Power Quality and Harmonics

In this unit students will acquire advanced theoretical knowledge, critical analytical and practical skills which can be applied to investigation and resolution of complex problem solving scenarios. The unit material has been developed to enhance students’ communication skills, individual and group project participation and other professional capabilities important to power quality and harmonics during generation and distribution. The subject of power quality is very broad by nature. It covers all aspects of power system engineering from transmission and distribution level analyses to end-user problems. Therefore, electric power quality has become the concern of utilities, end users as well as manufacturers.

The increased use of power electronic components within the distribution system and the reliance on renewable energy sources which have converters as interface between the source and the power system lead to power quality problems for the operation of machines, transformers, capacitors and power systems. Power quality of power systems affects all connected electrical and electronic equipment, and is a measure of deviations in voltage, current, frequency, temperature, force, and torque of particular supply systems and their components. In recent years there has been considerable increase in nonlinear loads, in particular distributed loads such as computers, TV monitors and lighting. These draw harmonic currents which have detrimental effects including communication interference, loss of reliability, increased operating costs, equipment overheating, machine, transformer and capacitor failures, and inaccurate power metering. This subject is pertinent to engineers involved with power systems quality control, electrical machines performance evaluation, electronic equipment for power measurement, computers for power monitoring and manufacturing equipment that is power driven.