LabVIEW Virtual Instrument for the Command of an Adaptive Balancing Capacitive Compensator

Two of the main concerns of distribution system operators and consumers regarding the power quality at the point of common coupling are power factor correction and load balancing. These problems can be addressed simultaneously by using unbalanced capacitive compensators which, in addition to the power factor correction, also balance the three-phase network load. The command of these compensators can be done using classic Programable Logical Controllers used on industrial scale in this field, which strictly implement the functions necessary for such a process. The paper presents a control solution for unbalanced capacitive compensators implemented by NI technology and LabVIEW graphical programming software. The solution is applied on a laboratory demonstration experimental model for an adaptive balancing capacitive compensator.