IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 4, No.

1, January 1989

569

IDENTIFICATION OF HARMONIC SOURCES

BY A STATE ESTIMATION TECHNIQUE
G. T. Heydt
Senior Member
Purdue Electric Power Center
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-0501

Keywords: Harmonics, state estimation, rectifiers, inverters.

Abstract
This paper describes a reverse power flow procedure t o
identify the sources of harmonic signals in electric power systems. An electric power network may be subject to harmonic
injection due to the presence of nonlinear loads or sources
(e.g., rectifiers, inverters). Methods have been reported elsewhere t o analyze the propagation of these harmonic signals
throughout the network. In this paper, the reverse problem
is considered: how does one identify the source (and potentially the type) of harmonic signals. Line and bus data a t
several points in the network are used with a least squares
estimator to calculate the injection spectrum a t busses
suspected of being harmonic sources. When energy a t harmonic frequencles is found to be injected into the network a t
a bus, t h a t bus is identified as a harmonic source.

I. Introduction
There has been renewed interest in the analysis of harmonics in electric power systems. Perhaps the proliferation
of electronic loads explains much of this interest. Also the
utilization of high voltage DC systems, many alternative
energy sources, and systems with a high percentage of
fluorescent lighting loads may require an analysis of the generation and propagation of harmonic signals in the power
system. References 111 and [2] contain extensive discussions
of these matters. While attention to power systems has
focused on the propagation of harmonic signals for given
sources, relatively little attention has been given to the
reverse problem: to identify the source of harmonic injection
given certain (and perhaps limited) bus and line measurements. Under some practical circumstances, the question of
identifying the source of harmonics is more pertinent than
the calculation of the propagation of harmonic signals for
given sources.
This paper addresses, in effect, the reverse power flow
study problem. A harmonic power flow study is a technique

whereby line currents and bus voltages a t harmonic frequencies are calculated. This procedure may be a NewtonRaphson based technique [3-51 or a technique based on the
injection current response of the network i5-8,17]. In each of
these methods, the signal level a t harmonic sources (e.g.,
large rectifiers) must be known, estimated, or calculated.
Subsequently, the line currents and bus voltages a t integer
multiplies of the power frequency are calculated. However, if
the source of the harmonic signals is not known, a practical
engineering question may be to identify the location and type
of the harmonic sources; this is the case when operating
problems are encountered which suggest the presence of harmonics. These operating anomalies include inordinate
failures of shunt capacitors, telephone and other communications interference, evidence of timing signal interference
(when digital timing signals are derived from the bus voltage), high negative or zero sequence levels and direct evidence in the form of oscillograms. Thus, attention is turned
toward the use of line and bus measurements to identify the
source of harmonics: a state estimation technique is chosen
here t o estimate or identify the spectrum bus injection
current, I(w). In a conventional power flow study, the bus
voltage magnitudes and phase angles are system states; similarly, in a harmonic power flow study, the bus voltage harmonic components are states. The bus injection currents
functions of the bus voltages, and identification of the bus
injections may be viewed as a state estimation problem. If
the estimation procedure is of sufficient accuracy, I(w) may
be used t o identify the type of harmonic source by the frequency characteristics of the spectrum. Even in instances
where I(w) is of insufficient accuracy to firmly identify the
type of harmonic source, it is usually nonetheless possible t o
identify the busses a t which the sources are located.
The concept of identification of harmonic sources may
have special significance in locations where harmonic standards are adopted. The general tennets of such standards
usually require that the electric utility company maintains
the sinusoidal waveshape of the bus voltage whereas the entities served must maintain certain harmonic limits in the load
current. Identification procedures might be used to locate
loads which exceed specified harmonic current limits.

U. The frequency response of linear power system

88 WM 075-4
A paper recommended and approved
by the IEEE Transmission a n d Distribution Committee
of the I E E E Power Engtneering Society for presentation a t the IEEE/PES 1988 Winter Yeeting, ;Jew York,
N e w York, .January 31 - February 5, 1988. Yanuscript
submitted August 19, 1957; made available for
p r i n t i n g November 17. 1987.

