A waveform-based power estimator for variable power loads

Abstract

This paper proposes a method to derive an estimator that predicts the power consumption of variable power loads from a subset of higher current harmonics without requiring a full analysis of the internal circuit of the load. The method exploits structural features of the current waveforms consumed by the load to develop the estimator. The computation involves Gaussian elimination of a cyclotomic field representation to compute the estimator coefficients, avoiding floating-point computational error. Experimental results have shown that the proposed algorithm can derive estimators that can extract the power consumption of variable speed drives, computers, or light dimmers from fixed power loads in aggregate measurements.