Question

An industrial plant consists of several 60 Hz single-phase motors with low power factor. The plant absorbs 600 kW with a power factor of 0.75 lagging from the substation bus. The supply voltage is 12.47 kV. The power factor can be improved by connected a capacitor in parallel with the supply or by using a synchronous motor, which generates reactive power. Analyze both of these cases independently:(a) Find the required kVAR rating of a capacitor connected across the load to raise the power factor to 0.95 lagging.
(b) Assuming a synchronous motor rated at 250 hp, with an 80% efficiency is operated from the same bus at rated conditions and a power factor of 0.85 leading, calculate the resultant supply power factor.

Answer 1

Answer:

(a) $Q=332$ $kvar$ and $C=5.66$ $uF$

(b) $pf=0.90$ lagging

Explanation:

Given Data:

$P=600kW$

$V=12.47kV$

$f=60Hz$

$pf_{old} =0.75$

$pf_{new} =0.95$

(a) Find the required kVAR rating of a capacitor

$\alpha _{old}=cos^{-1}(0.75) =41.41$°

$\alpha _{new}=cos^{-1}(0.95) =18.19$°

The required compensation reactive power can be found by

$Q=P(tan(\alpha_{old}) - tan(\alpha_{new}))$

$Q=600(tan(41.41) - tan(18.19))$

$Q=332$ $kvar$

The corresponding capacitor value can be found by

$C=Q/2\pi fV^{2}$

$C=332/2*\pi *60*12.47^{2}$

$C=5.66$ $uF$

(b) calculate the resultant supply power factor

First convert the hp into kW

$P_{mech} =250*746=186.5$ $kW$

Find the electrical power (real power) of the motor

$P_{elec} =P_{mech}/n$

where $n$ is the efficiency of the motor

$P_{elec} =186.5/0.80=233.125$ $kW$

The current in the motor is

$I_{m} =(P/\*V*pf)$

The pf of motor is 0.85 Leading

Note that represents the angle in complex notation (polar form)

$I_{m} =(233.125/12.47*0.85)$

$I_{m}=18.694+11.586$$j$ $A$

Now find the Load current

pf of load is 0.75 lagging (notice the minus sign)

$I_{load} =(600/12.47*0.75)$

$I_{load} =48.115-42.433$$j$ $A$

Now the supply current is the current flowing in the load plus the current flowing in the motor

$I_{supply} =I_{m} + I_{load}$

$I_{supply}= (18.694+11.586)+(48.115-42.433)$

$I_{supply} =66.809-30.847j$ $A$

or in polar form

$I_{supply} =73.58$°

Which means that the supply current lags the supply voltage by 24.78

therefore, the supply power factor is

$pf=cos(24.78)=0.90$ lagging

Which makes sense because original power factor was 0.75 then we installed synchronous motor which resulted in improved power factor of 0.90