Lct V,,,(t)
and Ibus(t) be the instantaneous time funclion bus voltages (referenced to ground) and bus injection
currents (finding return path through ground) for an N bus
power system. The Fourier transforms of these two N- vecand Ibus(W). Under conventional cperation,
tors are vbuS(u)
only signals a t the power frequency, wo, occur and thus vec-

0885-8977/89/0100-0569$01 .0001989 IEEE

570

tors Vb,,(w) and IbUs(w) contain impulses S ( w w 0 ) and

6(w-wo) of magnitude and phase depending on the operating
point. The average power associated with any periodic voltage and current is
TI2

Pa,

= -

j- v(t)i(t)dt .

T -TI2
This is readily shown to be related to Fourier series
coefficients a i and b; of v(t) and ci and di of i(t) as follows,
2 TI2
ap = -

-T/2

TI2

cp = -

2 TI2
v(t)sin(Pw,t)dt
v(t)cos(Qwot)dt bp = T -TI2

i(t)cos(Pw,t)dt

T -TI2
Pay =

2 TI2
i(t)sin(Pw,t)dt
dp = T -T/2

a p c ~ bpdp

(1)

where the Fourier series coefficients are expressed in rms

values. In terms of the Fourier transform,

V(W)

= 7r

c[ao6(wtPwo)+apS(w-PW0)+jh & ( w + P ~ o )
9

Both the current approach (Eq. (2)) and voltage

approach (Eq. (3)) have their weaknesses in identifying
harmonic sources. From the instrumentation point of view,
Eq. (2) is probably more suitable, but there may be appropriate circumstances for the use of Eq. (3).
Both Equations (2) and (3) describe a linear network. In
a linear network, active power P and reactive voltamperes Q
are conserved for a specified frequency Pw,. Furthermore,
signal distortion can not occur and energy located a t one frequency can not be shifted to another frequency. Since v(t)
and i(t) are periodic but not necessarily sinusoidal, distortion
voltamperes, D, can occur and this quantity is also conserved
121. Distortion voltamperes is the sum of the products of
Fourier voltage and current terms of dissimilar frequencies.
The term conserved, in this context, means that sources
minus loads equals losses. It is important to note that the
familiar property P2+Q2= IS l2 applies to sinusoidal steady
state circuit analysis only. In the presence of harmonics, this
property is invalid. Caution must be taken in instrumentation in that p and q should be obtained by processing the
Fourier coefficients of v(t) and i(t).

- jbpS(w-!w0)1

I(w) = 7r
P

m. Estimation of Ibus(w)
[ ~ ~ ~ ( ~ ~ ~ ~ ) + ~ ~ ~ ( w - P ~ ~ by
) +a ~state
d p estimation
~ ( ~ P w method
~ )
based on Equation (2)
If Eq. ( 2 ) is written for a lossless system with negligible
reactance,

- jdp6(w-Pwo)l

and again one finds Eq. (1) gives the average power, Pa,.
Note that Pa, contains terms associated with all frequencies.
It is possible to single out the average power associated with
one frequency, Pw,, by examining apcp
bpdp. A harmonic
source is said to exist when a t bus k, the bus voltage vk(t)
and ;lljected current ik(t) are such that

agcp

+ bodp > 0

for P # 1. In other words, the average injected power associated with harmonic frequency P wo (other than the power frequency) is positive.
The frequency response of the network may be viewed in
two ways: from the point of view of line incidence, one finds

where S is the complex voltamperes of a specified harmonic

signal. This quantity is the product of rms voltage and
current a t the specific harmonic frequency. Under lossless
conditions, (2) is recognized simply as Kirchhoff's current law
and (2a) is, in effect, the same law written in terms of complex voltamperes. The advantage of (2a) over (2) is one of
instrumentation: if we wish to use line measurements to
identify harmonic sources, it is easier to instrument quantities such as S which require no local phasor reference.
Instrumentation of I in (2a) would require a local phasor
reference in order to obtain both cp and dp. The rms value
of the Pth harmonic of current,

'bus = Ltlline

In Eq.

