Power Factor Correction Using Synchronous Motor

Student names

and IDs
List of Contents

1 Introduction........................................................................................................3
1.1 Problem Definition............................................................................................................4

1.2 Criteria and Constraints....................................................................................................4

1.3 Objectives..........................................................................................................................4

1.4 Structure of the Report......................................................................................................5

2 Available Solutions.............................................................................................5

3 Proposed Solution...............................................................................................7
3.1 Background and Theory....................................................................................................7

3.2 Synchronous Motor V-curve.............................................................................................8

3.3 Steps to calculate the Power Factor..................................................................................9

4 Conclusion........................................................................................................13
4.1 Future Work....................................................................................................................13

5 References........................................................................................................14
1 Introduction

The cosine of the angle between voltage and current is known as power factor. Power factor

represents shows how efficiently an electrical appliance is working. The calculation of power

factor is usually different for each load. In electrical systems, there are usually considered three

types of loads, i.e., Resistive load, inductive load and capacitive load.

Resistive loads are considered as linear loads because the voltage and current are in phase with

each other. Usually, resistive loads have power factor of 1 because there is no phase difference

occurs. The power factor of resistive loads can be calculated using zero crossing detector [1].

Figure 1 Resistive Load

Inductive loads are non linear loads, because voltage and current are not in phase with each

other. They have lagging power factor because current lags behind the voltage. Normally, the

power factors of the motors are 0.8.

Capacitive loads are also considered as non-linear loads and have leading power factor. Current

leads the voltage in these loads and they have pf of 0.8 leading. The power factor of both the

capacitive and inductive loads can be calculated using the power triangle [2].

The power factor of non-linear loads can be calculated by using the following formula.
 P=S∗cos Ɵ

Where P is the real power of the connected loads and S is the total power of the whole circuit.

Figure 2 Non-Linear Loads

A low power factor can cause various facotrs which is given below.

 Poor factor can reduce system efficiency.

 Low pf can increase the current flow in the system and can damage the equipment due to

overloading.

 It can cause voltage drop in the distribution system and can affect the perfomance of an

equipment.

1.1 Problem Definition

With the passage of time, the demand of electricity has been growing in all over the world. To

meet this demand, load shedding has been deployed. There are various factors through which we

can control our electricity flow and meet the demand. Because poor electricity distribution also

does not allow the energy sectors to meet the demand. Power factor is one of the main reasons in
energy distribution system, through which we can identify the efficiency of our connected loads.

By knowing the efficiency of our load, we can meet our requirements. In this project, we are

required to improve the power factor from 0.45 to 0.95 using synchronous motor. An electric

system is given with the inductive loads and to synchronous motor as condenser to improve the

power factor performance.

1.2 Criteria and Constraints

Criteria and Constraints of this project are listed below:

Criteria Constraints

To execute the computations on the specified The power factor improvement method

synchronous motor. should be efficient.

To determine the system's power factor, The suggested solution should be affordable.

apparent power, and reactive power

To offer a suggestion or a solution for The method should be dependable.

improving the power factor

The task should be completed in week 14.

Table 1: Project’s Criteria & Constraints

1.3 Objectives

The objectives which we will cover in this project are listed as:

 To evaluate the basics of power factor and electrical system’s working

 To suggest reliable methods for power factor improvement.

 To complete all the necessary calculations and suggest synchronous motor solution

 To suggest a way to improve the power factor.

1.4 Structure of the Report

The four sections are covered in this project report. Power factor introduction and the negative

effects of a low power factor are covered in the first part. The second section discusses the many

ways to enhance power factor. The third portion discusses the suggested solution selected for the

power factor enhancement, and the last section discusses the project report's conclusion.
2 Available Solutions

This section deals with the available solution of the power factor improvement [2-5].

Solution 1

By installing capacitor

with the load, power

factor can be improved

because capacitor will Addition of

lessen the phase parallel

difference between capacitor

Voltage & current. banks

Capacitor act as reactive

power’s source and due

to this less kVAR will

flow.

Solution 2

SVCs are used to

improve the power factor Static var

by controlling the Compensator
reactive power s
compensation with the

help of thyristors

Table 2: PF improvement solutions.

Name of Sol. Advantages Disadvantages

 Cheap  Not properly designed

Addition of parallel  Ability to work in normal from every system

capacitor banks conditions  Risk of damage if voltage

goes beyond its limit.

 Low losses  Short Life Span

Static var Compensators  Lightweight  Expensive repair cost

 Low maintenance

Table 3: Benefits & drawbacks of each method

3 Proposed Solution

The technique which we choose to improve the power factor is given below.

3.1 Background and Theory

The motor which runs at the synchronous speed is known as synchronous motor. The terms

synchronous defines the rate at which the speed of the rotor becomes equal to the speed of the

stator of the motor. Generally, the motor has two parts, i.e., rotor and stator. The stator remains

fixed while rotor rotates and generates an electromotive force and induces flux. Both the rotor

and stator are separately excited. Excitation is the process of inducing a magnetic field on any

part of the machine with the help of electric current.

Improving power factor using synchronous motor is very famous technique in the industrial area.

This can be done by controlling the DC excitation of the machine. To control the excitation of

the machine monitoring is necessary. By checking the reactive power and field current of the

motor we can become able to control the excitation of the motor. It’s compulsory, because to run

synchronous motor with the leading power factor, excitation should be controlled [1].

