Power Systems Harmonics

Abstract
This paper presents an overview of power system harmonics and is aimed at those who have some electrical background but little or no knowledge of harmonics. The basics of harmonics including Fourier theory are explained briefly. The aim of this project based paper is to put emphasis on mathematical complex analysis approach to investigate harmonics in power transmission lines systems. Common types of harmonic sources present in industry are addressed with particular emphasis on variable frequency drives. The potential ill-effects due to harmonics are detailed. The recommendations of IEEE Std. 519-1992 are dealt with. A proactive approach for the addition of large non-linear loads is then presented and alternative methods for harmonic reduction are discussed.

Introduction
Power system harmonics is an area that is receiving a great deal of attention recently. This is primarily due to the fact that non-linear (or harmonic producing) loads are comprising an ever-increasing portion of the total load for a typical industrial plant. The increase in proportion of non-linear load has prompted more stringent recommendations in IEEE Std. 519 and stricter limits imposed by utilities. Incidence of harmonic related problems is low, but awareness of harmonic issues can help to increase plant power system reliability. On the rare occasions that harmonics are a problem, it is either due to the magnitude of the harmonics produced or a power system resonance. Harmonics are defined as deviations from the fundamental frequency sine wave, expressed as additional sine waves of frequencies that are a multiple of the generated frequency. They are expressed as third, fifth, seventh etc. harmonics, denoting their frequency as a multiple of the primary wave frequency.

Harmonics Fundamentals
Harmonics are a mathematical way of describing distortion to a voltage or current waveform. The term harmonic refers to a component of a waveform that occurs at an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency. Fourier theory tells us that any repetitive waveform can be defined in terms of summing sinusoidal waveforms which are integer multiples (or harmonics) of the fundamental frequency. For the purpose of a steady state waveform with equal positive and negative half-cycles, the Fourier series can be expressed as follows: ( ) ( )

A common term that is used in relation to harmonics is THD or Total Harmonic Distortion. THD can be used to describe voltage or current distortion and is calculated as follows: ( ) Where ( )

is the magnitude of the nth harmonic as a percentage of fundamental.

Causes of Harmonics
Harmonics are caused by non-linear loads, that is loads that draw a nonsinusoidal current from a sinusoidal voltage source. Some examples of harmonic producing loads are electric arc furnaces, static VAR compensators, inverters, DC converters, switch-mode power supplies, and AC or DC motor drives. In the case of a motor drive, the AC current at the input to the rectifier looks more like a square wave than a sine wave. The rectifier can be thought of as a harmonic current source and produces roughly the same amount of harmonic current over a wide range of power system impedances. The characteristic current harmonics that are produced by a rectifier are determined by the pulse number. The following equation allows determination of the characteristic harmonics for a given pulse number:

where h is the harmonic number (integer multiple of the fundamental) k is any positive integer q is the pulse number of the converter Variable frequency drives also produce harmonic currents at the output of the inverter which are seen by the motor. Most of these harmonics are integer multiples of the inverter operating frequency and not the power supply frequency, but little generalization can be made about their magnitude since this varies greatly with the type of drive and the switching algorithm for the inverter semiconductors. Some "interharmonics" currents may also be present at the input or the output of the drive. Interharmonics do not fit the classical definition of harmonics since they do not necessarily occur at integer multiples of the power supply or inverter fundamental frequency. Harmonics can occur on the input at the power system frequency plus or minus the inverter operating frequency. The inverter output can contain harmonics at

the rectifier pulse number times the power system frequency plus or minus the inverter operating frequency. Proper DC link design can minimize the presence of interharmonics. The linear time-invariant loads are characterized such that application of sinusoidal voltage results in sinusoidal flow of current. A constant steady-impedance is displayed from these loads during the applied sinusoidal voltage. As the voltage and current are directly proportional to each other, if voltage is increased it will also result into increase in the current. An example of such a load is incandescent lighting. Even if the flux wave in air gap of rotating machine is not sinusoidal, under normal loading conditions transformers and rotation machines pretty much meet this definition. Also, in a transformer the current contains odd and even harmonics including a dc component. More and more use of magnetic circuits over a period of time may get saturated and result into generation of harmonics. In power systems, synchronous generators produce sinusoidal voltages and the loads draw sinusoidal currents. In this case, the harmonic distortion is produced because of the linear load types for sinusoidal voltage is small. Non-linear loads are considered as the second category of loads. The application of sinusoidal voltage does not result in a sinusoidal flow applied sinusoidal voltage for non-linear devices. The non-linear loads draw a current that may be discontinuous. Harmonic current is isolated by using harmonic filters in order to protect the electrical equipment from getting damaged due to harmonic voltage distortion. They can also be used to improve the power factor. The harmful and damaging effects of harmonic distortion can be evident in many different ways such as electronics miss-timings, increased heating effect in electrical equipments, capacitor overloads, etc. There can be two types of filters that are used in order to reduce the harmonic distortion i.e. the active filters and the passive filters. Active harmonic filters are electronic devices that eliminate the undesirable harmonics on the network by inserting negative harmonics into the network. The active filters are normally available for low voltage networks. The active filters consist of active components such as IGBT-transistors and eliminate many different harmonic frequencies. The signal types can be single phase AC, three phase AC. On the other hand, passive harmonic filters consist of passive components such as resistors, inductors and capacitors. Unlike the active filters which are used only for low voltages, the passive filters are commonly used and are available for different voltage levels.

Potential Effects of Harmonics

Power system problems related to harmonics are rare but it is possible for a number of undesirable effects to occur. High levels of harmonic distortion can cause such effects as increased transformer, capacitor, motor or generator heating, misoperation of electronic equipment (which relies on voltage zero crossing detection or is sensitive to wave shape), incorrect readings on meters, misoperation of protective relays, interference with telephone circuits, etc. The likelihood of such ill effects occurring is greatly increased if a resonant condition occurs. Resonance occurs when a harmonic frequency produced by a non-linear load closely coincides with a power system natural frequency. There are 2 forms of resonance which can occur: parallel resonance and series resonance.

Mitigation Methods of Harmonics

Mitigation methods include the use of following:

Passive Filters (e.g. Tuned Series L-C circuit) Inductive Reactance (e.g. Isolation Transformer or line reactors) Active Filters Multiphase Converters (e.g. 12 Pulse or 18 Pulse rectifier)

Example: Consider an example of a tuned LC circuit (Parallel LC filter).

The power plant is designed to generate power signal at 60Hz. Suppose if for some reason such as nonlinear load, a third order harmonics is generated and we want to get rid of that harmonics since it is undesired and can cause damage to the consumer equipment which are designed to operate at 60Hz frequency. Using the circuitry above, we can form a taping filter to tap that harmonics. Using the following equation

We can find the values of and to find the resonant frequency. And the impedance of the circuit is given by the parallel impedance equation

Where

After solving the above equation in a form that we can figure out the poles, we have

)(

Summary
Harmonics are inherently complex and from the literature given in this paper, it is concluded that complex analysis is a fundamental part of harmonic domain analysis and filtering in high power transmission systems.

References
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