Joint MSc in Electrical Engineering (JMEE) Program

6878- Power Quality and Standards for Microgrids

Fundamentals of Harmonics_ Part II

Dr. Fouad Zaro

Electric Power System Engineering

Palestine Polytechnic University
Neutral Conductor Overloading
• When single-phase electronic loads are supplied with a three-phase four-wire
circuit, there is a concern for the current magnitudes in the neutral conductor.
• Neutral current loading in the three-phase circuits with linear loads is simply a
function of the load balance among the three phases.
• With relatively balanced circuits, the neutral current magnitude is quite small.
• In the past, this has resulted in a practice of undersizing the neutral conductor in
a relation to the phase conductors.
• Power system engineers are accustomed to the traditional rule that balanced
three-phase systems have no neutral currents. However, this rule is not true
when power electronic loads are present.

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Neutral Conductor Overloading

• With electronic loads supplied by switch-made power supplies and fluorescent

lighting with electronic ballasts, the harmonic components in the load currents
can result in much higher neutral current magnitudes.
• This is because the odd triplen harmonics (3, 9, 15, etc.) produced by these loads
show up as zero-sequence components for balanced circuits.
• The third harmonic is usually the largest single harmonic component in single-
phase power supplies or electronic ballasts.
• many PCs have third harmonic currents greater than 80%. In such cases, the
neutral current will be at least 3(80%) = 240% of the fundamental phase current.
• Therefore, when PC loads dominate a building circuit, it is good engineering
practice for each phase to have its own neutral wire or for the shared neutral
wire to have at least twice the current rating of each phase wire.
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Neutral Conductor Overloading

• Overloaded neutral current are usually only a local problem inside a building, for
example, at a service panel.
• Typical electronic ballast should not have a third harmonic component exceeding
30% of the fundamental.
• The neutral current magnitude should always be less than the phase current
magnitude in circuits supplying fluorescent lighting load.
• It is sufficient to make the sizes of neutral conductors the same as the phase
conductors.
• Computer systems have shifted from three-phase to single-phase power
supplies.
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The possible solutions to neutral conductor overloading include the following:

1. A separate neutral conductor is provided with each phase conductor in a three-phase

circuit that serves single-phase nonlinear loads.
2. When a shared neutral is used in a three-phase circuit with single-phase nonlinear loads,
the neutral conductor capacity should approximately double the phase-conductor
capacity.
3. In order to limit the neutral currents, delta–wye transformers specifically designed for
nonlinear loads can be used. They should be located as close as possible to the nonlinear
loads, for example, computer rooms, to minimize neutral conductor length and cancel
triplen harmonics.
4. The transformer can be derated, or oversized, in accordance with ANSI/IEEE C57.110 to
compensate for the additional losses due to the harmonics.
5. The transformers should be provided with supplemental transformer overcurrent
protection, for example, winding temperature sensors.
6. The third harmonic currents can be controlled by placing filters at the individual loads, if
rewiring is an expensive solution.
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Example

In an office building, measurement of a line current of branch circuit serving

exclusively computer load has been made using a harmonic analyzer. The outputs
of the harmonic analyzer are phase current waveform and the spectrum of current
supplying such electronic power loads. For a 60 Hz, 58.5 A rms fundamental
current, it is observed from the spectrum that there is 100% fundamental and odd
triplen harmonics of 63.3%, 4.4%, 1.9%, 0.6%, 0.2%, and 0.2% for 3rd, 9th, 15th,
21st, 27th, and 33rd order, respectively. If it is assumed that loads on the three
phases are balanced and all have this same characteristic,
Determine the following:
a. The approximate rms value of the phase current in per units
b. The approximate rms value of the neutral current in per units
c. The ratio of the neutral current to the phase current

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Example_ Solution

The conclusion from this calculation is that

neutral conductors in circuits supplying
electronic loads should not be undersized. In
fact, they should have almost twice the
ampacity of the phase conductors.
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Example

