Power Quality and Power Factor Correction
What are Power Quality and Power Factor Correction?
Power Quality refers to the degree to which the electrical power supplied to a device or system meets its requirements. It is a critical factor for ensuring reliable and efficient operation of electrical equipment.Power Factor (pf) is the ratio of the active power (measured in watts) to the apparent power (measured in VA) in an alternating current (AC) power system, indicating the efficiency of power usage. Reactive power is the power oscillation between sources and loads in alternating current (AC) power systems, responsible for creating and maintaining electric and magnetic fields necessary for inductive loads.
Power Factor Correction (PFC) is a technique that improves the Power Factor of an AC power supply by reducing the reactive power and increasing the active power in the circuit, leading to more efficient energy use.
Poor power quality refers to the deviation from the ideal sinusoidal waveform of electric power, which can result in various issues. Power Factor Correction (PFC) is important as poor power factor results in higher reactive power demand, increased energy losses, reduced system efficiency, lower equipment capacity, and additional charges from utilities for low power factor. Some of the power quality issues includes voltage sags and swells, harmonic voltage, voltage fluctuations, voltage imbalance, transients and more.