Study of Power Factor Improvement

Abstract

Demanding electricity is gradually increasing day by day and we are facing boundaries to meet up the demands although. Now we want electricity in each and every sectors. As been being a development country our electricity demand has been raised at a higher rate for developing purposes. In this circumstances, we have to learn the proper use of this scare resource of electricity. Electricity and efficiency related to each other. Everyone wants to use energy in an efficient way. So the term power factor plays an important role in this case. We hardly realize that we are wasting a part of energy every day due to lagging power factor of the inductive load we use. Now-a-days it is a great concern of power Engineers to compensate this loss by the improvement of power factor. There are many methods of power factor correction have been proposed. In this thesis paper, power factor improvement process is described and provided some data analysis of power factor. Power factor is the ratio of real power and apparent power. This definition is mathematically represented as kW/kVA where kW is active power and kVA is apparent power (active + reactive). Reactive power is the non-working power generated by the magnetic and inductive load to generate magnetic flux. The increase in reactive power increase the apparent power so the power factor will decrease. Low PF will cause the industry to meet high demand thus making it less efficient. The main aim of this study is how to increasing the current power factor and what are the way or process. Power factor compensation contribute to reduction in current-dependent losses and increase energy efficiency while expanding the reliability of planning for future energy network. As technology develops, the gradual cost and efficiency penalty should reduce.