Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
com/capacitor-banks-in-power-system-part-three
Continued from part two Capacit or Banks In Power Syst em (part t wo)
Discharge Device
Each capacitor unit or bank shall be provided with a directly connected discharge device. The
discharge device shall reduce the residual voltage from the crest value of the rated value UN to 50 V or less within 1 min, after the capacitor is disconnected from the source of supply. There must be no switch, fuse or any other isolating device between the capacitor unit and the discharge device. A discharge device is not a substitute for short-circuiting the capacitor terminals together and to earth before handling.
Where: t = time for discharge from UN Jr to UR(s), R = equals discharge resistance C = rated capacitance (pF) per phase, UN = rated voltage of unit (V), UR = permissible residual voltage k = coefficient depending on both resistance and capacitor unit connections, Value of k to be taken as per IS13340
Line current I = IRC / 3 Where, Ur = rated voltage, which the capacitor must withstand indefinitely; Fr = rated frequeny Q c = generally expressed in kVAR (react ive power of the capacitor bank) While deciding the size of capacitor bank on any bus it is necessary to check the voltage rise due to installation of capacitors under full load and light load conditions. It is recommended to limit the voltage rise to maximum of 3% of the bus voltage under light load conditions. The voltage rise due to capacitor installation may be worked out by the following expression.
Where, % VC = % voltage change or rise due to capacitor % X = % Reactance of equipment e.g. Transformer If the capacitor bank is STAR connected than the required value of C will be higher in comparison to the value of C in DELTA connection for the same value of required kVAR. Higher value of C will cause higher voltage rise of the system causing nuisance tripping of the equipment provided with over voltage protection. It is common practice to leave the star-connected capacitor banks ungrounded (there are separate reason for leaving it ungrounded) when used in the system or use delta-connected banks to prevent the flow of third harmonic currents into the power system through the grounded neutral. Large capacitor banks can be connected in STAR ungrounded, STAR grounded or delta. However,
the wye ungrounded connection is preferable from a protection standpoint. For the STAR ungrounded system of connecting single capacitor units in parallel across phase-to-neutral voltage the fault current through any incomer fuse or breaker of capacitor bank is limited by the capacitors in the two healthy phases. In addition the ground path for harmonic currents is not present for the ungrounded bank. For STAR grounded or delta-connected banks, however, the fault current can reach the full short circuit value from the system because the sound phases cannot limit the current.
If one capacitor unit is already on and a second one is to be added then minimum load current on this bus system must be equal to or more than the combined capacitor current of the two banks by at least a factor of 1.35 to 1.5. After switching off the capacitor wait for at least one minute before switching it on. Earth all the live terminals only after waiting for one minute before touching these with spanner etc. If above precautions are not observed, this could lead to dangerous situations both for plant and personnel. Switch off the capacitors when there is not enough load. This is a MUST. If the capacitors are kept ON when there is no load or less load then Power factor goes to leading side and system voltage increases which may cause damage to the capacitors as well as other electrical equipments and severe disturbance can be caused.) If the line voltages are more than the capacitor rated voltage, then do not switch on the capacitors. As the load builds up, the line voltage will fall. Switch on the capacitors then only.
T rue and displacement power factor specially with regards to variable speed drives?
Power factor of variable speed drives With the six-step and current source inverters, the power factor will be determined by the type of front end used. When SCRs are used, the power factor will be relatively poor at reduced speeds. When diodes with a dc chopper are used, the power factor will be the same as a PWM inverter, which is relatively high (near to unity) at all, speeds. True power factor is the ratio of real power used in kilo watts (kW) divided by the total kilo voltamperes. Displacement power factor is a measure of the phase displacement between the voltage and current at the fundamental frequency. True power factor includes the effects of harmonics in the voltage and current. Displacement power factor can be corrected with capacitor banks. Variable speed drives have different displacement power factor characteristics, depending on the type of rectifier. PWM type variable speed drives use a diode bridge rectifier and, have displacement power factors very close to unity. However, the input current harmonic distortion can be very high for these variable speed drives, resulting in a low true power factor. True power factor is approximately 60% despite the fact that the displacement power factor is very close to unity. The true power factor can be improved substantially in this case through the application of input chokes or transformers which reduce current distortion. Capacitor banks provide no power factor improvement for this type of variable speed drives and can make the power factor worse by magnifying the harmonic levels.