REACTORS IN POWER SYSTEM
Reactors are a coil with a large number of turns which has high ohmic resistance value it is used in power system to reduce the short circuit current and by that, it prevents the damage to the equipment in a power system.
SHUNT REACTOR
These reactors are generally used to absorb the reactive power generated by the capacitive effect of the system, shunt reactors are connected parallel in the system, The shunt reactor will increase the energy of a system by absorbing the reactive power. This can be connected to a power line or to a territory winding of a transformer
Shunt reactors are normally connected between line and the ground the shunt reactor can be three phase or single phase which is depended upon the power system configuration, it can be either air cored or gapped iron core depending upon the power system configuration Shunt reactor can be connected or switched by a circuit breaker
LINE CONNECTED SHUNT REACTOR
CURRENT LIMITING REACTORS
These rectors will be connected serially to the transmission or the distribution line or to the feeder so that it could limit the short circuit power on the load side of the reactor, the reactor will reduce the short circuit current to a rate which can be handled by the components in the electrical system
APPLICATIONS OF CURRENT LIMITING REACTOR
- It could be used as load balancing reactor for load sharing in parallel circuits
- The bus tie reactor will be installed between two different bus system
- It could be used as a damping rector
- It reduces the magnitude of voltage disturbance which is caused by short circuits
- The flow of the fault current will be reduced to the part of the system and thus it avoids the fault from spreading and it increases the chance for the continuity of the supply
ADVANTAGES OF REACTOR INSTALLATION
- It will prevent self-excitation on the generator on leading PF load
- reduced switching overvoltage due to initial charging of lines
- The overvoltage will be reduced on sound phases during a line to ground fault
- In the transmission line there will be a limited voltage rise at the time of light loads or after load shedding