Automatic Power Factor Correction Panels

Installation and Maintenance instructions for APFC Panels

Series/Type :
Ordering Code : B2517

Date : Feb 2009

Version : 1.1

EPCOS AG 2008, Reproduction, Publication and dissemination of this data sheet, enclosures hereto and the
information contained therein without EPCOS prior consent is prohibited

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 Installation and maintenance instructions for APFC panels

Preliminary data

Installation and Maintenance Instructions

Read This First : Read the following >> Installation and maintenance instructions << carefully
before installing a APFC Panel into your application.

About this manual The information stated in this manual applies to typical, approved usage. Please
refer to our product specifications, or request our approval for your own
individual specifications, before installing APFC panels

For your safety! Disregarding the guidelines in this manual can result in operational failure
bursting and fire. In case of doubt, contact your local EPCOS sales organization
or distributor for assistance.

General safety notes for Ensure you are using the right APFC panel for your application, please refer to
installation and operation the EPCOS product catalogue and application notes for proper selection of
APFC Panel and its configuration.

Maintain good and effective grounding for APFC panel

Provide the means to isolate any faulty units/ banks in the system

Follow proper engineering practices

Storage and operation Donot use or keep APFC panel in corrosive atmosphere, especially where
Conditions as, sulphide gas, acid, alkali, salt or similar substances are present. In a dusty
environment, regular maintenance and cleaning, especially of the contacts, is
required to avoid a conductive path between phases and /or phases and ground.

The panel has to be stored with outer packing intact in a covered area under
protection from rain. The panel should stand in vertical position as indicated
in the packing crate.

Ambient temperature : The ambient temperature category for most standard types is -40D. This means
a max. temperature of 55DegC, an average temperature over 24 hours of
45DegC, and the average temperature in one year should not exceed 35 Deg C.

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 Installation and maintenance instructions for APFC panels

Preliminary data

Caution :

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 Installation and maintenance instructions for APFC panels

Preliminary data

Installation :

Mounting the APFC Panel : The place has to be identified where the panel has to be
erected. It should be level and hard. The incoming cables
should be brought depending upon the cable entry
provisions of the panel. The cross section of the cable
should be commensurate with the maximum kVAr rating of
the panel.
The panel has to be shifted to the installation place. The
incoming cables has to be connected to the incomer after
fixing the appropriate cable lugs.
Earthing has to be provided at the designated place in the
panel.
The panel has to be handled and unloaded carefully without
damage.
Proper fork lift and rollers have to be employed. It should
be never toppled as it is delicate.
Mounting Positions : APFC Panel should be always Verticle

Warning : Do not install the Panel in-case of

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 Installation and maintenance instructions for APFC panels

Preliminary data

Incomer Cable sizing : The incomer cable sizing should be commensurate with the kVAr
rating of the panel. Allowances should be considered for increase
in current due to presence of harmonics, overvoltage and kVAr
tolerance. Following table gives the cable sizes to be used for
different kVAr ratings.

Capacitor health checking : It is recommended to check the health of the capacitor in

the APFC panel prior to commission the panel. It is also
advisable to periodically check the capacitor health once in
six months to detect any de-rating. The best way to check
the capacitor condition is to measure the capacitance value
after switching of the panel and completely discharging the
capacitor. The capacitor value should be within the
tolerance value.

The recommended values of capacitance for different kVAr

@ different voltages are given in the following table.

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 Installation and maintenance instructions for APFC panels

Preliminary data

Pre-charging checks : Check the tightness of internal connections. This should include
capacitor connection, bus bar joints and other connections.
Ensure that recommended ratings of fuses are put in the incomer
and there are no loose connections.
Ensure the secondary of sensing CT are connected to the panel at t
the designated terminal. The sensing CT has to be mounted such
that both load and APFC panel current flows through it. It should
be connected upstream of the APFC panel and load.
The APFC controller is pre-programmed in EPCOS factory. It
should not be altered. If it has to be changed, it should be done
only by authorized persons under instruction from EPCOS. The
relevant controller manual should be referred for setting the
parameters in the APFC controller. Wrong settings can adversely
affect the panel performance and eventual failure of panel
components.

