Power Factor Correction
Power Factor Correction
Power Factor Correction is a measure of how efficiently electrical power is consumed. The ideal Power Factor is one. Anything less than one, (or 100% efficiency), means that extra power is required to achieve the actual task at hand.
This extra energy is known as Reactive Power, which unfortunately is necessary to provide a magnetising effect required by motors and other inductive loads to perform their desired functions.
However, Reactive Power can also be interpreted as watt-less, magnetising or wasted power and an extra burden on the electricity supply.
Power Factor Correction is the term given to a technology that has been used since the turn of the 20th century to restore Power Factor to as close to unity as is economically possible.
This is normally achieved by the addition of capacitors to the electrical network, which compensate for the Reactive Power demand of the inductive load and thus reduce the burden on the supply.