(a), L is the line-bus

(L)rs =

+I
-1
0

I:,s

incidence matrix (91 defined by

is not enough information to specify both cy and dp. Partition vectors Sbus and Sllnein (za),

line r starts a t bus s

line r ends a t bus s
otherwise,

denotes the transpose, and Ibus and Ilineare injected bus

and line current time functions. Under the assumption of
finite dimensionality of the line models, the charging capacitance is taken to be lumped a t each line terminal and
modelled as a bus shunt tie. Thus Eq. (2) may be Fourier
transformed taking L as a constant matrix.
(*)t

Pa)

Sbus = LtSlme

A second point of view is the impedance approach,

Vbus = zlbus

where subvectors Sbu, s b k , Sb,, Spn, and spk are

Sb, =

sbk =

at

busses

known bus injection voltamperes

S,, =

unknown bus injection voltamperes a t busses not to

be studied

Spu =

unknown line flow

spk =

known (measured) line flow.

(3)

Under assumptions of linearity, each harmonic component of

vbus(w) and Ibus(w) may be superimposed and z(w) relates
these vectors.

unknown bus injection voltamperes

suspected to be harmonic w x c e s

571

TussELTWHICHINJECTION

- LINES
NsTRUMENTEDAND BUSSES
I

-&SANDBUSSESWITHOUT
INSTWMENTATION

INFORMATION IS

INTERCONNECTED NETWORK
INSTRUMENTED LINES
AND BUSSES

SOURCES

Figure 1.

Pictorial of harmonic identification technique

The measurements here are harmonic spectrum measurements and are measured a t each frequency of interest, hw,,
as

In these expressions, ph and qh are active power and reactive

power a t harmonic h. These quantities are not instrumented
directly or by using P2+Q2=lS12 (which is valid only for the
sinusoidal case). Rather, a signal analyzer is used to obtain
Fourier coefficients ah, bh, Ch, and dh. There is a relationship
between all the Fourier coefficients of v(t), i(t) and the complex voltamperes S, but the relationship is complicated and
inapplicable to instrumentation. The busses at which no
estimate of S(w) is desired occur in sbn. Under this partition,

A B

sbu
sbk

bn

[c
E

[E:;]*

(4)

Under this partition, the rows of A and B agree with sb,,; the
rows of c and D agree with s b k ; the rows of E and F agree
with Sbn; the columns of A, C, and E agree with the number
of rows of Syu;and the number of columns of B, D, and F
agree with the number of rows of SPk. The notation (-)+ is
used to denote the pseudoinverse [lo] and Eq. (4) is "solved"
in the least squares sense for s b , as

,s,

= AC'Sbk

+ (B-AC+D)Spk

(5)

The pseudoinverse notation used in (5) is shown to be the

same as the least squares solution of a set of insufficiently
determined equations in [lo] and shown to be the familiar

state estimation procedure used in conventional power flow

studies in 111, 12). Figure 1 is a pictorial represclrtation cf
the estimation procedure in Eq. (4).
The main intent of this paper is in applying the state
estimation procedure above - not in describing harmonic
measurement procedures; measurement of harmonics in
power systems is nonetheless important and references
[13,17-191 will serve as a sample of work in this area.

