Notes on Power Factor
Real and Reactive Power Factor (PF and RF)
The Real and Reactive Power Factor of an AC electrical power system provide a ratio of real and reactive power flowing toward a load with respect to the apparent power in the circuit. In EasyPower, the Real Power Factor can be defined between the values of 1 and (-1), where, a negative value represents a leading power factor and a positive value represents a lagging power factor. This can be understood in more depth by applying the reference angle between voltage and current to find the reactive factor (RF) to find the total VAr (VoltAmps-reactive) in the same circuit.
Where a reference angle is defined as: θ REF= θ voltage - θ current
Power Factor: PF= cos θREF
Reactive Factor: RF= sin θREF
Therefore, we can see that when we have a negative θREF then the RF is also negative.
So, we may conclude that this implies;
- θ REF→ - kVAr
+ θ REF→ + kVAr
Thus, when entering equipment information in EasyPower for kVA & PF:
- PF → leading PF
+ PF → lagging PF
