Design and Implementation of IoT-Based Automatic Power Factor Correction Relay Using Raspberry Pi

This paper illustrates the design and implementation of an IOT -based automatic power factor correction (APFC) relay using Raspberry Pi in electrical power distribution systems. Power quality is crucial across numerous non-linear consumers in power distribution systems (PDS). One of the essential factors determining the power quality is the power factor. In PDS, the power factor can deteriorate due to factors such as AC motors, water pumps, welding instruments, transformers, voltage regulators, arcs & induction heaters, choke wires, neon signs, etc. Besides, all industries require consistent power quality for many applications daily. High-quality electricity improves productivity, eliminates technical issues, and lowers energy costs. A poor power factor for the PDS causes huge amounts of line losses, low voltage problems, and thermal problems in switchgear. Therefore, automatic power factor improvement plays a significant role in reducing electricity consumption and ensuring more efficient system operation. To solve this problem, in this paper, the design and simulation of a single-phase APFC with IOT utilizing a Raspberry Pi Pico (W) are described. Here, CT and PT measure current and voltage; an XOR gate measures the angle between voltage and current. A suitable algorithm is coded for the Raspberry PI to obtain the desired power factor (0.99 to 0.98), and according to IEC 61921:2017, calculated capacitor banks (04 stages) are used. Besides, IOT is interfaced through ThingSpeak to show the real-time data of an APFC relay using the internet from anywhere to monitor it properly. Furthermore, the theoretical and simulated results are validated using 1000-watt prototype inductive loads (induction motor).