• South Eastern Equipment Company

Automatic Power Factor Controller

Power factor of power supply in the industry has to be kept near 1.0 (UPF) to keep input currents at its lowest level by eliminating reactive power. However, equipment such as motors, transformers, reactors and electronic controls draw reactive power (lag). This is to be compensated by using capacitors in the shunt connection parallel to the system. Capacitors draw reactive current (lead), and cancel the “lag” current. SEECO automatic power factor controller will vary the amount of “lead” current from a capacitor bank by changing the voltage applied to the capacitors, since the capacitor kVAR changes according to the square of the applied voltage. SEECO’s specially developed electronic micro-processed based digital circuit will sense the power factor of the system at any instant and control the lead current and thus maintain constant power factor (generally 1.0 UPF). Technical specifications: voltage – 415 V, 3- and 4-wire; frequency – 50 Hz; connection – delta; dimensions – only on request; ambient temperature – 50ºC; and environment – indoors. The advantages are: the PF is under control of 0.99. Hence the efficiency of motors is increased to 95% as against 85%; MD kept within limits to control the MD charges. In order to provide the right type of SEECO automatic PF controller, the user must provide the following information: system voltage, max power (kW) and minimum power (kW), max kVA and lowest PF, desired constant PF (generally 0.999), type of loads (motors, reactors, transformers CNC machines thyristor drivers, etc), required accuracy, voltage range, eventual options/accessories, protections. Capacity available: in single phase – 230 V, 1 kW to 50 kW; and in three phase – 415 V, 50 Hz 4-wire 50 kW to 7.5 MW.