POWER QUALITY

DEFINITION

• Is the absence of deviation from a perfect sinusoidal voltage source. Perfect power quality is a
perfect sinusoidal with constant frequency and amplitude.

• The IEEE defines POWER QUALITY as the ability of a system or an equipment to function
satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without introducing intolerable electromagnetic
disturbances to anything in that environment.
Power Quality Mainly Deals With

1.”Quality” of the voltage.

2. Continuity of the supply.

What is Reliability?
Reliability is primarily concerned with customer interruptions and is, therefore, a subset of
power quality.

Deals with all the aspects of customer interruptions, including momentary interruptions.

Reliability is primarily concerned with customer interruptions and is, therefore, a subset of
power quality.
What is Availability?
Availability is defined as the percentage of time a voltage source is uninterrupted.

Its complement, unavailability, is the percentage of time a voltage source is interrupted.

Since availability and unavailability deal strictly with interruptions, they are classified as a subset
of reliability.
POWER QUALITY
Perfect power quality is characterized by a perfect sinusoidal voltage source without waveform
distortion, variation in amplitude or variation in frequency.

To attain near-perfect power quality, a utility could spend vast amounts of money and
accommodate electrical equipment with high power quality needs.

Utilities must find a balance between cost and the level of power quality provided to customers.
Power quality problems can be divided into many categories such as:

Interruptions
Sags
Swells
Transients
Noise
Flicker
Harmonic distortion
Frequency variation
Waveforms corresponding to these power quality problems:
Overvoltages and Undervoltages
Steady state voltage magnitude is measured by taking the root-mean-squared (RMS)
value of the voltage waveform. Electricity is sold to customers at a nominal RMS voltage, and
deviations are referred to as overvoltages and undervoltages.

Normal acceptable service voltages are within 5% of nominal voltage.

Power quality problems

Interruptions — Interruptions are the loss of service voltage to a customer and

can be momentary or sustained in nature. They are typically considered a

reliability issue
Power quality problems

Sags — Voltage sags are temporary RMS reductions in voltage typically lasting

from a half cycle to several seconds. They are a major power quality concern

since they can cause sensitive electronic equipment to fail and motor contacts to

drop out.
Power quality problems

Swells — Voltage swells are temporary RMS increases in voltage typically lasting

from a half cycle to several seconds. Swells are commonly caused by the de-

energizing of large loads or asymmetrical faults (a line to ground fault will cause

a voltage rise in the other two phases).

Power quality problems

Transients — Voltage transients are sudden nonrecurring changes in voltage

magnitude. An impulse transient, most commonly caused by lightning, is

described by the time to reach its peak value and the time to decay to half of its

peak value.
Power quality problems

Noise — Noise can be broadly defined as unwanted voltage signals with

broadband spectral content. Common causes include power electronics, control

circuits, arcing equipment, loads with solid state rectifiers, and switched mode

power supplies.
Power quality problems

Flicker — Voltage flicker refers to low frequency variations in RMS voltage that

cause visible changes in the brightness of incandescent lighting. These voltage

variations are caused by the cycling of large loads such as refrigerators, air

conditioners, elevators, arc furnaces, and spot welders.

Power quality problems

Frequency Variation — Voltage frequency is directly proportional to the

rotational speed of synchronous generators. Frequency variations occur when

generators adjust to changes in system loading.

Power quality problems

Harmonic Distortion — Periodic voltage waveforms can be described by a

Fourier series consisting of a sinusoid with fundamental frequency (60 Hz) and

harmonic components with integer multiples of fundamental frequency.

The most common measure of harmonic content is total harmonic distortion (THD). THD is a
measure related to the square of harmonic components, and is a good measure of the resistive
heating potential of harmonic currents. The equation for THD is:
THD is not a good measure of heat generation in transformers since it does not accurately

account for core losses. The K factor compensates by assuming that higher order harmonic

currents contribute more to transformer heating than lower order harmonic currents.
THD and K Factor are good measures of heat generation, but are poor measures of dielectric
stress, which is a strong function of peak voltage. The crest factor reflects dielectric stress by
expressing the ratio of voltage amplitude and the RMS value of the waveform:
A perfect sinusoid has a crest factor of 1.41. Harmonics can either increase this value or

decrease this value. For example, a DC voltage has a crest factor of 1.00 and a half-wave rectified

voltage source has a crest factor of 2.83.

DC Offset — Voltage has a DC offset if its average value is not equal to zero. This offset can be

described as harmonic component h = 0 in a Fourier series, but is typically treated separately.

Causes, concerns, and mitigation techniques for DC offset are different when compared to

higher order harmonic components. DC offsets can be caused by geomagnetic disturbances and

by half wave rectification that causes transformers to operate with saturated core flux.
Commutation Notches — Voltage notching occurs when power electronic switches temporarily

cause short circuits between phases during commutation. Since notching is periodic, it can be

categorized as harmonic distortion.

 Reliability
Distribution reliability primarily relates to equipment outages and customer interruptions. In

normal operating conditions, all equipment (except standby) is energized and all customers are

energized.
Several key definitions relating to distribution reliability include:
Contingency — an unexpected event such as a fault or an open circuit. Another term for a
contingency is an unscheduled event.

Open Circuit — a point in a circuit that interrupts load current without causing fault current to
flow. An example of an open circuit is the false tripping of a circuit breaker.

Fault — a short circuit. Faults are caused by dielectric breakdown of insulation systems and can
be categorized as self-clearing, temporary, and permanent.
A self-clearing fault will extinguish itself without any external intervention (e.g., a fault occurring on a
secondary network that persists until it burns clear).

A temporary fault is a short circuit that will clear if deenergized and then re-energized (e.g., an
insulator flashover due to a lightning strike — after the circuit is de-energized, the fault path will de-
ionize, restoring the insulator to full dielectric strength).

A permanent fault is a short circuit that will persist until repaired by human intervention.
Outage — An outage occurs when a piece of equipment is de-energized. Outages can be either

scheduled or unscheduled. Scheduled outages are known in advance (e.g., outages for periodic

maintenance). Unscheduled outages result from contingencies.

Momentary Interruption — a momentary interruption occurs when a customer is de-energized

for less than a few minutes.
Momentary Interruption Event — a momentary interruption event consists of one or more

momentary interruptions within a several minute time interval (e.g., if a recloser operates three

times and then holds, downstream customers experience three momentary interruptions and

one momentary event).

Sustained Interruption — a sustained interruption occurs when a customer is de-energized for

more than a few minutes. Most sustained interruptions result from open circuits and faults.
 Availability
Availability — the probability of being energized.

Unavailability — the probability of not being energized.

Unavailability can be computed directly from interruption duration information. If a customers

experiences 9 hours of interrupted power in a year, unavailability is equal to 9 ÷ 8760 = 0.1%

(there are 8760 hours in a year). Availability is equal to 100% - 0.1% = 99.9%.