0 100 200 300 400 Voltage Current

Figure 2.2 Waveforms of Voltage and Current in a Resistive Circuit Another model that is useful in understanding electrical power and power factor is a vector diagram. Figure 2.3 shows a vector diagram for a simple resistive circuit.

Copyright Robert J. Scoff

+Imaginary I V Real

-Imaginary

Figure 2.3 Vector Diagram of Voltage and Current for a Resistive Circuit Since this is about Power Factor Correction, the next thing to look at is voltage, current, and power versus time for a resistive circuit. This is shown in Figure 2.4.
Waveforms of Voltage, Current, and Power for a Resistive Circuit
Volts, Amps, and Watts 10 8 6 4 2 0 -2 0 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 100 200 300 400 Voltage Current Power

Figure 2.4 Waveforms of Voltage, Current, and Power for a Resistive Circuit This is a good time to explain the difference between peak values of voltage and current and RMS values. RMS is sometimes called the Effective value. This means that a RMS voltage of a certain value will cause a resistor to dissipate the same amount of power that a DC voltage of the same value will cause. For example, a 100 VDC voltage across 100 ohms will cause the resistor to dissipate 100 watts. A 100 VAC, RMS voltage of 100 volts across the same 100 ohm resistor will also cause the resistor to dissipate 100 watts. If an AC sine wave has a certain peak voltage, the RMS voltage of that voltage will be the peak voltage divided by the square root of 2. The RMS voltage of the 4 volt peak sine wave that is being used as an example is 2.828 VAC, RMS. Look at Figure 2.3, and notice that the average power is 4 watts. To see this, pretend that the area under the power curve is an ice cube. When it melts, it levels off at 4 watts. Another way to get 4 watts is to multiply the peak voltage times the peak current and then multiplying the result by 0.707 squared. Again, we get 4 watts. Where did the 0.707 squared come from? Converting peak voltage and current to RMS requires dividing each quantity by the square root of two. One divided by the square root of two is 0.707. Do that twice and you get 0.707 squared. Copyright Robert J. Scoff 6

With that in mind, lets add two small resistors to our simple DC circuit. These resistors are called line resistance. They are present in all circuits that are connected with wires leading form the source (battery) to the load (resistor). This is shown in Figure 2.5.

Rline I Rline

Rload

Figure 2.5 DC Circuit Showing Line Resistance Now from Ohms Law, the voltage drop across each of the Line Resistors is:

V(Rline) = I * Rline
There is also power dissipated by each of the Line Resistors. This power is given by:

P(Rline) = I * V(Rline)
Neither of these effects is desirable. The voltage drops mean that the battery voltage needs to be higher to get a certain voltage drop across the load. This causes the voltage regulation to be higher than the minimum regulation of 0 %. The power losses in the Line Resistors means that the battery needs to supply extra power to get the needed power delivered to Rload. This causes the efficiency to be lower than the ideal efficiency of 100 %. If the voltage was an AC voltage, and a resistive load was used, the same conditions would occur as for a DC voltage source with a resistive load. In other words, the voltage regulation would be greater that 0 % and the efficiency would be less than 100 %. Figure 2.6 shows an AC source with Line Resistors and a Resistor load.

VAC

Rline I Rline

Rload

Figure 2.6 Resistive Circuit with an AC Source

Copyright Robert J. Scoff

3. Reactance The next important concept that needs to be understood, if Power Factor Correction is to be understood, is reactance. Reactance is the opposition to AC current flow in inductors and capacitors. Lets look at these devices one at a time. Inductors are coils of wire wrapped around a core. Iron and other magnetic materials make the best cores. The inductance of an inductor depends upon the core material, the number of turns of wire wrapped around the core, and a constant called permittivity. Once the inductance is known, the inductive reactance can be found. The inductive reactance depends on the inductance, and the frequency of the AC voltage source. The relationship is:

XL = +j2fL
Where XL is the inductive reactance, f is the frequency of the AC source, L is the inductance, and is 3.14159----. j is the square root of -1, and can be thought of as a + 90o operator. When an AC voltage is placed across an inductor, current flows, and can be determined by Ohms Law. Figure 3.1 shows a circuit with an AC source and an inductor.

