IEEE TENCON '93/ Bcijnx

MICROPROCESSOR BASED AUTOMATIC POWER FACTOR COISTROL Mr. Y. V. Joshi SGOS College of Engg. 61 Tech, Nanded 431602 Mr. S . S. Deshpandm Haharashtra State Electricity Board, Wanded. Prof. S.G. Kahalekar 5 0 0 6 College of Engg. & Tech, Nanded 431602

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ABITUACT This paper discusses the development of a microprocessor based automatic power factor, control by using L.T. switched c a p a c i t o r s f o r r e a c t i v e compensation. The complete system is designed using Intml 8085 microprocessor. LIITRODUCTION T h e e c o n o m i c i n d e p e n d e n c e of t h e nation largely depends on growth, efficimnt management of energy resources available with better housekeeping. The annual growth rate of demand for power is estimated as 7 . 5 % and presently aleotrical power shortages are expatiencad from 2.0 t o 18.6% Sn regions and 10.91 at country level. Bridging the gap between demand and supply leaves no option t o adopt conservation measures rigorously. T h e r e is a s c o p e of 5 1 reduction in transmission and distribution losses with a saving of 1500 NW amounting Rs. 4,500 crores in terms of inmtalled oapacity. Low voltage system contributes 1/3 of total losses. Most A.C. electrical machines draw from thm supply source an apparent power in terms of KVA (Kilo Volt Amperes) which excmods the usmful power K.W. (Kilo Watt) rmquirmd by each machine. The ratio of these two measure. i . e . Useful Power K.W. and Apparent Power K.V.A is known as the powmr factor of the load. The type of machine in use decides its own power factor. A large number of electrical machinery used in industry has an inherently low power factor, in other words, means the supply source has to generate current very much in excess t o a theoretical requirement from it and the transformers and cables have t o carry thir extra, useless, current. Thus if the overall power factor of a generating station's load is low, the system will be inmfficient, while the cost of e l e c t r i c i t y c o r r e s p o n d i n g l y high. In order to overcome this and at the same timm t o ensurm that the generators, tranmformers and cable remain free from ovmrloading with useless current. The s u p p l y a u t h o r i t i e s o f t e n i n s i s t s for raising power factor of load and imposes penalties on lower power factor besides consumption for useless power utilised at the lnstallation. Low power factor can bm c o r r e c t e d by i n r t a l l i n g e f f i c i e n t capacit'ors, for machinery.' The cost of

c a p a c i t o r s o f f s e t s t h e p e n a l t i e s for l o w e r p o w e r f a c t o r w i t h i n 12 months. This means installing a suitable capacitor for a year saves.annua1 penalty against lower power factor, Any installation that includes the following types of machinery is likely t o have a low power factor. Induction Motors of all types. power transformer and Voltage regulators. Welding Machines. Induction furnaces. Choke Coils and magnetic systems. Neon Signs and discharge tubes E v e n if no p e n a l t y t a r i f f is in force, the factory cabling and switchgears will be relieved off a c o n s i d e r a b l e u s e l e s s load. Without enlarging these services one will be able t o install additional machinery t o the supply. Besides hhare will be reduction in voltage drop and better voltage level will be available t o the load. This will help in improving the voltage required for machine for its proper functioning without heating'effect. Disadvantaaes of low Dower factor

B e c a u s e of l a r g e c u r r e n t l o s s e s I proportional t o ' in generators 61 transmission lines increases causing overheating of the system components. L o w power factor overloads source generator and reduces capacity for additional load growth/demand eventhough primemover capacity is available. It causes poor voltage regulation adversely affecting power transfer c a p a b i l i t y d u e t o load v o l t a g e decrease. Investment per K.W. of load increases with a decrease in supply power factor.

