Power Factor Explained Why they issue penalty charges (Reactive Power)
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Date: 2025-02-06
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Comments and reviews: 20
JoeySchiavo
Thank you so much for finally posting more about power factor, I've been waiting for more 3 phase power videos. I just graduated at the top of my class with 8 certificates, for achieving the highest of academic standards, honor roll, grades, reliability and getting Top Tech out of 10 students who qualified for the test in basic electrical theory, residential electric, and commercial electric. Im not bragging but I'm older than most of the guys I graduated with and I've watched your videos from the beginning of school till I graduated applying everything hand in hand and throughout I was able to learn easier and faster. towards the end I developed a love for electricity and everything about it. Your videos have definitely expanded my knowledge and have opened my mind up to the world of electrical engineering and the possibilities in this field, I wanna end up in the industrial field, but any area being its electronics to old wok residential is fun for me, so these videos are definitely worth watching for me.
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Thank you so much for finally posting more about power factor, I've been waiting for more 3 phase power videos. I just graduated at the top of my class with 8 certificates, for achieving the highest of academic standards, honor roll, grades, reliability and getting Top Tech out of 10 students who qualified for the test in basic electrical theory, residential electric, and commercial electric. Im not bragging but I'm older than most of the guys I graduated with and I've watched your videos from the beginning of school till I graduated applying everything hand in hand and throughout I was able to learn easier and faster. towards the end I developed a love for electricity and everything about it. Your videos have definitely expanded my knowledge and have opened my mind up to the world of electrical engineering and the possibilities in this field, I wanna end up in the industrial field, but any area being its electronics to old wok residential is fun for me, so these videos are definitely worth watching for me.
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carlosanvito
I love potato chips! Today, I opened a brand new bag - it looked fabulous, all those chips, just waiting to be devoured. It was APPARENTLY 100% full. But then I opened the bag. What a letdown. The REAL amount of chips, only represented 60% of the bag's volume. The empty space above the chips occupied 40% of the volume. I was quite REACTIVE when I saw this. That's an analogy to electric power. You pay for the whole bag (the APPARENT quantity, you only get value out of the REAL amount of chips, while the empty airspace, has no real value, while still wasting money processing, handling and transporting empty air. Too bad there's no simple way to correct the poor chip factor in those bags!
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I love potato chips! Today, I opened a brand new bag - it looked fabulous, all those chips, just waiting to be devoured. It was APPARENTLY 100% full. But then I opened the bag. What a letdown. The REAL amount of chips, only represented 60% of the bag's volume. The empty space above the chips occupied 40% of the volume. I was quite REACTIVE when I saw this. That's an analogy to electric power. You pay for the whole bag (the APPARENT quantity, you only get value out of the REAL amount of chips, while the empty airspace, has no real value, while still wasting money processing, handling and transporting empty air. Too bad there's no simple way to correct the poor chip factor in those bags!
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engineering_mindset
Given the definition of Voltage and Current (RMS voltage and RMS current, you CAN get a non-unity power factor in DC circuits! Consider a load that is controlled by a PWM circuit. That is, it turns on and off the load relatively rapidly. Assume a 1 volt DC source and a 1 ohm resistive load that is PWM controlled at 100Hz and a 50% duty cycle. Then the source provides 1 volt DC and 1 volt RMS at a current of 1amp 50% of the time. This is an RMS current of 0. 707 amps. The average current is 0. 5 amps DC. The power factor is 0. 707. In this case, the reactive power is not with respect to a leading or lagging current, but with respect to harmonic content of the current.
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Given the definition of Voltage and Current (RMS voltage and RMS current, you CAN get a non-unity power factor in DC circuits! Consider a load that is controlled by a PWM circuit. That is, it turns on and off the load relatively rapidly. Assume a 1 volt DC source and a 1 ohm resistive load that is PWM controlled at 100Hz and a 50% duty cycle. Then the source provides 1 volt DC and 1 volt RMS at a current of 1amp 50% of the time. This is an RMS current of 0. 707 amps. The average current is 0. 5 amps DC. The power factor is 0. 707. In this case, the reactive power is not with respect to a leading or lagging current, but with respect to harmonic content of the current.
