Electric Power Systems Research 81 (2011) 1541–1549

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Electric Power Systems Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/epsr

Triplen harmonics: Myths and reality

Gianfranco Chicco a,∗ , Petru Postolache b , Cornel Toader b
a
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Politecnico di Torino, corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, I-10129 Torino, Italy
b
Universitatea Politehnica din Bucuresti, Facultatea Energetica, Splaiul Independentei 313, RO-79590 Bucharest, Romania

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In a symmetrical and balanced three-phase system with distorted waveforms, a well-known rule states
Received 18 January 2010 that each harmonic order corresponds to a specified sequence (positive, negative or zero). In this ideal
Received in revised form 8 December 2010 case, the current in the neutral conductor (or more generally in the return path) contains only triplen
Accepted 6 March 2011
harmonics. However, this rule is no longer valid in practical distribution systems subject to unbalance and
Available online 3 April 2011
waveform distortion, in which phase and neutral currents at any sequence generally contain components
of any harmonic order. Possible improper extension of the ideal case concepts to general situations may
Keywords:
create a sort of myth, to be removed by providing tutorial and practical examples.
Triplen harmonics
Symmetrical components
This paper provides a direct quantification of the extent to which non-triplen harmonics are present
Unbalance in the zero-sequence current components and triplen harmonics are present in the positive and negative
Waveform distortion sequence current components. An original set of indicators, built on the basis of the theoretical sym-
Harmonic indicators metrical component-based framework developed by the authors, is introduced for assessing the specific
Neutral current impact of the triplen harmonics at the different sequences. Some classical myths based on the ideal case
are illustrated and discussed on specific examples including theoretical cases and experimental analyses,
quantifying the actual role played by the triplen harmonics in these applications.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Distorted waveforms are commonplace in three-phase distri-
bution systems. Periodic distorted waveforms (with period T) of
current and voltage can be studied by applying the Fourier anal-
ysis principles to obtain the waveform components at various
harmonic orders. Besides the average value of the waveform (con-
tinuous component) of harmonic order h = 0, the harmonic orders
corresponding to multiples of the fundamental frequency f1 = 1/T
are indicated by a positive integer h ∈ ℵ+ . In practical cases, the
harmonic orders considered are h = 1, . . ., H, where for instance
the upper limit can be set to H = 50, as in the standard IEC
61000-4-7 [1]. Each transformed waveform contains a number
of sinusoidal components at different harmonic orders, making it
possible to associate a specific phasor (with corresponding ampli-
tude and phase angle) to each harmonic order. Another classical
tool used for the analysis of three-phase systems is the trans-
formation of a triplet of phasors into symmetrical components,
according to the principles introduced by Fortescue [2]. In par-
ticular, when the distribution system contains the three-phase
conductors and a return path (e.g., through the neutral conductor),
the current in the return path is given by the zero-sequence cur-
rent components obtained from the transformation of the phase
currents into symmetrical components. The impact of waveform
distortion in three-phase distribution systems with three or more
wires can then be studied by applying the symmetrical compo-
nent transformation to the phasors defined at different harmonic
orders.
On the basis of the concepts outlined above, by defin-
ing the angular frequency ω = 2␲f1 and applying the Fourier
decomposition, the current components at the hth harmonic
order in the three phases a, b, and c are represented as
h h h jϕh h
in [3] by using the phasors I a = Iah ejϕa , I b = Ibh e b , and I c =
jϕch
Ich e , where each phasor is characterised by RMS value and
initial phase-angle (the angle reference for the whole sys-
tem is set at the origin of the phase-a voltage component at
fundamental frequency). By defining ˛ = ej2/3 and using the
subscripts T1, T2, and T3 to represent the positive, negative
and zero-sequence1 components of the transformed variables,
respectively, the classical symmetrical component transformation
applied to the phase current vectors at the hth harmonic order

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 011 090 7141; fax: +39 011 090 7199. 1
In the notation developed here, the number 3 (in the subscript T3) is preferred to
E-mail addresses: gianfranco.chicco@polito.it (G. Chicco), the number 0 to identify the zero-sequence component, for the sake of consistency
petrupostolache@yahoo.com (P. Postolache), toader cornel@yahoo.com (C. Toader). with the general approach illustrated in the next sections.

0378-7796/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.epsr.2011.03.007
1542 G. Chicco et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 81 (2011) 1541–1549
Table 1
Associations between harmonic orders and sequences (m = 1, . . ., ∞).
Harmonic order Rotation at radian frequency
3m − 3 (3m − 3) ω
3m − 2 (3m − 2) ω
3m − 1 (3m − 1) ω
yields:
 h    
 ĪT 1   1 ˛ ˛2   Īah 
    
 h  1  
 ĪT 2  = 3  1 ˛2 ˛   Ībh 
    
 Ī h   1 1 1   Ī h 
T3 c essential to avoid confusion between triplen harmonics and zero-
Taking into account waveform distortion, in the classical ideal
case:
• the distribution system is supplied by symmetrical voltages;
• the distribution system operates in perfectly balanced condi-
tions; and,
• all voltage and current waveforms are periodic in the time domain
(with the same period T).
In the ideal case, the three-phase current waveforms exhibit
identical shape and have a regular time delay of T/3 from one
phase to the successive phase in the direct sequence order (a, b, c).
More specifically, Iah = Ibh = Ich and ϕah = ϕbh = ϕch , for h = 0, 1, . . ., ∞.
By applying (1), the specific properties for the different harmonic
orders, that is, for m = 1, 2, . . ., ∞, in the ideal case are synthesised
in the third column of Table 1. In particular, introducing the specific
notation used in this paper:
• for the harmonic components of order h = 3m − 3, the only non-
zero phasor is ĪTh3 , while ĪTh1 = ĪTh2 = 0; the phasors corresponding
to these harmonic components are of zero sequence;
• for the harmonic components of order h = 3m − 2, the only non-
zero phasor is ĪTh1 , while ĪTh2 = ĪTh3 = 0; the phasors corresponding
to these harmonic components are of positive sequence;
• for the harmonic components of order h = 3m − 1, the only non-
zero phasor is ĪTh2 , while ĪTh1 = ĪTh3 = 0; the phasors corresponding
to these harmonic components are of negative sequence.
One of the consequences of the above results is that in the ideal
case only the components of harmonic order multiple of 3 (triplen
harmonics) contribute to the neutral current (or more generally to
the current in the return path). The appeal of the regular formal
structure shown in Table 1 and the specific result concerning the
association of the triplen harmonics with the zero sequence have
been the cause of the development of a sort of triplen harmon-
ics mythology, according to which the ideal case concepts could
be incorrectly extended to the general case in which the electrical
system does not operate in symmetrical and balanced conditions.
However, in the general situation, corresponding to actual applica-
tions, the hypotheses of the ideal case are not fully respected (fourth
column of Table 1). In particular, the distribution system is typically
unbalanced, and the supply voltages are not perfectly symmetrical
[4–12]. In addition, also periodicity is not rigorously guaranteed,
even though the fundamental frequency (and thus period) vari-
ations are generally very low; this is a cause of the presence of
interharmonics [13].
In the sequel, the distribution system waveforms are consid-
ered to be periodic, making it possible to apply Fourier analysis
techniques. Data are analysed in the frequency domain by apply-
ing the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) [14] to the phase currents
and converting the resulting harmonic currents into symmetrical
components according to the Fortescue transformation, as shown
Sequence (ideal case) Sequence (general real case)
Zero Zero, positive, negative
Positive Zero, positive, negative
Negative Zero, positive, negative
in (1). On-line computation of the harmonics of symmetrical com-
ponents could also be performed by using the procedure developed
in [15].
(1) In this paper, the attention is focused on systems exhibiting
lack of symmetry and/or lack of balance. In such systems, it is
sequence harmonics, in order to avoid misconceptions about the
results of distribution system operation analyses. Rigorously speak-
ing, there is no identity between zero sequence harmonics and
triplen ones. The triplen harmonics contribution to the occurrence
of high neutral currents in three-phase systems with neutral is
indeed significant in many actual cases [4,6,7], but this cannot
justify neglecting the presence of the other harmonic orders in
distribution system assessment.
For tutorial and practical purposes, it is useful to formulate spe-
cific indicators aimed at quantifying to what extent components
of positive and negative sequence might appear in the triplen har-
monics, triplen harmonics are present in the positive and negative
sequence current components, as well as non-triplen harmonics
are present in the zero-sequence current components [16]. This
quantification is not provided in the form of directly computable
indicators in the existing theories. The main contribution of this
paper is to define a specific set of indicators to provide such a direct
quantification, presenting a related set of illustrative applications
based on theoretical considerations and on the results of experi-
mental analyses carried out on systems operating in a laboratory
and on the field.
Considering general distribution systems with unbalanced and
distorted waveforms, the following aspects are addressed:
(1) components at any harmonic order (not only triplen harmonics)
can be found in the zero-sequence current circulating in the
neutral conductor or in the return path;
(2) triplen harmonics may appear in the phase currents in any kind
of system (even without neutral or connected through trans-
formers with delta-type windings)
For the first point, proving the inadequacy of confusing zero-
sequence currents (e.g., those circulating in the neutral conductor)
with triplen harmonics is actually straightforward. A simple
counterexample can be easily constructed by considering the
well-known case of a three-phase unbalanced system with purely
sinusoidal waveforms (no harmonic components). In this case,
a non-zero neutral current depending on the system unbalance
appears at fundamental frequency, and the fundamental frequency
is clearly not a triplen harmonic. Beyond this counterexample, it
is important to assess what happens in the presence of distorted
waveforms. In order to assist the discussions, appropriate indica-
tors should be defined and used. Indeed, defining such a kind of
indicators is not generally easy, but it becomes a straightforward
application of the general principles introduced by the authors
in their recent work, leading to the formulation [3] and applica-
tion [17] of a comprehensive symmetrical component-based (SCB)
approach to study three-phase systems with neutral in unbalanced
conditions and with distorted waveforms. The SCB approach pro-
vides the conceptual framework for analyzing three-phase systems
with neutral in the general case, with unsymmetrical and/or unbal-
anced operation in the presence of waveform distortion. However,
 G. Chicco et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 81 (2011) 1541–1549 1543

