Jraef:

Because of the potential for a major contribution to a VERY nasty transient

when switching from Star to Delta, the best method is to have a separate contact
or
in front of the capacitors and only switch them on after the start sequence is c
omplete.
Tie the output of the contactor to the line side of the starter ahead of the poi
nt where the
power splits off for the two circuits. Anything else is asking for trouble.
"When the starter switches from the Star to the Delta pattern, it must open the
circuit to avoid
a short (let's not get into Closed Transition here). In doing so, the motor is l
eft un-powered,
if even for a second. During that time there is no torque output, so the load wi
ll slow down.
This alone means that under the best of circumstances, the motor flux penetratio
n is lost in
transition and must be re-established for the Delta run operation, so there is u
sually as much
inrush current, again, as there would have been without starting in Star. but it
gets worse.
Large motors have significant residual magnetism, so when the motor is re-connec
ted in Delta,
it is often still acting as a generator. Now you are connecting a generator to a
line that is
out of synch! So depending upon where in the sine waves the re-connect is made,
there is either a
huge current spike or a huge voltage spike, or sometimes one followed by the oth
er. The torque
transient that this can create has been known to shear the shafts off of the mot
or.
the voltage transient is capable of shorting out SCRs in other parts of the faci
lity
Add capacitors to that mix and you are essentially GUARANTEEING that the motor f
ield is being maintained during transition.
Most likely those "energy saver" caps were blown the first time they were energi
zed.
Not matter though, they were not doing squat towards saving energy anyway, your
people were scammed by that salesman
Marke:
If you are intending to use 30KVAR for a 37KW motor, then you are seriously over
correcting.
Static correction should be limited to 80% of the magnetising current of the mot
or unless you are using a dedicated contactor for the capacitors.
For a 37KW motor, I would expect the magnetising current to be in the order of 2
5 - 40% of the rated current of the motor,
so I would expect that the correction should be in the order of 10-15KVAR.
I have seen many installations with static power factor correction applied to st
ar delta starters
and the capacitors switched by the main contactor. I suspect that the connection
of the capacitors to the starter
will reduce the transient supply impedance at the starter and would probably inc
rease the magnitude of the current and torque
transients that occur after the open transition. I also suspect that there may b
e problems if the capacitors are connected to

the output side of the delta contactor as during the open transition, you have a
current path through the motor winding,
through the capacitor and if this was near full correction, there would be effec
tively a very low impedance from the series
LC circuit and potentially a high voltage generated. Bearing in mind that the mo
tor is not connected in delta under these conditions,
the magnetising current would be 57% of the delta mag current and if the correct
ion was 80% of the delta mag current,
the resonat frequency would be below line frequency and this is not desirable. I
n fact IT IS DANGEROUS!!.
This is only a problem if the capacitors are connected to the output of the delt
a contactor and only while both the delta and the star contactors are open.
I would recommend a separate contactor for controlling the capacitors.
I would connect this to the input side of the delta contactor and I would close
this contactor after the delat contactor is closed.
You could use an auxiliary contact on the delta contactor to close the capacitor
contactor.
Please check the required level of protection required for that motor. It is not
appropriate to try to bulk correct the plant
based on the state of that motor only unless there are a number of motors that a
ll operate at exactly the same time.
Either use the appropriate amount of correction for each motor controlled in sym
pathy with each starter, or use a power factor control
relay to control bulk capacitors.