A commercial building is being served by 480 V so that its fluorescent lighting loads can
be supplied by a line-to-neutral voltage of 277 V. It is observed that the third harmonic
components are much lower. For instance, typical electronic ballast used with the
fluorescent lighting should not have a third harmonic component exceeding 30% of the
fundamental.
For this worse-case analysis, determine the following:
a. The approximate rms value of the phase current in per units
b. The approximate rms value of the neutral current in per units
c. The ratio of the neutral current to the phase current

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Example Solution

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Capacitor Banks and Power Factor Correction

• capacitor banks used in parallel with an inductive load provide this load with
reactive power.
• They reduce the system’s reactive and apparent power and, therefore, cause its
PF to increase.
• Furthermore, capacitor current causes voltage rise that results in lower line
losses and voltage drops loading to an improved efficiency and voltage
regulation.

where
P is the real power delivered by the system and absorbed by the load
Q1 is the load’s reactive power
Q2 is the system reactive power after the capacitor bank connection
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Capacitor Banks and Power Factor Correction

• As it can be observed from the following equation, since a low PF means a high
current,

• The disadvantages of a low PF include the following:

(1) increased line losses,
(2) increased generator and transformer ratings,
(3) extra regulation equipment for the case of low lagging PF.

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Short-Circuit Capacity or MVA

• Where a new circuit to be added to an existing bus in a complex power system,

short-circuit capacity or MVA (or kVA) data provide the equivalent impedance of
the power system up to that bus.
• The three-phase short-circuit MVA is determined from

where
• I3ϕ is the total three-phase fault current in A
• kVL−L is the system phase-to-phase voltage in kV

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Short-Circuit Capacity or MVA

𝑘𝑉𝐿−𝐿 = 3 𝑉𝐿−𝑁 /1000

• It is often in power systems, the short-circuit impedance is equal to the short-

circuit reactance, ignoring the resistance and shunt capacitance involved.

• Hence, the three-phase short-circuit MVA is found from

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System Response Characteristics

• All circuits containing both capacitance and inductance have one or more natural
resonant frequencies.
• When one of these frequencies corresponds to an exciting frequency being
produced by nonlinear loads, harmonic resonance can occur.
• Voltage and current will be dominated by the resonant frequency and can be highly
distorted.
• The response of the power system at each harmonic frequency determines the true
impact of the nonlinear load on harmonic voltage distortion.
• Somewhat surprisingly, power systems are quite tolerant of the currents injected by
harmonic producing loads unless there is some adverse interaction with the system
impedance.
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System Impedance

• Since at the fundamental frequency power systems are mainly inductive, their
equivalent impedances are also called the short-circuit reactance.
• In utility distribution systems as well as industrial power systems, capacitive effects
are frequently ignored.
where
• Rsc is the short-circuit resistance
• Xsc is the short-circuit reactance
• kVL−L is the phase-to-phase voltage, kV
• MVAsc(3ϕ) is the three-phase short-circuit MVA
• The inductive reactance

XT is the transformer impedance 15

Capacitor Impedance

• Shunt capacitors substantially change the system impedance variation with

frequency. They do not create harmonics. However, severe harmonic distortion can
sometimes be attributed to their presence.
• While the reactance of inductive components increases proportionately to
frequency, capacitive reactance Xc decreases proportionately:

– where C is the capacitance in farads.

• The equivalent line-to-neutral capacitive reactance at the fundamental frequency of
a capacitor bank is found from

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Bus Voltage Rise and Resonance

• after the switch is closed, the equivalent (short-circuit) impedance of the system
(or the source) is

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Bus Voltage Rise and Resonance

• The resonant frequency of the system is

Xs=Xc

Xc/h=hXs  h=(Xc/Xs)^1/2
h= fr/f1

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Bus Voltage Rise and Resonance

• Before the connection of the capacitor bank

• after the capacitor bank is switched,

,
,

• Assuming that 𝑉𝑠 remains constant, the phase voltage rise at the bus due to the
capacitor bank connection is

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Bus Voltage Rise and Resonance

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Bus Voltage Rise and Resonance

• From the following equation, one can observe that a 0.04 per unit rise in bus voltage
due to the switching on a capacitor bank results in a resonance at

