Test and Measure Power Factor to confirm your product compliance
A convenient single test for confirming integrity of complete products
New AT5600 Test Option
WHAT
What is Power Factor ?
Power factor is defined as the ratio of real to apparent power used in any circuit.
Electrically it is defined as
Power Factor = [ Real Power / Apparent Power ]
= [ Watts / (Volts x Amps) ]
The AT5600 allows you to make a direct measurement of this important parameter in two ways
1) True Power factor includes the fundamental and all harmonic content of Volts and Amps and Watts
2) Displacement Power Factor measures only the fundamentals of Volts and Amps and Watts
WHY
Why is it important to check PF ?
The PWRF test can be used on any transformer, but probably is most applicable to any mains / line voltage transformer where external standards and regulations require transformers used on equipment to be efficient and not lossy.
Low power factors indicate an inefficient use of energy that could result in thermal heating of windings and cores , resulting in lower life spans, as well as the obvious financial operating cost of the electrical power lost.
PWRF is also important for current transformers, where an ideal CT would have no winding resistance, no magnetising current on the winding and no core losses, all of which will result in measurement error
The PWRF test provides a convenient single test for confirming integrity of complete products - i.e. Core material consistency, DC Resistance and Magnetizing current.
HOW
How Does The AT5600 Test PF ?
The new PWRF test sits along side the existing "Class D" tests that you may already be using for your testing - MAGI, VOC, WATT, STRW.
Like these 4 tests, Power factor can be measured at 1-270 Volts AC, 20-1,500 Hz
During the Power Factor test, a constant AC voltage is applied across a selected winding. All other windings are held open circuit during this test.
The AT5600 measures the voltage across the winding and current through the winding. The Wattage is also measured as the product of the current and voltage waveforms. From these base measurements the Power Factor is then calculated and retuned.
You can also choose to measure True Power factor (all harmonics) or Displacement Power Factor (Fundamentals only)
Can I try the test first ?
YES, you can!
To try the new test for yourself, you will need the following;
- An AT5600 with Firmware V 1.004.006 or later installed
- The new dotNET AT Editor v4.xx to program the tests (or to add them to your existing programs)
- The new dotNET AT Server v4.xx to collect results
- A demo key code from us to enable the PWRF test for 30 days
If you would like to demo this new feature yourself, please use the form to the right and we will send you a demo keycode to enable the test on your unit for 30 days.
Get a quick online quote for the AT5600 Power Factor test (or any of the other test options) here.
Once purchased, tests are enabled by keycode so you can be testing power factor in seconds.