How to understand the sources of power quality distrubances

Power quality disturbances are categorized into voltage sag, voltage swell, transient, harmonic, voltage notch, and flicker. Power quality research is the study of various phenomena that cause power quality disturbance to occur and the development of mitigation strategy.

Power quality distrubances can cause innumerable problems in industrial facilities. While a facility owner’s first inclination might be to blame their electric utility for such problems, it’s much more likely that their own equipment is it fault.

Industrial facilities are particularly prone to power quality distrubances because of the density and complexity of electrical equipment involved in their daily operations. This post will identify how various types of equipment can contribute to facility-wide disturbances. I’ll also cover a couple options that can help engineers troubleshoot and correct these issues.

What is electric power quality

Electric power quality is a measure of the degree to which the voltage, frequency, and waveform of a power supply system conform to established specifications. Good power quality can be defined as a steady supply voltage that stays within the prescribed range, steady a.c. frequency close to the rated value, and smooth voltage curve waveform (resembles a sine wave).

What to look for power quality

Certainly, improper wiring, defective equipment and installation or operation errors play a role in such disturbances. However, there are also specific devices common to industrial plants that can cause power quality distrubances just through their everyday use.

Electric motors

Electric motors are everywhere in many modern industrial plants, comprising up to 80% of facilities’ electrical load in some industries, and they also can be the cause of several types of power quality distrubances commonly seen in these operations. These problems can include:

Voltage sags can result in local or adjacent areas from the direct starting of large electric motors, either individually or in groups.
Harmonics can be generated by saturation of the magnetic core of electric motors.
Low power factor – at rates of 0.85 to 0.90 at full load, down to 0.35 at no-load – can be created by the reactive energy required by induction motors.

Variable speed drives

Variable speed drives (VSDs) have become go-to devices for facilities seeking to improve the efficiency of induction motors. Common applications include variable-torque centrifugal fans, pumps conveyors and compressor.

Lighting systems

Lighting typically represents between 5% and 8% of an industrial facility’s electrical load. Power-quality problems associated with this equipment can include:

Harmonics, which can be caused by energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).
Low power factor resulting from fluorescent high-intensity discharge lamps and CFLs.
Harmonic distortion and a power factor less than 1 also can be caused by increasingly popular high-efficiency LED lighting.

Transformers

Transformers are critical pieces of equipment in industrial plants, given the high volumes of electricity that can be moved around such facilities. They also can compromise power quality through such problems as:

Low power factor, which can follow from their need for reactive energy. The reactive power absorbed by a transformer can total up to 5% of its rating at full load.
Harmonics resulting from saturation of their magnetic core.

Capacitors

While they don’t, themselves, create harmonics, capacitors can create resonance that can amplify the magnitudes of harmonic voltages and currents. Additionally, capacitor-bank switching can cause small voltage transients, usually with no impact on the system

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How to understand the sources of power quality distrubances

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