Figure 3.1 Inductive Circuit The inductors current will be:

Notice that the current is now 90o behind the voltage. The current is said to LAG the voltage. If we look at the waveforms of voltage and current versus time for the circuit of Figure 3.1, they will look like Figure 3.2. Something to notice here is that Figure 3.2 does not show frequency, only that one complete cycle takes 360 electrical degrees. In other words, we are not really concerned with the actual frequency of the waveform right now. Nor are we really concerned with the actual inductance. Peak values of voltage and current were chosen to be 4 and 2 respectively, just to show the concept. For this example, XL would be +j2 . Figure 3.2 does show that the current goes through zero 90o after the voltage goes through zero. This is a very important point in understanding Power Factor Correction. Copyright Robert J. Scoff 8

Waveforms of Voltage and Current for an Inductor

6 V o lta g ea n dC u rre n t 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 0 100 200 300 400 AC Voltage Inductive Current

Figure 3.2 Waveforms of Voltage and Current in a Pure Inductive Circuit The next thing that needs to be shown is what power versus time looks like for an inductor. Remember that power equals voltage times current. This is true at every instant of time. Looking at the voltage and current waveforms, it can be seen that the instantaneous power is sometimes positive, and sometimes negative. Figure 3.3 shows voltage, current and power in an inductive circuit.
Voltage, Current, and Power in an Inductive Circuit
Volts, Amps, and Watts 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 0 100 200 300 400 Inductive Current Power Flow Voltage

Figure 3.3 Voltage, Current, and Power Flow for the Circuit of Figure 3.1 There are several important things to notice about the waveforms of Figure 3.3. First, every time the voltage or current goes through zero, the power, which is the product, goes through zero. This is as it should be. Next, the frequency of the power waveform is twice the frequency of the voltage and current waveforms. And finally, the average power is zero. A way to look at this is to think of the magnetic field of the inductor absorbing energy from the voltage source, and then releasing that energy back to the voltage source. Since an ideal inductor never dissipates energy, it would never get hot. Another way to look at the power curve is to pretend that the area under the curve is an ice cube. If this ice cube would melt, the average level of the water would be zero. Copyright Robert J. Scoff 9

There is another model that helps when looking at AC voltages and currents. A vector diagram can be made that shows voltages and currents on a two dimensional plane. We can call the X axis Real, and the Y axis Imaginary. Figure 3.4 shows a vector diagram for an inductive circuit

Figure 3.4 Vector Diagram for an Inductive Circuit As a matter of interest, the voltage and current vectors are both real for a resistive circuit. Another important principle that needs to be introduced now is that power equals voltage times current times the cosine of the angle between the voltage and current. For this example with 90o between the voltage and current, the power is zero, because the cosine of 90o is zero. For a resistive circuit, the angle between the voltage and current is 0o, and the cosine of 0o is 1. This condition is often referred to as Unity Power Factor. Capacitors are two metal plates separated by an insulator. They also have an opposition to AC current flow. The capacitance of a capacitor depends on the area of the two metal plates, the distance between the two plates, and the insulating material between the two plates. This capacitor has a property called capacitive reactance, which is opposition to AC current flow. This capacitive reactance depends upon the capacitance, and the frequency of the AC voltage in the circuit. Figure 3.4 shows a capacitor in a simple AC circuit.

