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Building Services Engineering 5th Edition Handbook

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296 Electrical installations<br />

1<br />

Voltage<br />

V volts<br />

V max<br />

I max<br />

Relative voltage and current<br />

0<br />

Voltage leads<br />

current by phase<br />

angle 15<br />

degrees, so<br />

power factor is<br />

cos 15 = 0.96<br />

Current Iamps<br />

Current lags<br />

voltage in time<br />

–1<br />

0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360<br />

Phase angle, degrees<br />

13.4 Phase angle lag.<br />

Power factor is the term used to differentiate between useful output power in watts and the<br />

input instantaneous product of voltage and current to the load:<br />

useful power in watts watts<br />

power factor PF = =<br />

input volts × amps volt × amps<br />

real power (to do work)<br />

=<br />

apparent power<br />

PF = kW<br />

kVA<br />

= kilowatts<br />

kilovolt-amps = kW real<br />

kVA (apparent)<br />

Figure 13.5 shows all three phases as they occur in real time, separated by 120 ◦ phase angle.<br />

Because of the three voltage sine waves within each cycle, the overall power generated is higher<br />

and smoother than with only a single-phase motor. Capacitors have an electrical storage capability,<br />

which is used to overcome the effects of inductance. Power factors of electrical equipment<br />

are commonly 0.85 and these can be improved to 0.95 by the addition of power-factor-correcting<br />

capacitors.<br />

Several loads to a circuit may be connected either in series or in parallel with each other. For<br />

series-connected resistances:<br />

R = R 1 + R 2 + R 3 +···

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