Power Factor

What is the difference between real power and reactive power?

Real power is the portion of power in an AC circuit that is converted into useful work, such as generating heat, light, or mechanical energy. Reactive power is the power oscillating between the source and reactive components(capacitors or inductors) in the circuit.

How can power factor be improved?

It can be improved by adding power factors correction devices such as capacitors, to the electrical system. These devices counteract the reactive power in the circuit, bringing the power factor closer to unity.

What is a Power Triangle?

The Power triangle shows the relationship between Real power, Reactive power and Apparent power and there are denoted by the base, perpendicular and hypotenuse of the right – angled triangle.

The power factor is determined by the cosine of the phase angle between voltage and current. In AC circuits, the phase angle between voltage and current is aligned, or in other words, zero. But, practically there exists some phase difference between voltage and current. The value of the power factor always lies between 0 and 1. For a purely capacitive circuit, it is 0 and for the purely resistive circuit, it is 1. whereas, there is no power factor in DC circuits due to zero frequency. It is used to measure how effectively the incoming power is used in an electrical system(energy efficiency).