A novel fractional order power factor measurement

This paper presents the design and experimental implementation of a smart power factor metering system to measure the fractional order power factor of a load. The variation of grid frequency or power factor (PF) increases the utility charges. The proposed design provides an accurate PF measurement by using a real-time AC power triangle. The system is designed by proposing a novel embedded system based controller that enables reading the main-line frequency, load voltage, current and their phase differences. A converter is designed first to transform the high voltage and current to the controller. The converter consists of a potential transformer, a current transformer, high differential strobe terminal based comparator and a logic gate that detects the phase delay between the load voltages and currents. A set of parallel capacitors are interconnected with the load terminal for improved PF measurement. The improved power factor confirms the saving of the utility charges for inductive loads. The simulation and experimental results are demonstrated to validate the effectiveness of proposed metering system.