W . Testing the identification procedure

The harmonic source identification procedure in Eq. (5)
was tested on a large electric power network for which harmonic bus and line data were available. This system and the
instrumentation procedure was reported in [13]. That system
was chosen because we were able to insure a harmonic source
of sufficient amplitude to be identified. This was done by
momentarily removing the ac-side filters a t a high voltage
DC terminal. One may argue that such a test is hardly a
difficult identification problem - and this is indeed true
because the amplitude of the injected harmonic signal is
high. On the other hand, it is found that the harmonic
source location could be identified from data taken geographically and electrically far from the source. A frank assessment of advantages and difficulties is presented later. This
test case was also chosen because line and bus spectrum data
were readily available.
The test system is a large interconnected transmission
network in the North Central United States and Canada. A
smaller equivalent was chosen for convenience: 105 lines, 75
busses. Several HVDC inverters and rectifiers occur in the
system, and there are also several large, direct service loads
which are known to be rectifiers. Figure 2 contains a pic-

572

ph<ol

BUS 3
ESTIMATION

-Ph

00

500

1 1 ~ 1300
0

BUS 4
ESTIMATION

P"0

ph

LINES IN THIS AREA

ARE INSTRUMENTED

ARE INSTRUMENTED

Figure 2.

BUSSES INSTRUMENTED
FOR Ph. a" SHOWN
THUS. 1 1 BUSSES
INSTRUMENTED

-4.5db

BUS 6
ESTIMATION

Test of estimation procedure for 105 line, 75 bus system

torial of this system. Twenty lines were instrumented with

the hopes of capturing up to the 25th harmonic current, but
it was found that only data through the 19th harmonic were
reliable. Distortion voltamperes is the sum of the products of
Fourier voltage and current terms of dissimilar frequencies.
Similarly, injected currents a t 11 busses were instrumented.
The lines for which ph spectra are known are shown in the
rightmost dashed region in Figure 2, and the busses for which
ph injections were known are symbolically depicted as shown
a t bks 1 in Figure 2. Note that injection current was actually instrumented and recorded on an instrumentation grade
FM magnetic recorder. Similarly bus voltages were instrumented. Subsequent to the tests, v(t)i(t) was calculated and
the spectrum of p(t) was calculated using the fast Fourier
transform

P(kf2) =

-ph

N-1

p(iAT)e-JR'knT

I=o
with the number of sample points, N, being chosen large
enough to get high resolution in the frequency domain, 12. In
order to capture 25th harmonic data (1500 Hz), sampling a t
a minimum of 3 K H z is required. A sampling interval of 0.1
ms was chosen (n = 10 KHz = 62.83 Kr/s). Data above the
19th harmonic were deemed unuseable because the signal
strengths were very low.
The results of this test are partially depicted in Figure
2. When injection spectra a t busses 3, 4, and 6 were
estimated, the results shown a t the right of the figure were
obtained. Note that the injection power a t the fundamental

frequency, wo, was chosen as a reference power and assigned

the value 0.0 decibels. The higher harmonics are expressed
in db down from the reference. In the spectral depictions in
Figure 2, decibels are used since there is a wide range of signal levels present. Also, decibels are convenient to use from
the point of view of instrumentation. It is necessary to depict both cases of positive and negative ph t o show the direction of power flow. If a semilog plot is used, however, negative ordinates are not permitted. For this reason, the depictions shown contain cases of ph>O directly above cases of
ph<O. There is a zero decibel reference for each case and
this reference is the level of the fundamental frequency term.
In the case of bus 4, the fundamental signal level is very low
and Figure 2 is a pictorial representation only. For the case
of bus 3 estimates, virtually all the spectrum is ph>O and
the depiction is relegated t o the upper graph. For the case
of bus 6 estimates, nearly all the signal is in the ph<O
region. Admittedly these depictions are a bit awkward and a
decibel plot capable of distinguishing ph>O and ph<O spect r a is wanting.
At bus 3, the estimated spectrum reveals positive injection of activc power pl and therefore the bus is accepting
power from the circuit to which it is energized (the actual
power level was about 61 MW). There are low level "negative injections" (i.e., loads) a t harmonics 2 through 10
inclusive. An active power injection a t 660 Hz,
P"

allcl1

+ blld,,

573

500

Figure 3.

i"

The proposed harmonic source identification procedure is

intended for a relatively small part (e.g., less than 100
busses) of a large interconnected system. Thus, data requirements are not excessive. Storage requirements are not large
since submatrices A through F in (4) are sparse.