• Similarly, a 0.02 pu bus voltage rise results in

• It can also be shown that

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Example

A three-phase 12.47 kV, 5 MVA capacitor bank is causing a bus voltage increase of 500
V when switched on. Determine the following:
a. The per unit increase in bus voltage
b. The resonant harmonic order
c. The harmonic frequency at the resonance

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 Harmonic Amplification

• When the capacitor is switched on, the bus voltage can be

expressed as

(Voltage divider rule)

• At the resonance,

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Harmonic Amplification

• the hth harmonic capacitor voltage (or the capacitor voltage at resonance) can be
expressed as

1
𝜔𝐿 =
𝜔𝐶

𝜔=1/ 𝐿𝐶

Where Zs is the characteristic impedance

Af is the amplification factor

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Harmonic Amplification

• From Equations

• One can observe that harmonics corresponding or close to the resonant frequency
are amplified.
• The resulting voltages highly exceed the standard voltage rating, causing capacitor
damage or fuse blowouts. The amplification factor can also be expressed as

ℎ𝑟 = 𝑋𝑐 /𝑋𝑠

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Harmonic Amplification
According to ANSI/IEEE Std.18-1992, shunt capacitors can be continuously operated in
a harmonic environment provided that
1. Reactive power does not exceed 135% of rating

2. Peak current does not exceed 180% of rated peak

3. Peak voltage does not exceed 120% of rated

4. RMS voltage does not exceed 110% of rated

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Example
A three-phase wye–wye connected 138/13.8 kV 50 MVA transformer with an
impedance of 0.25% + j12% is connected between high- and low-voltage buses.
Assume that a wye-connected switched capacitor bank is connected to the low-voltage
bus of 13.8 kV and that the capacitor bank is made up of three 4 Mvar capacitors.
Assume that at the 138 kV bus, the short-circuit MVA of the external system is 4000
MVA and its X/R ratio is 7. Use a MVA base of 100 MVA and determine the following:
a. The impedance bases for the HV and LV sides
b. The short-circuit impedance of the power system at the 138 kV bus
c. The transformer impedance in per units
d. The short-circuit impedance at the 13.8 kV bus in per units
e. The X/R ratio and the short-circuit MVA at the 13.8 kV bus in per units
f. The reactance of the capacitor per phase in ohms and per units
g. The resonant harmonic order
h. The characteristic impedance in per units
i. The amplification factor 27
 Example Solution
a. The impedance bases for the HV and LV sides

b. The short-circuit impedance of the power system at the 138 kV bus

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Example Solution
c. The transformer impedance in per units

d. The short-circuit impedance at the 13.8 kV bus in per units

e. The X/R ratio and the short-circuit MVA at the 13.8 kV bus in per units

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Example Solution
f. The reactance of the capacitor per phase in ohms and per units

g. The resonant harmonic order

h. The characteristic impedance in per units

i. The amplification factor

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Resonance

• Series resonance occurs in a series RLC circuit that has equal inductive and
capacitive reactances, so that the circuit impedance is low and a small exciting
voltage results in a huge current.
• Similarly, parallel RLC circuit has equal inductive and capacitive reactances, so that
circuit impedance is low and a small exciting current develops a large voltage.
• The resonance phenomenon, or near-resonance condition, is the cause of the most
of the harmonic distortion problems in power systems. Therefore, at the resonance,

• where its resonant frequency is where

f1 is the fundamental frequency
XC is the capacitor’s reactance at the fundamental frequency
XL is the inductor’s reactance at the fundamental frequency
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Resonance

• The harmonic order of resonant frequency is

• The resonance can cause nuisance tripping of sensitive electronic loads and high
harmonic currents in feeder capacitor banks.
• In severe cases, capacitors produce audible noise, and they sometimes bulge.

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Resonance

• Parallel Resonance
– Occurs when the power system presents a parallel combination of power system
inductance and PF correction capacitors at the nonlinear load.
– The product of the harmonic impedance and injection current produces high harmonic
voltages.
– the highest voltage distortion is at the nonlinear load.

