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A.C POWERS AND POWER

FACTOR
PRESENTATION FLOW
 A.C POWERS
Active Power:
Measured in watts (normally shown as kW). Provides the “working” part
of the power system. Producing heat, light, motion etc.

Reactive Power:
Measured in volt-ampere-reactive (normally shown as kVAR). It only
maintains the electromagnetic field and provides no “working” part of
the power system.

Apparent Power:
Measured in Volt-Ampere (normally shown as kVA). Provided both
working and nonworking parts of the power system.
 A.C POWERS
From waveforms, 0 to t1, V and I are both positive; therefore, power is
positive. At t=t1, V is 0V and thus P is 0W. From t1 to t2, I is positive and V
is negative; therefore, P is negative. From t2 to t3, both V and I are
negative; therefore power is positive, and so on.

Positive value of power waveform represents the real or working power

which is delivered from the source to the load.
Negative value of power waveform represents the reactive power which
is returned from the load to the source.
A.C POWERS - Power Comparison -
A.C POWERS
 POWER FACTOR
The cosine angle between the voltage and current in an a.c circuit is
known as power factor.
Power factor involves the relationship between two types of power,
working power and reactive power.

Poor P.F 0.60 P.F >0.90

 POWER FACTOR
Electrical energy is almost exclusively generated, transmitted and
distributed in the form of alternating current, therefore the question of
power factor comes immediately into picture.

Most loads (80%) in electrical distribution systems are inductive in nature

and hence they have low P.F which is highly undesirable.

Low P.F causes an increase in reactive current, resulting in additional

losses
of active power in all elements of power system.

It is important to have power factor as close to unity as possible. Note

that
leading power factor is also undesirable for power system.
 POWER FACTOR
If the circuit is inductive, the current lags behind the voltage by an angle Ѳ
and power factor is referred to as lagging.
 POWER FACTOR
If the circuit is capacitive, the current leads the voltage by an angle Ѳ and
power factor is referred to as leading.
 POWER FACTOR
If circuit is resistive, both current and voltage are in phase with each other
and power factor is referred as unity.
POWER FACTOR -Power Triangle-

Apparent power in a.c circuit has two components, active or working

power and reactive power.
From trigonometric relation,

Thus the power factor of a circuit may also be defined as the ratio of
active power to the apparent power.
For leading currents, the power triangle becomes reversed.
 POWER FACTOR -Power Triangle-
Now the power factor can be defined in one of the following 3 ways:

1. Power factor = cosѲ = cosine angle between V and I.

2. Power factor = cosѲ = Resistance/Impedance.
3. Power factor = cosѲ = Active power/Apparent power.

Let us assume a circuit having current of 10 A at a voltage of

200 V and its power factor is 0.8 lagging.
S = VI = 200(10) = 2000VA = 2KVA
P = VI cosѲ = 200(10)(0.8) = 1.6KW
Q = VI sinѲ = 200(10)(0.6) = 1.2kVAR
The circuit receives an apparent power of 2KVA and is able to convert only
1.6KW into working or active power. Reactive power 1.2KVAR neither
consumed nor it does any useful work, it flows back and forth in both
direction periodically.
 POWER FACTOR
Different types of electrical load have different Power Factors according
to its nature.

Name of Equipment Power Factor Percent

Lightly loaded induction motor 0.20 Lagging

Full Loaded induction motor 0.80 Lagging

Neon-lighting equipment 0.30 - 0.70 Lagging

Incandescent lamps 1.0 Unity

All types of resistance heating 1.0 Unity

devices (e.g. toaster, heater)
 CAUSES OF LOW POWER FACTOR
MOST LOADS (80%) IN ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM ARE INDUCTIVE IN
NATURE. THE CAUSE OF LOW POWER FACTOR IS ONLY DUE TO INDUCTIVE
LOADS. INDUCTIVE LOADS RESPONSIBLE FOR LOW P.F ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Most of ac motors are induction type motors (1Φ and 3 Φ). At light load these
motors work at extremely low P.F of the order of 0.2 to 0.3 and rises to 0.8 or
0.9 at full load.

Arc lamps, electric discharge lamps, welding equipment and industrial heating
furnaces operated at low lagging power factor.

Transformers draws a magnetizing current from the supply. At normal load

this current does not affect the P.F, but they draws larger amount of
magnetizing current at light load, causes low primary current P.F.
DE’MERITS OF LOW POWER FACTOR
LOW POWER FACTOR RESULTS IN THE FOLLOWING DISADVANTAGES

LARGER KVA RATING: Electric machines (alternators, transformers,

switchgears) are always rated in KVA. KVA rating of any equipment
varies inversely with the P.F, therefore low P.F increases the KVA rating,
as a result KVA rating making the equipment larger and expensive.

GREATER CONDUCTOR SIZE: To transmit a fixed amount of power at

constant voltage, the conductor will have to carry more current at low
factor.
 DE’MERITS OF POWER FACTOR
LARGE COPPER LOSSES: The larger amount of current at low power
2
factor causes more I R losses in all the elements of the system.

POOR VOLTAGE REGULATION: Larger amount of current produces large

voltage drops (IR drops) in alternators, transformers, transmission lines
and distributors. This results in poor voltage regulation.

PAYED EXTRA UTILITY CHARGES: System operated at low P.F is

uneconomical from supplier`s point of view. Suppliers usually takes
extra charges from consumers who operated their load at low power
factor.
 POWER FACTOR CORRECTION
The process of supplying reactive power (lagging or leading) to bring the P.F
closer to unity is known as power factor correction.

This can be done by following equipments, should be connected in parallel

with the load.
POWER FACTOR CORRECTION -STATIC CAPACITORS-
The capacitor draws a leading current and neutralizes the lagging reactive
component of the load current, this raises the power factor.
Correct amount of capacitance must be used, otherwise P.F goes from
lagging to leading which is also undesired condition.
POWER FACTOR CORRECTION -STATIC CAPACITORS-

When inductor released the energy, capacitor stored that energy as shown.
POWER FACTOR CORRECTION -STATIC CAPACITORS-

Assume a circuit shown in fig: A in which pure resistive load of 120KW is

connected with 600V generator, supplying 200A as shown.

Now lagging inductive load is added as shown in fig: B with the same
600V generator. In this case P.F drops from unity to 0.6 lagging.
POWER FACTOR CORRECTION -STATIC CAPACITORS-

Even though it is supplying same 120KW to the load, but current exceeds
from 200A to 333A. This extra current is known as reactive current, causing
decrease in P.F from unity to 0.6.

Now we are determining the value of capacitor, placed in parallel with the
load to raise the P.F = 1
POWER FACTOR CORRECTION –SYNCH CONDENSER-
An over-excited synchronous motor running on no-load is known as
Synchronous Condenser.

Increasing the field excitation of synchronous motor will improve the P.F from
lagging to leading by operating in over excitation mode.

When synchronous machine is connected in parallel with the supply, it takes

the leading current which partly neutralizes the lagging reactive component of
the load.