Bhogadi. Havya Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.
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ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 1), July 2014, pp.49-54
RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS
Impact of APFC Panel at LT Side of Transformer
Bhogadi. Havya, K.Ravi Kumar (Associate Professor)
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Vasavi College of Engineering, Hyderabad, Andhra
Pradesh, India.
Abstract
The Development of automatic sensing technologies have significantly advanced in recent years in electrical
systems.One of them is Automatic Power Factor Correction(APFC)Panels.It is very difficult to maintain
consistent power factor by using fixed capacitors because they need to be operated manually which may result
in over voltages,saturation of transformers etc. that may lead to the interruption in the power supply of the
distribution system.APFC Panels automatically varies according to the load requirements on the L.T side i.e.
distribution side which compensates the load requirements.Impact of automatic power factor correction panels
(APFC) at L.T side of a transformer are discussed which are inductive in nature.
Key words: APFC Panels, Power Factor, Inductive, Fixed capacitors, Power factor correction.
I. INTRODUCTION LV APFC Panels. CPRI in association with APFC
Most of the electrical loads are inductive in Panel manufacturers and purchasers has formulated
nature resulting in severely lagging power factor. The an Indian standard for “APFC panels for voltage
most practical and economical solution to improve rating upto and including 1000 volts”. The standard
the power factor(PF) is to provide reactive will help both manufacturers and utilities to setup
compensation by installing power capacitors of uniformity in testing and also to install reliable APFC
suitable rating at strategic locations. But this has to Panels for achieving the target power
be operated manually and which may result in the factor(PF),closer to unity and consequently improve
over voltages, damage of the electrical equipments the efficiency of the LV system by minimizing the
saturation of transformers etc. PF correction is more losses in distribution systems.
important in electrical distribution systems. For
accomplishing the same low voltage(LV) capacitors II. METHODOLOGY
are being extensively used both as fixed capacitor Present study has been conducted on APFC
banks and in Automatic Power Factor Correction panels with contactor type of switching mechanism
(APFC) Panels. .Rating of the panels was 500kvar,440V,3-
Application of APFC Panels is becoming more phase,delta connected.To improve the power factor
attractive due to their techno-commercial advantages using APFC panels , the following points has to be
like noted.
(1) Ability to maintain PF at the required high (1) Please check if required kvar of capacitors are
value (close to unity) and hence avoid the installed.
penalties imposed by electrical supply (2) Check the type of capacitor installed is suitable
companies due to low PF for application or the capacitors are de-rated.
(2) Avoid over compensation during low load (3) Check if the capacitors are permanently „ON‟.
conditions and The capacitors are not switched off.
(3) Improved efficiency of the system due to (4) When the load is not working under such
reduction in losses. condition the average power factor is found to be
Application of automatic power factor lower side.
correction panels(APFC) in electrical distribution (5) Check whether all the capacitors are operated in
network is gaining importance due to the advantages APFC depending upon the load operation.
of APFC Panels over fixed capacitor banks like (6) Check whether the APFC installed in the
ability to maintain the target power factor with installation is working or not. Check the CT
varying load and hence improve efficiency of the connection is taken from the main incomer side
system and consequently reduce distribution losses. of transformer, after the fix compensation of
At present, no comprehensive Indian standard is transformer.
available for testing APFC Panels. Bureau of Indian (7) Check if the load demand in the system is
Standards(BIS),the national standards body of India increased.
has extended financial support to CPRI to undertake (8) Check if power transformer compensation is
a R&D project for development of a new standard for provided.
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Bhogadi. Havya Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 1), July 2014, pp.49-54
Central compensation: Consumer installations The graduation is too coarse with small number of
usually possess a varying reactive power stops, while more steps do not offer a significant
requirement. Unregulated fixed compensation is not improvement of power factor. Controllers with 8
possible in such cases since an uneconomical under- control steps fulfill all practical requirements.
compensation or a dangerous over-compensation can
occur. One must therefore continuously adjust the Power factor controller relay: Power Factor
capacitor power to the required reactive power Controller relay (Model RPM-14) is designed for
requirement. automatic control of capacitor banks in 3 phase 4
One achieves this by means of automatic wire LT distribution systems. The relay maintains the
capacitorbanks which are directly assigned to a system power factor at a set value, under fluctuating
switchgear unit, distribution and sub-distribution or load conditions, by connecting or disconnecting
to a large load with fluctuating reactive power capacitor banks to the 415V bus. The relay employs
requirements. state of the art micro controller design for
This is achieved in non-reactor protected systems measurement of reactive power compensation
by using special capacitor switching contactors.These required, system power factor, voltage and current. A
are equipped with pre-charging resistors as a specially formulated optimization program for
permanent component of the contactors.The capacitor bank switching ensures accurate power
capacitor is first connected to the network via these factor control at the set point and hunt free
resistors by means of early closing contacts before operation.RPM-14 is designed to control up to 14
the main contacts close. The inrush current is then capacitor banks.
only approx.5% of the non-attenuated value. Please refer wiring diagram shown below .
There are 4 groups of connections as explained
Regulation, number of steps and control series : below:
Most consumer installations are compensated using
automatic capacitor banks due to the recognized
benefits. The compensation power is designed with
switched steps to match the employed capacitor
power to the fluctuating load situation in the
consumer‟s system.
A reactive power controller detects the
momentary reactive power requirement by means of
voltage and current measurements in the feeder to the
consumer‟s installation(distribution or sub-
distribution).The capacitor power is adjusted by
connection or dis-connection in such a manner that a
target power factor programmed at the regulators is
reached.
To avoid the reconnection of capacitors that have
not yet been discharged ,certain switching or lock-out
times are specified or pre-selectable in the reactive
power regulator which are to be taken into account
when choosing discharge devices.
The distribution of the total power among the Fig.1 Wiring diagram of RPM-14 relay on APFC
switched regulator control taps[control outputs]is panel.
specified with the control series. It contains the
number of steps and their power ratings as a factor of (a) Auxiliary supply to RPM-14: Please connect
the power of the first step, which is defined as 1.The R phase voltage of the capacitor bank panel to
cross-sum of the control series gives the number of terminals 22 & 23 of the unit. Please note that
combination steps of the compensation system. For it should be 240 V AC 50 Hz supply (Phase to
example, control series with four control steps of the neutral voltage). Phase is connected to
same power: 1:1:1:1,the compensation system is terminal 22 and neutral is connected to the
regulated in 1+1+1+1=4 combination steps. In this terminal 23 of the unit. RPM-14 uses this
manner ,it is possible to implement reactive power supply as the auxiliary supply for electronic
compensation systems, with which the number of circuit as well as measuring voltage for PF and
steps is significantly higher than the number of KVAR computation.
control outputs at the reactive power controller. (b) CT input to RPM-14: The unit is suitable for
Reactive power compensation systems are connecting to CT secondary of either 1A or 5A
normally provided with 6 to 20 combination steps.
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Bhogadi. Havya Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 1), July 2014, pp.49-54
rating. Please ensure that the CT is on R phase. denomination of bank sizes (14 in total), following
CT secondary is to be connected as follows: approach may be followed:
1A rating – Terminals 17& 16
5A rating – Terminals 18 & 16
c) Supply to Capacitor Bank contactor coil supply :
RPM-14 is meant for connecting up to 14 capacitor
banks through external contactors. Consequently it
provides 14 relay contact outputs.
- One terminal of all 14 contactor coils is to be
connected to neutral of the contactor coil supply.
- The other terminal of each of the contactor coil has
to be connected to RPM-14 terminals 1 to 14 as
shown in the wiring diagram.
- The phase supply of contactor coil should be
connected to terminal 15 of RPM-14.
d) Alarm Circuit: RPM-14 provides a change over
contact at terminals 19, 20, 21. This is an 8A rated
contact and can be used for energizing a buzzer.
Note: Please ensure that:
a) The auxiliary supply is 240 V AC
b) The CT is on the same phase as the auxiliary
supply.
c) Earth connection to the relay is provided properly.
Fig.2: Power factor controller (RPM-14).
III. RESULTS
Capacitor bank selection: The experiment has been done in the National
The RPM-14 relay will continuously evaluate the Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) industry in the
required KVAR compensation and keep adding to the industrial area of ECIL located in Hyderabad.
bus- thus bringing the plant PF close to the set value. The details of the company without the impact of
Sometimes, in operation, RPM-14 may not find the panel are:
closest match for the required KVAR and may stop Rating of transformer: 1500 KVA
adding. This may result in a PF much less than the set Average power factor: 0.887
target. Connection type: 3-phase 5-wire
In order that RPM-14 brings the plant PF closest Average DPF: 0.851
to target PF, the system should have right The details of the company with the impact of
denomination of capacitor banks as required by the panel are:
load conditions of the plant. To determine, the right Rating of transformer: 1500KVA
Average power factor: 0.987
Average DPF: 0.948
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ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 1), July 2014, pp.49-54
CT ratio: 2500/1A T R A N S F O R M E R
PT ratio: 1:1
T R A N S F O R M E R
S. PARAMETER RMS
No
M I N AVG M A X
R 249.9 251.46 2 5 2 . 6
S. RMS
No PARAMETER 1. Y 243.8 245.21 2 4 5 . 8
VOLTAGE
B 2 4 8 250.01 2 5 1
M I N A V G M A X
R 14.99 17.09 2 3 . 8 6
R 245.30 247.59 2 4 8 . 9 0 2. Y 3 4 . 8 34.87 4 5 . 9 1
CURRENT
1.
B 23.31 24.045 3 3 . 2 8
Y 241.70 242.35 2 4 3 . 3 0
VOLTAGE M I N A V G M A X
B 246.00 246.856 2 4 7 . 9 0
3. POWER ( KW )
16.365 17.399 24.795
R 30.19 34.038 4 2 . 5 0
4. POWER(KVAR) -7.248 -6.602 -1.405
2.
Y 50.41 5 0 . 7 3 5 1 . 0 1 5. POWER(KVA) 18.126 18.865 25.411
CURRENT
6. POWER FACTOR 0.882 0.907 0 . 9 7 6
B 38.06 3 8 . 8 7 3 9 . 9 1
Table-2: Values with out APFC panel
MIN A V G M A X
WAVEFORMS:
3.
The corresponding waveforms of voltage, current,
POWER( KW ) powers and power factor without the presence of the
24.469 25.589 27.909 panel are shown below:
VOLTAGE:
4 . POWER(KVAR) 29.116 30.324 3 2 . 3 8 3
5 . POWER(KVA) 15.582 16.120 1 6 . 9 4 8
6 . POWER FACTOR 0.827 0.837 0 . 8 6 0
Table-1: Values with APFC panel
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Bhogadi. Havya Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 1), July 2014, pp.49-54
CURRENT: POWER FACTOR :
POWER :
Similarly, the corresponding waveforms of
voltage, current, powers and power factor with the
impact of APFC panel are shown below:
VOLTAGE:
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Bhogadi. Havya Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 1), July 2014, pp.49-54
CURRENT: POWER FACTOR:
POWER: IV. CONCLUSIONS
The impact of contactor switched automatic
power factor panels at low tension side of
transformer has been studied at rapidly varying and
scattered loads. Automatic switching operation of the
panel was observed to be satisfactory, thereby,
eliminating the need for manual intervention. The
target power factor was also improved much
better(0.88 to ~0.99) almost unity when compared to
its absence, thus. reducing the effect of high power
bills and heavy penalties from electricity boards.
REFERENCES
[1] ”Performance of insulation systems for low
voltage APFC panels during temperature
rise test at elevated ambient temperatures”
V.Vaidhyanathan,T.BhavaniShankar,G.Govi
nda Rao,H.N.Nagamani,2012 IEEE 10TH
[2] International Standard IEC 60831-1, Shunt
power capacitors of the self healing type for
ac systems having rated voltage up to and
including 1000 V.
[3] International Standard IEC 60831-2, Shunt
power capacitors of the self-healing type for
ac systems having a rated voltage up to and
including 1000 V Part:2 Ageing test, Self-
healing test and destruction test.
[4] H. N. Nagamani et.al, "Experience of CPRI
in performance evaluation of power
capacitors of unit rating up to 1000 kvar",
7lhInternational Seminar on
Capacitors(CAPACIT 2010), pp. IV 1-13,
Jan 2010, Mumbai, India.
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