Operation; Operating Principle - Circutor SVGm IP54 Manual De Instrucciones

4.- OPERATION

4.1.- OPERATING PRINCIPLE

The currents consumed by the loads present in any installation have two components: an active com-
ponent, which generates an effort, and a reactive component, generated by the inductive or capacitive
nature of the load.
Both components are added when current flows through electrical conductors, which must be sized ac-
cordingly to transmit the resulting current. However, only part of these conductors are used to transmit
current, so the capacity of the power distribution lines is underused.
Therefore, distribution companies usually impose penalties on consumers with a low active to reactive
current ratio. This current ratio is known as the power factor, or cos Φ, according to whether it takes
into account the content of harmonics or only the fundamental frequency component.
The effects of reactive currents in the conductors of distribution lines can be minimised with two
methods:
 Passively, by adding reactive loads with the opposite sign to that of the loads of the instal-
lation. For example, adding capacitors to handle inductive loads.
Actively, by generating a current with the same magnitude as the active current to compen-
sate, in the opposite phase.
The SVGm is a device included in the second group. It uses the current measured with external current
transformers to generate a counter-phase current, with the magnitude required to obtain the cos Φ
programmed for the installation.
The SVGm operates as a current generation source, so it can compensate capacitive and inductive cur-
rents. In addition, its operation does not depend on the content of harmonics in the network, so it can
100
Active
Figure 20: Current Components.
Resulting
SVG
Figure 21: Operation of the SVGm.
Φ
Reactive
SVGm IP54
Instruction Manual