Electricity savior! Adding capacitors to improve power factor
"Electricity" plays a very important role in people's normal life and maintenance of life functions. However, when summer arrives and the weather is hot, our demand for air-conditioning or other electrical appliances is getting higher and higher, so summer is simply a killer of electricity bills. Every summer, we have to pay a sum of money to Taipower!
I don't know if you have seen things that claim to be "power savers" on the market. In fact, most of them are capacitors! Charging and discharging occur between the two plates of the capacitor, and no active power is dissipated by capacitive current flow. The power generated by this current is called capacitive reactive power, which can offset the inductive reactive power and improve the power factor.
Longzhong has taken over the case of assisting the building to install capacitors to improve the power factor before. Because the power factor of this building is too low, every time the electricity bill comes, it will find that the power factor is fined and troubled.
Whether for the user or the system, the power factor that is too low or too high will reduce the stability of the power system, thereby affecting the quality of power consumption. It is usually recommended that the electric power industry need to invest additionally in related power supply equipment to improve it. For example, users can set capacitors to make the power factor to an appropriate standard (80%-95%), which can reduce the power supply. cost to save electricity。
When installing capacitors, you need to calculate the capacitance in order to arrange the capacitors with how much capacitance to install. Longzhong is already a veteran in MEMS control. The engineer can quickly calculate the capacitance and discuss with the customer, and can also estimate how much the power factor can be improved. With clear data presentation, saving unnecessary electricity bills is no longer a problem!
As long as your home/company/factory has three-phase power supply, you can see the incentive discount on the power factor adjustment fee on the electricity bill. In this part, Taipower's charging standard is: when the average power factor is less than 80%, the electricity bill in the month should be increased by 0.3% for every 1% lower; when it exceeds 80%, the electricity bill in the month should be reduced by 0.15% for every 1% exceeded.
*Image source: Guolin Electromechanical Management Service Co., Ltd.-Article*
What is power factor? What's with the electricity bill?
Power factor (POWER FACTOR, PF for short) refers to the ratio of effective current to total current, and the level of power factor will affect the quality of power supply. The value of power factor ranges from -1 to 1, and the size is related to the nature of the load of the circuit. The load is usually divided into three types: resistive, inductive, and capacitive.
●Resistive load: Also known as pure resistive load. If there is no phase difference between the load current and the load voltage compared to the source, the load is resistive (the load is a white flag light, an electric stove, etc.). A purely resistive load that acts only through a resistive element is called a resistive load and has a power factor of 1.
●Inductive load: also known as coil load. Under normal circumstances, a load with an inductive argument is usually considered an inductive load to adapt to the characteristic that the load current lags the load voltage due to the phase difference with the power supply, usually referring to electromagnetic equipment such as AC motors, transformers, inductors device ……etc.
●Capacitive load: refers to capacitive load. A similar capacitor load in a circuit will cause the load current to exceed the load voltage (compared to the supply) due to phase differences, reducing the power factor of the circuit. In general, a load with a capacitive argument (that is, a load that matches the characteristics of voltage lagging current) is considered a capacitive load. There is no sudden change in voltage during charging/discharging. Therefore, the corresponding power factor is negative and less than 1.
The above explanation about power factor, I don't know if there is any confusion for you? In the future, when the electricity bill comes, you might as well study and observe the power factor field, maybe there is an opportunity to save money for your wallet : )
Longzhong has rich and profound experience in INESA control. If you have any questions about power distribution cables and INESA, please feel free to contact Longzhong! Longzhong provides Technical Advisory Services | Tel: 06-243-7822
