A basic guide to Power Factor Correction

Introduction
Most industrial installations take more current from the regional electricity supply than is actually
needed. This is because currents are required to drive the magnetic fields of air-conditioning plant,
cranes, motors and the like, even though these fields produce no direct outputs themselves. Power
factor is the relationship between working (active) power and the total (apparent) power consumed.
The better the power factor, the more effectively electrical power is being used.
A distribution system’s operating power is composed of two parts, active (working) power and reactive
(non-working) magnetising power. The active power performs useful work whilst the reactive power
does not. Its only function is to develop the magnetic fields required by the inductive devices. Gener-
ally power factor decreases (i.e. it gets worse) with an increasing proportion of motor / transformer
loads.
Power factor is the ratio of active power to apparent power.
Power factor = kW
kVA
Power factor values range from 0 to 1. The closer the power factor is to one, the lower the current that
is required to provide the same real power output. An installation with a power factor of one (unity) is
using 100% useful current with no inefficiency but an installation with a power factor of 0.5 uses twice
as much current to provide the same real power output. The power factor of typical site locations are
listed below:-
Carpentry Shop 0.5
Engineering Workshop 0.7
Quarry 0.7
Site Offices 0.8
Site Lighting 0.5 to 1.0 depending on light source and luminaire specification
Tower Crane Check with supplier
Batching Plant Check with supplier
Capacitive loads have an opposite effect on the electrical system to inductive loads, so introducing a
capacitor to an inductive system can improve the power factor.
Why correct power factor
Low power factor means low efficiency and the lower the power factor, the higher the apparent power
drawn from the electricity system. If a low power factor is not corrected, the electricity board must pro-
vide the non-working reactive power as well as the working active power. This results in larger genera-
tors, transformers, busbars, cables and switchgear than would otherwise be needed. As the utility’s
capital expenditures and operating costs are going to be higher, they are going to pass these costs
down to the energy customer in the form of power factor penalties.
A poor power factor has a drastic effect on the current required for the same useful power output. A
power factor of 0.9 requires a current that is 11% higher than would otherwise be required and a
power factor of 0.5 would require the current to double. This increased current causes unnecessary
losses throughout the electricity board’s distribution system. This leads to a genuine need to improve
the power factor by the fitment of power factor correction capacitors.

TDS8 - 07/08
Benefits of power factor correction
• A reduction in electricity charges.
• Possible elimination of utility power factor penalties or peak demand penalties.
• Reduced I2R losses of transformers and distribution equipment, with a correspondingly reduced
carbon footprint.
• A reduction in the heat in cables, switchgear, transformers etc with a corresponding improvement
in lifespan.
• Reduced voltage drop in cables, allowing smaller cables to be used for the same purpose.
• A return on investment for power factor correction equipment is typically between 12 and 24
months.
How power factor correction equipment can help
Power factor correction capacitors can be added to an installation to improve the power factor. The ca-
pacitors work as reactive current generators to provide the reactive element (kVAr) of the apparent
power. By providing their own source of reactive power, the end user is no longer reliant on the utility to
supply the necessary current, so the apparent power provided by the utility is less. For complex installa-
tions with varying loads, a power factor controller is often needed to switch capacitors in and out to pro-
vide exactly the correct level of reactive power.
Power factor correction in more detail
With purely resistive loads, the voltage and current waveforms are exactly in phase and the power factor
is exactly 1 (unity). However a wide range of industrial equipment such as motors, transformers and
even fluorescent lights draw some element of inductive current. This is the current needed to establish
the magnetic field required for these items. All magnetic fields require inductive currents lagging their
voltages by 90°so the resulting overall current is no longer in phase with its voltage. This is as shown in
the attached diagrams.

Diagram 1
The current lags the voltage
for an inductive load.

Diagram 2
Phasor diagram showing
active and apparent power
vectors.

The active power (expressed in kW) is therefore less than the apparent power (expressed in kVA). The
apparent power is the vectorial sum of the active power and the reactive power (expressed in kVAr).
In order to correct for the inductive load, capacitors can be added to the system. With a capacitor, the
current leads the voltage instead of lagging behind it. Therefore, the effect of the capacitive load can be
used to compensate for the effect of the inductive load, reducing the overall reactive load. This is shown
below.
Diagram 3 – The effect of introducing power factor correction.

In reality, the inductive and capacitive currents both continue to flow, but the power flows from the induc-
tive load to the capacitive load and back. Therefore the utility is no longer needed to supply the reactive
current, so the current flowing in the utility’s distribution system is reduced.
An alternative way of looking at this would be to image a person running from A to B in diagram 4.
The energy required is dependent on the distance run, but also on the gradient.
Diagram 4

When the running surface is flat, the angle Φ is zero degrees (0°).
Cosine Φ (0°) = 1.00
or power factor = 1.00
or efficiency = 100%.
However of a gradient is introduced as shown in diagram 5, say at 30° to the horizontal, then more effort
is needed for the same horizontal distance travelled.
Diagram 5
Cosine Φ (30°) = 0.87

or power factor = 0.87

In other words, only 87% of the energy expended by the runner is used to move the runner in a horizon-
tal direction from A to B. In electrical terms, power factor correction is analogous to flattening the slope.
In practical terms power factor correction is simply a case of fitting a capacitor of an appropriate size
into the installation, as close to the inductive load as possible. The closer the capacitor is, the smaller
that part of the installation that carries the uncorrected current. This is straightforward when a single
load such as a tower crane is concerned. A capacitor is simply installed adjacent to the crane’s motor.
However, it is often the case that power factor correction is required to cover a whole site or installation.
The load drawn by the site might vary significantly over time, so the capacitor value required would
keep changing. In this case, a more sophisticated unit is required comprising a number of capacitor
banks and a control unit. The control unit measures the power factor of the whole site and connects the
appropriate number of capacitors for as long as they are required. Typically the PFC unit will be fed
from the main incoming site distribution assembly (an outgoing MCCB will be needed to feed the unit,
as with any other load.) The voltage is measured on the incoming phase connections and a current
transformer to measure the current will need to be fitted around the incoming L1 phase cable for the
site.
Power factor correction units are sized according to their reactive power, expressed in kVAr. For exam-
ple a site with an 800A supply with a power factor of 0.75 would need a 250kVAr PFC unit to correct it.
This PFC unit would need to be fed from a 400A TP MCCB in the main incoming site distribution
assembly.
A PFC worksheet is available in the electrical calculator on the Blakley website (www.blakley.co.uk).