Figure 3.4 Simple Capacitive Circuit The capacitive reactance of a capacitor is equal to:

XC = 1 / j2fC = -j/2fC
For the capacitor, notice that it has a j operator where the inductor had a +j operator. Now when the current is determined, it occurs 90o before the voltage. The current is said to lead the voltage. The capacitors current will be:

Copyright Robert J. Scoff

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The + 90o angle means that the current comes 90o before the voltage. This is similar to the current coming 90o after the voltage for an inductor. Figure 3.5 shows the waveforms of the voltage across a capacitor and the current through a capacitor.
Waveforms of Voltage and Current for a Capacitor
6 Volts and Amps 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 0 100 200 300 400 Voltage Capacitor Current

Figure 3.5 Waveforms of Voltage and Current for a Capacitor Notice again, that we are not concerned with the actual frequency or capacitance, and values of voltage and current were chosen so that they would be easy to see on the same graph. The next thing to look at is the power waveform. Again, power is equal to voltage times current at every instant. When power is graphed versus time, and shown on the same graph, it will look like the graph of Figure 3.6
Graph of Voltage, Current, and Power for a Capacitor
Volts, Amps, and Watts 6 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 0 100 200 300 400 Capacitor Current Capacitor Power Voltage

Figure 3.6 Graph of Voltage, Current, and Power for a Capacitor Copyright Robert J. Scoff 11

Notice again that the power waveform is double the frequency of the voltage waveform, and the average power is again zero. As the capacitor charges, it stores energy in its electric field, and as it discharges it returns energy to the voltage source. For both the capacitor and inductor, when a voltage is present across the device, current flows, but no power is dissipated. There will therefore be line voltage drops, and line power losses. This means that the power company is supplying current when either a capacitor or an inductor is the load. Therefore, there will be line voltage drops and line power losses. Since the power company is charging for power delivered, and no power is being delivered to a capacitive or inductive load, it loses money on those transactions. As will be seen, they have a way of charging for the delivery of this current. It is called a Demand Charge. 4. Demand To compensate for the line losses occurred by the power company, a second part is added to the electric bill for industrial customers. It is called demand, and can be compared to rent. In a sense, the customers are paying rent to the power companies for the use of the generation and transmission equipment. The way that it works is that the power company continuously monitors the volt amperes delivered to the customer, and bills on the biggest volt ampere load for the month. The customer only has to use the peak demand for hour sometime during a month to get this bill. Since voltage delivered to a customer is constant, we only need to look at minimizing current when doing Power Factor Correction. However, since the power companies charge on volt-amperes or volts times amperes, we will use the term volt-amps. Most industrial loads are large enough that KVA or KiloVolt-Amperes is used. So, lets look at how demand is generated. Many electrical devices in the world are inductors. Motors, generators, lighting ballasts, transformers, and so on. They are not purely inductive, because if they were, they would not be able to do any real work. Remember that pure inductors do not dissipate power. Many loads can be modeled as an inductor in series with a resistor. A simple single phase load can be drawn as shown in Figure 4.1. The current will lag the voltage, not by 90o, but by some angle between 0 and 90o.

Figure 4.1 Resistor Inductor Series Circuit To make this easy to see, if XL is set equal to R, the phase angle will be -45o. It can be shown as: Copyright Robert J. Scoff 12

In this example, notice that the current lags the voltage by 45o. Figure 4.2 shows the waveforms of the voltage and the current lagging the voltage by 45o.
Waveform of Voltage and Current Lagging by 45 deg
6 Volts and Amps 4 2 0 -2 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 0 100 200 300 400 Voltage Current Lagging by 45 deg

Figure 4.2 Graph of Voltage and Current lagging Voltage by 45o An interesting thing now happens if the waveform of the power versus time is also graphed. This is shown in Figure 4.3.
Waveforms for Voltage, Current, and Power in a RL Circuit
Volts, Amps, and Watts 8 6 4 2 0 -2 0 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 100 200 300 400 Voltage Current Lagging Voltage by 45 deg Power

Figure 4.3 Waveforms of Voltage, Current, and Power in a RL Circuit

Copyright Robert J. Scoff

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If we make a vector diagram for the voltage and current for the voltage and current of the R-L circuit, we get a drawing like that shown in Figure 4.4.