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 Installation and maintenance instructions for APFC panels

Preliminary data
Commissioning procedure : Ensure that some minimum load say 10% of the connected
load is on before switching on the APFC panel.

The APFC controller will display the power factor of the

load prior to compensation. It should be inductive
(Lagging). If it is showing as capacitive, then the control
CT terminal has to be reversed.
The reversing of CT terminal has to be done carefully such
that, the CT terminal is never open circuited. The shorting
link has to be closed at the CT terminal point. The CT
connection going to PF controller should now be reversed.
Then the shorting link should be reversed. Now the PF
indicated by the PF controller should read inductive.
After 90 seconds of switching on the APFC panel, the steps
in the APFC panel should switch on one by one depending
upon the quantum of load and its reactive power demand. If
this does not happen , then check that the APFC controller
is set to Auto mode and if not set it to Auto mode.

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 Important Notes :

The following applies to all products named in this publication:

1. Some parts of this publication contain statements about the suitability of our products for
certain areas of application. These statements are based on our knowledge of typical
requirements that are often placed on our products in the areas of application concerned. We
nevertheless expressly point out that such statements cannot be regarded as binding
statements about the suitability of our products for a particular customer application. As a
rule, EPCOS is either unfamiliar with individual customer applications or less familiar with them
than the customers themselves. For these reasons, it is always ultimately incumbent on the
customer to check and decide whether an EPCOS product with the properties described in the
product specification is suitable for use in a particular customer application.

2. We also point out that in individual cases, a malfunction of electronic components or

failure before the end of their usual service life cannot be completely ruled out in the
current state of the art, even if they are operated as specified. In customer applications
requiring a very high level of operational safety and especially in customer applications in which
the malfunction or failure of an electronic component could endanger human life or health (e.g. in
accident prevention or life-saving systems), it must therefore be ensured by means of suitable
design of the customer application or other action taken by the customer (e.g. installation of
protective circuitry or redundancy) that no injury or damage is sustained by third parties in the
event of malfunction or failure of an electronic component.

3. The warnings, cautions and product-specific notes must be observed.

4. In order to satisfy certain technical requirements, some of the products described in this
publication may contain substances subject to restrictions in certain jurisdictions (e.g.
because they are classed as hazardous). Useful information on this will be found in our
Material Data Sheets on the Internet (www.epcos.com/material). Should you have any more
detailed questions, please contact our sales offices.

5. We constantly strive to improve our products. Consequently, the products described in this
publication may change from time to time. The same is true of the corresponding product
specifications. Please check therefore to what extent product descriptions and specifications
contained in this publication are still applicable before or when you place an order.

We also reserve the right to discontinue production and delivery of products. Consequently,
we cannot guarantee that all products named in this publication will always be available. The
aforementioned does not apply in the case of individual agreements deviating from the foregoing
for customer-specific products.

6. Unless otherwise agreed in individual contracts, all orders are subject to the current version
of the General Terms of Delivery for Products and Services in the Electrical Industry
published by the German Electrical and Electronics Industry Association (ZVEI).

7. The trade names EPCOS, BAOKE, Alu-X, CeraDiode, CSSP, CTVS, DSSP, MiniBlue, MKK,
MLSC, MotorCap, PCC, PhaseCap, PhaseMod, SIFERRIT, SIFI, SIKOREL, SilverCap, SIMDAD,
SIMID, SineFormer, SIOV, SIP5D, SIP5K, ThermoFuse, WindCap are trademarks registered or
pending in Europe and in other countries. Further information will be found on the Internet at
www.epcos.com/trademarks.

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 Introduction

All electrical equipment needs reactive power apart from active power for their operation.
The need for reactive power arises because the current and voltage waveform are not in
phase with each other. In Inductive loads, the current lags the voltage and in capacitive
loads the current leads the voltage. The power factor is defined as the cosine of the angle
between current and voltage vector. When the current and voltage vector are perfectly in
phase as in the case of a purely resistive load, the phase angle between voltage and
current is zero and the power factor is unity. This power factor is called the displacement
power factor as it relates to displacement of current vector with respect to voltage vector.
The displacement power factor is lagging in case of inductive load and leading in case of
capacitive load.

