Design and modeling of D-Statcom for power factor improvement. Case study: Gatare Tea Factory

Abstract

Electricity is the widely used form of energy all over the world. Industries are using electricity to power the machines which are usually driven by induction motors. When these induction motors are operating, the system's power factor drops, which is a huge concern for the utilities that provide electricity since it results in increased losses from the reactive power that are used those induction motors and which is not paid. The system with low power factor is subjected to a number of problems such as voltage drop, voltage instability and high investment for buying larger generators, transformers and cables. Industries owners also face the problem of paying high bill due to high maximum kVA demand as the power factor varies inversely proportional to the reactive power of supply, and the increased reactive power result in increased kVA rating of the system. Gatare Tea Factory, like other industries, struggles with a low power factor that averages at 0.54 if power factor is not corrected. A Distribution Static Synchronous Compensator (DSTATCOM), which boosted the factory power factor from 0.54 to 0.96 and above, was designed and modelled to improve this power factor. Various techniques were employed to complete this work, including factory-based data collection and analysis, analysis of other authors' writings on power factor improvement, selection and modeling of DSTATCOM, with power and control circuit modeling and simulation in Matlab/Simulink, and finally discussion of findings and cost analysis. With the simulation in Matlab/Simulink, the DSTATCOM supply the reactive power in the system to be absorbed by the load which results in the increase of power factor from 0.54 to 0.96 and above. From simulated results the Voltage source converter DSTATCOM was shown to be a reliable and economical fact device to improve the power factor.