+ Imaginary
Real Part

V 45 IR-L -Imaginary
Imag. Part o

Real

Figure 4.4 Vector Diagram Showing the Current Lagging the Voltage by 45o The current can be thought of as having a real part and an imaginary part. Notice that if the negative imaginary part of the current is cancelled by a positive imaginary current, the only current that will be left is the real part of the current. This, the real essence of Power Factor Correction, will be taken up next. 5. A Parallel LC Circuit The next thing to consider is a parallel Inductor Capacitor circuit. Figure 5.1 shows this circuit.

Iline VAC C IC (-jXC) IL L (+jXL)

Figure 5.1 Parallel Inductor Capacitor Circuit If we choose L and C so that XC equals XL, the inductor and capacitor currents will be equal. The graph of Figure 5.2 shows the waveforms of the two currents and the voltage. Note that the same voltages and currents that were used in the previous examples are used here. Also notice that the currents are equal and opposite, all of the time. Another basic principle of electricity is that the sum of the currents entering any node of a circuit is equal to the sum of the currents leaving that node. Looking at Figure 5.1 again, notice that Iline equals IC + IL. If that is so, then Iline must be zero. So, a voltage exists, causing currents to flow in the inductor and the capacitor, but the line and generator currents are zero. This is an extreme example, chosen to illustrate how power factor works. The whole idea is to minimize the line and voltage generator currents. In the example chosen, there is no power being dissipated. So no real work can be done. We will go back to a series RL circuit, where real work can be done, and show how to minimize line current. Copyright Robert J. Scoff 14

Currents in a Parallel LC Circuit

5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 0 -2 -3 -4 -5

Volts and Amps

Voltage Inductive Current 100 200 300 400 Capacitive Current

Electrical Degrees

Figure 5.2 Waveforms of the Voltage and Currents in an LC Circuit This is also a good time to look at the vector diagram of the voltages and currents of a parallel Inductor Capacitor circuit. Notice that the current vectors are equal and in opposite directions. This is just another way to show that the line current is zero.

Figure 5.3 Vector Diagram of Voltages and Currents in a Parallel LC Circuit 6. A Closer to Real World Example Since many, if not most real world devices can be modeled as series RL circuits, lets look at a series RL circuit again. Figure 6.1 shows a series Resistor Inductor circuit.

Copyright Robert J. Scoff

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Figure 6.1 Series RL Circuit The waveforms of voltage, current, and power are shown again in Figure 6.2 to show their relationship to each other again. The next thing that will be done is to add a capacitor in parallel with the RL circuit. Its value will be chosen so that its current is equal to the imaginary part of the RL current. Figure 6.3 shows this circuit.
Waveforms for Voltage, Current, and Power in a RL Circuit
Volts, Amps, and Watts 8 6 4 2 0 -2 0 -4 -6 Electrical Degrees 100 200 300 400 Voltage Current Lagging Voltage by 45 deg Power

Figure 6.2 Voltage, Current, and Power Waveforms for a RL Circuit

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Figure 6.3 Series RL Circuit with Parallel Capacitor Now, if the value of jXC is chosen so that its current is equal to the imaginary part of the RL series circuit current, an interesting thing happens. In this case, the peak value of the capacitor current will be 1.414 amps. Figure 6.4 shows the waveforms of Voltage, IRL, IC, and Iline. Notice that Iline is exactly in phase with the Voltage. This is exactly what Power Factor Correction does. It makes the phase angle between the line voltage and the line current exactly zero degrees. Under this condition, the line current is a minimum for the amount of power that is being delivered. The vector diagram of the voltages and currents of Figure 6.3 are shown in Figure 6.5. This vector diagram is, perhaps, the most important concept that needs to be understood if Power Factor Correction is to have real meaning for you. It is a good idea, right now, to see the relationship between the waveforms of Figure 6.4 and the vectors of Figure 6.5.
Currents in a Power Factor Corrected Circuit
5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 0 -2 -3 -4 -5