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nickwaters9869
Thanks for explaining this concept so clearly. This would have been helpful to have when I was back in college.
You say it doesn’t apply to residential consumers, but actually it does, just not in way most consumers are aware of. For an appliance in the U. S. to be Energy Star compliant it generally has to have some power factor rating. Most residential heat pump air conditioner compressors powered by an AC motor have a huge PF correction cap that also serves the purpose of supplying inrush current to help start the single phase motor.
I am not sure how DC/Inverter mini split systems work and what manufacturers have to do for PF correction.
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Thanks for explaining this concept so clearly. This would have been helpful to have when I was back in college.
You say it doesn’t apply to residential consumers, but actually it does, just not in way most consumers are aware of. For an appliance in the U. S. to be Energy Star compliant it generally has to have some power factor rating. Most residential heat pump air conditioner compressors powered by an AC motor have a huge PF correction cap that also serves the purpose of supplying inrush current to help start the single phase motor.
I am not sure how DC/Inverter mini split systems work and what manufacturers have to do for PF correction.
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Prof_gLX
Funny, I just gave a class about this exact subject yesterday! Useful to know in the case of motors, they need to be under full mechanical load for this calculation to be right. A belt conveyor running without transporting any material will yield a low actual HP value, which could mean the capacitor used to correct the power factor would bring the circuit in the capacitive region, with a poor power factor.
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Funny, I just gave a class about this exact subject yesterday! Useful to know in the case of motors, they need to be under full mechanical load for this calculation to be right. A belt conveyor running without transporting any material will yield a low actual HP value, which could mean the capacitor used to correct the power factor would bring the circuit in the capacitive region, with a poor power factor.
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abrahamlincoln3181
Where we live they don't read the meter on the same day every month, so some bills include an extra week, which pushes consumption into a higher per unit bracket, which means your bill can increase by 60% from one month to the next. The resulting shorter time period for the next reading doesn't reduce the bill as much as the longer period increases it.
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Where we live they don't read the meter on the same day every month, so some bills include an extra week, which pushes consumption into a higher per unit bracket, which means your bill can increase by 60% from one month to the next. The resulting shorter time period for the next reading doesn't reduce the bill as much as the longer period increases it.
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NostraDavid2
I've heard Reactive Power explained as the foam on your beer, and Active Power being the beer itself. It (the Reactive Power) is likely to always be there (and is generally an accepted thing, but you don't want your glass to be fully foam.
Always found that that was a funny explanation of the phenomenon.
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I've heard Reactive Power explained as the foam on your beer, and Active Power being the beer itself. It (the Reactive Power) is likely to always be there (and is generally an accepted thing, but you don't want your glass to be fully foam.
Always found that that was a funny explanation of the phenomenon.
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alfandosavant4639
Basically there are 2 things affect power factor: capacitor & coil. A company/factory will always need coil to produce kinetic energy. Coil made power factor worse. Bad power factor = voltage drop. We don't want to have voltage drop, because it represents quality of electrical power.
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Basically there are 2 things affect power factor: capacitor & coil. A company/factory will always need coil to produce kinetic energy. Coil made power factor worse. Bad power factor = voltage drop. We don't want to have voltage drop, because it represents quality of electrical power.
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masonmount17
One of my former professors sent me this video literally two days after I was introduced to this idea in my advanced circuit analysis course, very nice visuals and examples to drive home the ideas. These concepts are so cool, can't wait to learn so much more in the future. Thank you sir!
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One of my former professors sent me this video literally two days after I was introduced to this idea in my advanced circuit analysis course, very nice visuals and examples to drive home the ideas. These concepts are so cool, can't wait to learn so much more in the future. Thank you sir!
