The simplest form of PFC involves installing capacitors, but it is worth shopping around and taking expert advice to find a system that will accurately suit your particular requirements. If a single machine has a poor power factor, capacitors can be connected in parallel with it, so that they compensate for the poor power factor whenever the machine is switched on. Alternatively, if the power factor of a site is permanently poor and no single item of equipment is solely responsible, fixed PFC can be connected across the main power supply to the premises.
In more complex applications, where many machines are switched on and off at various times, the power factor may be subject to frequent change. In this case it is advisable to employ expert advice for the best solution.
Conclusion
We hope that this article has succeeded in explaining the sometimes-complex subject of power quality and clarified why it is considered it to be important. If you’re a typical business owner or manager, there’s absolutely no doubt that you pay great attention to the quality of products and services you buy for your business, and it should be the same for the power and energy you consume. After all, energy bills are probably a significant part of your outgoings.
We’ve shown that power quality can be degraded in many ways, and such degradation often has inconvenient and costly consequences. Just as important, however, we’ve shown that power quality problems are easy to detect with the right monitoring and data logging equipment. In most cases once the problems have been identified; convenient and affordable solutions are available.
Test instrumentation designed to monitor and identify power quality issues will easily pay for themselves in no time both with savings on your energy bill and prolonged operating life of your equipment.
