Power Factor Correction: What is it? (Formula, Circuit And Capacitor Banks)
What is Power Factor Correction? Power factor correction (also known as PFC or Power Factor Improvement) is defined as a technique used to improve the power factor of AC circuits by reducing the reactive power present in the circuit. Power factor correction techniques aim to increase the efficiency of the circuit and reduce the current drawn by the load. Generally, capacitors and synchronous motors are used in circuits to reduce the inductive elements (and hence the reactive power). These techniques are not used to increase the amount of true power, only to decrease the apparent power. In other words, it reduces the phase shift between voltage and current. So, it tries to keep the power factor near to the unity. The most economical value of the power factor is between 0.9 to 0.95. Now the question arises, why the economical value of the power factor is 0.95 instead of the unity power factor? Is there any disadvantage of the unity power factor? NO . There is not a single disadvantage