CONTENTS

WHAT IS POWER QUALITY?

WHY PQ IS IMPORTANT?
POWER QUALITY PROBLEMS
(A)Short duration voltage variation
(A.1)Voltage sag
(A.2)Voltage swell
(A.3)Interruption
(B)Voltage imbalance
(C)Waveform distortion
(D)Long duration voltage variation
(D.1)Over voltage
(D.2)Under voltage
(D.3)Sustained interruption
(E)Voltage fluctuation
POWER QUALITY SOLUTIONS :
(1)Voltage Source Converter
(2) DVR Dynamic Voltage Restorer
(3) D-STATCOM
(4)Harmonic Filter
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

ABSTRACT
Due to increasing complexity in the power system, voltage sags and
swells are now becoming one of the most significant power quality
problems. Voltage sag is a short reduction voltage from nominal
voltage, occurs in a short time, voltage swell is an increase in the r
ms voltage from its nominal voltage; they are bound to have a
greater impact on the industrial customers. If the voltage sags exceed
two to three cycles, then manufacturing systems making use of
sensitive electronic equipments are likely to be affected leading to
major problems. It ultimately leads to wastage of resources (both
material and human) as well as financial losses. The increasing
competition in the market and the declining profits has made it
pertinent for the industries to realize the significance of high-power
quality. This is possible only by ensuring that uninterrupted flow of
power is maintained at proper voltage levels. Electric utilities are
looking for solutions to ensure high quality power supply to their
customers, a lot of solutions have been developed, but this project
tends look at the solving the problems by using custom power
devices such as Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) and Distribution
Static compensator (D-STATCOM). The Dynamic Voltage Restorer
appears to be an especially good solution in the current scenario.

WHAT IS POWER QUALITY?

Power quality is simply the interaction of electrical power with
electrical equipment. If electrical equipment operates correctly and
reliably without being damaged or stressed, we would say that the
electrical power is of good quality. On the other hand, if the electrical
equipment malfunctions, is unreliable, or is damaged during normal
usage, we would suspect that the power quality is poor. There are
two approaches to the mitigation of power quality problems. The
solution

to the power quality can be done from customer side or

from utility side . First approach is called load conditioning, which

ensures that the equipment is less sensitive to power disturbances,
allowing the operation even under significant voltage distortion.
The other solution is to install line conditioning systems that suppress
or counteracts the power system disturbances.

A flexible and

versatile solution to voltage quality problems is offered by active

power filters. Currently they are based on PWM converters and
connect to low and medium voltage distribution system in shunt or in
series. Series active power filters must operate in c o n j u n c t i o n
with shunt passive filters in order
harmonics. Shunt

active

to compensate

load current

power filters operate as a controllable

current source and series active power filters operates as a controllable

voltage source. Both schemes are implemented preferable with voltage
source PWM inverters , with a dc bus having a reactive element
such as a capacitor.

WHY POWER QUALITY IS IMPORTANT?

Both electric utilities and end users of electric power are becoming
increasingly concerned about the quality of electric power. The term
power quality has become one of the most prolific buzzwords in the
power industry since the late 1980s. It is an umbrella concept for a multitude
of individual types of power system disturbances. The issues
that fall under this umbrella are not necessarily new. What is new is
that engineers are now attempting to deal with these issues using a
system approach rather than handling them as individual problems.
There are four major reasons for the increased concern:

1. Newer-generation load equipment, with microprocessor-based controls

and power electronic devices, is more sensitive to power quality
variations than was equipment used in the past.
2. The increasing emphasis on overall power system efficiency has
resulted in continued growth in the application of devices such as
high-efficiency, adjustable-speed motor drives and shunt capacitors
for power factor correction to reduce losses. This is resulting in
increasing harmonic levels on power systems and has many people
concerned about the future impact on system capabilities.
3. End users have an increased awareness of power quality issues.
Utility customers are becoming better informed about such issues as
interruptions, sags, and switching transients and are challenging
the utilities to improve the quality of power delivered.
4. Many things are now interconnected in a network. Integrated
processes mean that the failure of any component has much more
important consequences.

POWER QUALITY PROBLEMS:

(A)Short duration voltage variation:
(A.1)Voltage Sag:
A voltage sag is a sudden reduction in the r. m .s voltage
between 0.1 and 0.9 p. u. at a point in the electrical system, and
lasting for 0.5 cycle to several seconds. Dips with durations of less
than a cycle are regarded as transients. Figure 1 shows a waveform
depicting a voltage sag.

