VI.

DISCUSSION

In the first experiment, the 171.43 ohm resistor was connected in series with a 0.53 H inductor.
The wattmeter was connected to measure the power dissipated by the resistor and the inductor.
The voltmeter of the data acquisition was connected in parallel to the resistor and the inductor. The
ammeter was connected in series with the load. The values obtained from these instruments was
processed by the computer in order to obtain the real power. The ammeter reading was 0.214A
and the voltmeter reading was 60V. The total power dissipated was 9 W.

The power supply was killed and the values where calculated. The computed apparent power was
13.63 VA. The apparent power was computed by multiplying the square of the current to the total
impedance of the load. The power factor calculated was 0.65 whereas the maximum was 1. The
angle was 49.57 degrees. This was due to the inductive load that consumes reactive power. The
reactive power was 10.37 which was due to the inductive load.

The capacitance module was connected in parallel to the load of a series combination of resistor
and inductor. This was place to cancel the reactance of the inductor and increase the power factor.
The capacitance was added one by one until the current was in the minimum value. The capacitor
that provides the condition was a 4.4uF capacitor. The current decreased to 0.165 A with the same
voltage. The real power measured by the wattmeter was still 9.1 due to the constant impedance of
the resistor. The apparent power was only 9.87 VA compared to the no capacitor circuit which was
13.63. The power factor was 0.9 and 26.41 degrees. This means that the power factor increased
but the capacitor did not totally cancel the reactance of the inductor. The reactive power was only
4.39 VAR compared to the 10.37 of the last circuit.

VII. CONCLUSION

Low power factor effect has some adverse impact on both the transmission line and also in the
consumer electrical system. To cope up the adverse effect better understanding of low power factor
is needed. Power factor varies from 0 to 1. Low power factor means the reactive power is higher
then the active power, as power factor is the ratio of active power to reactive power. So with a low
power factor we got to deal with high amount of reactive power. Thus low power factor
disadvantage is actually the disadvantage of excessive reactive power.
At low power factor, to transmit or distribute the power at a constant voltage requires more current.
To transmit high current, higher conductor size transmission lines are needed. The large current at
low lagging power factor causes greater voltage drops in alternators, transformers and transmission
lines. This results in decrease in voltage at the driving end and enables the use of extra equipment
to counter act the voltage drop like voltage stabilizers. This increase the cost of power supply
system.

Improving power factor means reducing the phase difference between voltage and current. Since
the majority of loads are of inductive nature, they require some amount of reactive power for them
to function. The capacitor or bank of capacitors installed parallel to the load provides this reactive
power. They act as a source of local reactive power, and thus less reactive power flows through
the line. They reduce the phase difference between the voltage and current.
 De La Salle University – Dasmariñas
College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology
Electrical Circuit Analysis 2 Laboratory
EEET321Lb

POWER FACTOR CORRECTION

Experiment No. 7

Saclolo, John Vincent V. Engr. Juancho Natividad

Date Performed: Date Submitted:
April 25, 2018 May 2, 2018