Power Factor in Electrical Energy Management

In Power Factor in Electrical Energy Management, you'll learn ...

• Importance of power factor improvement
• The difference between real, apparent and reactive power
• Direct and indirect cost of low power factor
• Benefits of high power factor

Overview

Preview a portion of this course before purchasing it.

Credit: 4 CPD

Length: 47 pages

Although terms ‘power factor measurement’ and ‘power factor correction’ are well known to electrical engineers, the real importance of ‘power factor’ is not always recognized or understood. Power factor is the percentage of electricity that is being used to do useful work. It is expressed as a ratio. For example, a power factor of 0.72 would mean only 72% of your power was being used to do useful work. Perfect power factor is 1.0, (unity); meaning 100% of the power is being used for useful work. Power factor correction, then, is the method(s) used to fix the problems that cause power to be wasted. Energy is saved, and penalties levied by power companies are reduced or eliminated.

This 4 hour course briefly highlights a systematic approach to the measurement, correction and control of power factor with the objective of cutting energy costs.

This course is aimed at electrical and control engineers, energy auditors, operational and maintenance engineers, contractors and system designers who are responsible for design and operation of the system.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate the operational importance of improving power factor.
• Differentiate real, reactive, and apparent power.
• Calculate the direct and indirect costs associated with low power factor.
• Explain the benefits of maintaining a high power factor.
• Identify common causes of low power factor in electrical systems.
• Compare methods for improving power factor.
• Select power-factor capacitors using appropriate application and sizing criteria.
• Analyze how harmonic distortion affects power-factor correction.
• Design an appropriate power-factor improvement approach for a representative electrical system.

Certificate of Completion

You will be able to immediately print a certificate of completion after passing a multiple-choice quiz consisting of 20 questions. CPD credits are not awarded until the course is completed and quiz is passed.