Figure 1: Voltage dip (sag) waveform

A voltage dip may be caused by switching operations
associated with a temporary

disconnection of supply, the flow of

heavy current associated with the starting of a large electric motors

or the flow of fault currents or the transfer of load from one power
source to another. These events may emanate from customers
systems or from the public supply network. The main cause of
momentary voltage dips is probably the lightning strike. Each of
these cases may cause a sag with a special characteristics
(magnitude and duration).The possible effects of voltage sags are:

Extinction of discharge lamps

Malfunctions of electrical low-voltage devices

Computer system crash
Tripping of contactor

(A.2) Voltage swell:

The increase of voltage magnitudes between 1.1 and 1.8pu is
called Swell ,it sometimes accompany voltage sags. The most
accepted duration of a swell is from 0.5 cycles to 1 minute. They
appear on the switching off of a large load; energizing a capacitor
bank ; or voltage increase of the un faulted phases during a single
line-to- ground fault. Figure 2 shows a waveform of voltage swell
.

Figure 2. Voltage swell waveform

Swells can upset electric controls and electric motor drives,
particularly common adjustable-speed drives, which can trip
because of their built in protective circuitry. Swells can also put
stress on delicate computer components and shorten their life span.

(A.3)Interruption:
An interruption occurs when the supply voltage or load current
decreases to less than 0.1 p u for a period of time not exceeding 1 min.
Interruptions can be the result of power system faults, equipment
failures, and control malfunctions. The interruptions are measured by
their duration since the voltage magnitude is always less than 10 percent
of nominal. The duration of an interruption due to a fault on the
utility system is determined by the operating time of utility protective
devices.
Instantaneous reclosing generally will limit the interruption
caused by a nonpermanent fault to less than 30 cycles. Delayed reclosing
of the protective device may cause a momentary or temporary interruption.
The duration of an interruption due to equipment malfunctions
or loose connections can be irregular.
Some interruptions may be preceded by a voltage sag when these
interruptions are due to faults on the source system. The voltage sag
occurs between the time a fault initiates and the protective device operates.
(B)Voltage Imbalance:
Voltage imbalance (also called voltage unbalance) is sometimes defined
as the maximum deviation from the average of the three-phase voltages
or currents, divided by the average of the three-phase voltages or
currents, expressed in percent.
Imbalance is more rigorously defined in the standards6,8,11,12 using
symmetrical components. The ratio of either the negative- or zero sequence
component to the positive-sequence component can be used
to specify the percent unbalance. The most recent standards11 specify
that the negative-sequence method be used.
The primary source of voltage unbalances of less than 2 percent is
single-phase loads on a three-phase circuit. Voltage unbalance can also
be the result of blown fuses in one phase of a three-phase capacitor
bank. Severe voltage unbalance (greater than 5 percent) can result
from single-phasing conditions.

(C) Waveform Distortion:

Waveform distortion is defined as a steady-state deviation from an
ideal sine wave of power frequency principally characterized by the
spectral content of the deviation.
There are five primary types of waveform distortion:
DC offset
Harmonics
Interharmonics
Notching
Noise
DC offset: The presence of a dc voltage or current in an ac power system
is termed dc offset.
This can occur as the result of a geomagnetic disturbance
or asymmetry of electronic power converters. Incandescent light
bulb life extenders, for example, may consist of diodes that reduce the
rms voltage supplied to the light bulb by half-wave rectification.
Direct current in ac networks can have a detrimental effect by biasing
transformer cores so they saturate in normal operation. This causes
additional heating and loss of transformer life. Direct current may also
cause the electrolytic erosion of grounding electrodes and other
connectors.
Harmonics: Harmonics are sinusoidal voltages or currents having
frequencies that are integer multiples of the frequency at which the supply
system is designed to operate (termed the fundamental frequency;
usually 50 or 60 Hz).
Periodically distorted waveforms can be decomposed
into a sum of the fundamental frequency and the harmonics.
Harmonic distortion originates in the nonlinear characteristics of
devices and loads on the power system.
Harmonic distortion levels are described by the complete harmonic
spectrum with magnitudes and phase angles of each individual harmonic
component. It is also common to use a single quantity, the total
harmonic distortion (THD), as a measure of the effective value of harmonic
distortion.

