Voltage Optimisation & Power Factor Correction
Voltage optimisers provide a small reduction in voltage which is matched to the needs of your site and in doing so reduces your electricity consumption.
Here in the UK voltage supplied to any building can legally vary between 216V and 253V. In order to maintain the supply on the network to all the consumers, your electricity provider may have to supply you at a voltage in the upper end of this range. However, electrical equipment is designed to operate throughout the range.
If your supply voltage is higher than necessary then you will be consuming more power than you require. For example, equipment that is designed to operate at 230V will consume approximately 9% more power if supplied at 240V. These higher supply voltages also reduce the equipments life, in some instances by up to 45%, which increases the cost of ownership.
Voltage optimisers reduce your unnecessarily high incoming supply voltage in a very special way and in doing so can reduce your electricity bill and carbon emissions by up to 25%.
Power factor is a way of describing how efficiently electricla power is consumed. The power that you draw from your supply consists of two parts, useful power and reactive power.
Useful power is the power equipment needs to achieve the task at hand. Reactive power is drawn in addition to useful power however it does not contribute to achieving the task. The combination of the two determines the total power drawn from your supply, (which is known as apparent power).
Power factor is the ratio of useful power against total power drawn from the supply. An ideal ratio is 1.0 (known as unity), which is a perfect match between power drawn from the supply, and used power for the task. A poor power factor results in more power being drawn from your supply than is required to perform the task, which can result in additional reactive power penalty charges.
Although your factor will be slightly improved as a consequence of installing your device; this is not the same as active power factor correction (PFC). Incorporating PFC with your device will bring your power factor very close to unity. This provides a number of benefits, it reduces the amount of apparent power drawn from your supply, it increases your supplies capacity, it can prolong the life of your electrical equioment, and, most importantly, it elevates any reactive power penalty charges imposed by your electricity supplier, so can save you money.
We have more detailed data sheets available ahould you require more detailed information.
We offer a full surveying service, ensuring that the voltage optimising equipment is sized according to the sites needs.
Voltage optimising and power factor correction is most beneficial to consumers of high volumes of electricity i.e. non-domestic.