Volts and Amps

Voltage RL Current 100 200 300 400 C Current Line Current

Electrical Degrees

Figure 6.4 Currents in a Parallel Power Factor corrected Circuit

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Figure 6.5 Vector Representation of the Waveforms of Figure 6.4 Now that an ideal circuit has been Power Factor Corrected, we will look at some practical considerations in what we will find in the industrial world. 7. Industrial World Considerations The power usage in the industrial world is not nearly as nice and clear and clean as the ideal examples given above. Three phase power is the standard voltage supply, rather than the single phase systems of the examples. Furthermore, the loads are constantly changing as machines are turned off and on during the course of a work day or week. However, we can look at specific examples of typical loads, and see the cost savings available that are available. The first problem that occurs is that we need a way of looking at three phase power. Fortunately, most three phase sources and loads can be seen as three single phase loads. With that in mind, lets look at a specific three phase load. Consider a 100 Horsepower, 460 VAC, three phase motor. The tables from the National Electric Code say that this motor draws about 124 amps at full load. Let us also consider that it runs at about 90 % efficiency. The input power to this motor is:

Pin = (100 HP * 746 watts/HP) / 0.9 = 82889 watts Or 82.89 KW

The volt amperes or volts times amps is:

VA = 3 * 460 * 124 = 98794 VA or 98.79 KVA

The square of three appears because the power feeds a three phase motor. Three phase power principles are covered in another course. If we make a Power, Volt Ampere, Volt Ampere Reactive vector diagram, it will look like Figure 7.5. Copyright Robert J. Scoff 18

+45 +40

+ Imaginary

+20

20 0

40

60

80

100

Real 32.96o 82.89 KW

-20

-40 -45

- Imaginary

Figure 7.5 Power Vector Diagram for a 100 Horsepower, Three Phase Motor Before we look at how a power company charges for electrical power, lets study Figure 6.5 again. An analogy shows that the real power in Figure 7.5 is 82.89 KW. That is real power that comes to the motor from the electrical system. The power companies generate this power in power plants by burning coal or uranium. In this country, some power is also generated by falling water, blowing winds, and solar cells. The whole point is that some real work is done to make the 100 HP motor turn and deliver real work. If the 100 HP motor were a water pump, it could lift about 4000 gallons of water per minute to a height of 100 feet. To deliver this power requires a voltage and a current, If we multiply voltage by current we get voltamperes (VA). Power companies use Kilo-Volt Amperes (KVA) or, for larger systems, Mega-Volt Amperes (MVA). So, the power gets delivered by means of wires, transformers and switchgear to your company or home. The point here is that the equipment has to be in place, and working, to get the power to where it is being used. The third part of the vector diagram in Figure 6.5 is Volt Amperes Reactive (VAR). The power company usually uses Kilo-Volt Amperes Reactive (KVAR), or Mega-Volt Amperes Reactive (MVAR). This is an indication of the phase shift between the voltage and the current in any electrical system. Any electrical system where the voltage and current are out of phase will cause a larger than necessary current to flow to deliver a certain amount of power. If the negative KVARs of Figure 6.5 could be cancelled by positive KVARs, the KVA of the system would equal the power being delivered. This is actually the ideal condition of Unity Power Factor.

