Effect of Low-Voltage Thyristor-Switched Capacitor Banks on Electrical Energy Consumption

In this paper, advantages of low voltage Thyristor Switched Capacitor(TSC) banks over Electromechanically operated ones in terms of electrical energy saving are thoroughly investigated. When load change is fast, the speed of reactive compensator devices becomes very important. In this paper, for different load change rates, the effect of the compensating system on system average power factor and electrical losses is explained. It is also shown that for highly varying loads such as soldering machines or arcing devices, the electromechanically operated capacitor banks cannot effectively improve system power factor and they may even worsen the system performance. It is shown that operation of a TSC dos not result in harmonic amplification and switching transients. The paper also presents some experimental results of a TSC operation in a car manufacturing company.