Variac controlled reactive power compensation

Abstract

The importance of reactive power compensation has increased for efficient use of electric energy. Nowadays, central compensation that increasing number of steps is widely used. But, installation and maintenance costs cause compelling effects. In this study, Reactive energy to be supplied to the grid was attempted to be kept at the desired value by adjusting the voltage applied to the capacitor. For this purpose, variac that is adjustable output voltage with the help of a spindle was used. This variac is single-winding transformer. Different currents were obtained from a capacitor by adjusting the output voltage thanks to variac that is connected to the servo motor. In the study, three capacitors are connected to separate phases. Inductive loads are considered. Loads that are connected with the help of switch were read as input thanks to relays in the Arduino circuit. Servo motors was rotated at desired angle through the Arduino software that is loaded into memory, so power factor was adjusted to the desired value. Thus, different values reactive currents were provided from a capacitor. The results show that variac controlled compensation has a more effective performance than multi-steps central compensation.