APF Used In Natural Gas Fields

In natural gas fields, high-order harmonics and reactive power significantly impact power equipment, especially with the use of variable frequency drives (VFDs) for pumps, blowers, and other machinery. Nonlinear loads, such as gas air cooling devices and submersible pumps, generate large amounts of reactive power and harmonics, making it difficult to maintain safe levels, especially when these loads are dispersed across multiple substations.

Reactive power is commonly produced by asynchronous motors and can be further increased by capacitive loads in systems like pipeline heating. The imbalance and complexity of these power demands lead to distortions in the voltage curve, potentially causing equipment malfunctions, such as false relay triggers or frequency converter failures. To address this, installing active harmonic filters at substations can help mitigate high-order harmonics and improve overall system stability.