Interharmonics: Voltages or currents having frequency components

that are not integer multiples of the frequency at which the supply system
is designed to operate (e.g., 50 or 60 Hz) are called interharmonics.
They can appear as discrete frequencies or as a wideband spectrum.
Interharmonics can be found in networks of all voltage classes. The
main sources of interharmonic waveform distortion are static frequency
converters, cycloconverters, induction furnaces, and arcing devices.
Power line carrier signals can also be considered as interharmonics.
Since the first edition of this book, considerable work has been done
on this subject. There is now a better understanding of the origins and
effects of interharmonic distortion. It is generally the result of frequency
conversion and is often not constant; it varies with load. Such
interharmonic currents can excite quite severe resonances on the
power system as the varying interharmonic frequency becomes coincident
with natural frequencies of the system. They have been shown to
affect power-line-carrier signaling and induce visual flicker in fluorescent
and other arc lighting as well as in computer display devices.
Notching: Notching is a periodic voltage disturbance caused by the
normal operation of power electronic devices when current is commutated
from one phase to another.
Since notching occurs continuously, it can be characterized through
the harmonic spectrum of the affected voltage. However, it is generally
treated as a special case. The frequency components associated with
notching can be quite high and may not be readily characterized with
measurement equipment normally used for harmonic analysis.
Noise: Noise is defined as unwanted electrical signals with broadband
spectral content lower than 200 kHz superimposed upon the power system
voltage or current in phase conductors, or found on neutral conductors
or signal lines.
Noise in power systems can be caused by power electronic devices,
control circuits, arcing equipment, loads with solid-state rectifiers, and
switching power supplies. Noise problems are often exacerbated by
improper grounding that fails to conduct noise away from the power
system. Basically, noise consists of any unwanted distortion of the
power signal that cannot be classified as harmonic distortion or transients.

(D)Long-Duration Voltage Variations:

Long-duration variations encompass root-mean-square (rms) deviations
at power frequencies for longer than 1 min. ANSI C84.1 specifies
the steady-state voltage tolerances expected on a power system. A volt- age
variation is considered to be long duration when the ANSI limits
are exceeded for greater than 1 min.
Long-duration variations can be either overvoltages or undervoltages.
Overvoltages and undervoltages generally are not the result of
system faults, but are caused by load variations on the system and system
switching operations. Such variations are typically displayed as
plots of rms voltage versus time.
(D.1) Overvoltage:
An overvoltage is an increase in the rms ac voltage greater than 110
percent at the power frequency for a duration longer than 1 min.
Overvoltages are usually the result of load switching (e.g., switching
off a large load or energizing a capacitor bank). The overvoltages result
because either the system is too weak for the desired voltage regulation
or voltage controls are inadequate. Incorrect tap settings on transformers
can also result in system overvoltages.
(D.2) Undervoltage:
An undervoltage is a decrease in the rms ac voltage to less than 90 percent
at the power frequency for a duration longer than 1 min.
Undervoltages are the result of switching events that are the
opposite of the events that cause overvoltages. A load switching on
or a capacitor bank switching off can cause an undervoltage until
voltage regulation equipment on the system can bring the voltage
back to within tolerances. Overloaded circuits can result in undervoltages
also.
The term brownout is often used to describe sustained periods of
undervoltage initiated as a specific utility dispatch strategy to reduce
power demand. Because there is no formal definition for brownout and
it is not as clear as the term undervoltage when trying to characterize
a disturbance, the term brownout should be avoided.

(D.3) Sustained interruptions:

When the supply voltage has been zero for a period of time in excess of
1 min, the long-duration voltage variation is considered a sustained
interruption. Voltage interruptions longer than 1 min are often permanent
and require human intervention to repair the system for
restoration.
The term sustained interruption refers to specific power
system phenomena and, in general, has no relation to the usage of the
term outage. Utilities use outage or interruption to describe phenomena
of similar nature for reliability reporting purposes. However, this
causes confusion for end users who think of an outage as any interruption
of power that shuts down a process. This could be as little as
one-half of a cycle. Outage, as defined in IEEE Standard 100,8 does not
refer to a specific phenomenon, but rather to the state of a component
in a system that has failed to function as expected. Also, use of the
term interruption in the context of power quality monitoring has no
relation to reliability or other continuity of service statistics. Thus,
this term has been defined to be more specific regarding the absence
of voltage for long periods.
(E) Voltage Fluctuation:
Voltage fluctuations are systematic variations of the voltage envelope
or a series of random voltage changes, the magnitude of which does not
normally exceed the voltage ranges specified by ANSI C84.1 of 0.9 to
1.1 pu.
Loads that can exhibit continuous, rapid variations in the load current
magnitude can cause voltage variations that are often referred to
as flicker. The term flicker is derived from the impact of the voltage
fluctuation on lamps such that they are perceived by the human eye to
flicker. To be technically correct, voltage fluctuation is an electromagnetic
phenomenon while flicker is an undesirable result of the voltage fluctuation in
some loads. However, the two terms are often linked
together in standards. Therefore, we will also use the common term
voltage flicker to describe such voltage fluctuations.