0 db reference

7w0

lloo1300

17% 19wo

Spectrum of Ih for a n idealized six pulse

converter

rO

db reference

Other tests wcre run by estimating spectra a t irarious

busses. Results were generally similar to those described
above. The identification procedure for this case involves a
least squares estimator with matrix C in Eq. (5) of dimension
11 by 85. Pseudoinversion is not required; rather, a sparsity
coded least squares so!ution is obtained by trapezoidal factorization. The percent sparsity of matrices A, B, C, and D
are QO.91%, 88.33%, 99.14%, and 96.09% respectively for this
test. Required computation time on a CDC 6600 computer
was 24.7 seconds to estimate spectra a t three busses to 660
Hz. Some d a t a were taken over 100 K m from the inverter
bus.

V. Identification of harmonic sources

from voltage measurements

Figure 4.

Spectrum of Ih for a n idealized twelve pulse

converter

indicates that there is an eleventh harmonic source a t bus 3.

A similar conclusion is reached concerning the thirteenth harmonic.

The spectra of idealized inverters are shown in Figures 3
(six pulse) and 4 (twelve pulse). Idealized data do not reflect
attenuation in harmonic signal strength due to the network
frequency response. Similarly, idealized data do not include
commutation characteristics which cause attenuation in high
frequency components due to the rounding of the current
waves. Stratford (161 has empirically quantified such
phenomena and his guideline attenuation characteristics are
sometimes called Stratford's numbers. In Figure 2, the
estimated spectrum is clearly t h a t of a twelve pulse inverter.
Note that the difference between the idealized and estimated
eleventh harmonic injection is attributable to the network
and commutation attenuation phenomena cited above, and
due to errors in the estimation procedure. The latter is qualitatively discussed in Section V which follows.
Bus 4 was found not to be a harmonic source since pp
was negative (and very small) for !>1. Bus 6 is found to be
a sink for harmonic energy. The sign of p1 is pictorially illustrated as negative in Figure 2 for bus 6.
The conclusion of this test is that bus 3 is the site of a
twelve pulse inverter and bus 6 is a load bus. Neither busses
4 nor 6 are harmonic sources. In actuality, bus 3 was the
site of a 250 M w , twelve pulse inverter operating a t about
25% power level.

Equation (3) describes the frequency response of a linear

system in terms of bus voltage. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on the objective) Z(w) is typically series
inductive and shunt capacitive so that harmonic signals, in
the absence of resonance [14-151, are attenuated faster than
l / h where h is the harmonic number. Considering that typical harmonic bus current spectra, I(w), fall faster than l/h
1141, one would expect t h a t V(w) will decrease as w increases,
and faster than 1/h2. Typical measurements a t eleventh
harmonic indicate less than 1%harmonic voltage amplitudes
- even under the intentional harmonic tests done in [13].
At the thirteenth harmonic, the attenuation is often so considerable that reliable measurements 10-50 Km from the
source are impossible.
Working with the bus admittance matrix in partitioned
form,
Ibu
Ibk
Ibn

where U denc es unknown, k dent ;es known, and n denotes

"not desired". Sub-vector I,, is solved in the least squares
sense,

where Ibk and Vb, are the bus harmonic carrent and voltage
a t instrumented (known) busses.
The estimator (7) could not be verified by field d a t a for
the reasons cited earlier. Perhaps using better instrumentation (for example, better than than in [13]), using high pass
filters to extract harmonic signals, and under circumstances
of very high harmonic source levels, Eq. (7) might be applied.
It is clear that the current approach is superior in the majority of cases.

574

VI. I n a c c u r a c i e s i n t h e identification p r o c e d u r e
In this section, the harmonic source identification procedure (5) is considered for its inaccuracies. The principal
inaccuracies are:

i. Reactive voltampere losses. The system line series inductive reactance causes decreased values of apdp - bpcp due to
"losses". Harmonic current levels are low, typically below
lo%, and one would expect the loss effect to be corresponding low. However, apdp - bpcp may also be very small (e.g.,
1% or less a t ! = 13). In most applications, the reactive
losses probably degrade the estimation more than any other
phenomenon.

ii. Active power losses. Unmodelled active power losses are a

second order effect which do not materially degrade solutions.
...