3.2 Synchronous Motor V-Curve

If the field excitation is set higher than the rated value then it considered as over excitation. The

pf in this case would be leading. If the field excitation is less than the rated value then it’s under

excitation system. It causes pf to be lagging. The phenomena are showing in figure 3.

 Figure 3 Under & Over Excitation

3.3 Steps to calculate the Power Factor

The parameters are given in the table 4:

Parameters Values

Voltage of 3 phase supply 415V

Current Power Factor 0.45

Required Power Factor 0.95

Active Power 42.5 W

Reactive Power 45.3 Var

Frequency 65 Hz
Table 4 Electrical System’s parameters

An electrical system with a power factor of 0.45 is supplied to us, and we are instructed to

increase it to 0.95. Reactive power is 45.3Var, whereas active power is 42.5 W.

The data of the synchronous motor is as follows:

 I 2 DC ( A) E1 AC (V ) I 1 AC ( A) P (W)

0 415 0.371 40

0.1 415 0.209 30

0.2 415 0.093 20

0.3 415 0.028 10

0.4 415 0.010 5

0.5 415 0.004 3

0.6 415 0.015 7

0.7 415 0.042 12

0.8 415 0.089 18

0.9 415 0.278 35

Table 5 Motor’s data

The V-characteristics curve is shown below.

V-curve
0.4
0.35
Armature current (Aac)

0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Field current (Adc)

Figure 4 Motor’s data V-curve

We can see from the graph above that the armature current drops as the DC excitation current

rises. When the excitation value is at its lowest, the armature current is at its highest, and vice

versa. It can also be shown that the power factor reaches its greatest value, unity, at the lowest

armature current value. Both currents are then directly proportionate to one another beyond this

point. Armature current rises when DC excitation current is raised.

P ϴ=co s−1 (P . F ) Q= √ 3 E1 I 1 sin(θ)(VAr) S= √3 E1 I 1 (VA )

P.F ¿
√ 3 E1 I 1

0.150 81.373 263.658 266.675

0.200 78.481 147.204 150.229

0.299 72.591 63.787 66.849

0.497 60.208 17.466 20.126

0.696 45.925 5.164 7.188

1 0 1 2.875

0.649 49.516 8.201 10.782

0.397 66.579 27.702 30.190

0.281 73.658 61.389 63.973

0.160 80.785 197.248 199.827

Table 5 Calculations

 Apparent Power S:
Current Power factor = 0.45

P 42.5
S= = =94.4 VA
cos ⁡(θ) 0.45

Require Power Factor = 0.95

 P 42.5
S= = =44.73VA
cos ⁡(θ) 0.95

The above calculations shows that low pf produces large apparent power and high pf produces

low apparent power.

 Reactive Power Q:

Qold = √ S2−P 2=√ ( 94.4 ) − ( 42.5 ) =84.29 VAR

2 2

Qnew = √ S2−P 2=√ ( 44.73 ) −( 42.5 ) =13.947 VAR

2 2

The evaluations of the Q also prove that at PFlow, apparent (S) and reactive power (Q) is high but

at PFhigh they are low.

Power factor Improvement:

The following formulae will be used to produce the necessary reactive power in order to achieve

the desired power factor of 0.95:

QC =P(tan ( θold ) −tan ⁡(θnew ))

−1
∴ θold =cos (0.45)
θ old =63.25°
−1
∴ θnew=cos ( 0.95 )=18.19 °

Q C = ( 42.5 ) ( tan ( 63.25 )−tan ( 18.19 ) )=70.3 VAR

Recommendations:

The following suggestions are made for improving the power factor from 0.45 to 0.95:

 The synchronous motor needs to be running without any loading.

 The 70.3 VAR reactive power can be produced by applying DC excitation from 0.8A to

0.9A.

 By coupling the induction motor and synchronous motor in parallel combination.

Figure 6 Range for required reactive power

4 Conclusion

We deliver a model which effectively utilizes synchronous & induction motors operating in

parallel to improve power factor, in this project report. The power factor increased from 0.45 to

0.95. Based on our evaluations, the reactive power (Q) must be 70.3VAR in order to provide the

necessary PF. When dc excitation current goes from (0.8A to 0.9A) DC, reactive power can be

injected. Our approach can raise the power factor in this range. We discovered three synchronous

motor characteristics and noticed that the power factor is unity and the load is consuming the

least amount of AC current when the dc excitation is set to 0.5A DC. After completing the

evaluation process at different loads, we plotted the V characteristics curve of synchronous

motor which enhances our knowledge about the leading, lagging and unity power factor.

4.1 Future Work

Integration of Renewable energy sources and smart grid technologies can be used in future to

avoid from these kinds of problems. Moreover, clean and green energy can also be created with

this which would not harm the environment and leads the world towards a great future. The

demand side management can be done via smart technologies and renewable integration in the

real world.
5 References

[1] H. Saadat, Power System Analysis, McGraw Hill, 1999.

[2] V. Mehta, Priniciples of power Systems, S.Chand, 1982.

[3] D. A. Z. Latt, "Application of Synchronous Motor to Improve Power Factor for Industrial

Loads," International Journal of Latest Technology in Engineering, Management & Applied

Science (IJLTEMAS), vol. VII, no. 12, 2018.