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Since the definition of Power Factor is the cosine of the angle between the voltage and the current, the power factor of our 100 Horsepower motor at full load is 0.839. Note that the 32.96o angle between the voltage and current is the same angle as appears on the power vector diagram. 8. So, How Do We Pay to Run This Motor? The first part of an electric bill is for the actual energy cost. This varies from place to place in the country, but a good estimate is 10 cents per kilo watt hour (KWH). A kilo watt hour is the energy used to run a 1000 watt load for one hour. Ten 100 watt light bulbs running for 1 hour would use 1 KWH. An electric iron has a load of about 1 KW. If the heating element stayed on continuously, it would cost about 10 cents an hour to operate. Electric irons, like many electric heaters, do not run continuously, but cycle. If the electric iron had its heating element on 50% of the time, it would use KWH of energy per hour and cost about 5 cents per hour to operate. Going back to our 100 Horsepower motor, if it uses 82.89 kilo watts at full load, at 10 cents peer KWH, it would cost $8.29 per hour to operate. If it ran 200 hours in any month, it would cost $1658.00 to run the motor for one month. There is another part to an industrial electric bill. It is called DEMAND. Demand can be thought of as the rent we pay to the power company for the use of their equipment. The way that it is calculated, is that the power company continuously monitors a customers electric usage. They measure the KVA and charge the customer for the peak KVA that the customer had during the month. The customer only had to be at peak usage for hour any time during the month to incur this cost. A good estimate for the demand charge would be $20 per KVA of demand. Again, looking at our 100 Horsepower motor, the peak KVA is 98.79 KVA. At $20 per KVA of demand, it would cost the customer an additional $1975.50 to run the motor for the month. In this example, the demand charge is more than the energy cost. As a matter of fact, if the customer ran the motor for one hour anytime during the month, the demand charge would still be $1975.50. The energy cost would only be $8.79. If the KVAR of the 100 Horsepower motor load could be cancelled, the demand would decrease to the level of the power. In other words, the demand would be 82.89 KVA. The demand charge under this condition would be$1657.80. The savings would amount to $317.70 per month. Lets look at how to accomplish this. 9. Power Factor Correcting a Single Motor A single motor can be power factor corrected by adding a single three phase capacitor to the motor that turns on at the same time that the motor starts. Figure 9.1 shows how this capacitor would be connected in the motor control circuit. There are tables and charts to determine how much capacitance to add to the motor control circuit to improve the power factor. These tables and charts give a good estimate of the capacitance needed to improve the power factor. However, to get the best results, a measurement should be taken by a meter called a power analyzer.

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A chart found on the Square D website recommended a 30 KVAR capacitor to correct a 1800 RPM, 3 phase, 480 VAC induction motor. If we used 30 KVAR of capacitance to correct the motor from our example, the results of our correction would be as shown in figure 9.2
Motor 3 Phase Protection Disconnect Fuses 150 A M 480 VAC 3 Phase 150 A M 150A OL OL Motor 100 HP 480 VAC 124 FLA 1740 rpm Motor Starter M OL

Fusing to Protect Capacitors

Capacitor Bank, Rated in KVAR

Figure 9.1 Power Factor Correction Added to a 100 Horsepower Motor Figure 9.2 shows what would happen if the recommended 30 KVARs of correction were used to correct the power factor of the 100 Horsepower motor. Note that there are still some uncorrected KVARs for the motor. But, the KVA has dropped to almost the KW load of the motor. In fact, for this example, there is only a little more than 3 KVA of difference between complete correction and the result of using 30 KVARs of correction. This would only add about $60 to the lowest possible demand charge for this motor. Since the worst demand charge was about $1978 and the best demand charge was about $1658, correcting to Unity Power Factor might not be economically sensible. Incidentally the Power Factor was improved from 0.893 to 0.961 when the 30 KVAR correction was added to the motor. This saves about 13% of the demand charge. If the entire electric bill for this motor was considered, the savings would be about 7%. The best solution for this motor would be to purchase and install a 50 KVAR capacitor, which is a standard value. This would result in an almost 9% savings on the electric bill. The time to pay for this installation should be less than 6 months. Another point to note here that the KVARs of a motor usually change very little with load. Our 100 Horsepower motor would have about 54 KVARs of reactive power from no load to full load. This means that a lightly loaded motor would have a very low Power Factor. However, most of the time this would not affect the KVA of demand, since the lightly loaded motor always draws less current than a heavily loaded motor. Copyright Robert J. Scoff 21