If inductors and capacitors are connected in parallel, then the inductive current which is
90 degrees lagging with respect to applied voltage is exactly opposite in direction to
capacitive current which is 90 degrees leading to applied voltage. Thus the capacitive
current can neutralise the inductive current and vice versa thereby reducing the reactive
current considerably in the circuit. This is the essence of reactive power compensation.

Since the predominant loads are inductive in nature capacitors are used for reactive
power compensation. If the loads are steady, then we can consider fixed compensation by
using fixed capacitors. But usually the loads are fluctuating requiring varying reactive
power requirement and to compensate such a load the capacitors need to be switched.
The following types of switching devices are available for switching the capacitors.

1. Ordinary Contactors

They are most cost effective solutions available. They can be used when the variation in
reactive power with respect to time is slow and capacitor switching interval greater than
60 seconds. More rapid switching rate is not possible with contactors as it will damage
the contacts. More over minimum time of 60 seconds is to be allowed before
reconnecting a disconnected capacitor to allow the capacitor to completely discharge
before reconnection to avoid premature capacitor failure. This makes contactor switched
systems suitable for only slow varying loads.

Another serious issue with use of ordinary contactors is the inrush current associated
while switching capacitors. Capacitors tend to draw very large transient currents of 75 to
150 times their steady state currents at the time of switching. This is because the rate of
change of voltage (dv/dt) across the capacitor terminals is very large at the time of
switching. The current through the capacitor being proportional to dv/dt is also very
large. The duration of this large current although is very small, typically less than 1 msec,
can cause capacitors to fail and contacts of the contactor to weld. The inrush current is
oscillating in nature and can cause failure of sensitive loads in the network. Thus a
serious power quality issue arises by the use ordinary contactors in switching capacitors.

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 To overcome these difficulties inrush limiting air core coils are used in series with
capacitors. These coils are used only on two of the three phases of the capacitor. The
coils are made out of the connecting wires to the capacitor with 8 to 10 turns and
diameter of approximately 10 cms. Alternatively a capacitor duty contactor can be used
to limit the inrush current as mentioned below.

2. Capacitor duty contactors

Capacitor duty contactors have additional auxiliary contacts with current

limiting resistors (also called pre charging resistors) in series with it. The
inrush current is limited by these auxiliary contacts coming on first and then
the main contacts takes over the steady state current of the capacitors.

3. Thyristor modules
Thyristor modules are very effective in eliminating the inrush current of capacitors. They
are controlled switching devices which can be made to switch on when the voltage across
the Thyristor is zero, thereby eliminating the inrush current. Additionally, Thyristor are
used when the load variation is rapid like cranes, lifts, spot welding, plastic extrusion etc.

Harmonic environment

Harmonic environment is said to exist when non-linear loads are extensively used in a
network. Non-linear loads are power electronic loads which draws non sinusoidal current
waveform when fed from sinusoidal voltage waveforms. Examples of such loads are
AC/DC drives, UPS, converter/inverter, computers, CFL Lamps etc.

In the presence of harmonic environment, power factor correction should not be

done by conventional power capacitors as it will cause unhealthy harmonic
amplification due to parallel resonance between power factor correction capacitors and
transformer/system impedance.

In such an environment the power factor correction capacitors have to be replaced by

Harmonic filters (Tuned or De-tuned).

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 Classification of APFC panels

APFC panels can thus be classified as follows.

APFC Panel

Capacitor Based De-Tuned filter Tuned filter based

based

Contactor Thyristor Contactor Thyristor Contactor Thyristor

Based Based Based Based Based Based

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 Panel sizing calculation (kVAr.)

Estimating the panel rating in kVAr has to be done knowing the present uncompensated
power factor (initial PF) and the desired PF after compensation (final PF) and the peak
kW loading of the load. Following table gives the multiplying factor to be used in
estimating the panel kVAr.

Panel kVAr rating = multiplying factor X kW of the load

Location of sensing CT

The location of sensing CT which senses the corrected power factor is very important for
proper functioning of the APFC panel. The following diagram shows the correct position
of the sensing CT. Also indicated are commonly used wrong positions of CT, which
should not be used. The APFC panel will not work properly in these cases.

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