Automatic Power Factor Controller using Microcontroller

The thirst for new sources of energy is unquenchable, but we seldom realize that we are wasting a part of the electrical energy every day due to the lagging power factor in the inductive loads we use. Hence there is an urgent need to avoid this wastage of energy.Before getting into the details of Power factor correction, lets just brush our knowledge about the term “power factor”. In simple words power factor basically states how far the energy provided has been utilized. The maximum value of power factor is unity. So closer the value of P.F to unity, better is the utility of energy or lesser is the wastage. In electrical terms Power factor is basically defined as the ratio of the active power to reactive power or it is the phase difference between voltage and current. Active power performs useful work while Reactive power does no useful work but is used for developing the magnetic field required by the device.Most of the devices we use have power factor less than unity. Hence there is a requirement to bring this power factor close to unity. Here we are presenting a prototype for automatic power factor correction using PIC Microcontroller.