P o w e r f a c t o r c a n b e i m p r o v e d by installing reactive power capacitors for power factor improvement. A wide range of variation in lagging power factor causes necessity for dynamic VAR Compensation. Using switched capacitors, control is

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accomplished by continuously sensing load VAR and power factor. Required number of capacitors are switched into circuik and isolated when VAR falls. The smooth step control is solely dependent on number of capacitors, switching units used. Measurement of Power factor in the a n a l o g s y s t e m s u f f e r s from a c c u r a c y , design errors, environmental temperature variations, dynamic errors, and resolution in measurements of electrical quantities. With t h e development o f microprocessor and it& rapid growth and cost, microprocessor has replaced analog or wired logical digital instruments and controls. The conventional methods of measurement of power factor are well known and are based on analog instrument s p e c i a l l y d e s i g n e d f o r t h e purpose. Commercial instruments having reasonable a c c u r a c y a r e a v a i l a b l e in m a r k e t but control is manual and in large steps. Drawbacks in uresentlv emDloved systems

vibrations, compact size portable for field testing.

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After verification of different techniques of control, the choice Of implementation falls on the microprocessor based scheme for various reasons a s detailed below.

Microprocessor based system is cost comparable with conventional methods of comparable Also a specifications. microprocessor based system i n favourable than minicomputer in regards t o cost. M i c r o p r o c e s s o r b a s e d s y s t m m a arm more flexible than hardwired and modification in t h e system can be made by changing the program in the memory and thus much more functions can also be accommodated besides range, speed and control acptiona. Microprocessor based system can have t h e dedicated feature o f h a r d w i r e d s y s t e m by s t o r i n g t h e application program in ROM. M i c r o p r o c e s s o r b a s e d s y s t e m is i n h e r e n t l y m o r e r e l i a b l e dum t o high reliability of LSI chips C less numbers of other componentr, required. Number of versatile low coat LSI peripheral chips are available with microprocessors which make the interface to syatem control simpler. With addition of external peripherals like a floppy disc the data storage can be greatly increased which can be used for post run calculations by M i c r o p r o c e s s o r or c o m p u t m r f o r further analysis. The microprocessor based syatbm in addition t o t h e above have the advantages of digital techniques.

In most of the applications capacitor banks are used across the terminals and put into the system manually, depending on load current observation. These do not secure VAR balance, sometimes under c o m p e n s a t e s or o v e r C o m p e n s a t e s with over loading the system. In automatic L.T. switched c a p a c i t o r p r e s e n t l y used d y n a m i c VAR compensation is not achieved due t o stepped capacitor ratings and p o w e r f a c t o r i m p r o v e m e n t is accomplished by sensing only load current. Controls are accomplished using l o a d c u r r e n t r a n g e s and b e y o n d range compensation is not adequate. System is bulky and needs frequent maintenance. When fine control of power is desired a large number of of c o m p e n e a t i o n p i t h a large of capacitors, associated and contactors are required. factor levels number relays

NECESSITY OF UICROPROCESSORS CONTROL With the equipmanta using electromechanical instruments, the digital instrument feeding microprocessor input and microprocessor as per program actuating relays for corrective action compare favourably with regard t o speed accuracy, raggedness; cost, simplicity of operation, immunity from EM1 and

Thus, with the availability o t high performance LSI chips and their reducing cost u s e of microprocessor based deaign tende t o be a future trend. T h e r e f o r e by d i g i t a l m e t h o d for instrumentation and power factor control by u s i n g m i c r o p r o c e s s o r , w h e r e r a p i d response with a high degree of accuracy has been implemented.

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SYSTEM DESIQN BCONOMICS INVOLVED There are several methods of making t h e power charges dependent on the power f a c t o r o f t h e load. Following are different types of power factor tariffs. The 1. KVA maximum demand tariff maximum demand of the consumers is m e a s u r e d i n K V A and not in KW. This compels the consumers t o work t h e i r p l a n t at i m p r o v e d p o w e r factors since low power factor will increaee their maximum demand.
2.

AN OVERVIEW

System Specifications The system is built following specifications. to achieve the

It is able to improve the power factor of the load from 0.50 that is from phase angle of 60 to 0.95 that is pha'se angleof 18.19O. single phase equipment frequency of S O nz + / - S % . with

KWH and reactive KVARH tariffs In t h i s t y p e of tariff both KWH and KVARH of a consumer are charged separately. If KVARH of a consumer is lese h e is t o pay less, and for low power factor his bill will be higher automatically consumer will try t o improve his power factor. Scale or Average Power Factor tariffs U n d e r t h i s k i n d of t a r i f f s and a n average power factor say 0.8 lagging is assumed as reference.

