APFC Control Panels Combat Higher Power Consumption Caused By The Lagging Power Factor
Electricity is as important as water in today’s world. The demand for energy is projected to grow faster in Asia as compared to the rest of the world in the next 15 years. So are you prepared for this? The prices for electricity in India and other Asian countries are among the highest in the world. If you compare the cost of electricity in Canada or the United States you would notice that in India we pay twice as much. Instead of looking at this as something bad, countries in Asia need to look at this as an opportunity and improve their energy efficiency. As the global market competition for energy increases Asian countries would be better prepared. First let’s define what APFC Control Panels and capacitors mean. Well APFC is a automatic power factor control panel which is used to improve the power factor, as and when required. This is achieved by switching ON and OFF the required capacitor bank units.
Before we go into depth about the benefits of using a APFC control panel or capacitor, what is the market size that APFC may have. At the offset there are many types of industries that currently use APFC some of which are mentioned below: – Commercial Industries which deal with a variety of export – Housing Complexes – Hotels specially the 5 star resorts – Outsourcing BPO centers, Call centers – Software Development Centers – Airports, Dockyards, Banks – Emergency Units like hospitals, Fire emergency units etc These are many types of players that supply APFC control panels and capacitors such as – Capacitor Manufacturers – Panel Builders – Customized and specialized Manufacturers – Integrators that deal with various equipments – Energy Services Companies – Control Panel Manufacturers APFC control panels are fast moving products today due to the high demand from the above industries in keeping their business running 24 by 7. One of the major hurdles that large industrial companies and business centers have to cross is the high electrical load. These loads are created by Motors, large industrial machines, Data centers, air conditioners, automated machinery, etc. Unfortunately these loads are highly inductive in Nature and there by result in lagging power factor which leaks and wastes energy. According to industry standards in an ideal world the Power Factor needs to be at Unity however in practice this is most often not the case as most industrial loads have a PF lower than 1.
Since one of the key factor in saving energy is determined by the Power Factor, it’s necessary to understand the key role of Power factor and what it really means. According to Wikipedia the Power factor is defined as a ratio of Power Utilized (KW) to the Power Drawn (KVA). What this means is that when power is applied to any electrical motor usually the power is not entirely utilized as KW. Hence most often KVA is used excessively due to various factors especially with the induction design of electric motors. With manual intervention the load can be maintained as a fixed load and in such cases the power factor can be maintained at Unity. However this is usually highly impractical for large industrial businesses as most of the work done in these companies needs to be automated and run without supervision. In such cases APFC provides good value for money since the KVAR required is minimal in terms of investment as compared to that of fixed capacitors.
The State Electricity Board (SEB’s) in India has insisted on maintaining an average Power Factor above a specified limit(0.85 – 0.90 PF). This goes to prove that electricity needs to be used efficiently without which penalties added on top of the standard electricity bill. If this is the case in India at the moment imagine what will be in store in the coming years for other countries who face similar energy issues and shortage. The big question that APFC manufacturers are asked is whether there are any problems or issues with their own model of APFC. The main issues that arise in any APFC are: – Improper Design – Improper Component Size when being built – Improper Installation – Wrong connections to the Automatic Relay – A narrow band-width – Discharge Resistor or choke coils burning out. – Time Delay Relays bypassed . – Improper ventilation – Leaks within capacitors
Due to these factors the APFC being manufactured results in – Higher Maintenance – Regular visits for repair are often required – Poorer PF raises the KVA consumed Well designed APFC panels increase efficiency by reducing the lifetime cost of the panel. Some salient features that are found in APFC control panels manufactured in India are as follows: – The APFC Control Panel is made of rust proof steel material – Circuits are equipped with independent fuses – Equipped with capacitors with series reactors for minimizing harmonic current which may alter system voltage & current – Micro controller along with digital computation of various parameters – Monitoring of parameters like Line Voltage, Current, Active, reactive and Apparent Powers and energies – Protection of Capacitors against damage due to High Voltage, Low Voltage
Hopefully this article would have provided you with an introduction of how APFC control panels behave along with a few guidelines of what to know before purchasing an APFC control panel. There are a variety of APFC manufacturers in India. Do make sure that you deal with someone within the country as it makes the processes much simpler.
Tech-Mark Automation is an international Control Panel Manufacturers located in Pune India. We manufacture high quality electrical panels & instrumentation such as AMF Control Panels, LT Control Panels, APFC panels, etc…