the outcomes of the SCB approach presented in [3] and [17] were In order to make the contribution of the triplen harmonics more
not specifically focused on the role of the triplen harmonics. For explicit, a set of specific variables is introduced, representing the
this purpose, in Section 2 a new set of dedicated indicators extend- triplen harmonics contribution to the balance phase current com-
ing the outcomes of the SCB approach is proposed. Application ponent
examples are shown and discussed in Section 3, taking into account 
∞ 2
system unbalance and waveform distortion in three-phase systems b3 = (IT3m−3 ) (7)
3
with and without neutral, in which each harmonic order creates m=1
current components of positive, negative, and zero sequence.
the triplen harmonics contribution to the unbalance phase current
component
2. Conceptual framework and indicators 
∞ 2 2
2.1. Background notes on the symmetrical component-based u3 = [(IT3m−3
1
) + (IT3m−3
2
) ] (8)
m=1
(SCB) framework
and the triplen harmonics contribution to the phase current distor-
The Fortescue theorem applies to any phasor triplet in a three- tion component
phase system, making no reference to frequency. In the ideal case 
∞ 2 2 2
with harmonic distortion (Table 1), the positive, negative and zero d3 = [(IT3m−3 ) + (IT3m−3 ) + (IT3m−3 ) ] (9)
1 2 3
sequences are decoupled by the symmetrical component transfor- m=1

mation, making it possible to provide a relation between each The complementary terms with respect to the corresponding
harmonic order and a single sequence. The presence of system Eqs. (2)–(4) are collected in another set of variables:
unbalance introduces a coupling effect among the sequences at 
each harmonic order, according to which it is no longer possible 2 2
b12 = (Ipb ) − (b3 ) (10)
to establish a direct association between a given harmonic order
and a single sequence. In order to deal with this coupling effect 
2
in unbalanced systems with waveform distortion, in the dedicated u12 = (Ipu )2 − (u3 ) (11)
framework [3] developed by the authors, specific components are 
associated to the phase currents, namely, the balance phase current 2 2
d12 = (Ipd ) − (d3 ) (12)
component Ipb , the unbalance phase current component Ipu , and the
phase current distortion component Ipd , such that2 : The following indicators are then introduced to characterize to
 what extent the triplen harmonics contribute to the phase current
∞ 2 2 2 balance, unbalance and distortion components:
Ipb = [(IT3m−2
1
) + (IT3m−1
2
) + (IT3m−3
3
) ] (2)
m=1
b3
 pb = (13)
∞ Ipb
2 2 2 2 2 2
Ipu = [(IT3m−2 ) + (IT3m−2 ) + (IT3m−1 ) + (IT3m−1 ) + (IT3m−3 ) + (IT3m−3 ) ]
m=1
2 3 1 3 1 2
u3
(3) pu = (14)
Ipu

