What is power facotr？
Power factor is a measure of how effectively your equipment are using electricity. It is the ratio of working power, measured in kilowatts (kW), to apparent power, measured in kilovolt amperes (kVA). Apparent power, also known as demand, is the measure of the amount of power used to run machinery and equipment during a certain period.
The nearer the power factor is to unity (1 pf), the closer the two waveforms are in phase with each other and the device uses power more efficiently, hence why power factor relates to UPS efficiency.
What is UPS input power factor？
UPS input power factor is the ratio of UPS input active power to input power. UPS is not only a part of power supply, but also a load on the utility power source.It means the UPS power supply not only obtains active power from the mains, but also obtains reactive power.
For example, if you configure an uninterruptible power supply with an input power factor of 0.8 and an input power of 100kva, when the UPS uninterruptible power supply output is at full load, the UPS will absorb 80kw of active power from the grid and also 60kvar Reactive power, then in fact you needs to equipped the power supply system with 150kva electricity capacity.
The UPS input power factor (p.f.) varies with how much load is on the output of the UPS and in modern UPS equipment is 0.9 or better. In large UPS equipment (e.g. 25kVA) the input power factor could be a very important part of the overall system design. In small UPS equipment, power factor is usually not a concern unless many units are being installed.
What is UPS output power factor？
UPS rated output power factor is a UPS design factor The rated output power factor describes the maximum active and apparent loading the UPS can tolerate by design. For example, a 100 kVA UPS with a rated output power factor of 1.0 can handle loads up to 100 kW active power and 100 kVA apparent power. If the power factor is 0.8, these loads become 80 kW and 100 kVA, respectively. To correctly select and size the UPS, the total active and apparent power of the load must be known.
However, the output factor varies between different types of UPS. For standby UPS or Line-interactive UPS, the UPS input power factor equles to the output factor.