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Substations – Volume VI – Voltage Regulators and Capacitors

Lee Layton, P.E.


Course Outline

The first chapter of this course reviews voltage regulators including specifications, ratings and application issues related to regulators.  The second chapter covers capacitors including different methods to bank capacitors and the methods to switch capacitor banks.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

After taking this course you should,

Intended Audience

This course is intended for electrical engineers and others who want to understand how electric power substations are designed.

Benefit to Attendees

This series of courses is a step by step overview of the factors that need to be considered when building an electrical substation.  The course will give the reader a good understanding of the factors involved in the design of a substation.

Course Introduction

This course is one of a series of thirteen courses on the design of electrical substations.  The courses do not necessarily have to be taken in order and, for the most part, are stand-alone courses.  The following is a brief description of each course.

Volume I, Design Parameters.  Covers the general design considerations, documents and drawings related to designing a substation.

Volume II, Physical Layout.  Covers the layout considerations, bus configurations, and electrical clearances.

Volume III, Conductors and Bus Design.  Covers bare conductors, rigid and strain bus design.

Volume IV, Power Transformers.  Covers the application and relevant specifications related to power transformers and mobile transformers.

Volume V, Circuit Interrupting Devices.  Covers the specifications and application of power circuit breakers, metal-clad switchgear and electronic reclosers.

Volume VI, Voltage Regulators and Capacitors.  Covers the general operation and specification of voltage regulators and capacitors.

Volume VII, Other Major Equipment.  Covers switch, arrestor, and instrument transformer specification and application.

Volume VIII, Site and Foundation Design.  Covers general issues related to site design, foundation design and control house design.

Volume IX, Substation Structures. Covers the design of bus support structures and connectors.

Volume X, Grounding.  Covers the design of the ground grid for safety and proper operation.

Volume XI, Protective Relaying.  Covers relay types, schemes, and instrumentation.

Volume XII, Auxiliary Systems.  Covers AC & DC systems, automation, and communications.

Volume XIII, Insulated Cable and Raceways.  Covers the specifications and application of electrical cable.

Course Content

This course content is in the following PDF document:

Substations – Volume VI – Voltage Regulators and Capacitors

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

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Course Summary

This volume of the series on Substation Design has focused on voltage regulators and capacitors.  Voltage regulators provide the very important function of maintaining the desired delivery voltage from a substation. With the proper use of the control settings and line drop compensation, regulators can correct for load variations as well. A properly applied and controlled voltage regulator not only keeps the voltage at a customer’s service entrance within approved limits but also minimizes the range of voltage swing between light and heavy load periods.

Shunt capacitor banks can be used at substations to improve power factor and voltage conditions by supplying leading kilovars to transmission and distribution systems.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.


DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.