Safety | Self -healing, Overpressure Disconnector |
Frequency | 50Hz |
Voltage Range | 415 to 800 V |
Cooling | Natural or Forced |
Case Shape/finish | Extruded Round Aluminium Can with Stud |
Terminal | Optimized Capacitor Safety Terminals |
Enclosure | IP 20, indoor mounting (optionally with terminal cap for IP54) |
Discharge Resistor | Provided with discharge resistor |
General:The increasing demand of electrical power and the awareness of the necessity of energy saving is very up to date these days. Also the awareness of power quality is increasing, and power factor correction (PFC) and harmonic filtering will be implemented on a growing scale. Enhancing power quality – improvement of power factor – saves costs and ensures a fast return on investment. In power distribution, in low- and medium-voltage networks, PFC focuses on the power flow (cos Ø ) and the optimization of voltage stability by generating reactive power – to im prove voltage quality and reliability at distribution level.
How reactive power is generated:Every electric load that works with magnetic fields (motors, chokes, transformers, inductive heating, arc welding, generators) produces a varying degree of electrical lag, which is called inductance. This lag of inductive loads maintains the current sense (e.g. positive) for a time even though the negative-going voltage tries to reverse it. This phase shift between current and voltage is maintained, current and voltage having opposite signs. During this time, negative power or energy is produced and fed back into the network. When current and voltage have the same sign again, the same amount of energy is again needed to build up the magnetic fields in inductive loads. This magnetic reversal energy is called reactive power.
In AC networks (50 /60 Hz) such a process is repeated 50 or 60 times a second. So an obvious solution is to briefly store the magnetic reversal energy in capacitors and relieve the network (supply line) of this reactive energy. For this reason, automatic reactive power compensation systems (detuned /conventional) are installed for larger loads like industrial machinery. Such systems consist of a group of capacitor units that can be cut in and cut out and which are driven and switched by a power factor controller.
Power factor:
- Higher energy consumption and costs,
- Less power distributed via the network,
- Power loss in the network,
- Higher transformer losses,
- Increased voltage drop in power distribution networks.
Power factor improvement:Power factor improvement can be achieved by
- Compensation of reactive power with capacitors,
- Active compensation – using semiconductors,
- Overexcited synchronous machine (motor /generator).
Types of PFC: (detuned or conventional)
- Individual or fixed compensation (each reactive power producer is individually compensated),
- Group compensation (reactive power producers connected as a group and compensated as a whole),
- Central or automatic compen sation (by a PFC system at a central point),
- Mixed compensation.
Power Quality Solution strategy:Along with the emerging demand for power quality and a growing awareness of the need for environmental protection, the complexity in the enerenergy market is increasing: users and decision-makers are consequently finding it increasingly difficult to locate the best product on the market and to make objective decisions. It is in most cases not fruitful to compare catalogs and data sheets, as many of their parameters are identical in line with the relevant standards. Thus operating times are specified on the basis of tests under laboratory conditions that may differ significantly from the reality in the field. In addition, load structures have changed from being mainly linear in the past to non-linear today. All this produces a clear trend: the market is calling increasingly for customized solutions rather than off-the-shelf products. This is where Power Quality Solutions come into the picture. It offers all key components for an effective PFC system from a single source, together with: