Power Factor Correction

Power Factor Correction is the use of technology to restore power factor as close to unity as possible. This is usually achieved by the additional use of capacitors to the electrical network.  Although capacitor banks help with power factor correction, they definitely leave room for improvement. Enerdoor understood this and developed a new technology, the FINSVG, which provides a better solution for power factor correction than the commonly used capacitor banks.

Power Factor, or the ratio of real power to apparent power, has an ideal measurement of 1. Manufacturing plants generally experience low power factor. Electrical utility companies often charge these manufacturing plants penalties and additional fees when the power factor correction is 90% or less. Additionaly, as an incentive for facilities to improve power factor, electrical utility companies offer a credit on electricity bills when the power factor is greater than 95%.  Low power factor not only create additional costs, it also causes unnecessary stress on equipment in the facility and leads to premature failure.  

End user facilities are requiring new OEM equipment to be compliant with a minimum of 90-95% power factor.

Most loads in modern facilities are inductive loads such as motors and transformers. An induction motor requires working power (Kw) to perform the actual work and reactive power (kVAR) to sustain the magnetic field. Other devices with non-linear loads that affect power factor are rectifiers, fluorescent lamps, electric welding and arc furnaces.

Unlike capacitor banks, the FINSVG is immune to harmonics through active load balancing by advanced digital control. The compensation capacity never declines and the system is capable of compensating both inductive and capacitive reactive power. 

The Enerdoor FINSVG offers compensation starting at 30 KVAR with a modular design and can be either wall or rack mounted. It is available starting at 208 Vac and may be installed in either a single unit system or multiple, parallel modules for entire facilities. 

Benefits of Enerdoor Power Factor Correction:

• No capacitor banks
• Unaffected by harmonic resonance
• Compensation for inductive and capacitive reactive power
• Reduces costs and protects equipment from premature failure