# Understanding Power Factor Discussion



## bripgilb (Apr 11, 2018)

Folks:

Just wanted to open a thread to discuss power factors.  I'd like to narrow the scope of the discussion to commercial and industrial buildings, although the principals are the same for large scale power distribution.

Notes:


I know that lightly loaded motors have very low power factors that will contribute to the system PF.

Resitive loads such as incandescent lamps and resistive strip heat do not effect power factor.

Capacitive reactance such as (run/start capacitors, passive, active, or dynamic) can help correct the PF.

What type of environments do you see power factor correction used? And, what type of PF correction equipment is it?

What is your approach to power factor correction for in the area of industrial and commercial plants and owner operated campuses?

What are other types of loads that do not effect pf? And, even though resistive loads do not change the power factor at the load, do they have any effect on the power factor of the whole system?
 

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor#Power_factor_correction_of_linear_loads
https://www.progress-energy.com/assets/www/docs/business/power-factor-how-effects-bill.pdf
https://cpower.com/PDF/InfoSheets/13.pdf


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