+ Imaginary
50 40

20

30 KVAR Capacitor

82.89 KW

20 0

40

60

80

100

Real 15.99o 32.96o 23.75 KVAR 53.75 KVAR

-20

30 KVAR Cancelled by Capacitor

-40 -50

- Imaginary

Figure 9.2 Power Factor Change by Using the Recommended Capacitor for a 100 HP Motor 10. Power Factor Correction by Adding a Fixed Capacitor Another method of Power Factor Correction is to add a fixed capacitor across the line of the three phase system. To do this, an analysis of the power usage of the electric system needs to be done over at least a one week period. Then, the periods when the KVA usage is highest need to be looked at. At those times, the KVAR of the system needs to be determined. A capacitor of that value can then be added across the line. This will correct the worst condition, and has the potential of saving the most money, for the least expense. There are a few drawbacks to this approach. One of them is that when the electric system is shut down, there is a current flowing in the capacitor causing a leading KVAR. If this KVAR is less than the KVA of the system under load, there will not be a penalty for excessive KVA. Unfortunately, a leading KVAR will cause the system voltage to rise. If it rises too high, it can cause high voltage trips for certain equipment. This can get to be a nuisance for both you and your neighbors. Because of this, you will very seldom find Power Factor corrected by a single capacitor connected across the line. An example of how this is done will now be given. A Dranitz or Fluke Reliable Power Analyzer was connected for 2 weeks in a certain factory. When the graphs were studied it was determined that a peak KVA usage of 1000 KVA occurred every day from 2 to 3 PM. When this peak usage occurred, it was noted that the KVAR of the system was a lagging Copyright Robert J. Scoff 22

600 KVAR, and the power usage was 800 KW. This would make the power factor be 0.8 lagging. Figure 10.1 shows the power vector diagram.
+ Imaginary 600 KVAR Leading This can be the added capacitor

This s the real power usage 800 KW

Real

36.87o 1000 KVA at 0.8 PF Lagging 600 KVAR Lagging This is the reactive power usage

This is the peak plant load from 2 to 3 PM every day -Imaginary

Figure 10.1 Power Vector Diagram for Peak KVA Use for a Typical Factory If this scheme were implemented, (and this is not a recommendation) the cost savings to the electric bill would be about $4000 a month. This comes from lowering the demand from 1000 KVA to 800 KVA. Thats 200 KVA less. At $20 a KVA of demand, thats $4000. Notice that when the plant is shut down, the demand is still 600 KVA. Thats less than 800KVA, so the demand charge would not go up because of the capacitor current alone. However, because of the large leading KVAR, the voltage would certainly go up. As a side note, the cost of implementing this method for this example would probably be about 5 to 6 thousand dollars. It looks tempting, but it is not a good idea. 11. A Better, and Still Inexpensive, Way A better way is to Power Factor correct the larger motors of a plant, and then do the Power Analysis for the factory. Lets pretend we have the same factory, and use the method described for the 100 Horsepower motor in an earlier example (Look at Figure 9.1). Then all of the large loads would be running pretty close to Unity Power Factor. Now when a Power Analyzer was used to take measurements, the same factory might have a real power of 800 KW (Remember, real power doesnt change), a reactive power of 200 KVAR, and a KVA of 825. The KVA of demand would drop from 1000 KVA to 825 KVA, a savings of 175 KVA. The cost savings under this scenario would be $3500 per month. The power factor would be about .97 lagging. Remember that Power Factor is defined as the cosine of the angle between the KW load and the KVA load. It would take a capacitor of 200 KVAR across the line to correct to Unity Power Factor. The additional savings would only be $500 more a month (25 KVAR times $20 per KVA of demand). This is the difference between running at 825 KVA and 800 KVA. Remember again, that the minimum KVA is determined by the power Copyright Robert J. Scoff 23

usage. For our example system, the power usage is 800 KW, which is also the KVA when the system is corrected to Unity Power Factor. Figure 11.1 shows the Power Vector Diagram for this condition.
+Imaginary 200 KVAR Reactive Leading This can be the added capacitor 800 KW 14.04o 825 KVA at 0.97 PF Lagging This is the peak plant load from 2 to 3 PM every day Real This is the reactive power usage 200 KVAR Reactive Lagging

-Imaginary

Figure 11.1 Power Vector Diagram of Factory with Larger Motors Power Factor Corrected Note that when the factory is shut down, there is still a 200 KVAR capacitor across the line. This will probably still cause a rise in voltage, but not nearly a severe as when 600 KVAR is across the line all of the time. If we did a better job on the large motors, so that the factory KVARs was only 100 KVAR, it would take only 100 KVARs of capacitor across the line to correct to unity power factor. The correction would only lower the KVA from 806 KVA to 800 KVA. The savings would be down to $120 a month (6 times $20). Figure 11.2 shows this condition.

