Power Factor Correction: A New Industrial Energy Management Program Setup

Abstract

Power factor (PF) correction is a highly effective means of increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy costs. This effective utilization of allows for an increase in efficiency. In addition, and as consumption is reduced, factor correction increases quality, which is beneficial to the equipment itself and to the environment by reducing the amount of pollutants that are emitted into the atmosphere. In a previous work, we presented and described energy balance software (see first reference in references section). Here is a new package that offers an easy way to account for energy bills, working equipment, and their energy operating characteristics. Among the equipment considered are: lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration compressors, air compressors, motors, and others. The electric energy consumed by all pieces of equipment is balanced against the energy bills (last 12 months). The corresponding energy costs, graphs, pie-charts, and free format reports are automatically generated, showing paths and trends of energy consumption. A section allows for a quick, but beyond-the-back-of-the-envelop calculation, initial analysis of potential energy improvement projects associated with current equipment, and / or for the installation of new ones. Due to the increasing interest in PF, we have addressed it in two key areas: energy bills, or total PF, and recommendations for PF, for in any particular piece(s) of equipment. Among the many features is a typical factor triangle environment with the demand, PF, total power, reactive power, associated efficiency reduction, including different voltages, current intensities, and phases. The option provides size of capacitors and where they should be located, allowing for a variety of potential choices and their cost-effectiveness. As an output, an information verification chart is displayed and a final power factor savings printable chart containing location, equipment, and all the variables described, is shown. Operating cost, total savings, simple payback, and return on investment are also displayed. In this work we briefly describe the industrial energy management (IEM) program and present a case study on factor. This provides insight into the versatility, faster data entry, balancing process, graphical display, recommendations, and many other features of the software. In addition, we further demonstrate the value of the energy balance approach, and the many options for PF and other energy saving projects.