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GeoffCostanza
I used to work in electrical quality inspection and testing, but have since moved on to mostly mechanical work. I love these videos because they help me stay current (no pun intended) on this kind of knowledge. It's amazing how quickly you forget things when you don't use it regularly.
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I used to work in electrical quality inspection and testing, but have since moved on to mostly mechanical work. I love these videos because they help me stay current (no pun intended) on this kind of knowledge. It's amazing how quickly you forget things when you don't use it regularly.
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ronarant2897
Very good video and explanation of PF. While you did talk about Peak Voltage. I think You need to add that capacitors see and will change to the peak voltage. So when you calculate the PF capacitor that is needed its voltage will need to above the peak voltage of the system.
Ron.
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Very good video and explanation of PF. While you did talk about Peak Voltage. I think You need to add that capacitors see and will change to the peak voltage. So when you calculate the PF capacitor that is needed its voltage will need to above the peak voltage of the system.
Ron.
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engineering_mindset
The first time I was made aware of power factor correction was when I was building my first tesla coil and had to work out the value for the power factor capacitor for the HV transformer. Didn't really understand why it was a good idea but now it makes sense.
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The first time I was made aware of power factor correction was when I was building my first tesla coil and had to work out the value for the power factor capacitor for the HV transformer. Didn't really understand why it was a good idea but now it makes sense.
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X19-x5f
Among you many great videos, this is probably your best. So much great info! If my kids were going into Electrical Engineering, I would make them watch and understand this video before taking any marginally useful college courses. Thanks for posting.
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Among you many great videos, this is probably your best. So much great info! If my kids were going into Electrical Engineering, I would make them watch and understand this video before taking any marginally useful college courses. Thanks for posting.
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engineering_mindset
There's one question I'd like to know the answer to: if smart meters charge a customer on the basis of apparent power, but older meters measure real power, wouldn't an electricity bill show lower energy use with an older meter
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There's one question I'd like to know the answer to: if smart meters charge a customer on the basis of apparent power, but older meters measure real power, wouldn't an electricity bill show lower energy use with an older meter
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minirop
one of the few formula from school I remember (I did electrical engineering in highschool) was W = U I cos(phi. now I know why (I was never taught reactive power and the likes)
thank you.
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one of the few formula from school I remember (I did electrical engineering in highschool) was W = U I cos(phi. now I know why (I was never taught reactive power and the likes)
thank you.
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octymocty132
I've been asking where our one is at me new job the top knobs looked dumb when I finally explained what it dose as apparently don't need one and the inverters are small loads. thick eh
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I've been asking where our one is at me new job the top knobs looked dumb when I finally explained what it dose as apparently don't need one and the inverters are small loads. thick eh
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jassimjaved3309
Short answer: because reactive power cannot be measured by ordinary energy meters (which calculate your electricity bill) so that is why they charge you extra for it if it gets high.
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Short answer: because reactive power cannot be measured by ordinary energy meters (which calculate your electricity bill) so that is why they charge you extra for it if it gets high.
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TheDanEdwards
Physics mindset: adding an inductor to a circuit is akin to adding a harmonic oscillator, and the people on the circuit who are adding energy to the circuit don't like that.
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Physics mindset: adding an inductor to a circuit is akin to adding a harmonic oscillator, and the people on the circuit who are adding energy to the circuit don't like that.
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martinsmith251
Always remembered using the word CIVIL (in a capacitive circuit, C, current, I, leads voltage, V, and in an inductive circuit, L, voltage, V, leads current, I)
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Always remembered using the word CIVIL (in a capacitive circuit, C, current, I, leads voltage, V, and in an inductive circuit, L, voltage, V, leads current, I)
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CielMC
So the problem with reactive power is that there's more current load on the cables right It doesn't actually require more energy to run yes(aside from ohmic losses)
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So the problem with reactive power is that there's more current load on the cables right It doesn't actually require more energy to run yes(aside from ohmic losses)
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