A simple power factor calculation for electrical power systems

•A new algorithm is proposed for PD estimation to calculate PF of a power system.•The proposed method is demonstrated with mathematically and presented graphically.•The performance comparisons are performed by using PSCAD.•The advantages and disadvantages of the method are also given in the conclusions.

The accurately and fast estimation of Phase Difference (PD) is required between the voltage and current of an AC electrical power system to calculate the Power Factor (PF) for defining how effectively the electrical energy is converted into the useful form. Many complex methods based on difficult mathematical equations are presented by the researchers to estimate the PD. In this study, a new and simple algorithm derived by using the trigonometric functions is proposed for PD estimation to calculate PF of a power system. With this method, the fast-time and unaffected by distorted sinusoids of PD estimation are carried out by decreasing the number of mathematical equations. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated under the various system conditions by performing the simulation case studies. The results of these studies are given to verify its effectiveness under the distorted system conditions.