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Transient disturbances:
Transient power problems originate outside buildings from ground faults, lightning, public utility
switching. They also originate inside buildings from inductive loads and switching. Photocopiers, air
conditioners, compressors, motors,light switches and fluorescent lighting circuits are all common
sources of power line transient disturbances. Any collapsing magnetic field or any sparking in a switch
will create transient waves which will appear at various locations with different modes and the
consequences will varry.
•Undervoltage (brownout): this is a situation where the public utility either voluntarily or not drops the
rms voltage below the rating for an extended period of time. Circuit overloads and poor voltage
regulation can cause undervoltage conditions. It, usually, exists over a few seconds.
•Overvoltage: it is a steady state rms voltage level that exceeds the nominal voltage plus the tolerance
(usually + 6%). If this condition prevails, undue stressing of connected loads is caused that may
eventually result in failure.
•Sags: are drops in rms voltage for less than few seconds, beyond normal tolerance. The causes may be
any of the following: when heavy loads are started or energized (like motors, air conditioners, large
inductive loads) or when flashover of lines occurs due to lightning, when power system faults occur.
Swells are brief voltage increases, often caused by sudden load dropping or turnning off heavy
equipment.
•Surges: are short periods of over voltage from one to several cycles in duration. Surges include: spikes,
impulses, switching and lightning surges. The common range of voltage magnitude is between 100V in
electronic devices to 4000 KV for surges on power lines without protection.
•Frequency Variations: it is not a common problem in North America. Even minor frequency variations
can affect the operation of certain loads and can cause maloperation of such devices.
•Power line noise: it can be classified into normal (differential) and common mode noise. The normal
mode is noise that appears between the hot and the neutral wires, common mode is between the hot or
neutral and true ground. Microprocessor and digital logic control systems utitize the voltage between
neutral and ground (theoretical zero) as a zero voltage reference. This distortions of the normal sine
wave can be caused by transmitters, fluorescent lights, electronic control circuits.
•Radio frequency interference: also known as electromagnetic interference is the generation of high
frequency waves and due to the high frequency the electromagnetic disturbance can be radiated through
free space. In general, these emissions are due to the steep wave fronts and very rapid switching of
power semiconductors in devices like drives. This occurs when transistors, GateTurnOff thyrestor
(GTO) or other fast devices are gated on and off in circuits like d c choppers, inverters & rectifiers.
These high frequencies can be conducted through the power or control conductors directly into other
equipment (if not inhibited). These same conductors connecting to the devices generating these high
frequencies may act as an antenna and radiate the R F energy into the surounding medium. It is possible
for the EM/RF to be induced into nearby antennas and other conductors and fed into the loads
connected to the conductors. It is not always possible to predict the effects of electromagnetic emissions
or even the effectiveness of corrective measures. Other sources of EMI are operation of high voltage
and low voltage switches in inductive circuits.
The effects of transient disturbances on loads:
As can be seen from the above, the disturbances that any load may see can vary from undervoltage to
overvoltage, to surges, to noise and interference. Certain disturbances can cause overheating and if
lasted can cause failure of equipment, example motors when operated with voltage below nominal.
Other loads like heaters will overheat with over voltage and can burn itself out if the disturbance occurs
frequently or last for long duration. With spikes electronic loads can be destroyed and motor or
transformer insulation may break down. Noise disturbs microprocessor based equipment (eg.
programmable logic controllers and microcomputers) and it may blow power supplies and boards, burn
chips, cause memory loss, premature component failure, data error and unexplained microprocessor
malfunction. Electromagnetic interference can lead to malfunction of supervisory control equipment,
inverters, digital metering equipment and industrial controllers.
Corrective measures to transient line disturbances:
•Builtin filter: most equipment has some power line filteration built into the power supply. These filters
are primarily designed to stop disturbances eminating from the equipment into the power line rather
than the other way around.
•Dedicated lines/isolated grounds: these are separate lines running from a panel to the sensitive loads.
The ground wire is insulated and runs directly back to the panel ground. Power disturbances should be
considered as a likely problem even though a dedicated line has been installed.
•Regulation transformers: are designed to maintain the rms voltage within certain levels. They will
accept input voltages of plus or minus 15 percent from the rating and provide output voltages of 1 or
2% variance from the rating. They have no effect on transient disturbances or common mode noise.
•Isolation transformers: they incorporate shielding and grounding to eliminate common mode noise.
They do no attenuate normal mode disturbances. If more than one load is connected to the output of the
transformer, ground loops will occur.
•Saturated transformers: are designed to operate with the primary coil in full saturation. They eliminate
normal mode disturbance but output a square wave. They can add further disturbances to the system
like harmonics.
•Ferroresonant transformers: are designed to operate in saturation with suitable capacitors on the output
coils to create a resonant sine wave at 60 c/s.
•Ultra isolation ferroresonant transformers: they have the features of the isolation transformers and the
ferroresonant transformer.; Probably they will give good protection against common and normal mode.
