What is the power factor of the power supply? What are the practical impacts on industrial electricity consumption?

First, the core definition of power factor

Generally speaking, power factor is the core index to measure the efficiency of electric energy utilization, which refers to the ratio of active 

power to apparent power in the circuit, and the value is usually between 0 and 1. Active power is the electrical energy that is really consu-

med by equipment and converted into mechanical energy/thermal energy/chemical energy, and it is the part that actually does work; 

Apparent power is the product of voltage and current, including active power and reactive power. Reactive power itself does not do exter-

nal work, but is mainly used for the establishment and conversion of internal magnetic field of electrical equipment. For example, inductive 

loads such as transformers and motors all need to consume reactive power when running. The closer the power factor is to 1, the higher 

the effective utilization rate of electric energy and the less useless reactive power loss; On the contrary, it means that the utilization rate of 

electric energy is low, and the more electric energy is wasted.

Second, the three major impacts of low power factor on industrial users

1. generate power to adjust electricity charges and increase the cost of electricity use.

According to the domestic industrial electricity charging rules, the power supply department will assess the power factor of users, and the 

standard value is usually 0.9. If the user's overall power factor is lower than the standard value, it will produce a fine for adjusting electricity 

charges; Above the standard value, you will get the corresponding electricity fee reduction. In many factories and parks, the overall power 

factor is lower than 0.7 for a long time due to the use of a large number of inductive loads and low power factor power supplies, which will 

generate a large amount of power adjustment fines every month, which will be a considerable extra cost in the long run.

2. Reduce the utilization rate of power distribution equipment and increase the line loss.

When the power factor is low, the total current in the circuit will increase greatly under the same active power demand. This will directly 

lead to the increasing bearing pressure of distribution transformers and transmission lines, and the load that can be driven by distribution 

equipment with original design capacity will be greatly reduced, which is equivalent to reducing the carrying capacity of distribution system 

in disguised form. At the same time, the increase of current will aggravate the copper loss of lines and transformers, produce more useless 

heating loss, not only waste electric energy, but also accelerate the aging of cables and distribution equipment and shorten the service life.

3. Aggravate power grid pollution and affect the stable operation of equipment.

Power supply equipment with low power factor often has high harmonic content, which will inject a lot of harmonic current into the power 

grid, causing waveform distortion of the power grid, which is often called "power grid pollution". Harmonics will interfere with precision e-

lectronic equipment and measurement and control instruments in the same power grid, leading to data deviation, false triggering of equi-

pment, unstable operation, and even damaging sensitive components and causing equipment failure.

Third, the way to improve the power factor of industrial power supply

At present, the mainstream industrial power supply generally adopts power factor correction technology, which is mainly divided into pa-

ssive correction and active correction. Passive correction is compensated by passive components such as inductors and capacitors. The s-

tructure is simple but the correction effect is limited, and the power factor can only reach 0.7-0.8. Active power factor correction (APFC) 

actively adjusts the current waveform through a special control circuit to keep the current and voltage in phase. After correction, the po-

wer factor can reach above 0.95, which is the standard technology of high-end industrial power supply.

Generally speaking, power factor seems to be an insignificant parameter, but it is closely related to power consumption cost and system 

stability. When selecting power supply equipment in industrial scenes, high power factor products with source power factor correction 

are preferred, which can not only avoid the fine of power regulation, but also improve the utilization rate of distribution system and re-

duce the overall power consumption.

If you need type selection and transformation, you can consult Baoweite for the scheme. Thank you for browsing. You can collect official 

website of Shenzhen Baoweite Power Supply Co., Ltd.