Analysis of factors which influence the application, operation, and design of shunt-capacitor equipments switched in large banks

THE application of shunt capacitors to distribution circuits has been well treated in the technical press. These papers have in general dealt with conditions obtaining when relatively small banks of capacitors are connected to the circuit 24 hours of the day. The increase in knowledge of the benefits afforded by capacitors through experience and analysis, coupled with the price reductions effected through advances in design and manufacture, has logically stimulated their use in fields where switching during the day, as governed by load and voltage conditions, is advantageous, desirable, and economically sound. These types of applications impose different duties upon the capacitors as well as upon the disconnecting equipments and associated devices, and the question naturally arises in the engineers´ mind as to their effect upon the design and operation of the equipment. This paper offers a discussion and an analysis of the more pertinent of these problems. The conclusions drawn pertain in general to installations of 6,900 volts and below. The higher-voltage equipments may require additional considerations.