Estimation errors. The least square solution of Ax=b

depends on a number of parameters of A. Merow, Liu, and
Heydt [10,11] have studied the ,effect of the spectrum of
singular values on solution error. One effect verified in these
references is the variation of the error with the condition
number of the coefficient matrix [lo],
tat.

where E is the least squares solution error normalized to the

length of the solution vector xLs. Note that k2(A) is the condition number of matrix A,

where 11*112 denotes the 2-norm and a, and a, are the largest
and smallest singular values of matrix A of rank r. The 2norm of a n m by n matrix A is
(9)
where x is a n n-vector,

lbl12is the familiar Euclidean norm,

lbll2 =

6Xi2Y2
i=l

and the supremum function in (9) refers to the largest ratio

when vector x is nonzero. Because the 2-norm is invariant
under a similarity transformation, the relation between condition and singular values shown in Eq. (8) is readily derived.
The singular values of A are the square roots of the positive
real eigenvalues of AAt. It is logical to try to design the harmonic instrumentation points so t h a t the condition of the
coefficient matrix is as small as possible (k,(A)>l for all
matrices). Tests have performed t o design the singular spectrum to reduce the range of the singular values of A. As the
number of measurements surround the bus at which the harmonic spectrum is to be calculated, k, decreases. For a typical application in harmonic source identification, the condition of the matrix C in Eq. (5) is 2.0.

iv. Lumped nodel error. The error introduced by modelling

lines as lumped parameters increases with harmonic number.
For networks of dimension of 100-200 K m or less, this type of
error is not great below the 19th harmonic. This frequency
might well be a t the limit of most instruments due to the
considerable attenuation a t these frequencies. The spectrum
I(w) will be distorted a t high frequency (i.e., erroneously
elevated) due t o the failure t o model attenuation effects a t
higher harmonics.
Each of these error phenomena causes inaccurate I(w),
and errors are greater at higher frequencies. Nonetheless,
accuracy appears to be adequate (i.e., within 10%) up to the
thirteenth harmonic. Spectra t o this frequency are usually
adeqnate to identify the location and general type of harmonic source. The location is always identifyable since error
was never found to be so great as to reverse the sign of (1).
Also, tests show that six pulse converters are always distinguishable from twelve pulse units. If the identification process is to be taken beyond this level, and it is desired, for
example, to identify the type of load on the dc side of a
rectifier, the errors cited above may preclude detailed
identification.
It is possible t o extend the proposed technique to a
weighted least squares procedure:
this entails premultiplication of each side of Eq. ( 4 ) by w b , a square weighting matrix which reflects the accuracy of the Sbk measurements. Presumably, one could "engineer" the singular spectrum of submatrix B by selecting Wb (and selecting the location of bus and line measurements). When bus d a t a are
known with high reliability, corresponding weights in the
diagonal positions of W, will be large. When bus d a t a are
less reliable, corresponding weights are set lower.

W.Conclusions
It is concluded t h a t least squares estimators may be
used t o identify the location of harmonic sources in electric
power systems. The identification is based on the fact that
in a linear transmission network, active power associated
with voltages and currents of the same frequency is conserved. Inaccuracies occur due to losses, estimation errors,
and modelling errors. These inaccuracies result in error in
the spectrum of the injected current, I(w). Nontheless, it is
possible to identify harmonic sources. Also, in many cases,
the spectrum I(w) may be used to identify the type of harmonic source.
References
J. Arrilaga, D. Bradley, D. Bodger, 'power System Harmonics," J. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK, 1985.

W. Shepherd, P. Zand, '%Energy Flow and Power Factor

in Nonsinusoidal Circuits," Cambridge university press,
Cambridge, UK, 1979.

