Date: Issue 109 - August 2021
Most commercial electronic equipment contains some form of power factor correction, intended to ensure that a reasonably high power factor is maintained. However, these power factor correction circuits are typically fixed rather than adaptive, designed to optimize power factor only when the equipment is operating at a maximum electrical load.
When the electrical load of this equipment decreases in the course of normal operations, the input power factor degrades significantly, and fixed power factor correction circuitry is not able to compensate for the lighter loading. This is the primary reason that NOVA Power Solutions engineers strongly recommend not over-provisioning a power protection solution, as the decrease in power factor translates to increased energy usage and higher costs.