+Imaginary 100 KVAR This can be Reactive the added Leading capacitor

800 KW 7.13o

Real This is the 100 KVAR reactive power Reactive usage Lagging

This is the peak plant load from 2 to 3 PM every day -Imaginary

Figure 11.2 Power Vector Diagram for factory needing only 100 KVAR to Correct to Unity Power Factor

806 KVA at 0.99 PF Lagging

Copyright Robert J. Scoff

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Something to notice here is that it takes more and more KVAR of capacitance to get less and less savings as the Power Factor approaches unity. The total cost of implementing this system at a factory will be slightly more than using just one capacitor to do the correcting. The same amount of equipment is used, but just distributed differently. 12. A Completely Automatic System

Figure 12.1 A Completely Automatic Power Factor Correction System The best (and most expensive) way to correct an electrical power system to Unity Power Factor is to install a completely automatic correction system. This system will consist of a Power Factor Meter/Controller, a number of power contactors, and an equal number of capacitors. Capacitors are automatically switched in to keep the Power Factor at .99 or above. The system shown in Figure 12.1 shows 7 steps of capacitance, but there can be more or less than that. The payback time for a completely automatic system is said to be about 5 to 7 years. 13. How to Apply Power Factor Correction at Your Facility The first step in deciding whether or not to use Power Factor Correction at your facility is to contact your power supplier. Most power companies will send out a representative who will help you look at your system. He will go over your rate schedule to see if a Power Factor System even makes sense. Demand can be charged on KVA of demand or KW of demand. If the electric rate schedule charges on KW of demand, Correcting to Unity Power Factor will not save you money. It may help the power company, but in most cases, it wouldnt do anything for you. The one exception would be if your system was at or near capacity, it could lower the current that the system was carrying. If your rate schedule charges on KVA of demand, it may be possible to save on your electric bill. If so, now is the time to have your power system analyzed. Sometimes the power company will do this for you. It is best to take continuous readings for a week or two of the incoming electrical power. The newest meters will print graphs of KVA, KVAR, KW, Voltage, Current, and power factor versus time. Since it is desired to minimize KVA, it should be looked at first. Also the graph of KVAR versus time has to be considered. After all, we are going to cancel lagging KVAR with leading KVAR to make KVA be a minimum. When KVA is a minimum, the load is resistive, and the power factor is unity or Copyright Robert J. Scoff 25

one. Also, the angle between the voltage and the current is zero degrees, and the cosine of zero degrees is 1. With the information in hand, it is now a matter of making a decision on if you are going to implement some correction system. If a decision is made to implement power factor correction, then a decision has to be made on the type of system that will be used. Every power system has its own unique characteristics, and what is right for one factory will not necessarily be right for another. One subject that was not covered is Harmonics. The presence of harmonics on a power system causes other problems. The subject of Harmonics is covered in another course. One other way to save on demand charges is to run your heaviest power users at night when many power companies will reduce demand charges. This is because the equipment is there anyway and lightly utilized. Demand charges can be reduced as much as 75% during periods of light power system usage. Places where this is taken advantage of include factories with one large motor that only needs to operate 8 to 10 hours a day, and can be scheduled to run at night. 14. Conclusions In todays electrical power world, it is becoming increasingly important to use the system properly. Limiting power use is not usually a good option where industrial manufacturing is concerned. But Power Factor Correction makes it possible to lower the current draw for inductive loads. Since most industrial loads are inductive, Power Factor Correction is being encouraged by the electrical suppliers. When we, as customers, do our part to help the power companies, we also help ourselves in the form of lower electric bills.

Copyright Robert J. Scoff

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