ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF POWER FACTOR CORRECTION TECHNIQUES FOR SINGLE PHASE POWER SUPPLY

A low power factor leads to an increase in losses and draws penalty by the utility. Modern industry implementing the mechanized methods can suffers from lower power factor due to the use of different electric equipment which requires more reactive power. Significant savings in utility power costs can be understood by keeping up an average monthly power factor close to unity. The above drawback is overcome by the PFC. Power factor correction (PFC) is a technique of reducing the undesirable effects of electric loads that create a power factor which are less than one. In this paper an Automatic Power Factor Correction (APFC) Unit is build which monitors the power factor and automatically it corrects the power factor. Power factor correction is a method of reducing undesirable adverse effects of electric loads that causes a power factor to be less than one. In this t an Automatic Power Factor Correction Unit is build which monitors the power factor and automatically it corrects the power factor. The phase differences between voltage and current are determined using zero crossing detectors with some basic functions of microcontroller. The project is designed to minimize penalty for industrial units using automatic power factor correction unit. The microcontroller used in this project belongs to 8051 family. The time lag between the zero-voltage pulse and zero-current pulse is duly generated by suitable operational amplifier circuits in comparator mode is fed to two interrupt pins of a microcontroller. The program takes over to actuate appropriate number of relays from its output to bring shunt capacitors into load