• Series Resonance
– Occurs when the system inductance and capacitors are in series, or nearly in series, with
respect to the nonlinear load point.
– The highest distortion is at a remote point, perhaps miles away or on an adjacent feeder
served by the same substation transformer.

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Series Resonance

• The equivalent impedance is

• For any harmonic h,

• At resonance, h = hr and accordingly,

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Series Resonance

• As a result, the impedance of the circuit at the resonance is then purely resistive and
is only equal to R. That is,

• The quality factor Q is

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Example
A series RLC circuit has XL = 0.2 Ω, XC = 1.8 Ω, and Q = 100. Determine the following:
a. The harmonic order of the series resonance
b. The reactance of the circuit at the resonance
c. The value of R

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Parallel Resonance

• The equivalent impedance is

_

• For any harmonic h,

• the impedance is

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Parallel Resonance

• At resonance, h = hr and accordingly,

• the impedance of the circuit is equal to R. That is,

• The quality factor Q is

Here, the critical damping takes place at Q = 0.5 or R = 0.5Xr. Quality factor determines the sharpness of the
frequency response. Q varies considerably by location on the power system. It might be less than 5 on a
distribution feeder and more than 30 on the secondary bus of a large step-down transformer. 38
Example
For a given parallel RLC circuit having XL = 0.926 Ω, XC = 75 Ω, and Q = 5, determine the
following:
a. Its harmonic order
b. Its circuit reactance at the resonance
c. The value of R

Note that the resistance of the circuit

varies with different quality factors.
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Effects of Harmonics on the Resonance

• In the presence of harmonics, the resonance takes place when the source (or
system) reactance Xsr is equal to the reactance of the capacitor XCr at the tuned
frequency, as follows:

• and at an angular resonant frequency of

where
XC1 is the reactance of the capacitor at the fundamental frequency
Xs1 is the inductive reactance of the source at the fundamental frequency
Ls1 = Ls is the inductance of the source at the fundamental frequency
C1 = C is the capacitance of the capacitor at the fundamental frequency
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Effects of Harmonics on the Resonance

• from which the harmonic order hr to cause resonance can be found as

so that a capacitor with a reactance of excites resonance

at the hr th harmonic order.

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Effects of Harmonics on the Resonance

• In order to tune a capacitor to a certain harmonic (or designing a capacitor to trap,

i.e., to filter a certain harmonic) requires the addition of a reactor. At the tuned
harmonic,

• where its characteristic reactance can be expressed as

• The tuned frequency is then

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Effects of Harmonics on the Resonance

• Hence, the inductive reactance of the reactor is

• If ftuned = fr (or htuned = hr), then becomes

• Also and become

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Example

A 34.5 kV three-phase 5.325 Mvar capacitor bank is to be installed at a bus that has a
short-circuit MVA of 900 MVA. Investigate the possibility of having a resonance and
eliminate it. Determine the following:
a. The harmonic order of the resonance.
b. The capacitive reactance of the capacitor bank in ohms.
c. Design the capacitor bank that will trap the resultant harmonic by adding a reactor in
series with the capacitor. Find the required reactor size XL.
d. The characteristic reactance.
e. Select the filter quality factor as 50 and find the resistance of the reactor.
f. The impedance of this resultant series-tuned filter at any harmonic order h.
g. The rated filter size.

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Example Solution

a. The harmonic order of the resonance due to the interaction between the capacitor
bank and the system is

b. The capacitive reactance of the capacitor bank is

c. The required reactor size is

d. The characteristic reactance is

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Example Solution

e. Since Q = 50,

f. The impedance function of the filter is

g. The rated filter size is

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Practical Examples of Resonance Circuits

• a step-down transformer supplying loads including PF

correction capacitors from a bus that has a considerable
nonlinear load.
• Normally, the harmonic currents generated by the nonlinear
load would flow to the utility.
• However, if at one of the nonlinear load’s significant harmonic
current frequencies (typically, the 5th, 7th, 11th, or 13th
harmonic) the step-down transformer’s inductive reactance
equals the power factor-correction capacitor’s reactance,
then the resulting series resonant circuit will attract the
harmonic current from the nonlinear load.
• The additional unexpected harmonic current flow through
the transformer and capacitors will cause additional heating
and possibly overload.

equivalent circuit. 47
Practical Examples of Resonance Circuits

• more troublesome problem, that is, parallel resonance.

