POWER QUALITY STUDY USING MATLAB S.

Sathiakumar Lecturer in School of Electrical and Information Engineering University of Sydney, NSW2206, Australia Abstract The nonlinear characteristics of various office and industrial equipments connected to the power grid could cause electrical disturbances leading to poor power quality. In many cases the electric power consumed is first converted to different form and such conversion process introduces harmonic pollution in the grid. These electrical disturbances could destroy certain sensitive equipments connected to the grid or in some cases could cause them to malfunction. Consumers are becoming aware of such problems and demand the electricity supplier to maintain a certain quality. The international standards are now in force and it has become the responsibility of the electricity supplier to ensure the power quality. In the huge power network identifying the source of such disturbance without causing interruption to the supply is a big problem. This paper attempts to study the power quality problem caused by typical loads using computer models paving the way to identify the source of the problem. The power blockset now available with MATLAB is an useful tool for this purpose, which is used in this study. 1. INTRODUCTION Electricity is very essential for modern industry. There is virtually no piece of office or industrial equipment that does not depend on electricity in some form or other. Among the office equipments like computers, fax machines, copiers, and telephones etc. computers [1] have dominated the work place while the others in modern days have a microprocessor. All these electronic equipment when connected to the power system can actually generate electrical disturbances, which can adversely affect other equipments within the power network. Heavy industrial equipments like nonlinear variable speed drives powered through power electronic converters also cause the power disturbances. The problem is not only an increase in the heavy industrial equipments straining power quality, but more equipments are being installed that are sensitive to power disturbances. Power quality is becoming a mounting concern in the electric power industry. Power quality problems encompass a wide range of disturbances and conditions on the power system. They include everything from very fast voltage transients to long duration outages. Power quality problems also include steady state phenomena such as flicker and noisy waveforms. The power system can also experience momentary interruptions like voltage sag and swell. The transient problems such as sags and swells when repeatedly experienced can damage electronic equipment connected to the network. This can also harm equipment performance and reduce reliability and even pose personnel safety hazards if left uncorrected. These problems are sometimes unpredictable, because it is known when it happens and where it happens. Therefore the power quality monitoring is the first, and perhaps the most important, step in identifying and solving power problems [4,5]. If the problem is localised to one piece of equipment, then monitoring power waveforms at the connection point where the equipment is powered is a good starting point. If the source of the problem could not be found one can then work backward to the point of common coupling (PCC). Once the problem is identified then corrective measures can be taken. It is important to remember that electronic equipment can be both a contributor to and a victim of the problem. Therefore identifying the source of the problem needs certain intelligence [2,3]. Power monitors of widely diverse functionality are available to gather and store data of electrical conditions encountered. These monitors are not intelligent enough to analyse the data and therefore the analysis is done of-line. Some power quality monitors can be permanently installed at a remote site to provide continuous monitoring of the electrical system. Information can be downloaded to a PC or retrieved on site by personnel when needed. Highspeed and modem communications allow intranet or internet monitoring. Smaller, hand-held devices are also available that give an impressive array of parameters, while at the same time simplifying measurements and saving monitoring time. Monitoring the system needs to be done periodically at regular interval, otherwise it may become too late to take corrective action and save the equipments connected to the system. The more sophisticated power quality monitors can turn data into information, but they are not capable of

making any intelligent conclusion to point out the source of the problem. This requires a wider knowledge on the type of power waveforms that may be caused by different loads and capability to make heuristic conclusions. Simulation study using computer models of the systems is a starting point to gain such expertise. The power blockset available in MATLAB is a very useful tool for such study and the results obtained through the study is presented in this paper. 2. CLASSIFICATION OF THE WAVE FORMS There are some common waveforms well known (Figure 1) that are prevalent in the power network straining the power quality. These waveforms result as a consequence of certain type of loads operating and it is not possible to say for sure which load operating at a particular location is responsible. The following are the classification of such common waveforms. 2.1 Harmonic distortion produced by nonlinear loads Either voltage or current may be distorted by harmonics. When nonlinear loads are connected to normal sinusoidal voltage, the current waveform gets distorted. The distorted current waveform is made up of fundamental sine wave or first order 50 Hz current and multiple frequency currents such as 100 Hz, 150 Hz. The harmonic current will then travel upstream, away from the nonlinear loads that produced them and towards the utility source. This will distort the voltage at other nodes separated by appreciable impedance. If the voltage distortion is high, they may affect other power consumers. At low voltage distortion, they will still affect other power system elements and other electrical circuits that are in parallel with the power circuits in the plant that generated them. Nonlinear loads such as computers, laser printers, welders, variable frequency drives, UPS systems, fluorescent lighting, etc., usually have diode-capacitor power supplies at the front end. They draw current in short pulses during the peak of the line voltage thus introducing harmonics. 2.2 Momentary interruption
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It is the total loss of AC Power for typically a few seconds to as long as one minute. This could happen as a result of momentary short circuit on the line. This event could be very momentary or sometimes could be repeatitive for a short duration. 2.3 Outage Outage is the total loss of AC Power for typically greater than one minute and typically 15 minutes to a few hours. 2.4 Voltage Sags It is defined (ANSI std. 1100-1992) as the reduction in the AC RMS voltage, at the power frequency, for duration from half a cycle to a few seconds. Critical loads are usually shutdown if voltage sag persists for several cycles. With electronically controlled equipments, voltage under 20% below normal will result in shutdown. 2.5 Voltage Swells It is the increase in the AC RMS voltage, at the power frequency, for duration from a half a cycle to a few seconds. 2.6 Voltage Transients It is a sub cycle disturbance in the AC waveform that is evidenced by a sharp brief discontinuity of the waveform. Transients may be of either polarity and may be of additive or subtractive energy to the nominal waveform. Transients are also known as spikes or surges and normally are on the line for only 1/1000th of a second or less (less than 1 millisecond). They can be from a few to 10,000 volts-peak above or below the voltage sine wave. Voltage transients normally last only for about 50 microseconds and current transients last typically 20 microseconds (ANSI C62.41-1991) in facilities operating under 600 Volts RMS. 2.7 Flicker The flicker phenomena can be divided into two categories, cyclic and non-cyclic. Cyclic flicker is
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Figure 1. Abnormal waveforms straining the power quality

