why transformer capacity is in KVA and not say in KW? kVA is the unit for apparent power.

Apparent power consists of active and reactive power. Active power is the share of the apparent power which transmits energy from the source (generator) to the user. Reactive power is the share of the apparent power which represents a useless oscillation of energy from the source to the user and back again. It occurs when on account of some inertia in the system there is a phase shift between voltage and current. This means that the current does not change polarity synchronous with the voltage. But the heat generated in a winding as well as the eddy current losses generated in a transformer core depend on the current only, regardless of whether it aligns with the voltage or not. Therefore the heat is always proportional to the square of the current amplitude, irrespective of the phase angle (the shift between voltage and current). So a transformer has to be rated (and selected) by apparent power. The difference is that, even though both are electrical equipments, transformer is considered as a power source while the Induction motor is considered as a load. In the case of a power source, you cannot predict the type of load (resistive, Capacitive or Inductive) that will be connected to it. Hence the actual usable capacity rating depends on the power factor of the load. Power = Voltage x Current x Power Factor If the load is resistive, PF is 1 (unity) and if the load is inductive, it will be less than unity. In the second case (Load), the motor manufacturer gives the rated voltage and full load current taking into account the power factor. Thumb Rule - all AC power sources - Generators, Transformers, UPS etc. are rated in KVA and all loads are rated in Watt or Kilowatt. At the designing of transformer you can not predict which type of load is placed on thatone i.e; the power factor is unknown.under no load conditions thhe transformer losses is depend on nearly sqare of voltage.under load condition the

losses depends on sqare of current.So overall losses in transformer is depends on voltage and current only,so yhe rating is inKVA The losses in trasformer only depends on voltage under no load condition and curret under load condition,so it is independent on power factor on which it is operating load

AC power
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(Redirected from Apparent power) Jump to: navigation, search This article deals with power in AC systems. See Mains electricity for information on utility supplied AC power.

Usually hidden from the unaided eye, the blinking of (non-incandescent) lighting powered by AC mains is revealed in this motion-blurred long exposure of city lights. Light is emitted twice each cycle. Power is defined as the rate of flow of energy past a given point. In alternating current circuits, voltage and current only remain in phase if the load is purely resistive. When this happens the power is said to be 'real power'. If instead the load is purely reactive (either Capacitive or Inductive), all of the power is reflected back to the generator as the phase cycles. The load is said to draw zero real power, instead it draws only 'reactive power'. If a load is both resistive and reactive, it will have both real and reactive power, resulting in total amount of power called the 'apparent power'. The currents and voltages are forced out of synchrony by attached devices that store and release energy in different ways at different times. In AC power systems, attached loads

that store energy behave like combinations of coils and capacitors. Coils store power as magnetic fields, behave something like "electrical flywheels" and delay changes in the current. Capacitors store power as electric charge, behave something like "electrical springs" and therefore advance changes in currents. The portion of power flow averaged over a complete cycle of the AC waveform that results in net transfer of energy in one direction is known as real power. The portion of power flow due to stored energy which returns to the source in each cycle is known as reactive power. In reality there are losses along AC power transmission lines, meaning a purely reactive load, while drawing no real power itself, consumes power because the supplied and reflected power dissipate away on the transmission line, and energy is wasted. For this reason an AC load should be designed to have as little reactive power as possible. In most jurisdictions the power factor (percentage of apparent power that is real power) must be at least a certain percentage (typically 90%, 95% or 99%), otherwise extra charges may apply above what is recorded on a power meter, as power as been reflected back up the transmission line and wasted.

Real, reactive, and apparent power

The apparent power is the vector sum of real and reactive power Engineers use the following terms to describe energy flow in a system (and assign each of them a different unit to differentiate between them):

Real power (P) [Unit: W] Reactive power (Q) [Unit: var] Complex power (S) Apparent Power (|S|) [Unit: VA]: i.e. the absolute value of complex power S.

In the diagram, P is the real power, Q is the reactive power (in this case negative), S is the complex power and the length of S is the apparent power. The unit for all forms of power is the watt (symbol: W). However, this unit is generally reserved for the real power component. Apparent power is conventionally expressed in volt-amperes (VA) since it is the simple product of rms voltage and rms current. The

IEC gave the unit for reactive power the unit symbol "var", which stands for voltamperes reactive (since reactive power flow transfers no net energy to the load, it is sometimes called "wattless" power). Note that it does not make sense to assign a single unit to complex power because it is a complex number and it is therefore defined as a pair of two units: W and var. Understanding the relationship between these three quantities lies at the heart of understanding power engineering. The mathematical relationship among them can be represented by vectors or expressed using complex numbers, (where j is the imaginary unit). The complex value S is referred to as the complex power. Consider an ideal alternating current (AC) circuit consisting of a source and a generalized load, where both the current and voltage are sinusoidal. If the load is purely resistive, the two quantities reverse their polarity at the same time, the direction of energy flow does not reverse, and only real power flows. If the load is purely reactive, then the voltage and current are 90 degrees out of phase and there is no net power flow. This energy flowing backwards and forwards is known as reactive power. If a capacitor and an inductor are placed in parallel, then the currents flowing through the inductor and the capacitor oppose and tend to cancel out rather than adding. Conventionally, capacitors are considered to generate reactive power and inductors to consume it. This is the fundamental mechanism for controlling the power factor in electric power transmission; capacitors (or inductors) are inserted in a circuit to partially cancel reactive power of the load. A practical load will have resistive, inductive, and capacitive parts, and so both real and reactive power will flow to the load. The apparent power is the product of voltage and current. Apparent power is handy for sizing of equipment or wiring. However, adding the apparent power for two loads will not accurately give the total apparent power unless they have the same displacement between current and voltage.

[edit] Power factor

Main article: Power factor Power factor measures the efficiency of an AC power system. Power factor is the real power per unit of apparent power. (pf = Wh/VAh) A power factor of one is perfect, and 99% is good. Where the waveforms are purely sinusoidal, the power factor is the cosine of the phase angle () between the current and voltage sinusoid waveforms. Equipment data sheets and nameplates often will abbreviate power factor as "cos" for this reason. Power factor equals 1 when the voltage and current are in phase, and is zero when the current leads or lags the voltage by 90 degrees. Power factors are usually stated as "leading" or "lagging" to show the sign of the phase angle, where leading indicates a

negative sign. For two systems transmitting the same amount of real power, the system with the lower power factor will have higher circulating currents due to energy that returns to the source from energy storage in the load. These higher currents in a practical system will produce higher losses and reduce overall transmission efficiency. A lower power factor circuit will have a higher apparent power and higher losses for the same amount of real power transfer. Purely capacitive circuits cause reactive power with the current waveform leading the voltage wave by 90 degrees, while purely inductive circuits cause reactive power with the current waveform lagging the voltage waveform by 90 degrees. The result of this is that capacitive and inductive circuit elements tend to cancel each other out.

[edit] Reactive power flow

In power transmission and distribution, significant effort is made to control the reactive power flow. This is typically done automatically by switching inductors or capacitor banks in and out, by adjusting generator excitation, and by other means. Electricity retailers may use electricity meters which measure reactive power to financially penalise customers with low power factor loads. This is particularly relevant to customers operating highly inductive loads such as motors at water pumping stations.