SUBJECT: AC DISTRIBUTION & UTILIZATION

BRANCH: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

SEMESTER: 6TH SEM
 The cosine of angle between voltage and current in an a.c. circuit is called power factor.
For inductive circuit, current lags behind the voltage and p.f. is lagging. For capacitive
circuit, current leads the voltage and p.f. is leading.
Consider an inductive circuit taking lagging current I from supply voltage V by
angle φ as shown in fig.(a) The current I can be resolved into two component as
(a) Icosφ which is in phase with V.
(b) Isinφ which is 900 out of phase with V

fig(a)
The component Icosφ is known as active or wattful component and component Isinφ is
called the reactive or wattless component. A circuit having small reactive current
(i.e. Isinφ) will have high power factor and vice-versa.
POWER TRIANGLE
The power factor can also be analysed in terms of power drawn by a.c. circuit. If each side of the
current triangle of Fig(a) is multiplied by voltage V , then we get the power triangle OAB as fig(b).
OA=VIcosφ and represents the active power in watts or kW
AB=VIsinφ and represents the reactive power in VAR or kVAR
OB=VI and represents the apparent power in VA or kVA.
From the power triangle of fig(b) :

(i)The apparent power in an a.c. circuit has two components i.e.

active power and reactive power at right angle to each other.
OB2 = OA2 + AB2
Or, (kVA)2 = (kW)2 + (kVAR)2

OA active power kW
(ii)Power factor =  
OB apparent power kVA

Thus p.f of a circuit also defined as the ratio of active power to the apparent power.
(iii)The lagging reactive power is responsible for the low p.f. From the power triangle, the smaller
reactive component, the higher is the power factor of the circuit.
(iv) The power of a circuit can be defined in following three ways:

(a) Power factor  cos  cosine of angle between V and I

R Resistance
(b) Power factor  
Z Impedance
VIcos  Active power
(c) Power factor  
VI Apparent power

(v) The reactive power is neither consumed in the circuit nor it does any useful work.
DISADVANTAGES OF LOW POWER
FACTOR:
The power consumed in an a.c. circuit depends upon the p.f.

P  VL ILcos (for 1-  supply)

P
 IL   (1)
VL cos 
And
P  3VL LL cos  (for 3 -  supply)

P
IL   (2)
3VL cos 

From the above expression for fixed power and voltage, the load current is inversely proportional to the
p.f. Lower the p.f. higher is the current and vice versa. The p.f. less than unity have the following
disadvantages.
(i) Large KVA rating of Equipment:
The electrical machinery such as alternator, transformer, switchgear etc. are always rated in KVA.

KW
 KVA  [P  VIcos ]
cos
From the above expression, the KVA rating is inversely proportional to P.f.. The smaller the p.f. the
larger is the KVA rating, resulting in larger equipment and expensive.
(ii) Greater conductor size:
For the same power at constant voltage to be transmitted or distributed, the conductor will
have to carry more current at low p.f.. Hence the size of the has to be increased which increase
the capital cost.
(iii) Large copper losses:
The large current at low p.f. causes more I2R losses (copper losses) in all the element of
supply system. This results in poor efficiency.
(iv) Poor voltage regulation:
The large current at low p.f. causes greater voltage drops in alternator, transformer,
transmission lines and distributors. Hence the voltage available at the supply end is decreased
which result in poor voltage regulation. In order to keep the receiving end voltage within the
permissible limit, extra equipment like voltage regulator is required.
(v) Reduced Handling capacity of system:
The lagging p.f. reduces the handling capacity of all the elements of the system. Since the larger
reactive component of current prevents the full utilisation of installed capacity.
CAUSES OF LOW POWER FACTOR:
 The following are the causes of low power factor.
(a)Most of the a.c. motors are of induction type like 1-φ and 3- φ
induction motors which have low lagging p.f.. These motors work at p.f.
which extremely small on light load (0.2 to 0.3) and rises to 0.8 or 0.9
at full load.
(b)Arc lamps, electric discharge lamps and industrial heating furnaces
operated at low power factor.
(c) The transformers at sub-station have low lagging p.f. because they
draw magnetising current which causes the total current to lag behind
the voltage.
(d) The load on the power system is varying. It is during morning and
evening and low at the other times. During low load period, supply
voltage is increased which increases the magnetisation current and this
result in the low p.f.
IMPROVEMENT OF POWER FACTOR
 The low p.f. mainly due to inductive loads and therefore take lagging current. In order to
improved the poor p.f., a capacitor is connected in parallel with load. The capacitor draws a
leading current and partly or completely neutralised the lagging reactive component of load
current and rises the p.f. of the load.
Consider a single phase load taking lagging current I at a P.f. cosϕ1 as shown in fig(a)

Fig(a)
The capacitor C is connected in parallel with the load as fig(b). The capacitor draws current
IC which lead the supply voltage by 900 . The resulting current I/ is the vector sum of I
and IC and lags behind the voltage by angle ϕ2 as shown in fig(c). The phase angle ϕ2 is
less than ϕ1 and cosϕ2 is greater than cosϕ1. Hence power factor is improved.
From above it is clear that
(a)The current I/ after p.f. correction is less than the original ckt. Current I.
(b)The active component remain the same before and after p.f. correction because only the
lagging reactive component is reduced by capacitor.
 I cos 1  I / cos 2
(c) The lagging reactive component is reduced after p.f. correction

 I / sin 2  I sin 1  I C

(d) The active power (KW) remains unchanged due to p.f. improvement.
 I cos 1  I / cos 2

VI cos 1  VI / cos 2 (multiplie d by V)

(e) VI cos 1  VI / cos 2 (multiplie d by V)

VI / sin 2  VI sin 1  VI C (multiplie d by V)

Net kVAR after p.f. correction = [(Lagging kVAR before p.f. correction) – (leading kVAR of
Equipment)]
*********
 NAME ROLL NO
ANKU MONI BORA
NOP/16/EL/028
DITIMONI SONOWAL NOP/16/EL/CO/014
PRIYANKA DEKA NOP/16/EL/CO/020
TULYA GOGOI NOP/16/EL/011
AKASH BORUAH NOP/16/EL/035
AMIT DAS NOP/16/EL/039
MAHFUJUR RAHMAN NOP/16/EL/019
CHAVENG BEY NOP/16/EL/032
TENDON BORGOHAIN NOP/16/EL/005