generated from periodic voltage fluctuations such as caused by reciprocating pumps and electric furnaces whereas non-cyclic flicker is generated from occasional voltage fluctuations such as caused by starting motors or the operation of a welder. The general way of describing the flicker level is the change in RMS voltage divided by the average RMS voltage. The instantaneous flicker level may vary with time depending on the length of the measure interval. If the interval is short compared to the flicker wavelength the flicker level will change periodically. To be able to estimate the flicker situation we must make a statistical analysis of the flicker level. 2.8 Noisy waveforms Noisy waveforms arise due to the combination of different faulty waveforms travelling through the power system. Presence of high frequency signal superimposed on the fundamental is a typical characteristic of the noisy waveform. 3. SIMULATION STUDY USING MATLAB

The source of the faulty waveforms can be determined when observed close to the source. In an interconnected power system, the abnormal waveforms travel up towards the utility and they appear in different forms at different nodes. In any point of observation the abnormality is due to the result of many different contributors. When the quality of power waveform is observed to be deteriorating, it usually not possible to find the culprit. It is therefore necessary to conduct a survey at different nodes of possible suspects and make a heuristic judgement. It may be necessary to find out the type of loads connected to the nodes of observation. Simulation study of computer models could also be an aid to make a conclusion. PSPICE has been one

of the useful tools for such studies. Recently MATLAB has introduced a power system Blockset, which is found to very useful. This blockset is useful in modeling and studying power distribution network, three phase system containing power electronic circuits with machines. It is also useful to simulate a self-contained power system for ships, aircraft, remote area power supply etc. This paper
Generator connected to the grid
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presents the power quality study of a system containing power converter and transmission line. The results of two case studies are presented below. 3.1 Case study 1: To study the deteriorating power quality at the load point B (figure 2) due to transient three phase fault at different loacation.

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Figure 2. Case study 1

The point of common coupling (PCC) is a 33 kV bus to which a load (resistive) of 5 MW (Point A) and another of 2 MW (Point B) at approximately 100 Km away from PCC. The three phase fault simulated is of transient nature which could represent direct on-line starting of an induction motor near point A. The transmission line is modeled using a p section LC network. The fault occurs at 2.55 sec and again at 3.31 sec for a short duration. The line voltage and current are monitored at point A and B. At point B the voltage and current sag for a short while so also at point B. At point A the drop is more than at point B, which suggests that the culprit is at near Point A. It can also be concluded that neither the load at Point A nor at
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Point B are the culprit, since both voltage and current drop simultaneously. If we monitor the current and voltage near Point C, it could be noted that current increases while voltage drop down. It is clear from the above discussion that to determine the source for the deteriorating power quality at Point A, it is necessary to monitor the power waveforms at Points A, B and C to arrive at a conclusion. 3.2 Case Study 2 To study the power quality problem arising due to the use of power electronic converter.

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Figure 3. Power waveform of the system in figure 2. A 6 pulse converter feeding a 60 kW DC machine is located at Point A 100 km away from PCC. There is also a 20 kW resistive load at Point B, 100 km away from PCC. By monitoring the voltage and current waveform at Point B, a person familiar with the operation of a 6 pulse converter could easily make out that such periodic spiky waveforms are due to the power electronic converter operating elsewhere. Monitoring the line current feeding point B would help to locate the culprit at point B. 4. Conclusion There has been an increasing awareness among the customers about the quality of power supply made available to them. It has been a concern, since more equipments that are sensitive to the power waveform are connected to the power supply. Power companies and electric utilities are faced with the challenge of providing high quality and stable power systems. When the power quality is observed to be deteriorating at any node, finding the source of such disturbances is not a straightforward task. It needs a survey to be conducted at different suspected nodes and use the expert knowledge about different load characteristics to make any conclusion. Simulation studies of computer models also aid in this task. Few computer models and the simulation results using MATLAB are presented in this paper. Such simulation studies help in understanding the behavior of different loads and their effect in the interconnected power system.

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Figure 5. Power waveforms of the system in figure 4 5. REFERENCES [5] Don O. Koval and M.Brent Hughes, Canadian National Power Quality Survey: Frequency of industrial and Comercial Voltage Sags, IEEE Trans. On IA, vol. 33, no. 3, May/June 1997, pp.622-627.

[1] Don O. Koval and Clive Carter, Power Quality Characteristics of computer Loads, IEEE Trans. On IA, May, 1997, v 33, no. 2, p 613. [2] Dorr, Douglas S Hughes, M. McClaine, John L, Interpreting Recent Power Quality Surveys to Define the Electrical Environment, IEEE Trans. On IA, Nov. 1997, v 33, no. 6, p 1480. [3] Collinson Alan, Electric Power Quality and Artificial Intelligence: Overview and Applicability, IEEE Power Engineering Review, June,1999, v 19, no.6, p 65. [4] M. Negnevitsky, J. Milanovic and M. Green, Survey of Power Quality Problems in Tasmania, IEE Conference publication, Institution of Electr 1997, no. 450, p 504.