 d3
∞ pd = (15)
Ipd =
2 2
[(ITh1 ) + (ITh2 ) + (ITh3 ) ]
2
(4) Ipd
h=2
and to take into account the contribution of the non-triplen har-
Within the same framework, the extension of the classical Total monics in a complementary way:
Harmonic Distortion (THD) indicator to unbalanced systems is
given by the proposed Total Phase Distortion (TPD) indicator b12
ˆ pb = (16)
Ipb
Ipd
TPD =  (5)
2 2 2 u12
(IT11 ) + (IT12 ) + (IT13 ) ˆ pu = (17)
Ipu
and the extension of the unbalance indicator to systems with dis-
d12
torted currents is provided by the proposed Total Phase Unbalance ˆ pd = (18)
(TPU) indicator: Ipd

Ipu
TPU = (6) 2.3. Contributions of the triplen harmonics to the neutral current
Ipb
Assuming that the return-path of the three-phase system con-
2.2. Indicators expressing the contribution of the triplen sists of the neutral conductor, using the framework developed in
harmonics to the phase currents [3], the RMS value of the neutral current is expressed as

As it can be easily noticed from Eqs. (2) to (4), the triplen ∞ 2
In = 3 (ITh3 ) (19)
harmonics generally appear in all equations, that is, in every bal- h=1
ance, unbalance and distortion components of the phase currents.
The triplen harmonics are represented by the neutral current
components due to balance:

2
The definitions of the balance, unbalance and distortion components from [3] ∞ 2
are replicated here for the sake of completeness, also recalling the slightly different Inb =3 (IT3m−3
3
) (20)
notation used in this paper. m=1
1544 G. Chicco et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 81 (2011) 1541–1549

and their contribution to the neutral current is summarized by

introducing the neutral current balance factor nb = Inb /In . The other
components are associated to current unbalance

∞ 2 2
Inu = 3 [(IT3m−2
3
) + (IT3m−1
3
) ] (21)
m=1

with the corresponding neutral current unbalance factor u = Inu /In ,

n
and the distortion component

∞ 2
Ind = 3 (ITh3 ) (22)
h=2

with the corresponding neutral current distortion factor nd = Ind /In .

The indications provided by (20)–(22) are sufficient to define
the set of indicators characterizing to what extent the triplen har-
monics contribute to the neutral current balance, unbalance and
distortion components:

nb = 1 (23)

nu =0 (24)
Fig. 1. Time-domain evolution of the phase and neutral currents in the laboratory
Inb three-phase test system.
nd = (25)
Ind
as well as the complementary ones taking into account the contri-
bution of the non-triplen harmonics: current component [A] 1.6
absolute transformed

ˆ nb = 0 (26)
1.2
ˆ nu = 1 (27)

2 2 0.8
ˆ nd = (Ind ) − (Inb ) /Ind (28)
0.4 h
3. Application examples IT3
h
IT2
h
0 IT1
In the sequel, some specific cases are shown to address the 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
aspects (1) and (2) mentioned at the end of the Introduction. The harmonic order h
illustrations are based on circuit concepts and on the calculation of
the indicators defined in Section 2, to provide quantitative evidence Fig. 2. Absolute values of the transformed currents at various harmonic orders in
to the issues presented. the laboratory three-phase test system.

