The Benefits of Using power factor tester

isn’t getting everything it can in terms of efficiency. The percentage of the power that your system is using versus the amount of power the utility supplies is what’s referred to as the power factor.nderstanding power factor is a critical part of building and maintaining an energy-efficient system. 

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Understanding power factor is a critical part of building and maintaining an energy-efficient system.

Power factor is how much of the power you pay for is actually doing work. It’s determined with a calculation that expresses the energy efficiency of your system by showing you how much of what it needs is being used. It is a ratio of working power (the power your system is using) to apparent power. Apparent power is also known as demand. 

Working power, sometimes called active power, is measured in kilowatts (kW). This is the energy in your system that’s actually getting work done. If we were talking about the fuel in your car, working power would be the gas your car is using to turn the wheels and operate the engine. 

A good way of visualizing working power is by comparing it to pouring a glass of beer. Working power represents the beer itself, but it’s not the only factor you’ll need to consider. Also in the glass is the foam that pouring your beer has produced. 

The last part of the equation then is apparent power, which is the combined amount of both active and reactive power. It’s the glass holding your drink, both the beer and the foam. The larger a glass you need, the more you have to pay your utility provider. 

Electrical energy efficiency is all about getting your system’s power as close as possible to unity power factor, which is your system using 100% of its power demand. 

While you probably don’t want a flat beer after work, it’s what you should be aiming for when you’re on the job. 

The formula for calculating a circuit’s power factor is an easy one. Power factor represents the calculation of working power divided by apparent power, or  

PF=kW/kVA.  

The result of the equation is the percentage of how much of your circuit’s apparent power is used as active power. Ideal power factor is expressed as 1.00, or unity, while anything less efficient is typically expressed in a decimal format like .95 or .75. It can also be expressed as degrees, such as 95 or 75 degrees lagging, indicating how far the apparent power lags behind the normal sine wave (or ahead of it in case of leading power factor). 

If you want a great online resource for power factor calculation, check out this calculator. 

It’s important to know what your utility considers to be suitable power factor. Utility providers take interest in your system being efficient with the energy they provide for you. 

Most utility companies mandate a power factor standard between .90-95. The more efficient the world gets, the higher the standard will likely be in the future. 

For example, Rocky Mountain Power (RMP), a division of Pacificorp in the western U.S., sets its standard for minimum power factor at .90 lagging. Lagging indicates that the apparent power lags the working power. RMP puts surcharges on power systems with less than .90 power factor by increasing your meter’s power by ¾ of 1% for each .1 below .90. 

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Let’s say that your power factor is .75 lagging. Based on on-peak power charges by RMP, your utility charges you $13.92 per kilowatt for service of facilities over 1,000 kW and 11.74 per kW for services under 1,000 kW.  

In that situation, the inefficiency of your system causes your utility to run you roughly an extra $1.32 (<1,000 kW) or $1.57 (>1,000 kW) per kW per month, but what would that mean to your operation? It may seem like pocket change until you consider how much power you’re probably using. Here are some averages for power usage for some of the most prominent industries we work with: 

• Hospitals: ~5,000 kW

• School Districts: ~ kW (for 12 schools)

• Water Treatment Plants: ~355 kW

The charges can really add up based on the size and scope of your operation and its power needs. School districts could have over $3,700 in upcharges on their utility bills every month, and the average hospital could be looking at over $7,800 per month. 

And that’s just the surcharges that go on top of an already ballooning bill based on your system requiring more demand than necessary. 

Beyond just the dollars and cents, inefficient power factor can jack up the amperages in conductors and transformers, cause power shortages, and create the burden of needing larger conductors and other equipment.

When capacitors are added in parallel with connected circuits, they can act as generators of reactive power. This means that instead of your system generating that reactive power and driving up energy costs, it can draw from the capacitor instead. This makes it so that your motors, or whatever other equipment your system entails, can receive the same level of current without incurring higher costs.  

Capacitors can be a quick and easy fix for power factor issues, but they are often the cheapest solution for a reason. The use of capacitors can cause leading power factor, which is when power factor goes over unity. If not calculated correctly, leading power factor can create issues with standby generators. 

If relying on capacitors as a PFC solution, consider employing capacitor switching, which energizes and de-energizes different capacitor banks alternatively to maintain safe voltage levels. 

Power factor correction can be extremely beneficial, offering improvements in power management and power quality. Benefits include everything from reduced demand charges on your power system to increased load-carrying capabilities in your existing circuits and overall reduced power system losses. Below you'll find a list of five benefits in descending order of the potential financial impact on your utility bill.

1. Avoid Power Factor Penalties

Most industrial processing facilities use many induction motors to drive their pumps, conveyors, and other machinery in the plant. These induction motors cause the power factor to be inherently low for most industrial facilities. Many electric utility companies assess a power factor penalty for a lower power factor (usually below 0.80 or 0.85). Some also incentive high power factor (above 0.95, for example). By adding power factor correction, you can eliminate the power factor penalty from your bill.

2. Reduced Demand Charges

Many electric utility companies charge for maximum metered demand based on either the highest registered demand in kilowatts (KW meter) or a percentage of the highest registered demand in KVA (KVA meter), whichever is greater. If the power factor is low, the percentage of the measured KVA will be significantly greater than the KW demand. Improving the power factor through power factor correction not only lowers the demand charge, but enhances industrial energy management, reducing your electricity bill.

3. Increased Load Carrying Capabilities in Existing Circuits

Loads drawing reactive power also demand reactive current. Installing power factor correction capacitors at the end of existing circuits near the inductive loads reduces the current carried by each circuit. The reduced current flow from improved power factor correction can increase load-carrying capabilities in existing circuits, saving the cost of upgrading the distribution network when extra capacity is required for additional machinery or equipment, saving your company thousands of dollars in unnecessary upgrade costs. In addition, the reduced current flow reduces resistive losses in the circuit.

4. Improved Voltage

A lower power factor causes a higher current flow for a given load. As the line current increases, the voltage drop in the conductor increases, resulting in a lower voltage at the equipment. With an improved power factor, the voltage drop in the conductor is reduced, improving the voltage of the equipment.

5. Reduced Power System Losses

Although the financial return from conductor loss reduction alone is insufficient to justify the installation of capacitors, it is sometimes an attractive additional benefit; especially in older plants with long feeders or in field pumping operations.

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