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bbradburry(at)bellsouth.n
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 Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:46 pm Post subject: Power Mizer |
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This is off the airplane subject, but concerns electricity and I don't know
where to find a more knowledgeable group.
I was shown a device today called the Power Mizer which is supposed to be a
capacitor that will reduce the current draw of inductive devices. An
electric motor pulled about 10A on startup and then settled down to about 6A
without the device turned on. With it on, the start up draw dropped to
about 5A and the steady state draw to about 2.4A.
This makes no sense to me. I smell a rat. Check out this video and let me
know if this is hogwash.
You can contact me off line to keep the traffic down on the list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMZjWkbF9bQ&feature=related
Thanks for the assistance.
Bill B
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mprather(at)spro.net
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 7:29 pm Post subject: Power Mizer |
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I don't think this is a new idea.. Power factor correction is probably
nearly as old as AC power distribution.
There's a fairly good description of power factor correction on the
Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor
Regards,
Matt-
| Quote: |
<bbradburry(at)bellsouth.net>
This is off the airplane subject, but concerns electricity and I don't
know
where to find a more knowledgeable group.
I was shown a device today called the Power Mizer which is supposed to be
a
capacitor that will reduce the current draw of inductive devices. An
electric motor pulled about 10A on startup and then settled down to about
6A
without the device turned on. With it on, the start up draw dropped to
about 5A and the steady state draw to about 2.4A.
This makes no sense to me. I smell a rat. Check out this video and let
me
know if this is hogwash.
You can contact me off line to keep the traffic down on the list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMZjWkbF9bQ&feature=related
Thanks for the assistance.
Bill B
|
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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 8:57 pm Post subject: Power Mizer |
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| Quote: | I smell a rat. Check out this video and let me
know if this is hogwash. |
It depends . . . but your skepticism is not unwarranted.
In the DC power world of our airplanes, the power system
is very UNdynamic. I.e. relatively steady state levels
of voltage and current. For our purposes, Watts of beneficial
power is simply a matter of multiplying volts x amps. In
the AC world, it doesn't HAVE to be more difficult. The
lowly incandescent lamp and heaters in your water heater
do not present a highly reactive load on the power source.
As soon as you wrap wires around cores of magnetic materials,
'stuff' happens. The counter EMF of magnetic fields building
in cores will lag behind the applied voltage thus causing
current to no longer be in phase with the applied voltage.
Apparent power is still volts x amps. But true power
consumed is multiplied by the cosine of the difference
in phase angles between current and voltage to produce
a correction value or "power factor".
The BIG downside of powering large loads of poor
power factor is that the WIRE size in the motor, sizes
of breakers, feeder wires, and wires in transformers
must be rated for apparent current. The industry uses
capacitors at judicious places throughout their distribution
systems and large users will use capacitors in their
installations to counteract the inductive components of
low power factor loads.
Watt-hour meters on the back of your house measure
true power consumed. I.e. they're corrected for any
differences between true and apparent power. Now, if your
house is plagued with lots of continuous duty, low power
factor loads, the overall system efficiency can be degraded
due to increased heating in the wiring needed to supply
the SAME amount of energy to the working task.
The demonstration in the video was with an unloaded
motor which has decidedly different characteristics
compared with a motor that is loaded to name-plate
rated horsepower. Hence the demonstration was bogus.
Further, measurement of current alone is NOT a true
indication of system efficiency.
I've written to the company to see if they'll share
a engineering report on the testing claimed in their
promotional videos and literature. I'm betting that they
won't.
Bottom line is that while adding capacitors to a
system with a lagging power factor will increase
the ohmic efficiency (let you get the same energy
out the other end of the wire at slightly less
current . . . and I DO mean slightly) it won't
have more than a similarly slight effect on your
light bill.
See:
http://tinyurl.com/yln6gwv
A few years back there was a big "gee whiz" promotion
on devices that would "save you a gazillion dollars"
that were inserted in a line between the
wall plug and appliance. I've not seen those critters
being hyped lately . . . I think they're out of
fashion.
Bob . . .
[quote][b]
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