Both conceptual examples and experimental applications are

presented. In the experimental cases, the phase current waveforms
are gathered in the time domain. Data post-processing is then car-
ried out by calculating the harmonic currents through the DFT and
converting these currents at each frequency into symmetrical com-
ponents as in (1). The transformed data are then elaborated in order
to calculate the proposed indicators formulated in Section 2.
3.1. Ideal symmetrical and balanced three-phase system with
neutral and distorted current
The first system considered is a simple theoretical resistive sys-
tem with symmetrical voltage supply and with balanced currents
composed of a fundamental component (RMS current IRMS ) and a
third harmonic current with RMS value IRMS /3 and null phase angle
with respect to the reference (fundamental voltage). The only non-
zero components of the transformed currents are ĪT11 (with RMS
value IRMS and null phase angle) and ĪT33 (with RMS value IRMS /3
and null phase angle). According to the proposed framework, both
components are intrinsically balanced, so that no unbalance com-
ponent exists. Table 2 shows the values of the various currents,
components and indicators in analytical form, calculated from the
definitions given in Section 2. The balance phase current compo-
nents are shared between the fundamental and third harmonic
currents, and the distortion component is entirely due to the third
harmonic current. The neutral current components reflect the fact
that, in this case, the distortion component is given only by the
triplen harmonics (that is, the third harmonic) in the balanced sys-
tem.
3.2. Laboratory three-phase test system with neutral
Let us consider a three-phase system with neutral in unbalanced
conditions and with distorted waveforms, constructed in the labo-
ratory, with star-connected L, R, and C impedance loads on the three
phases, respectively. Fig. 1 shows the phase and neutral currents
measured in the time domain with sampling rate of 512 samples
per period. The measurements have been carried out by using a data
analyzer with four channels, with technical specifications indicat-
ing, for 1 s RMS readings, RMS accuracy ±0.1% of reading, ±0.05% of
full scale plus probe accuracy, and 3 kHz bandwidth. The clamp-on
current probes used have the following characteristics in the range
of RMS values of the measured currents: range 1–10 A RMS, ampli-
tude accuracy ±2%, phase accuracy ±1.5◦ , frequency range 40 Hz to
5 kHz.
Table 3 shows the indicators expressing the balance, unbal-
ance and distortion components for the phase and neutral currents.
These indicators provide the information of a highly unbalanced
and relatively low-distorted three-phase system. The neutral cur-
rent itself carries on the indications according to which the system
is mainly unbalanced. As it can be also observed in Fig. 1, the har-
monic distortion of the neutral current is relatively low.
 G. Chicco et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 81 (2011) 1541–1549 1545

Table 2
Unbalance and harmonic distortion components and indicators for three-phase and neutral currents in the ideal case with fundamental current and third harmonic.

Phase currents, components and indicators Triplen harmonics-related indicators Neutral currents and related indicators

I RMS
 I RMS RMS
Ia 1 + 32 b3 In 3I

3 3 3

I RMS RMS
Ib 1 + 32 u3 0 Inb 3I

3 3

I RMS I RMS
Ic 3
1 + 32 d3 3
Inu 0
RMS
ITRMS
1
IRMS b12 IRMS Ind 3I
3

ITRMS
2
0 u12 0 b
n 1
I RMS
ITRMS d12 0 u
0

3 3 n

Ipb I RMS
3
1 + 32 pb 1 d
n 1
1+2
3
Ipu 0 pu Undetermined nd 1
I RMS
Ipd 3
pd 1 ˆ nd 0
TPDI 1
3
ˆ pb 3 – –
1+2
3
TPUI 0 ˆ pu Undetermined – –
– – ˆ pd 0 – –

Table 3
Unbalance and harmonic distortion components and indicators for the three-phase and neutral currents.

Phase currents, components and indicators Triplen harmonics-related indicators Neutral currents and related indicators

Ia [A] 0.933 b3 [A] 0.043 In [A] 4.227

Ib [A] 1.378 u3 [A] 0.023 Inb [A] 0.088
Ic [A] 1.170 d3 [A] 0.048 Inu [A] 4.226
ITRMS
1
[A] 0.662 b12 [A] 0.219 Ind [A] 0.103
ITRMS
2
[A] 1.014 u12 [A] 1.600 b
n 0.0208
ITRMS
3
[A] 1.232 d12 [A] 0.193 u
n 0.9998
Ipb [A] 0.223 pb 0.1910 d
n 0.0243
Ipu [A] 1.600 pu 0.0141 nd 0.8559
Ipd [A] 0.199 pd 0.2420 ˆ nd 0.5172
TPDI 0.124 ˆ pb 0.9816 – –
TPUI 7.176 ˆ pu 0.9999 – –
– – ˆ pd 0.9703 – –