D. Xia, G. Heydt, "Harmonic Power Flow Studies P a r t I

- Formulation and Solution" IEEE Trans. o n Power
Apparatus and System, v. PAS-101, No. 6, pp. 12571265, June, 1982.

575

[4] D. Xia, G. Heydt, "Harmonic Power Flow Studies P a r t 11

Implementation and Practical Application," Op. cit.,
pp. 1266-1270.

[5] W. Grady, "Harmonic Power Flow Studies," Ph.D.

Thesis, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN, August,
1983.
[6] E. Gunthur, M. McGranaghan, "A PC-Based Simulation
Program for Power System Harmonic Analysis," Proc.
Second International Conference on Harmonics in Power
Systems, Manitoba HVDC Research Centre, Winnipeg,
hEi, pp. 175-183.
171 A. Mahmoud, R. Shultz, "A Method for Analysis of Harmonic Distribution in AC Power Systems," IEEE Trans.
on Power Apparatus and Systems, v. PAS-101,No. 4, pp.
1815-24,April, 1982.

18) J. P. Tamby, V. I. John, "&-Harm, A Harmonic

Powerflow Program for Small Power Systems," IEEE
Summer Power Meeting, July 12-17,1987, San Francisco,
CA, Paper 87 SM 506-9.
191 G. T. Heydt, "Computer Analysis Methods for Power
Systems," Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, 1986.

[lo]G. Golub, C. Van Loan, "Matrix Computations," Johns

Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1983.
[ll) Z. Liu, G. Heydt, M. Merow, "A Pseudoinverse Based
State Estimator for Electric Power Systems," Proc. Fifth
International Conference on Systems Engineering,
Wright State University, Dayton, OH, September 9-11,
1987.

[12]M. Merow, "A Non-Iterative Power Flow Study Technique Based on the Method of Minimal Least Squares,"
MS Thesis, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN, May,
1987.
(131 D. Carlson, L. Crane, C. Fedora, G. Heydt, A. Lucero,
M. Marz, B. McEnany, R. Parenteau, J. Peterson, A.
Tredeau, "The Analysis and Measurement of Harmonics
in the Vicinity of a n HVDC Inverter," J. Electric
Machines and Power System, v. 11, No. 6, pp. 499-510.

(141 L. Kraft, G. Heydt, "An Improved Prediction Technique

for Voltage Resonance Studies," Proc. Second Internatioml Conference on harmonics in Power System, Manitoba HVDC Research Centre, Winnipeg, MB, October,
1986.
[15]R. BernadeIli, R. Schmidt, S. Ihara, "Harmonic Resonance - Occurrence and Prevention," Op. czt., pp. 214221.
[16]R. Stratford, "Harmonic Pollution on Power Systems A Change in Philosophy," IEEE Trans Industry Applications, v. IA-16, No. 5, pp. 617-623, September/October
1980.
[17]McGraw Edison Power Systems Co., "The Harmonics
Verdict (TM) - Power System Harmonics Simulation
Software Program, V-Harm," Bulletin 85034, Cannonsburg, PA, September, 1985.
[18]W.A.. Moncrief, "Waveform Distortion Measurements on
Power Distribution Systems," Proc. International Conference o n Harmonics in Power Systems, Worcester, MA,
October, 1984, pp. 52-56.
[19]D.J. Pileggi, A Emanuel, "Field Experience with Harmonics Injecting Equipment," IEEE Trans. on Power
Apparatk and Systems, v. PAS-101, No. 8, August 1982,
pp. 2790-2797.

Gerald Thomas Heydt is from Las Vegas, Nevada and his

B.E.E.E. degree is from Cooper Union, New York, NY. He
holds the MSEE and Ph.D. (EE) degrees from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
Since 1970, Dr. Heydt has been a t Purdue University
where he is presently Professor of Electrical Engineering and
chairman of the Purdue Electric Power Center. Dr. Heydt is
interested in harmonics in electric power systems. He was
principal investigator in EPRI project RP-2444 on the
analysis of harmonics in power systems (the harmonic power
flow study). In 1988 he will be the chairman of the International Conference on Harmonics in Power Systems (ICHPS).
Dr. Heydt is a senior member of IEEE.

