VAR System: Optimizing efficiency, savings and maintenance in capacitor banks

In an increasingly connected world, the management of electrical installations becomes critical. In our daily lives, we are more connected than ever. At Circutor, we are leading the way towards the future with our innovative VAR system, which allows us to remotely connect and monitor all our capacitor banks.

For this reason, proper maintenance of capacitor banks is essential to maximize their lifespan and avoid unpleasant surprises in future electricity bills. Many users realize that their capacitor bank is not working properly when they receive an unusually high bill. Upon examining the details, they discover that they are once again paying for reactive energy, indicating a problem with the capacitor bank.

Hence, the need arises for a detection system that prevents these billing surprises, which can range from a few tens of €uros to several thousand. This solution must be simple and accessible to any type of user.

Discover the new Power Factor Monitoring System

VAR (or more commonly kvar) is the unit of reactive power. And from now on, VAR is also the new Power Factor Monitoring System integrated into the MyCircutor platform, available in CIRCUTOR's capacitor banks. In the following video, we will provide you with all the benefits you will obtain by using our new VAR System, whether you are an installer or an end user.

What benefits does it provide?

The Anti-Reactive Surveillance (ARV) system monitors 24/7 the inductive reactive power of your installation and warns you when the cos phi does not reach the target, anticipating a possible penalty on your electricity bill.

Moreover, VAR helps you carry out preventive maintenance for all your capacitor banks, ensuring their proper operation, directly from the cloud. When your capacitor bank detects any problem, you will receive an email alert to anticipate potential problems before they have a negative impact on your installation and electric bill, no matter where they are installed.

All of these features ensure that you never have to pay for reactive power on your bill.

Avoid penalties so that your customers do not overpay

As we have seen, the VAR system is designed to proactively prevent any penalties on the electric bill, ensuring that they will never again pay for reactive power, by offering:

• A remote, value-added maintenance service.
• Weekly reports that will be automatically sent to provide insights into the capacitor bank status and the latest 12 average power factors (cos phi).
• Email alerts, to the people of your choice, detailing any alarms and offering useful advice on how to resolve them.
• Monitoring of critical electrical parameters in your installation, such as V (voltage), I (current), cos phi (power factor), THDV% (total harmonic distortion in voltage), THDI% (total harmonic distortion in current) and hourly consumptions.
• Furthermore, it saves time and costs during any assistance, as thanks to the VAR system, you will know in advance the problem and the spare parts you need to bring to resolve it.

Automatic email alerts

• Target cos phi alert: We will notify you when your installation's cos phi falls below the target value.
• Trend warning: We will notify you when your installation's cos phi follows a downward trend. We are detecting a steady decrease in cos phi, indicating a drop in the bank's compensation capacity.
  

Review everything that has happened

The VAR System allows you to filter events and alarms in the period of time you need. This way you can quickly and easily view any event that your capacitor bank may have had.

Analyse the most relevant electrical parameters of your installation

The VAR System offers you an analysis of the most relevant electrical variables of your installation so that you can monitor the graphical evolution of parameters such as voltage, current, THDV%, THDI%, energy consumption (consumed and generated) and reactive energy in all 4 quadrants.

Choose the regulator that is most suitable for connecting to the VAR

The Computer PFC regulator is the controller responsible for connecting the various steps of a capacitor bank to compensate for inductive reactive energy in real-time. This controller is also responsible for connecting to the VAR System through communications to ensure its monitoring from the cloud.

Computer C Wi-Fi

The Computer C Wi-Fi has all the features necessary to guarantee the correct operation of the capacitor bank and the correct compensation of reactive energy. Depending on your needs, you can choose between the Computer C Wi-Fi regulator or the Computer Smart III regulator.

Computer Smart III

The Computer Smart III reactive energy regulator adds the possibility of measuring by means of 3 current transformers to obtain measurements equivalent to the utility meter. In addition, it also integrates the network analyser function with residual current measurement to manage all the electrical parameters of your installation.

The regulator has an RS-485 communications port (Modbus RTU) to connect it to the Smart Link VAR converter and provide the system with Ethernet or Wi-Fi communications. These two devices allow you to connect the controller to your LAN network to communicate automatically with the VAR System.

Connecting to VAR is this easy

Steps to connect your capacitor bank to the VAR system using the Computer C Wi-Fi

Steps to connect your capacitor bank to the VAR system using the Computer Smart III