POWER QUALITY SOLUTIONS:

(1)

Voltage Source Converters (VSC):

A voltage-source converter is a power electronic device,

which can generate a sinusoidal voltage with any required

magnitude, frequency and phase angle. Voltage source converters
are widely used in adjustable-speed drives, but can also be used to
mitigate voltage dips. The VSC is used to either completely replace
the voltage or to inject the missing voltage.

The missing

voltage is the difference between the nominal voltage and the

actual. The converter is normally based on some kind of energy
storage, which will supply the converter with a DC voltage. The
solid-state electronics in the converter is then switched to get
the desired output voltage. Normally the VSC is not only used
for voltage dip mitigation, but also for other power quality issues,
e.g. flicker and harmonics.
(2)

Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR)

A DVR, Dynamic Voltage Restorer is a distribution voltage

DC-to-AC solid- state switching converter that injects three single

phase AC output voltages in series with the distribution feeder, and
in synchronism with the voltages of the distribution system. By
injecting voltages of controllable amplitude, phase angle, and
frequency (harmonic)

into

the

distribution

feeder

in

instantaneous real time via a series- injection transformer, the

DVR can restore the quality of voltage at its load side terminals
when the quality of the source side terminal voltage is significantly
out of specification for sensitive load equipment. It is designed to

mitigate voltage sags and swells on lines feeding sensitive

equipment.
A viable alternative

to uninterruptible

power systems

(UPS) and other utilization solutions to the voltage sag problem,

the DVR is specially designed for large loads of the order of 2
MVA to 10 MVA served at distribution voltage. A DVR typically
requires less than one-third the nominal power rating of the UPS .
DVR can also be used to mitigate troublesome harmonic voltages
on the distribution network.

DVR comprises of three main parts:

1. Inverter
2. DC energy storage
3. Control system
The basic configuration of a DVR is shown in Figure 3 below;

Figure 3: Basic configuration of a DVR

(3)Distribution Static Compensator (D-STATCOM)

A D-STATCOM (Distribution Static Compensator), which
is schematically depicted in Figure, consists of a two-level
Voltage Source Converter (VSC), a dc energy storage device, a
coupling transformer connected in shunt to the distribution network
through a coupling transformer. The VSC converts the dc voltage
across the storage device into a set of three-phase ac output
voltages. These voltages are in phase and coupled with the ac
system through the reactance

of the coupling transformer.

Suitable adjustment of the phase and magnitude of the DSTATCOM output voltages allows effective control of active
and reactive power exchanges between the D-STATCOM and the
ac system. Such configuration allows the device to absorb or
generate controllable active and reactive power.

The VSC connected in shunt with the ac system provides a

multifunctional topology which can be used for up to three quite
distinct purposes:
1. Voltage regulation and compensation of reactive power;
2. Correction of power factor; and
3. Elimination of current harmonics.

Here, such device is employed to provide continuous voltage

regulation using an indirectly controlled converter. The basic
configuration of the D-STATCOM is shown in the diagram
below, Figure 4;

Figure 4: Configuration of a D-STATCOM

(4) Harmonic Filters

Harmonic filters are used to reduce undesirable harmonics.
They can be divided in two groups: passive filters and active
filters.

Figure(5)

Passive filters (Fig. 5 left) consist in a low impedance path to the frequencies
of the harmonics to be attenuated using passive components (inductors,
capacitors and resistors). Several passive filters connected in parallel may be
necessary to eliminate several harmonic components. If the system varies
(change of harmonic components), passive filters may become ineffective and
cause resonance.
Active filters (Fig.5 right) analyze the current consumed by the load
and create a current that cancel the harmonic current generated by the
loads. Active filters were expensive in the past, but they are now
becoming cost effective compensating for unknown or changing
harmonics.

CONCLUSION:
The availability of electric power with high quality is crucial for the running
of the modern society. If some sectors are satisfied with the quality of the
power provided by utilities, some others are more demanding.
To avoid the huge losses related to PQ problems, the most demanding
consumers must take action to prevent the problems. Among the various
measures, selection of less sensitive equipment can play an important role.
When even the most robust equipment is affected, then other measures must
be taken, such as installation of restoring technologies, distributed
generation or an interface device to prevent PQ problems.

REFERENCES:
USING ACTIVE POWER FILTER TO IMPROVE POWER
QUALITY BY LUIS A MORAN AND JUAN W. DIXON
POWER QUALITY ANALYSIS AND MITIGATION BY
U.C.CHARLES
POWER QUALITY PROBLEMS AND NEW SOLUTION BY A. de
Almeida, L. Moreira , J. Delgado
BOOKS:
ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS QUALITY BY
Roger C. Dugan/Mark F. McGranaghan
Surya Santoso/H. Wayne Beaty