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Power Quality
Contents
General 3
The risks of high inrush current 4
Single capacitor connection, inrush current calculation 6
Parallel capacitor connection, inrush current calculation 7
Various solutions for limiting inrush current serial aircoils 7
Detuning reactors, connection cable selection 8
Capacitor contactors with damping resistors
Functionality / comparison 9
Comparison 10
Capacitor bank switching under various conditions 11
2 EPCOS AG
Damping of Inrush Current
in Low-Voltage PFC Equipment
General
The market trend to reduce losses
in modern low-voltage power-
factor-correction capacitors (LV-PFCs)
and the requirement for high 1
output density result in reduced
xc =
2*π*f*c
ohmic resistance in PFC capacitors.
Especially the switching of capa-
citors in parallel to others of the
bank, already energized, causes
extremely high inrush current,
up to 200 times the rated current,
Eq1:
and limited only by the ohmic Switching operation: f ➝ ∞ ➞ xc ➝ 0 ➞ î ➝ 200 * Ir
resistance of the capacitor itself.
According to the formula (Eq1),
such a capacitor’s AC resistance is
very low and thus contributes to
high inrush current.
M
3~
25 kVAr
25 kVAr
25 kVAr
25 kVAr
25 kVAr
25 kVAr
25 kVAr
12.5 kVAr
187,5 kVAr KLK1709-W
EPCOS AG 3
Inrush Current by Connecting
Capacitor in Parallel (Energization)
Capacitor connection:
IN = rated current = 21A
Current (A)
4000
i
3000
2000
Capacitor inrush current
1000
-1000
-2000
-3000
73.2 73.8 74.5 75.1 75.7 76.3 77.0 77.6 t (ms)
ON
OFF 5th capacitor connected
i Peak current occurrence
i = 157 * IN = 157 * 21 = 3300 A
1500
û 1
1000
500
0
û 2
- 500
-1000
û 1
1st step on 2nd step on 3rd step on 4th step on 5th step on 6th step on
-1500
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 100 90
t (ms)
û High peak voltage (transients) occurrence
1 1 1 Û > UINS risk of shortcircuit
2 2 Û ≤ 0 V results in wrong measurements
causing control failures
Voltage at 0.69 kV - busbar
Capacitor sample,
contact surface damaged
by high inrush currents
High inrush current occurrences
due to insufficient damping
caused high electromechanical
forces within the capacitor. Espe-
cially the contact area between
electrodes (windings) and the
metal-spray layer was extremely Example
stressed by high current forces.
Metal-spray layer
separated from the
The example shows that a fraction
capacitor windings
of metal-spray layer separated
from the windings. Even the MKK
capacitor with excellent pulse
current capability and enhanced
contactability due to wavy cut and
heavy edge design of the film
shows that extensive power can
cause failures.
EPCOS AG 5
Inrush Current Calculation
UN
L1
L2
Grid
^ 2*Sk L3
i= *IN
Q
KLK1706-7
Eq 2
Calculation example
Terms Given parameters:
Grid connection of a single 50 kVAr
Peak inrush current ^i A capacitor, no other capacitor connected:
Transformer shortcircuit power Sk kVA a Grid 400 V/50 Hz
Rated capacitor output Q kVAr a Transformer shortcircuit voltage: 5%
Rated capacitor current IN A a Transformer output: 1600 kVA
Rated voltage UN V a Capacitor Q = 50 kVAr; IN = 72 A
Ohmic resistance = XC Ω 1600 kVA
3 * UN2* (1/Q1 + 1/Q2) ^i = 2*
0.05 = 2575 A
*72 A
50 kVAr
Grid impedance = XI Ω
o* L (Ω) including The inrush current is approximately
– contactor 35 times the rated current.
– fuse
– busbars
6 EPCOS AG
Various Solutions
for Limiting Inrush Current
UN
UN
L1 L1
L2
Grid
L2
Grid
L3 L3
i= 2*UN i= 2*UN
Kn K2 K1
^ Contactor
^
Xc*XL C2 C3 C2 C3
Capacitor
Xc*(XL1+ XL2) Ln L2 L1
C1 C1 KLK1707-F Qn Q2 Q1
KLK1708-N
Q1 Q2
Eq 3 Eq 4
Typical inrush currents are This example shows that some cable
100–250 times rated current for turns in series with the capacitor
single capacitors in parallel connection contribute to reducing inrush current
to other capacitors in operation. (to 50 times rated current).
This improves capacitor life cycle.
EPCOS AG 7
Various Solutions for
Limiting Inrush Current
Damping as described is a possible Selection table for connection cables
simple solution, but this method
deals with two contradicting effects: Capacitor Turns Approx. Cable
rating diameter cross-section
a Longer (or additional) cables
cause electrical losses – higher 5 kVAr 10 100 mm 2.5 mm2
losses cause higher inherent 10 kVAr 10 100 mm 4 mm2
temperature within the capacitor. 12.5 kVAr 10 100 mm 4 mm2
a On the other hand, cable turns 16.7 kVAr 7 100 mm 6 mm2
reduce the inrush current and 25 kVAr 7 100 mm 10 mm2
increase the life cycle of capaci-
tors and contactors. 33 kVAr 7 100 mm 25 mm2
Plus, you must make sure that the 50 kVAr 7 100 mm 35 mm2
capacitor works below its maximum
operating temperature. This table should help to find the appropriate cable and required turns.
Our PFC-CDROM (available upon request) contains calculation software
which enhances precise calculation of the application (capacitors and
switch gear).
Detuning reactors
Conventional capacitor Detuned capacitor
(series anti-harmonic reactors)
without damping with series reactors
In detuned capacitor banks the
inductivity of filter circuit reactors
provides an excellent damping i = 500 A
effect for limiting inrush current. î > 4000 A
The following diagrams show
the connection of a detuned and
non-detuned (reactor and capac-
itor) system.
î = 190 * IN
î = 24 * IN
The peak current of a conventional
capacitor is higher than 4000 A.
The peak current of detuned capac- Fig. 1: 25 kVAr (21 A /690 V) Fig. 2: 25 kVAr (21 A / 690 V)
itors is only approx. 500 A. The vertical: 2000 A /div vertical: 200 A / div
horizontal: 0.625 ms /div horizontal: 10 ms / div
purpose of filter circuit reactors is
of course not the damping of
inrush current, but this example Because of the high inductance in Examples for detuned
shows that in the case of detuned the circuit, the breaking quality capacitor banks (ref. page 2)
capacitors no additional damp- of the contactor is important to
ing measures are required. avoid restriking during switch-off.
Especially large contactors (over-
sized motor contactors) may be
too slow and are therefore critical.
8 EPCOS AG
Capacitor contactors with damping resistors
Damping
resistor
Pre-switching
aux. contacts
Eq 5
EPCOS AG 9
Comparison
Fig. 3: 12.5 kVAr (18 A /400 V) Fig. 4: 12.5 kVAr (18 A /400 V)
vertical: 250 A /div vertical: 250 A /div
horizontal: 0.5 ms /div horizontal: 0.5 ms /div
10 EPCOS AG
Comparison
Capacitor bank switching under various conditions
i < 200 A
Fig. 5: 25 kVAr (21A /690 V) Fig. 6: 25 kVAr (21 A /690 V) Fig. 7: 25 kVAr (21 A /690 V)
vertical: 2000 A /div vertical: 200 A /div vertical: 200 A /div
horizontal: 0.625 ms /div horizontal: 10 ms /div horizontal: 10 ms /div
EPCOS AG 11
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