Critical analysis of the harmonic power flow method to determine the dominant distortion source

Abstract

Concerning harmonic distortions, in addition to traditional matters such as limits, measurements, effects, and others, the importance of establishing ways to determine the responsibility for possible violations of given limits emerges an important challenge. This subject has been considered by researchers and amongst some proposals, one of the most known methodologies for identification of the major source of harmonics consists in determining the direction of harmonic power flow by comparing the fundamental and harmonic power signals. This attempt has been supported by the fact that commercial power quality measurement equipment has the ability to quantify fundamental and individual harmonic powers. Focusing this approach, this paper is aimed at describing the theoretical fundamentals to the method, as well as to present and discuss computational and experimental studies performed for a hypothetical electrical arrangement. The final results are then used to demonstrate the method weakness to fulfill the established needs.Keywords -Harmonic distortion, harmonic power approach, harmonic source detection, power quality and sharing harmonic responsibilities.

The Influence of Compact Fluorescent Lamps in Power Measurement and Billing

“…A regulamentação nacional para definição de valores referência dos indicadores de qualidade de energia elétrica [5], refere-se a presença de harmônicos no sistema elétrico de potência, bem como sua mitigação e mensuração [6], com o objetivo de determinar a origem dos fenômenos responsáveis pela deterioração dos equipamentos elétricos [7]. O cálculo das potências, considerando as formas de onda de múltiplas frequências da fundamental, é um assunto de grande discussão na área acadêmica e científica, existindo, dessa forma, diversas teorias, na tentativa de compreender esse fenômeno que, ultimamente, tem se tornado cada vez mais comum no setor elétrico.…”