• In this case, PF correction capacitors are applied to the
same voltage bus that feeds significant nonlinear loads.
• If the inductive reactance of the upstream transformer
equals the capacitive reactance at one of the nonlinear
load’s harmonic current frequencies, then parallel
resonance takes place.
• With parallel resonance, high currents can oscillate in the
resonance circuit and the voltage bus waveform can be
severely distorted.

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 Practical Examples of Resonance Circuits

• from the harmonic source’s point of view, at harmonic

frequencies, shunt capacitors appear to be in parallel
with the equivalent system inductance
• At frequencies other than fundamental, the power
system generation appears to be short circuit.
• When there is a parallel resonance situation, that is, at
certain frequency where Xc and the total system
reactance are equal, the apparent impedance seen by
the source harmonic currents becomes very large.

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Practical Examples of Resonance Circuits

• The below figure shows the system frequency response as capacitor size is varied in
relation to transformer as well as in the case of having no capacitor.
• If one of the peaks lines up with a common harmonic current produced by the load,
there will be a much greater voltage drop across the apparent impedance than the
case of no capacitors.

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Practical Examples of Resonance Circuits

• However, the alignment of the resonant harmonic with the common source
harmonic is not always problematic.
• Often, the damping provided by resistance of the system is sufficient to prevent any
catastrophic voltages or currents, as shown in the figure below

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Practical Examples of Resonance Circuits

• As one can see, even a 10% resistance loading has a considerable effect on the peak
impedance.
• Because of this fact, if there is a considerable length of lines or cables between the
capacitor bus and the nearest upstream transformer, the resonance will be
suppressed.
• Since the resistances of lines and cables are significantly large, catastrophic
harmonic problems due to capacitors do not appear often on distribution feeders.
Therefore, resistive loads will damp resonance and cause a significant reduction in
the harmonic distortion.
• However, very little damping is achieved if any from motor loads, since they are
basically inductive.

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Practical Examples of Resonance Circuits

• On the contrary, they may increase distortion by shifting system resonant frequency
closer to a significant harmonic.
• But small fractional-horsepower motors may contribute considerably to damping
because of their lower X/R ratios.
• The worst resonant conditions take place when capacitors are installed on
substation buses where the transformer dominates the system impedance and has a
high X/R ratio, the relative resistance is low, and associated parallel resonant
impedance peak is very high and sharp.
• This phenomenon is known to be the cause of the failure in capacitors,
transformers, or load equipment.

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Example
A three-phase wye–wye-connected transformer with X = 10% is supplying a 40 MVA
load at a lagging PF of 0.9. At the low-voltage bus of 12.47 kV, three-phase wye-
connected capacitor bank is to be connected to correct the PF to 0.95. A distribution
engineer is asked to investigate the problem, knowing that the short-circuit MVA at the
345 kV bus is 2000 MVA. Use a MVA base of 100 MVA and determine the following:
a. The current bases for the HV and LV sides of the transformer in amps
b. The impedance bases for the HV and LV sides in ohms
c. The short-circuit reactance of the system at the 345 kV bus in per units and ohms
d. The short-circuit reactance of the system at the 12.47 kV bus in per units and ohms
e. The short-circuit MVA of the system at the 12.47 kV bus in per units and MVA
f. The real power of the load at the lagging PF of 0.9 in per units and MW
g. The size of the capacitor bank needed to correct the PF to 0.95 lagging in per units and Mvar
h. The resonant harmonic order at which the interaction between the capacitor bank and system
inductance initiates resonance
i. The reactance of each capacitor per phase in per units and ohms
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Example Solution

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Example Solution

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Example Solution

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Example Solution

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