576
Discussion
JOHN E. HARDER, Westinghouse E l e c t r i c Corporation,
Bloomington, Indiana:
The author has presented an
i n t e r e s t i n g , elegant method f o r t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n
o f harmonic sources on a dispersed power system. I
would i n v i t e t h e author's
assessment o f t h e
practical
implementation
of
the
technique,
considering t h e f o l l o w i n g :

1. I f several s m a l l sources e x c i t e a h i g h Q
resonance on t h e system, i t would seem t h a t t h e
measurements would be dominated by t h e resonance,
making t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f t h e l o c a t i o n o f t h e
sources d i f f i c u l t .
2.

3.

I f t h e sources are large, i t would seem t h a t t h e

a n a l y s i s may be t r i v i a l since t h e harmonic
voltages normally attenuate r a p i d l y as you move
away from t h e bus where t h e harmonics a r e
injected.

The technique appears t o r e q u i r e a snapshot(s)

c h a r a c t e r i z i n g t h e system a t one p o i n t i n time
i n order t o i d e n t i f y t h e s t a t e o f t h e system f o r
t h e e s t i m a t i o n technique.
This may n o t be
trivial,
identifying
for
analysis
what
f a c i l i t i e s a r e i n and o u t o f service,
the
p o s i t i o n o f t a p changers ( i f t h a t i s important),
etc. Many harmonic sources a r e n o t constant and
measurements taken a t various times may n o t be
too helpful.

I t is i n t e r e s t i n g t h a t t h e technique does work f o r

s u b s t a n t i a l harmonic sources as i n d i c a t e d i n t h e
paper.
That i s an important c o n t r i b u t i o n i n
v e r i f y i n g t h e modelling technique used. What i s n o t
so c l e a r i s t h a t t h e technique w i l l be u s e f u l for
t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f hard t o i d e n t i f y harmonic
sources on a dispersed power system.
The author's
observations a r e i n v i t e d .
Manuscript received April 1, 1988.

G . T. HEYDT. I would like to thank Mr. Harder for reading

the paper so thoroughly. I would like to emphasize that my
presentation is strictly a t the developmental stage, and I do
not have production software to identify harmonic sources.
However, I feel that the use of state estimation has been
demonstrated in the paper. An exact reply to Mr. Harder's
questions requires more experience, but I will try to address
each of his points:

I do not feel that resonant conditions will materially alter

the accuracy of the state estimation. This is the case since
we are estimating active power flow a t system busses. At
resonance, Q reverses sign and V and I may go through
extrema1 values, but P is relatively well behaved. My
remarks are conjecture since we did no tests at or near
resonance.
Concerning smaller harmonic sources, probably the real
point of interest will be intermediate sized sources. Very
low level sources are not usually of concern, and the location of very high level sources are usually well known. Mr.
Harder is correct in indicating that there could be difficulty
in locating certain sources. The techniques of state estimation, used only in a rather crude form here, are well
developed and I feel that through the judicious use of
weighted least squares methodology, most sources of practical interest could be located. Again, experience is needed
to verify this claim.
Measuring harmonic levels is a multifarious exercise.
Sometimes signal levels are so low that measurements of
high confidence are difficult to obtain. These difficulties
are coupled with the nonstationarity of power system
operation. I feel that the state estimation technique
presented is best suited for systems with automatic data
gathering. That is, telemetered harmonic levels would be
used as inputs. This obviates the problems of obtaining a
"snapshot" in time. If data were not telemetered, the
simultaneous timing of measurements would be a problem.
In the tests cited in the paper, we used telephone voice
communication to time measurements. I have no doubt
that this was a source of error.
Manuscript received February 17, 1988.