Power Factor Improvements in Domestic Loads Using PIC Microcontroller

Power factor correction (PFC) is a technique of counteracting the undesirable effects of electric loads that create a power factor that is less than one. Power factor correction may be applied either by an electrical power transmission utility to improve the stability and efficiency of the transmission network or correction may be installed by individual electrical customers to reduce the costs charged to them by their electricity supplier. In order to improve transmission efficiency, power factor correction research has become a hot topic. Many control methods for the power factor correction (PFC) have been proposed. This research work describes the effect of combination of loads on power factor of microcontroller based power system and also described the design and analysis of a power factor correction using PIC microcontroller chip. This involves measuring the power factor value from the load using PIC and proper algorithm to determine the sufficient firing angle to trigger the TRIAC in order to compensate excessive reactive components, thus bringing power factor near to unity. In this research work, four experiments were conducted.