Power Factor Correction

Many loads are highly inductive, such a lightly loaded motors and illumination
transformers and ballasts. You may want to correct the power factor by adding parallel
capacitors. You can also add series capacitors to "remove" the effect of leakage
inductance that limits the output current.

Why correct the power factor?

The current flow through the circuit is increased by the reactive component. Normally,
loads are represented by a series combination of a resistance and a purely imaginary
reactance. For this explanation, it is easier to contemplate it as an equivalent parallel
combination. The diagram below illustrates a partially reactive load being fed from a
real system with some finite resistance in the conductors, etc.

The current through the reactive component (Ireactive) dissipates no power, and
neither does it register on the watt hour meter. However, the reactive current does
dissipate power when flowing through other resistive components in the system, like
the wires, the switches, and the lossy part of a transformer (Rline). Switches have to
interrupt the total current, not just the active component. Wires have to be big enough
to carry the entire current, etc. Correcting the power factor reduces the amount of
oversizing necessary.

Correcting power factor

Given the reactive load component (Xload), you can calculate the capacitance that
would be put in parallel to exactly match it using the equation:

Xc = 1/ (omega C) = 1/(2 *pi * f * C)

for 60 Hz: Xc = 1/( 2*pi * 60* C) =1/ (377*C)

or, rearranging: C = 1/(377*Xc)

Power factor correction capacitors are often rated in kVar, instead of uF, because that
is how the power company works. Say a factory has several thousand horsepower
worth of motors at .85 power factor. They might have a reactive component of several
hundred kVar. At a distribution voltage of 14,400 volts, this would require a capacitor
with an impedance of a bit more than 1000 ohms, or about 2.5 microfarads, a
reasonable sized and priced package. However, if you were crazy enough to try to
compensate this at 230 volts, you would need about .01 Farads (i.e. 10,000 uF), a
sizeable package.

For very large systems, even capacitors get unwieldy. One approach is to use large
over excited synchronous motors which look like capacitors, electrically. Another
approach is clever systems of thyristors and inductors which simulate the capactive
reactance by drawing "displacement current".

Loads that draw non-sinusoidal current

Classic reactive loads, like transformers, lighting ballasts, and AC motors still have a
sinusoidal current flow. The phase of the current is just shifted from that of the supply
voltage. However, there are some loads which draw distinctly non-sinusoidal currents.
The most recently notorious is the switching power supply in a PC. These power
supplies start with a bridge rectifier feeding a capacitor, and so, particularly at part
load, draw their current in little peaks, when the instantaneous line voltage is above
the capacitor voltage, forward biasing the rectifier. Another notorious non-sinusoidal
current draw is the popular phase controlled light dimmer, which uses a TRIAC or
SCR to reduce the RMS voltage to the load by turning on partway through the half
cycle. Not only is the current waveform highly non-sinusoidal, but it is also out of
phase with the voltage supply. Hence, these loads have a non-unity power factor, and
draw reactive power.

However, to compensate these loads, you have to come up with a means to supply the
reactive current at the appropriate times. A simple capacitor doesn't do this. A
capacitor only compensates nice sinusoidal power factor lags, like those from linear
(non-saturating) inductors.

Example of Power Factor Correction

Let's take an example. A 3/4 HP electric motor has a power factor of .85. The
nameplate current is 10 Amps at 115 Volts, or 1150 Volt Amps.

 Apparent power = 1150 Volt Amps

 Active power (P) = .85 * 1150 = 977.5 Watts
 Reactive Power (Q) = sqrt(1150^2 - 977.5^2) = 605 VAR
So, we need about 600 var of power factor correction. I'm rounding to a couple digits,
because, in reality, it's unlikely that the power factor is known to more accuracy, nor
will any of the PFC components be that precise. (10% accuracy would be quite good
for a capacitor). Now, assume we want to put the capacitor in parallel with the motor:
Calculating the required impedance from Q = E^2/X, where Q is the reactive power
needed:

 600 = 115^2/X => X = 115^2/600 = 22 ohms (rounding to 2digits)

 C = 1 /( 2 * pi * f *X) = 1/ (377 * 22) = 120 uF (again, rounding to 2 digits)

which is a fairly large capacitor in a constant duty environment (i.e. motor run, as
opposed to motor start, where the capacitor is only in the circuit for a short time). You
can calculate the RMS current through the capacitor either by dividing the VARs by
the line voltage (600/115) or by dividing line voltage by reactance (115/22); both
come out at around 5 1/4 Amps, so you'd want a capacitor rated at somewhat more
current (e.g. 7-10 A). The capacitor's series resistance should be pretty low, or it will
dissipate a fair amount of energy. If the dissipation factor were 1%, you'd be
dissipating about 6 Watts in the capacitor.

One can also put the PFC capacitor in series with the load. In this case the capacitor
would carry the entire load current of 10A, but, the required value is different. For a
series compensation, you'd determine the series equivalent of the load (we used a
parallel model, above). For the series model, you use currents, instead of voltages:

600 VAR = I^2 * X => 600 = 10*10 * X => X = 6 ohms

And converting an impedance to a capacitance: C=1/(377*6) = 440 uF.

So, not only would the capacitor be larger, but it would need to carry the entire load
current. For this example, at least, parallel PFC seems to be a better approach. Only if
the power factor were very poor, so the reactive impedance was quite large (and the
corresponding capacitance low) would series compensation seem to be useful.

If the line voltage were higher, the correction impedance would be increased as the
square of the line voltage. The capacitance would be reduced as the square of the line
voltage. That is, if the same motor were run off 230 Volts, the capacitor would only
need to be about 30 uF. And if we were to do power factor compensation at the
distribution voltage of 4160 volts (for example), you would only need about .1 uF.
This is why power factor correction is usually done in the distribution network at MV
or HV, and not at the end voltage.
Copyright 1997, Jim Lux /revised 16 Sep 2006 / pfc.htm / HV Handbook / Jim's Home
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