Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) on their first joint patent with International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation have been awarded by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for their invention of a new technology to improve the power factor for energy saving costs, Director of the UBD IBM Center Pg Dr. Mohd. Iskandar said on Friday.

The research to develop the technology was funded by the government of Brunei through the Brunei Research Council (BRC), and has been developed collaboratively by UBD and IBM.

The technology improves the power factor by removing inefficiencies in electric power systems by scheduling inductive and capacitive appliances together. This thus helped circulate the reactive power between inductive and capacitive appliances in order to minimize the back and forth movement of reactive power between source and load.

The researchers estimated that if the technology were to be implemented, the average household could save around 5 percent to 15 percent on energy costs depending on other parameters.

"The next step is working towards commercialization of the invention by partnering with a potential investor to produce low cost schedulers to go along with the patented method. In the long run, the new method will benefit electric utility companies as more consumers will now be able to reduce wastage of reactive power running back and forth in the electric grid leading to a reduction in heat loss," said Iskandar.

Huong Truong