What is power factor? Why is power factor used? What is meant by lagging, leading and unity power factor?

What is power factor? Why is power factor used? What is meant by lagging, leading and unity power factor?

                What is power factor

The cosine between voltage and current is called power factor. Or the trailing and leading cosine angle of the current is called the power factor. It is denoted by cosǾ. Simply put, current is how much ahead or behind the voltage it is. If the current and voltage are equal then the power factor is called 1. 

             Why is power factor used

Power factor is used to determine the percentage of current that we can use for the required task. That is, if the input supply is 100 kilo volts, then the power factor is used to determine how many volts we get at the output. It is denoted by cosǾ.

What is meant by lagging, leading and unity power factor?

Lagging power factor: Lagging power factor is when the current lags behind the voltage or when the inductive load is greater than the capacitive load in an AC circuit, it is called lagging power factor. For example, 80 degree lagging power factor means that current lags 80 degrees with respect to voltage. 

Leading power factor: If the capacitive load is more than the inductive load in AC circuit. if the current is ahead of the voltage then it is called leading power factor. For example, 80 degree leading power factor means that the current will be 80 degrees ahead of the voltage. 

Unity Power Factor: When the current and voltage in the circuit are equal. when the inductive and capacitive loads are equal in the circuit then it is called unity power factor. If the load is capacitive then the power factor is leading and if the load is inductive then the power factor is lagging. If the load is Resistive then the power factor is Unity one.