I have just visited a small wood processing plant that has been losing fixed capicator banks over the last few years. I was not involved in sizing or installing, but there power factor was 83% before and 91% know, there is alot of vfd drives in this plant, any thoughts on this just to help me with my own feeling about the problem. Thanks
VF drives and capacitors do not go together. The dirves create harmonics and cause capacitor damage. You can install a harmonic filter that is composed of a reactor and capacitor.It must be tuned to the harmonic frequency to be effective. Suggest you get an engineer involved that is knowledgable of this type problem. You can order the filters complete after you determine the proper size. Edit: Are the capacitors install to improve power factor to reduce utility demand charges?
[This message has been edited by Bob (edited 04-26-2005).]