Power Transmission Lab

Power factor improvement using Parallel Capacitors.

Objectives:
• To observe the improvement in power factor by connecting capacitor in
parallel with inductive load.

Apparatus:
• Two AC ammeter

• Two AC voltmeter

• Wattmeter

• Variable loads (R,L,C)

• Connecting leads
Theory:
Shunt capacitors are connected in parallel with lines and they are used extensively
in distribution systems. Shunt capacitors supply reactive power or current to counter balance the
out-of-phase component of current by an inductive load.
Shunt capacitors modify the characteristic of inductive load by drawing a leading current, which
balances some or the entire lagging component of the inductive load current at the point of
installation.
By the application of shunt capacitor to a feeder, the magnitude of the source current can be
reduced, the power factor can be improved, and consequently the voltage drop between the
sending end and the load is also reduced.
There are two types of Shunt Capacitors.
• Switched Capacitors

• Fixed Capacitors

Switched Capacitor
Switched Capacitors banks are programmable capacitors & can be switched on/off during
load cycles by different program settings. Time Clocks, temperature, voltage, current and
kilovars controls are common actuators for capacitor switching. Switched Capacitors are
usually applied to correct the power factor to 0.97 at peak load (if economical).
Fixed Capacitors
Fixed Capacitor bank are usually applied to correct the power factor to unity at light load
(if economical) & permanently connected into the system through fuses.
Proposed permanently connected capacitor application should be checked to make sure
that the voltage to some consumers will not rise too high during light load periods
These are quite cheap as compared to switched capacitors, therefore, they are often used
in distribution network to improve the power factor.
Power Transmission Lab

Procedure:
•Connect the circuit as shown below.

Record V, IL, IT ,W values in the table.

•Calculate p.f, Q, S by using relations given below.

•Connect capacitor in parallel of R-L load as shown below.

Power Transmission Lab

•Record values of V, IL, IT, IC ,W in the table.

•Calculate p.f, Q, C, S using relations given below.

•Change the value of capacitor and repeat the step 5,6.

Observations and calculations:

cosѲ = W/(VxIT) Ѳ = cos-1(W/(VxIT)) S = Vx IT

Q = V x IT x sinѲ Xc = V/IC C = 1/(2 x π x 50 x Xc)

S.N V IT S IC IL W cos Q Xc C
o (volts (Amps (VA (Amps (Amps (watts Ѳ (vars (Ohms (Farads
) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )
1

3
Power Transmission Lab

Conclusion: