Find out more about power quality
Electric Power Quality is the degree to which the voltage, frequency, and waveform of a power supply system conform to established specifications.
Electrical and Automation are the experts in Power Factor Correction & Harmonic Filtration.
We have the experience and are the leaders in supplying, installing & servicing power factor correction and harmonic filtration equipment.
Harmonic filtration plays a vital role in the improvement of the electrical power quality in your plant.
Electrical and Automation supplies, installs and services harmonic filters.
Benefits Of Using Power Factor Correction:
- Reduce Maintenance cost
- Enables quick problem identification and solution to reduce maintenance costs and improve reliability. Monitoring voltage unbalance helps to reduce up to 14 percent of premature failures in AC motors
- Reduce electricity bills
- Avoid penalties by verification of performance and compliance with regulations and standards. Improving power factor from 0.7 to 0.9 for a small or large facility saves thousands of rands in electricity bills per annum
- Increase equipment lifetime
- Optimizing the power supply and early detection of problems allows longer equipment lifetime.
- Monitoring harmonic distortion helps avoid about 50 percent of a transformer’s loss of life time due to thermal stresses produced by harmonic currents
What is a Low Power Factor and how to address it?
A poor power factor (0.95 PF or less) is caused when a circuit has a high level of inductive loads (electric motors, lighting ballasts, transformers) causing the circuit voltage and current waveforms to be out of phase and the resultant using more apparent power than is needed.
Should I Be Concerned About Low Power Factor?
A poor power factor (0.95 PF or less) is caused when a circuit has a high level of inductive loads (electric motors, lighting ballasts, transformers) causing the circuit voltage and current waveforms to be out of phase and the resultant using more apparent power than is needed.
How Can I Improve The Power Factor?
The power factor of factory/installation can be improved by adding power factor correction capacitors. Capacitors act as reactive current generators, so the amount of current your distribution system must draw is reduced and therefore you POWER BILL.
Where Should I Install Capacitors?
At the load
As we mentioned before capacitors act as KVAR generators, so the most effective place to install them is directly at the motor, where the reactive power is consumed
At the incomer
When correcting complete plant loads, capacitor banks can be fitted at the service entrance, if load conditions and transformer size allow. If the amount of correction is considerable, some capacitors can be installed at individual motors or branch circuits. When capacitors are connected to the bus, feeder, motor control centre, or switchboard, a disconnector and overcurrent protection must be installed.
Typical Load Power Factor Industries:
- Factories
- Hotels
- Shopping Malls
- Retail
- Chain Stores
- Hospitals & Granaries
- Agriculture, Farming with huge inductive loads like water pumps etc.
- Plastic ( especially extruders)