Fig. 2 shows the terms ITh1 , ITh2 and ITh3 at different harmonic
orders h. Besides the fundamental frequency, it can be noticed that
for ITh1 and ITh2 the main contribution is given by the 5th harmonic,
with other significant contributions related to the 7th, the 11th,
and the 13th harmonic. For ITh3 the main outcomes are at the 3rd,
5th, and 7th harmonic orders. Yet, the prevailing element IT33 does
not contribute to form the phase unbalance component Ipu , since
the zero-sequence triplen harmonics are intrinsically balanced.
From Table 3, the indicators (13)–(15) characterizing the impact
of the triplen harmonics for the phase currents are much lower
than the complementary ones (16)–(18) for all balance, unbalance
and distortion components. For the neutral current, the distor-
tion component is prevailingly coming from the triplen harmonics,
(nd = 0.8559), but the non-triplen harmonics contribution is also
significant (ˆnd = 0.5172). However, since the indicators nd and ˆ nd
(as well as the corresponding ones for the phase currents) are
defined in an Euclidean way, it is not possible to show represen-
tations based on shares (or percentages) of triplen and non-triplen
harmonics adding up to unity (or to 100%) arithmetically.
3.3. Three-phase side of a photovoltaic system
This example refers to data gathered on the field, through
measurements carried out on the 16.3 kW photovoltaic system
described in [17] and [18], composed of 8 single-phase inverters
of equal size and manufacturer. Each inverter contains H-bridge
transistors driven by PWM control, and the power stage is equipped
with a 50 Hz toroidal transformer. The system is structurally unbal-
anced, as the connection to the three-phase low-voltage system
occurs with 3 inverters connected at phase a, 3 inverters at phase
b, and 2 inverters at phase c. At each time instant, further unbalance
is provided by the fact that the individual inverters may be asso-
ciated to different currents because of non-uniform distribution of
the solar irradiance on the photovoltaic arrays associated to each
inverter and manufacturing mismatches [18,19].
In order to highlight the unbalance and distortion effects, the
measurements have been carried out at the three-phase side of
the system by using an automatic data acquisition system (ADAS)
[20]. The ADAS hardware includes a data acquisition board (DAQ),
shielded connectors, differential probes for voltage measurement
(with accuracy of 0.05–0.1% for RMS voltages) and Hall-effect
probes for current measurement (with accuracy of 0.5–1% for RMS
currents). The DAQ board has a single 12-bit Analog/Digital (A/D)
converter connected to eight differential voltage channels by a mul-
tiplexer (with maximum sampling rate of 500 kSa/s for a single
channel) and is inserted in a notebook PC by means of a PCM-
CIA bus in order to obtain a portable system. The ADAS software,
developed in Labview, is implemented to obtain two types of vir-
tual instruments behaving respectively as storage oscilloscope and
1546 G. Chicco et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 81 (2011) 1541–1549

8
phase b phase a
6
phase c
4

2
current [A]

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
-2

-4

-6

-8
time [ms]

Fig. 3. Phase currents at the three-phase side of the photovoltaic system.

4 Fig. 5. Time-domain evolution of the phase currents in the three-phase system

current component [A]
absolute transformed

without neutral conductor.

1.6
2
current component [A]
absolute transformed

1.2
1 h
IT3
h
IT2
h 0.8
0 IT1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
harmonic order h 0.4 h
IT3
h
IT2
h
Fig. 4. Absolute values of the transformed current components at various harmonic 0 IT1
orders for the photovoltaic system. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