It is able t o handle load of 25 amperes maximum at 230 volts supply

Voltage and current are isolated from the main system equipments. It is able to operate on sinusoidal waveforms. Accuracy obtained is lo variation and 1.5 amperes current. It is a n on-line application of the microprocessor based equipment for power factor correction. If t h e load is drawing leading current then this scheme should be off and no additional capacitor should be taken into circuit.

3. S l i d i n g

In order t o penalise a consumer h a v i n g l o w p o w e r f a c t o r h e m a y be surcharged for each 0.01 by which the power factor fall below this figure and is allowed if the power t h e discount factor is above but normally all public sector undertakings employ a 'Two Part Tariff' of which following are typical examples.
1. Basic charge per KVA of maximum demand over a given period, plus charge f o r e a c h ' u n i t of K W H supplied.
2. B a s i c c h a r g e p e r KW of m a x i m u m demand over a given period with an increase if t h e power factor falls below a given minimum figure plus a charge for each unit (KWH) supplied.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION Fig. 1. shows the block diagram of t h e control system implemented f o r automatic control of power factor on LT line. I n t h i s s y s t e m f o r s e n s i n g t h e phase angle w e have t o take the signals corresponding t o load voltage and load c u r r e n t w h i c h i s c a r r i e d out by a p o t e n t i a l t r a n s f o r m e r and a c u r r e n t transformer respectively. The signals from these two devices are then conditioned t o get a square waves of 0-5 volt amplitude.
' These t w o waveforms are then fed to t h e t w o l i n e s of A port of 8255 interfaced with the 8 0 8 5 microprocessor. The software routine written measures the count representing the phase difference b e t w e e n t h e p o s i t i v e g o i n g e d g e of voltage and current waveforms.

In each of the above tariff the charges for a load with a poor power factor are greater than they would be for a load which consumes the same amount of energy at a better power factor. If whose power factor however , a consumer is low, installs equipment which improve it, his annual charges can be reduced very considerably.

Secondly we need the amplitude of t h e load current because the value of capacitor t o be switched depends on both t h e values i.e. the power factor and the current amplitude. In order to get the amplitude, Signal output from the current, transformers is amplified and conditioned

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t o get t h e output in the range required by t h e analog t o digital converter that is ADC-7109 (i.e. 0-4Vdc). At this stage w e know t h e phase difference and the amplitude o f the current. From these two things t h e value of capacitor to be inserted across t h e load circuit t o improve t h e power factor t o 0.95 from its current value i s t o be decided and the signals for inserting t h e appropriate capacitors are t o be given t o t h e respective relays. T h e c a p a c i t o r is switched in t o circuit at the negative peak of t h e current. The value of the capacitor t o be inserted is calculated and kept in the Look u p table t o be used i n t h e s o f t w a r e by t h e following formula-

Computer, Communication and Control. h e l d a t N e w D e l h i f r o m A u g 28-30, 1991.

2. CIRE, Hyderabad Course managment in power sector.

of

Energy

3. G a o n k a r R. S. Microprocessors Architecture, Programming and Applications with the 8085/8085A.

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F SOFTWARE

v2 *p.f .*2*PI*'f Firstly the maximum capacitor required for maximum current and lowest power factor is found and t h e n t h i s value of t h e capacitor is obtained by parallelly connecting four capacitors by using the weights of 8-4-2-1 code. SYSTEU DESIGN

T h e software for t h e system is designed in assembly language programming of Intel 8 0 8 5 . The software consists of t h e several Modu.Les. Only the flow chart o f t h e main module is given here in Fig. 2. CONCLUSION The device minimises no of c a p a c i t o r banks associated relays and contactors. Four units of switched capacitors are economical than 15 no.of small units of capacitors. A s well as the half t h e capacitor value of highest capacity is required. The cost of device is less compared t o saving due t o power factor improvement and less current drawn from supply reducing consumption charges and i s essential for utilisation of power for active component of load. The same scheme can b e similarly implemented for t h e higher ratings of load and multiphase applications by switching in more steps o f capacitors. ReferencesS. P., Choudhari T., 1. C h o u d h a r i Choudhari S., Mukhopadhyay R. K. Power factor managment of Industrial power distribution system- Conference proceedings of TENCON-91, IEEE Region10 International Conference on Energy,

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