Power factor Improvement

• The current in an electrical network with

inductive load will lag the voltage by some angle
i.e. the current will not attain its maximum / zero
value in accordance with the voltage and there
will be some lag in attaining the maximum / zero
value.
• The angle of lag will be 90 if the electrical
network is purely inductive and in case of RL load
this angle will be less than 90.
• In order to reduce this angle of lag between
voltage and current, some device should be
connected in parallel to this network so that it
takes leading current and thus compensating the
lagging behavior of inductive load.
• This process of compensating lagging component
of current by use of suitable device is known as
power factor improvement.
 Power factor Improvement by Static capacitor
• The capacitor (generally known as static capacitor) draws
a leading current and partly or completely neutralizes the
lagging component of load current. This raises the power
factor of the load.
• The power factor can be improved by connecting
capacitors in parallel with the equipment operating at
lagging power factor.
• For three phase loads, the capacitor can be connected in
delta or star.

1 is the PF angle without

capacitor 2 is pf angle
with capacitor
Derivation of PF correction by Static capacitor