EXPERIMENT NO. 7: MEASUREMENT OF A POWER FACTOR OBJECTIVES: 1. 2. To determine the power factor of ac circuits by using standard electronic formulas. To verify the results with an oscilloscope. EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: L L 2 - 1. FA.CE.T. Base Unit AC 2 FUNDAMENTALS Circuit Board 15Vde Power Supply Oscilloscope, dual trace Generator, sine wave THEORY: ‘The relationship (ratio) of real power (P) in a circuit to the apparent power (5) is the power factor (pf). In ac circuits, the real power can never be grater than the apparent power; therefore, the power factor can never be a number grater than unity, or one. 131We can show how the three different powers [real (P measured in W), relative (Q measured in var), and apparent ($ measured in VA)] and the power factor relate to each other in an ac circuit by drawing them on a triangle. This triangle is called a power triangle and is illustrated in Figure 7-1. This side of the power triangle along the real-axis (horizontal) represents the total real power in watts. The vertical leg of the triangle represents the total reactive power in vars. The resultant, or hypotenuse, of the triangle represents the apparent power in VA. The power triangle show that the cosine of the angle (8) is equal to the ratio of real power to apparent power; therefore, the power factor is: pf = cos8 RESULTANT OR HYPOTENUSE Pa (VAR) REAL-AXIS: Figure 7-1. Power triangle. 132This angle is equal to the phase angle between the voltage and current of the ac circuit. A power factor is lagging (inductive) if current leads voltage; a power factor is leading (capacitive) if current leads voltage. We can calculate real power by multiplying the power factor (cos é) by the apparent power: P = cosOxS This equation is useful because you can easily measure the phase angle and you can easily determine the apparent power by measuring and multiplying the Source voltage (Vg) and current, To sum up, the power factor of a circuit is a simple way of stating what part of the apparent power is real power. ‘The power factor (pf) is important in the commercial power industry because the source (generator) must provide the apparent power. The power factor should be close to unity (1) in order to reduce undesirable losses in the power lines that connect the source (generator) to the customer’s load. An ideal power factor is unity, which is possible only if the load appears as a pure resistance to the source. ‘The purpose of supplying ac power to a load is to perform some kind of useful work. Many loads, such as heating elements and light bulbs, are resistive. All of their electrical power is converted into the desired heat or light energy. The real power in a resistive circuit is the same as the apparent power, so the power factor is one, However, non-resistive reactive loads connected to an ac source introduce a phase shift between the current and the source voltage. Real power is therefore less than apparent power, so the power factor is less than one. Because reactive power circulates between the load and the voltage source, it causes undesirable losses in the power lines that connect the load to the source. In that case, the power factor of a reactive load such as a motor should be corrected to be near one. Figure 7-2 shows how a parallel capacitor can be added to correct for a lagging current in the inductive component of the main line. The capacitor draws leading current from the source. the value of the capacitor is calculated so that the capacitor takes the same amount of reactive power as the load. 133