ENERGY UNIVERSITY

COURSE 2: POWER FACTOR AND HARMONICS

In electrical installations, power factor and harmonics means additional power
losses and reduce energy reliability. These are important issues to consider for the
management of electrical installations. Power factor correction and harmonic
mitigation are intended to reduce power losses, reduce electricity bill, and
generate the possibility to use the total system capacity.
Power Quality: In electrical systems, harmonic means alterations of the
sinusoidal waveforms of voltage and current. Harmonics are superimposed waves
with frequencies which are multiples of the power frequency. The multiplying factor
is called harmonic order.
Harmonic currents are caused by nonlinear loads (when the current the load draws
does not have the same waveform as the supply voltage) connected to the
distribution system. The flow of harmonic currents through system impedances in
turn creates voltage harmonics which distort the supply voltage. This result in
disturbances of sensitive equipment, mainly related to the circulation of currents in
the grounding conections.
The voltage fluctuation is the systematic variation of the voltage waveform or a
series of random voltage changes of small dimension, namely 95 to 105% of
nominal at low frequency.
The usual origin of voltage fluctuation disturbances are motor start up and welding
Power Factor: The active power P (kW) is the real power transmitted to loads.
PF=kW/kVA.
For sinusoidal or undistorted voltage and current a vector representation is useful.
For most electrical loads like motors, the current I is lagging the voltage V by an
angle PHI.

Reactive power = Magnetizing power. Is the power needed to produce the

magnetic fields to enable the real work to be done.
Energy Efficiency: The maximum active power is transmitted to the load when
voltage and current are undistorted and in phase.

Power factor correction and harmonic mitigation: Benefits- Reduced

overloading on the electrical system, thereby releasing useable capacity. Reduced
demand power. Reduced risks of outage. Extended equipment lifetime. Reduced
electricity bills. Reduced power losses. Reduced cable size. Improved process
quality. Improved business performance.
Mitigating power problems:

Capacitor Banks are the basic solution for power factor correction. The main
objective is to avoid reactive energy penalties charged by the utility. Equipment
may be connected at different levels in the electrical system:
-

MV substation
LV main switchboard
LV secondary switchboard
Machine terminals

Compensation of an installation is determined in four steps:

-

Calculation of reactive power

Selection of compensation mode

Global: Capacitor bank is connected at the supply end of the installation.
Ideal for stable and continuous loads.
By sectors: Capacitor bank is connected at the supply end of the sector
to be compensated. Ideal for extended installations including workshops
with varying load systems.
Local: Capacitor bank is directly connected to the terminals of the
machine. Is the best technical solution because reactive energy is
supplied where it is needed. The substantial problem is the additional
cost represented in the use of multiple banks.

Selection of compensation type

Fixed: A constant level of compensation. Its connection might be manual,
semi-automatic, direct connection. These capacitors are applied at the
terminal of inductive loads, at busbars supplying numerous small motors
and inductive appliances, and/or in cases when the load factor is
reasonably constant
Automatic by steps: Adapts the quantity of reactive power to the
variations of the installation on order to maintain the targeted cos phi. Is
applied at points in an installation where the active power and/or reactive
power variations are relatively large. E.g. at the busbars of a main
distribution switch-board. At the terminal of a heavily loaded feeder
cable. When the kvar rating <= 15% of the supply transformer rating, a
fixed compensation is appropriate. Otherwise, it is advisable to install an
automatically-controlled bank of capacitors. For compensation of highly
repetitive connection of capacitors is necessary and must be used static
switches.
Dynamic: When fluctuating loads are present, and voltage fluctuations
should be avoided. Associate a fixed capacitor bank and an electronic
VAR compensator, providing either leading or lagging reactive currents.
Consideration of harmonics: When capacitor banks are installed in presence
of harmonics, two parameter shall be considered.

Active filters: Systems employing power electronics to provide the harmonic

currents required by nonlinear loads. Avoid distortion on the power system. The
active filter injects, in opposite phase, the harmonics drawn by the load, such that
the line current remains sinusoidal.
Hybrid Filters: Systems including a passive filter and an active filter in a single
unit. Cumulate the advantages of both technologies (high performance, cost
effective).
Electronic compensators: Active or hybrid filters. Capable of compensating the
fluctuations of reactive energy. Static VAR compensators (SVC) or hybrid VAR
compensators (HVC).

Mitigating VSD (variable speed drivers) power problem:

Capacitor-less (C-less) technology: Combined with an advanced control
algorithm. Decreases the THDi by 50% compared to traditional
technology. Dedicated to centrifugal pumps, fans and HVAC machines.
AC-line or DC-link reactors (chokes) are commonly used with drivers up to
about 500kW unit power in order to smooth the line current and so
reduce the distortion. When a large number of drives are present within
an installation, the use of AC-line or DC-link chokes for each individual
drive is recommended. This measure increases the lifetime of the drives
and enables use of cost effective mitigation solutions at installation level,
such as active filters for example.

Multi-pulse arrangement: Usually for drives above 400kW, with the

precondition of having a dedicated transformer directly supplied from the
MV network, with a 3-winding arrangement. This limits the harmonic
emission considerably and usually no further mitigation is necessary.
Multi-pulse solutions are the most efficient in terms of power losses.

Active Front End (AFE): Is the best performing solution concerning

harmonic mitigation with drives. It is an electronically controlled circuitry.
It limits the THDi below 5%. Is not necessary a detailed system
evaluation, so it made it a system easy to implement. And, power
generation and power factor correction are inherent.