It is not always economical to keep a capacitor bank in service throughout the day and night. This is because, a capacitor also provides reactive power to the system as inductor but in opposite direction. Actually capacitive reactive power provided by capacitor neutralizer the inductive reactive power generated in the system due to inductive load. In this way overall reactive power of the system is reduced hence power factor of the system is improved as result voltage profile of the system is im

ANSI, IEEE, NEMA or IEC standard is used for testing a power capacitor bank.There are three types of test performed on capacitor banks. They are Design Tests or Type Tests. Production Test or Routine Tests. Field Tests or Pre commissioning Tests.Design Tests or Type Tests of Capacitor BankWhen a new design of power capacitor is launched by a manufacturer, it to be tested whether the new batch of capacitor comply the standard or not. Design tests or type tests are not performed on individual capa

The power factor improver capacitor can be installed at system bus, distribution point and at load itself. But decision should be taken in view of expenditure and utility.In certain loads mainly in industrial load, the entire load is switch ON or OFF based on need. In such cases it is recommended to install capacitor bank with the feeder which provides entire of this particular load. This scheme is known as branch capacitor bank scheme. As capacitor bank is directly connected to feeder or branch

Unit of a capacitor bank is normally called capacitor unit. The capacitor units are manufactured as single phase unit. These single phase units are connected in star or delta to farm a complete 3 phase capacitor bank. Although some rare manufacturers 3 phase capacitor unit but normally available capacitor units are single phase type. The Externally fused capacitor bank. Internally fused capacitor bank. Fuse less capacitor bank.Let us discuss these types of capacitor bank one by one.Externally Fu

A capacitor bank has to go through different abnormal system conditions, during its life span. To with stand these abnormalities at optimum manufacturing cost, the capacitor banks are rated with following allowable parameters. A capacitor bank should continue its service with in the following limits. 110 % of normal system peak voltage. 120 % of normal system rms voltage. 135 % of rated KVAR. 180 % of normal rated rms current.Voltage Rating of Capacitor BankA capacitor unit is normally designed

What is a Shunt Capacitor?A capacitor bank is very essential equipment of an electrical power system. The power required to run all the electrical appliances is the load as useful power is active power. The active power is expressed in kW or MW. The maximum load connected to the electrical power system is mainly inductive in nature such as electrical transformer, induction motors, synchronous motor, electric furnaces, fluorescent lighting are all inductive in nature.In addition to these, inducta

Like capacitor bank, we can use an overexcited synchronous motor to improve the poor power factor of a power system. The main advantage of using synchronous motor is that the improvement of power factor is smooth.When a synchronous motor runs with over-excitation, it draws leading current from the source. We use this property of a synchronous motor for the purpose.Here, in a three-phase system, we connect one three-phase synchronous motor and run it at no load.Suppose due to a reactive load of t

A capacitor bank is a group of several capacitors of the same rating that are connected in series or parallel to store electrical energy in an electric power system. Capacitors are devices that can store electric charge by creating an electric field between two metal plates separated by an insulating material. Capacitor banks are used for various purposes, such as power factor correction, voltage regulation, harmonic filtering, and transient suppression.What is Power Factor?Power factor is a mea

We defineinsulation resistanceas the ratio of applied direct voltage across an insulation to the corresponding current through it.Mesaurement of inslation resistance is quite important. We normally take the reading of the measurement at a certain time after application of test voltage. The standard duration of voltage application are 1 minute or 10 minutes. Because of that, insulation resistance can also be referred as 1 minute insulation resistance or 10 minute insulation resistance depending u

To ensure the desired performance of an electrical insulator, that is for avoiding unwanted insulator failure, each insulator has to undergo numbers of insulator test.Before going through testing of insulator we will try to understand different causes of insulator failure. Because insulator testing ensures the quality of electrical insulator and chances for failure of insulation depend upon the quality of insulator.Causes of Insulator FailureThere are different causes due to which failure of ins