Industry Standards For Power Factor Correction Capacitors

The question is, how do you know which power factor correction capacitors have the quality and reliability that motor manufacturers demand without putting them in their actual HVAC unit for years and years to see if they work? Is it possible to know?

Several tools ensure capacitor quality, including electrical and mechanical tests described in many capacitor industry standards. The primary and only means for ensuring long-term reliability is Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT). Several industry standards are currently on the market, the most important of which are:

• Tecumseh H-115
• IEC-60252-1
• EIA-456-A

Over the last few years, the market has observed an increasing demand for high-quality capacitors. Many manufacturers seem to be cutting corners regarding material quality and manufacturing processes. So while our capacitors are well tested, they only last 6-12 months in the field. Cheap materials and some scrapping of manufacturing have driven the price of capacitors to a deficient level. In addition to these low prices, we also see capacitors with concise field lives on the market. You can

Besides using quality materials during production, the key to producing quality capacitors is the capacitor design, quality control system, and performance test. Most, if not all, capacitors experience the same thing when sitting on the shelf but see dramatic changes from one resource to another over the life of a capacitor. Industry standards come into action here.

Tecumseh H-115

Tecumseh H-115 is one of his first attempts to standardize the testing of film power factor correction capacitors. This standard continues to be used primarily in the United States and applies only to capacitor motor-run applications. This standard includes reliability testing with two accelerating factors: applied voltage and temperature.

Test conditions:

• Number of capacitors tested: 12 units
• Applied voltage: 126% of rated voltage
• Applicable temperature: 80°C (motor running capacitor rating is usually 70°C)
• Test time (hours): 500 hours
• Simulated lifespan (hours): 60,000 hours
• considered a failure.
• Microfarad Loss (µF): >5%
• Increased waste factor: not discussed
• Tolerable failures: 1 out of 12
• IEC-60252-1

Established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), IEC-60252-1 was primarily used in Europe and the Asia Pacific. Like Tecumseh H-115, this standard applies only to capacitor motor running applications. This standard uses only one acceleration factor (applied voltage) for reliability testing.

Under this standard, different class ratings have different field life for capacitors. Different class ratings depend on the testing time the capacitor goes through.

• Class A application life is 30,000 hours
• Class B has an application life of 10,000 hours
• Class C application life is 3000 hours.
• Class D has an application life of 1,000 hours
• the Class B specification of the IEC-60252-1 standard will only be focused on.
• Test conditions for Class B specifications:
• The number of capacitors tested: not specified
• Applied voltage: 125% of rated voltage
• Applicable temperature: 70°C (motor running capacitors are usually placed at 70°C)
• Test time (hours): 2000 hours
• Simulated lifespan (hours): 10,000 hours
• considered a failure.
• Microfarad Loss (µF): >3%
• Increased waste factor: not discussed
• Failure is acceptable. Failure is defined between customer and supplier.

EIA-456-A

EIA-456-A, established by the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) and still used primarily in the United States, adopts both of the above standards to provide a comprehensive standard for metal film capacitors for AC applications. We improve them by publishing.

It covers motor drive applications and capacitors used in general-purpose applications such as HID lighting applications, power supplies, and power factor correction banks.

Test conditions:

• Number of capacitors tested: 12 units
• Applied voltage: 125% of rated voltage
• Applicable temperature: Rated maximum operating temperature +10℃
• Test time (hours): 2000 hours
• Simulated lifespan (hours): 60,000 hours
• considered a failure.
• Microfarad Loss (µF): >3%
• Increased dissipation factor: more than 0.15%
• Failure is acceptable. Failure is defined between customer and supplier.

Comparing these three standards, EIA-456-A is the strictest and most comprehensive. It is also the benchmark for many, if not most, reliability standards for original HVAC equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in capacitors.

Many capacitor manufacturers say they have 60,000-hour capacitors, but the real question is what tests are applied to their products. The Tecumseh H-115 (500 hours of testing) with his EIA-456-A (2000 hours of testing) shows a 4x difference.

Since the test conditions for the Tecumseh H-115 and his EIA-456-A are the same, we find that his 500 test hours on the EIA-456-A scale equate to approximately 15,000 hours (see Table 5). reference). The applied Tecumseh H-115 hours are similar to the 10,000 hours IEC-60252-1 Class B standard.

In the US, the standard is 5,000 estimated application hours. Thus, the EIA-456-A standard, which specifies a 60,000-hour lifespan for capacitors, estimates the capacitor to last approximately 10-12 years, whereas Tecumseh H-115 has a capacitor of 2-2-2 hours—estimated to last for years. Three years compared to 15,000 hours of application time instead of 60,000 hours.

Do you get what you paid for?

This was very detailed, but I hope it gave you a better understanding of the capacitor ratings and standards used in the HVAC industry.

The main thing to remember is that all power factor correction capacitors are well tested out of the box, but what matters is the life of the capacitor. It is recommended that you do your homework before purchasing any capacitor product. It will save you the cost and future troubles.

Ask the manufacturer how the EIA-456-A industry-standard differs from their product. Don’t be afraid to ask the manufacturer about their reliability testing capabilities. Any reputable manufacturer can discuss this with you. From this point of view, you can evaluate the quality of capacitor products for yourself. Saving a few dollars on capacitors can cost you hundreds in the long run, so it’s essential to understand what you’re getting.