Rising Electricity Costs Reduced By APFC Control Panel Manufacturers
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009Energy is no longer a commodity, it’s a necessity in today’s world. Today most of our work and life depends on electricity. Research has shown that in the next 15 to 20 years Asia will be consuming more energy than any other part f the world. This is gradually going to become a pressing issue unless it is addressed soon. Asians pay very high electricity bills as compared to those who live in the US or Canada. It’s time for Asia, especially countries like India to take a good look of where this is heading so that we have a solution before it gets to be a major problem. Currently products such as APFC try to address the problem of high power consumption. Let’s look at what APFC’s are along with what / who uses them currently in a bit more detail. APFC control panels and capacitors refer to automatic power factor control panels. These are used to improve the power factor(PF) of electric devices such as motors. APFC’s achieve this by switching the power through multiple capacitor banks.
Currently a variety of industries use APFC’s within their power supply infrastructure. Some of these industries are mentioned below: - Security Companies - Banks - Hospitals - Commercial Industries - Large Holiday Resorts - Information Technology Parks - Airports - Dockyards - And many others. To cater for such high and varied demands there are different types of suppliers that you can source APFC control Panels from. These range from - APFC Control Panel Manufacturers - Panel Builders - Integrators - Energy Services Companies Due to industries and businesses which operate 24 by 7 (also considering the entry of multi nationals within the country), these types of companies need to operate heavy electrical equipment on a continuous cycle. Naturally the demand for APFC Control Panels has increased dramatically. Currently large industries and businesses face electrical load fluctuations which result in wastage of energy. This energy load is created by large machinery, data centers, freezers, air conditioners, etc… These large electrical loads results in a lagging power factor which in turn wastes energy. Industry standards dictate that the Power Factor ideally should be maintained at Unity which is not something that businesses and industrial outlets can maintain. Historically the power factor has always been less than 1.
So what is a Power factor (PF)? Power factor in technical terms is defined as the ration of Power utilized (KW) along with the Power Drawn (KVA). In common terms when power is applied to any electrical motor, the power for the complete motor is not converted as power utilized (KW). Thus depending on how the induction of the motor is designed reactive power (KVA) is drawn which results in excessive use of KVA. To combat this KVA drawn, the inductive KVAR needs to be removed or nullified. This can only be achieved by introducing an opposite KVAR to obtain the right PF maintaining the system balance. Most Industrial and electrical motors consume KVARs . If the loads can be fixed loads then this can be overcome by manual switching of capacitors. This is usually not the case. That’s where APFC kicks in where-by it overcomes the drawback of the lagging power factor. APFC removes the requirement of manual intervention and maintains a high power factor. The principle of Power Factor (PF) is used in APFC is to supply KVARs via a capacitor there by reducing the power drawn from the supply line. Thus for an Industry with dynamically changing loads, APFC (Automatic Power Factor Compensation) provides the best return on investment, since the KVAR investment required is smaller when compared to a 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 manufactured results in - Higher Maintenance and frequent visits for servicing - Poorer PF raises the kVA consumed A well designed APFC control panel will have the following, make sure when investing in one that you check if these features are provided - Rust Proof Steel Material is used to create the APFC Panels - Independent fuses are used for circuits - Harmonic current needs to be minimized - APFC contains Micro-Controller along with some digital computation - The capacitors are protected against any kind of damage such as High Voltage, Low Voltage
We hope the information provided was useful. It’s important to note that when dealing with APFC its best to speak to the manufacturer directly so that you are able to understand what is supported and what is not. If your requirements are of a smaller scale then the range of APFC’s to meet those needs will also be a bit different as compared to APFC that may be required for large industrial requirements. Either way make sure that some of the basics that have been discussed in the article are being covered in the information provided by the manufacture.
We are a Pune based APFC Control Panel Manufacturers. We specialize in International quality standard APFC Control Panels. Our internal procedures place great emphasis on nurturing proficient skilled professionals in manufacturing varied electrical panels.