DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING
Electrical Measurements and Instrumentation
Experiment No: 07
Measurement of Reactive Power by
One Watt-meter Method with
possible connections of current coil
and pressure coil.
TI TLE : ME AS URE ME NT OF REA CT IV E PO WE R
☼ To Measure of Reactive Power by One Watt-meter Method with possible
connections of current coil and pressure coil.
1. 3 Auto transformer 0-440V/0-470V,10A 01 No.
2. A.C. Ammeter 0-10 A 01 No.
3. A.C. Voltmeter 0-600V 01 No.
4. A.C. Wattmeter 10A,600V 01 No.
5. 3 phase Induction motor 3HP,415Volt,4.7A,Delta 01 No.
6. Connecting wires
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
If V and I are the r.m.s. values of the voltage & current in a single phase circuit and is
the phase angle between them, then the actual or active power in the circuit is of course VI
cos.
The active power is equal to the voltage multiplied by the component of the current
which is in the phase with it (I cos ). The component of the current which is 900out of
phase with the voltage is I sin , and the product VI sin is the “wattles” or reactive
component of the volt-amperes, or the reactive power.
The measurement of this reactive component is, however useful, since the phase
angle of the circuit can be obtained from the ratio
It should be first observed that sin = cos (900 - ) and therefore a wattmeter may be
used for the measurement if the current coil carries the load current I and the voltage
applied to the voltage coil is such that its phase displacement from the actual voltage of the
circuit is 900. Under these circumstances the wattmeter will read VIcos (900 -) or IVsin.
It may be more convenient in single phase measurement to compensate so that the
field of its voltage coil lags 900 behind the phase it would have if the wattmeter voltage
were used for power measurement.
In the case of a balanced three phase load when the power is being measured by one
wattmeter, it is a simple matter to use this wattmeter for the measurement of the reactive
power by connecting its current and voltage coils as shown in circuit diagram.
The current coil is connected in one line and voltage coil is connected across the two
other lines.
The circuit diagram shows that current through current coil of wattmeter is IY and
voltage across pressure coil is VRB, hence the power measured by wattmeter is
The three phase reactive power can be given as
From eq. (1) we can write
In order to measure reactive power in a single phase circuit, a compensated
wattmeter used. In this wattmeter, the voltage applied to the pressure coil is 900 out of
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
phase with the actual voltage and hence it will read VI cos (900 - ) i.e., VI sin , reactive
power.
In balanced three-phase circuit the reactive power can be determined by using one
wattmeter. The necessary connections are shown in figure. The current coil is connected in
one line and the pressure coil is connected across the other two lines.
The current following through the current coil of the wattmeter.
= IY = Iph (say)
The potential' difference across the potential coil of wattmeter,
E = ER - EB
= Eph leading vector EY by 90°
= Eph leading vector of current IY by (90° + )
Reading of the wattmeter
= Eph Iph cos(90°+)
= Eph Iph sin
= Wr
Total reactive power of the circuit,
= Eph Iph sin
= Wr
1. Do the connections as per the circuit diagram.
2. Make sure that motor is on no load & auto transformer is at it’s zero voltage position.
3. Switch ‘ON’ the a.c. supply with the help of MCB and apply the rated voltage to the
motor.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
4. Measure the line voltage, line current and wattmeter reading.
5. Repeat the procedure for two more sets of reading.
6. Reduce the voltage to zero with the help of auto transformer.
7. Switch ‘OFF’ the a.c. supply with the help of MCB.
Supply voltage, Supply current,
Wattmeter, VAR
Sr. No. volts amps
VL IL W
01
02
03
04
Reactive Power
Sr. No. Calculated Reactive Power
01
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
02
03
04
Question answers
1. What are the objectives of the experiment?
2. How ammeter, voltmeter, wattmeter range selected?
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3. What is multiplying factor of wattmeter? How it is calculated?
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4. What are the advantages of one wattmeter method?
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5. What are the disadvantages of one wattmeter method?
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6. What are the other methods to measure reactive power in phase balanced load?
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7.Can we measure reactive power in three phase load by using two wattmeter
method? How?
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DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
