Application

Capacitor banks are widely used by utilities to maintain specified system voltage.

Addition of capacitive loads at appropriate points on the system compensate for

heavy inductive loading that normally tends to reduce voltage.

This adding of leading megavars to compensate for the lagging megavar

component of electric loads is frequently referred to as power factor correction.

Capacitor banks must be switched in response to actual load conditions in order

to obtain maximum power factor correction benefits.

Capacitor Bank Switching

One of the common methods of maximizing capacitor bank benefits is by evaluating

the bus voltage. A bandwidth surrounding the desired bus voltage level is

established. When the bus voltage falls below the bandwidth level, the capacitor

bank is switched into the circuit. When the bus voltage rises above the bandwidth

level, the capacitor bank is switched out.