They are load and frequency sensitive. They produce heat and audible noise.
•Line conditioners: they incorporate the features of regulation transformers and isolation transformers.
Clamping devices are added to reduce spikes. They offer good regulation of rms voltage and good
ground isolation from common mode noise.
•Clamping devices: are also known as surge supressers and sometimes surge arresters. These are non
linear voltage sensitive devices such as silicone carbide, gas discharge tubes and/or metal oxide
varistors. These devices remain in a non conductive state until the predetermined voltage is reached
across the terminal, at this point the internal of the device will become a conductor. Excessive voltages
and associated currents are shorted to ground.
•Back up (standby) power supplies: they consist of a standby battery and an inverter which come into
operation when the a.c. power supply is interrupted. Often such products incorporate clamping device
on the line to attenuate spikes, surges & impulses. During normal operation of these devices, the load
(equipment) is powered directly from the a.c.
•Uninterruptable power supplies (UPS): it will maintain a continuous a.c. supply when the a.c. power
supply is interrupted. With such systems, the equipment always draws its power from the battery and
there is no switching time involved when the line power is interrupted. The main elements that build
such devices are: the battery, the charger, the rectifier and the inverter. This system isolates the
equipment (load) from all power line noise although it pumps harmonics into the a.c. line.
Indicators of the quality of power in a plant:
A few questions asked by the user of power to the utility company can give an indication of the quality
of power expected to appear at the service entrance board. These questions are:
1 The length of the feeder to which your electric power supply is connected to and the point of supply
in conjunction (in relation) to the total length of the feeder. Example: 12 miles, 24 miles, 6 miles,...etc.
In theory the longer the feeder the more exposed it will be and thus more faults will be seen due to
trees, animals, accidents, failure of components,..etc. Also, this will give an indication of potential
undervoltage or overvoltage conditions under emergency overload conditions or underload conditions.
2 What is the philosphy of the utility regarding the use of reclosures for longer feeders. For example if
a feeder is 24 miles in length and the supply point is at 8 miles from the transformer or distribution
station, if there is a reclosure midway on this feeder and a fault occurs at 14 miles from the station, the
reclosure will interrupt the fault rather than the breaker at the station thus the outage will be only
confined to the loads downstream the reclosure and the upstream loads would only see a brief sag.
3What are the total number of feeders connected to the bus feeding the subject plant? If a fault occurs
on any feeder, all the loads connected to the faulted feeder and the other feeders connected to the bus
will see a voltage sag or dip. A knowledge of whether the feeders are overhead or underground or
portions of would, also, give an indication of the quality of power to be expected.
4Another question that is important, especially in the areas where thunderstorms are frequent is what is
the method used to protect against direct lightning hit? Is it the use of lightning arresters or the use of
overhead ground wires (for shielding). If it is the use of L.A., what is the distance between (span) the
arresters used. For indirect hits, the knowledge of the basic impulse level of the poles and insulators
used is usually useful.
5The knowledge of the feeder protection philosphy will give an indication of duration of outages when
a fault occurs on the feeder. If there is a reclosing scheme in the protection, the delay before the first
reclosure of the circuit breaker is important to know. If the scheme employs a low set instantaneous,
this may cause more outages to the affected feeder. If it does not, more sags and disturbances will be
imposed on all feeders (connected to the bus), if one feeder is subjected to a fault.
6Whether overhead voltage regulators are installed across the lines, as this may affect conditions of
under and over voltages.
7It is important to know the philosophy of the utility when it comes to the use of capacitors (whether
distributrd or lumped at the distribution station, transformer station or at the transmission level). As this
may affect the spikes, surges or impulses that the connected equipment, at the lower level, may see. The
magnification at the lower voltage levels will be severe under the following conditions: the capacitor
switched on the higher voltage system has a rating (KVAR) much higher than the capacitor at the low
voltage bus, the frequency of oscillation which occurs when the high voltage capacitor is energized is
close to the resonant frequency formed by the step down transformer in series with the low voltage
capacitor and if there is little damping presented by the loads on the low voltage system (it is usual with
industrial plants as induction motors do not provide significant damping to such transients).
Standards:
The IEEE Recommended practices & requirements for harmonic control in electrical power systems
(formerly, Guide for harmonic control and reactive compensation at static power converter) ANSI/IEEE
519 includes line voltage notching, total power factor, voltage distortion, harmonic current distortion,
telephone interference and flicker. EMI disturbances are not addressed in 519.
For the EMI reference, it is often made to FCC rules 7 regulations volume 2 part 15 sub port J class A
or Ontario Hydro "specification for transient interference immunity tests on electronic equipment" or
IEC "Electromagnetic compatibility for industrial process measurement and control equipment" series
standard 801.
For surge protection, there is the ANSI series 62 that covers the application, testing and classification.
For the high energy application (Lightning arresters on distribution systems and stations) the CSA
C223.1 can be referenced.