Following the annual maintenance at a grain mill it was found that additional capacitors were required to help the site reach a healthy Power Factor above 0.95 inductive.

The existing equipment on site was fully operational however space was very limited with the LV panel being built against the wall of the operating control room. An external door gives access to the rear of the PFC section, and it was via this that a custom framework was built to mount one of our fully shrouded 100kVAr SBA capacitor tray assemblies.

The new assembly was then wired as additional stages to the existing unit. Site are now back to a good power factor even when running at full load, helping to reduce and eliminate the reactive charges on their monthly bills.

Above: Front of PFC Section.   

Above: Rear of PFC Section with additional SBA tray mounted at the top

A recent installation of 2 x 200kVAr Power Factor Correction Master – Slave units at a city centre cement works.

Following a maintenance and a full power quality survey on site, two new detuned Power Factor Correction units were quoted to replace the existing failed equipment on site. With the units being located on the 2^nd floor plantroom of the cement silo both the new units were designed with extra reenforced roofing and lifting eyes so that the units could be winched up to the top via the sites service hatch.

Once the units were in position the old PFC units were removed and the new ones were connected using the same power cables are before to help keep costs down for the customer.

With the new Power Factor installed the sites PF went from 0.85 inductive to 1.

All works were carried out during normal working hours with no disruption to site.

A recent ‘End of Life’ replacement for 200kVArs worth of standard Power Factor Correction at a large car part manufacturer in Portsmouth.

During the annual site maintenance, multiple capacitor failure along with general age, wear are location of the PFC equipment, it was decided that it was time to replace the existing equipment with a new, free standing, Power Factor unit.

All the original capacitor assemblies were removed along with the panel-built relay and control circuit. The 400A MCCB in the LV panel that fed the old equipment was re-used to connect the new one. This meant that the works could be carried out safely without the need to shut the LV down.

Mounted close coupled to the end of the LV panel, the new PFC unit was wired with new 150mm tri-rated singles and the C.T circuit was re-run from the old relay to the new relay.

All the waste was removed from site and the works completed by 2 engineers within 5hrs

Replacement of a failed power factor correction unit at a plastic sheet manufacturer in Hertfordshire.

The existing unit on site was in need a of replacement following a full maintenance inspection carried out by one of our engineers. Multiple capacitors and fuses had failed and the unit seemed to lack any form of annual servicing. The method of installation was also poor with the main power cable feeding the unit being run across the floor and up over a water pipe into the unit.

As such a new fully detuned FSi100 PFC unit was supplied along with its own built in isolator. The original power cable was removed and replace with 70mm singles run inside the existing trunking that run around the wall.

This FSi100 was made up of 4 stages of 25kVAr each with its own detuning reactor. The unit is then controlled by a Lovato DCRL 5 digital control relay providing instantaneous power factor readings along with other site load details such as KW, KVA, THD and weekly PF average.

All the old equipment was removed and disposed of by PFC Engineering and the new equipment was installed and operational in 1 day without any disruption to the site.

After the completion of a full maintenance service, it was found that the Power Factor Correction equipment on site had multiple failures across all the capacitor banks and contactors. A load survey also carried out during the maintenance service showed that site no longer required the full 400kVAr that was originally installed.

As such the unit was to be stripped out and replaced with 200kVAr of standard PFC equipment on our newly designed BW50 tray assemblies.

The new trays would include 480V rated capacitors, IMO MC32 soft switching contactors with sub fusing and 100A fuses for protection.

All failed components were removed, and the internal framework was adjusted to accommodate the new BW50 trays along with reconfiguration of the control circuit and power leads.

The power factor control relay was also upgraded to a more modern Lovato DCRL8 which provides details of not only the sites power factor but also instantaneous kVAr, KW, KVA readings along with voltage, amps and THD monitoring.

All the works were completed in 1 day by 1 engineer with no disruption to site.

A medium sized coatings factory in Hertfordshire required some help reducing the reactive charges there were receiving on there electricity bills, so following a desktop review of their monthly charges it was determined that a 4 stage 50kVAr Power Factor Correction unit would be needed.

Installed on the Main LV Switchboard via a 100A MCCB the wall mounted T-Type unit consists of 4 stages of 13.5kVAr capacitors each switched by a IMO MC18 soft switching contactors all controlled by a Lovato DCRL 5 digital control relay.

A 4” 230V filter fan was also installed to help vent excess heat from inside the unit.