Harmonics in energy metering

ttt

Kaushik Ghosh & N.K.Bhati

May 2004

The presentation

• Introduction to Harmonics.
• Effects of Harmonics
• Energy measurement and Harmonics.
• New proposal for measuring effect of
harmonics.

May 2004

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What are harmonics?
• An ideal electricity supply system has pure sinusoidal
voltages and currents at the fundamental frequency
• Harmonics are generated in the system due to non
linear loads
• Non linear loads do not draw current proportional to
the voltage
• Non sinusoidal supply voltage and current are result
of sum of all harmonics present.
• These harmonics are sinusoidal signals of integral
multiples of the fundamental frequency .
• These have different amplitude and phase relation wrt
fundamental.
May 2004

Harmonic Waveform

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Harmonic Waveform

May 2004

How are harmonics generated ?

There are plenty of non linear loads in industrial
and domestic environments
– Static power converters , which take current in
impulses.
– Arc furnaces, Arc welding sets and ovens
– mercury vapor lamps, high-pressure sodium vapor
lamps and metal Halide lighting etc.
– Switching or phase controlled AC to DC power
supplies, battery chargers and UPS for computers
– Controlled drives and computer controlled machines.
– Transformers operating near saturation .
– Non linearity of BH curve.
– Induction furnaces and electrolysis plants.
– Electronic Dimmers, fan and speed regulators.
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Harmonic generation …an example
Input current Input voltage

Harmonic generated by an UPS

May 2004

Why are harmonics harmful?

(Taken from IEEE 519)
• Over heating in machines, neutral wires on LT side.
• Increased Copper and core losses in transformers, risk of
saturation.
• Pulsating torque stresses in rotating machines
• Heating and increased corona in cables leading to insulation
failure
• Dielectric stresses in capacitor banks as harmonic currents
are sunk by them leading to overheating, aging
• Faulty operation of power electronic equipment
• De-rating of protective relays
• Unpredictable behavior of protective relays , remote control
devices
• Telephone line interference
May 2004

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The measurement of harmonics
• Instruments based on
averaging principles
• These will work ok for
fundamental frequency.
• In case of harmonics will give
errors; for 15 % third
harmonic, out of phase error
can be 5 %.
• In case of chopped signals
errors can be very high, as
shown in the diagram

May 2004

The measurement of harmonics

• Measurement shall be done using true RMS
meters.
• These are of thermal type, analog IC based type

• Digital instruments

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Harmonic Analysis

• Any periodic non sinusoidal waveform can be

broken up into sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal
(harmonic) components.
• Fourier transform is used for harmonic
analysis

May 2004

Fourier Transforms
n=α n=α

V(t) = V0 + Σ
n=1
VanSin(nωt) + Σ
n=1
VbnCos(nωt)

Where,
2π
Van = 1/π ∫ V(t).Sin(nωt)dwt
0
2π
Vbn = 1/π ∫ V(t).Cos(nωt)dwt
0

May 2004

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Fourier transforms
DC Fundamental

V = V0 +
V1asin( ωt) + V1bcos( ωt) +

Harmonics
V2asin(2ωt)+ V2bcos(2ωt) +
V3asin(3ωt)+ V3bcos(3ωt) +
……………………………
………………………………
Vnasin(nωt)+ Vnbcos(nωt)
May 2004

Fourier transforms
fundamental
DC
V = V0 +
√(V1a2 + V1b2 ) sin( ωt + Φ1) +

harmonics
√(V2a2 + V2b2 ) sin( 2ωt + Φ2) +
√(V3a2 + V3b2
) sin( 3ωt + Φ3) +
……………………………
………………………………
√(Vna2 + Vnb2 ) sin( nωt + Φn)
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Application of Fourier analysis

May 2004

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Workshop

• What are the Fourier components of the

following waveform:

– Vm Sin (ωt + Φ)

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Harmonic Analysis

• Typically higher harmonic components are

very low in amplitude
• Supply system mostly has odd harmonics
• The sine and cosine terms define the relative
phase of the harmonic components

May 2004

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Harmonics in supply systems
• Electricity generation is always sinusoidal
• Harmonics are ‘generated’ at the loads
• Drops in line and transformer impedances cause
distortion in voltages
• Voltages therefore have lower harmonics
(typically up to 5 - 10%)
• Currents may have large harmonic content
depending on nature of load (typically 30 -40%)
May 2004

Harmonics in power and energy

• Harmonics in power are normally very low

• If voltage had 5% harmonics and current had
40% harmonics, the power harmonics are
only 2%.

v= V sin( ωt ) + 0.05V sin( 3ωt + Φ3)

i = I sin( ωt + Φ1) + 0.40 I sin( 3ωt + Φ3i)
p = (½VI) cos Φ1 + 0.02 (½VI) cos (Φ3 - Φ3i)
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The misconception about harmonic energy

• Harmonics create havoc in electrical systems

• They cause distorted supply and lead to excessive
heating of distribution transformers
• Measuring harmonic power seldom gives a measure of
the problem
• Tariff on total energy (instead of fundamental) is not
only insignificant, it is wrong
• Standards however require meters to measure “total
energy”

May 2004

The “total” error !

Line impedance
HARMONIC CONSUMER

Source impedance Zt

Zs
Fundamental power

Fundamental power
Fundamental power

Harmonic power

Harmonic power

Vg

Linear load Nonlinear load

HARMONIC HARMONIC
CONSUMER GENERATOR

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Actual measurement data
Test condition
harmonics measurement
test condition: Thyrister firing at about 90deg.
% voltage harmonics
harmonic no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Across M1 100 3.49 3.68 3.88 3.35 3.98 3.65 4.05 3.58
Across M2 100 3.31 0.97 3.66 2.01 3.69 3.19 3.62 31.13
% current harmonics
Through M1 100 2.95 3.62 3.79 3.21 2.93 3.47 3.8 3.29
Through M2 100 1.26 72.65 1.28 30.7 0.44 1.83 0.54 12.59

Meter readings

Total and fundamental power measured at point A and B

Meter M1 Meter M2
Total power KT (watt) 464.6 505
Fundamental power KW (watt) 461.9 531
KT-KW 2.7 -26
%change w.r.t fundamental 0.585% -4.896%
May 2004

The “total” error !

• Non linear loads “import” fundamental and “export”
harmonic energy into the system
• Tariff on “total” energy helps the polluter with lower bills !
• Harmonic current through line impedances cause harmonic
distortion of voltages
• The linear load “imports” harmonic load due to the distorted
supply
• The linear load pays for the “harmonic” import it did not
want !
• Most of the harmonic power is dissipated in distribution
transformer impedances
• Harmonic power is different for 3p4w and 3p3w meters
under same conditions !
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What is the right way ?

• Electricity tariff should be based on fundamental energy

• This is not only just, it is in the interest of the utilities
• Penal tariff should be imposed on “generators” of
harmonics
• Voltage, current and power harmonics do not provide a
suitable means of imposing penal tariff as they are not
“integrating” quantities
• A new concept of “DASH” – distortion ampere square
hour has been proposed

May 2004

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