harmonic order h
as data logger with user-defined cadence between two successive
Fig. 6. Absolute values of the transformed currents at various harmonic orders in
measurements.
the three-phase system without neutral conductor.
The case reported here corresponds to measurement number 14
in [17], with operation under cloudy conditions, leading to highly
distorted current waveforms with respect to what happens during clear that all the contributions to the zero-sequence components
operation at clean sky. Fig. 3 shows the phase current waveforms, are null, that is, ITh3 = 0 for h = 1, . . ., ∞. Thus, the triplen harmonics
each one obtained by sampling 10 successive periods and reporting that would be contained in the neutral current, that is, those of
the results to a single period by averaging the values correspond- the type IT3m−3
3
for m = 1, . . ., ∞, are all null and as such they do
ing to the same instant in each period. Fig. 4 shows the absolute not contribute to the balance component Ipb . However, the triplen
transformed current components. It clearly appears how the com- harmonics also appear in IT3m−3
1
and IT3m−3
2
, for m = 1, . . ., ∞, and these
ponents ITh1 , ITh2 and ITh3 corresponding to the triplen harmonic terms contribute to the system unbalance and to the component Ipu
orders h = 3, 6, 9, . . ., are not negligible. The quantification of the even in the absence of the neutral conductor.
impact of these components is given by the indicators obtained As a specific example, let us consider a real three-phase system
from the analysis of the transformed currents, reported in Table 4. without neutral in unbalanced conditions and with distorted wave-
In particular, the system is affected by moderate unbalance and forms. The phase currents have been measured in the time domain
distortion, as indicated by the TPDI and TPUI values. Similar val- (512 samples per period) with the same instrumentation indicated
ues of the indicators pd and ˆ pd are obtained, meaning that the in Section 3.2. The corresponding waveforms are shown in Fig. 5.
triplen harmonics contribute to the total current distortion to an Fig. 6 shows the components of type ITh1 and ITh2 of the currents
extent similar to the non-triplen harmonics. Moreover, the triplen transformed according to the framework proposed in [3], for h = 2,
harmonics have a low but however non-null contribution to the . . ., 20. The main components at fundamental frequency are IT11 =
balance phase current (represented by pb ), and their contribution 0.843 and IT12 = 1.540 A.
to the unbalance phase current is again sensibly higher and near The contribution of the triplen harmonics is summarized by the
to the one of the non-triplen harmonics (as represented by similar indicator pu = 0.2607. This contribution should be absent accord-
values of pu and ˆ pu ). In addition, the distortion in the neutral cur- ing to the conception of the sequences based on the ideal case.
rent has a significant component due to the non-triplen harmonics Besides the fundamental frequency and the triplen harmonics,
(ˆnd = 0.475). Fig. 6 shows that significant terms are found also at other harmonic
orders (mainly 5th, 7th, and 11th orders).
3.4. Three-phase system without neutral conductor Table 5 reports the phase current indicators partitioned into
their balance, unbalance and harmonic distortion terms, as well as
In actual cases, triplen harmonics may arise also in a three-phase the relevant indicators. These indicators clearly show that the sys-
system without neutral. In this case, by imposing In = 0 in (19) it is tem is prevailingly unbalanced, with further significant waveform
 G. Chicco et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 81 (2011) 1541–1549 1547

Table 4
Unbalance and harmonic distortion components and indicators for the photovoltaic system.

Phase currents, components and indicators Triplen harmonics-related indicators Neutral currents and related indicators

Ia [A] 1.935 b3 [A] 0.348 In [A] 1.777

Ib [A] 1.863 u3 [A] 0.425 Inb [A] 0.791
Ic [A] 1.628 d3 [A] 0.549 Inu [A] 1.408
ITRMS
1
[A] 3.730 b12 [A] 3.814 Ind [A] 0.899
ITRMS
2
[A] 0.835 u12 [A] 0.511 b
n 0.204
ITRMS
3
[A] 0.597 d12 [A] 0.593 u
n 0.069
Ipb [A] 3.830 pb 0.091 d
n 0.163
Ipu [A] 0.665 pu 0.639 nd 0.880
Ipd [A] 0.809 pd 0.679 ˆ nd 0.475
TPDI 0.213 ˆ pb 0.996 – –
TPUI 0.174 ˆ pu 0.769 – –
– – ˆ pd 0.734 – –

Table 5
Unbalance and harmonic distortion components and indicators for the three-phase currents (system without neutral conductor).

Phase currents and components Phase current indicators and triplen Triplen harmonics-related
harmonics-related contributions indicators

Ia [A] 1.417 TPDI 0.315 pb 0

Ib [A] 1.269 TPUI 1.872 pu 0.261
Ic [A] 0.919 b3 [A] 0 pd 0.766
ITRMS
1
[A] 0.936 u3 [A] 0.422 ˆ pb 1
ITRMS
2
[A] 1.518 d3 [A] 0.422 ˆ pu 0.965
ITRMS
3
[A] 0 b12 [A] 0.865 pd 0.643
Ipb [A] 0.865 u12 [A] 1.564 – –
Ipu [A] 1.620 d12 [A] 0.355 – –
Ipd [A] 0.551 – – – –

distortion. Since the triplen harmonics are by definition a balanced ia(t)

iA(t) ia(t)/r D
zero-sequence component, in the absence of the neutral conductor a
(and thus with no zero-sequence component) the indicator pb = 0,
and correspondingly ˆ pb = 1. However, the triplen harmonics also iB(t) ib(t)/r D ib(t)
contribute to the unbalance component, and are even prevailing b
over the non-triplen harmonics in the distortion component (pd >
ˆ pd ). iC(t) 0 c
3.5. Three-phase system connected through a transformer with
delta-grounded wye windings
in(t)
n
Another typical myth sometimes recalled during technical dis-
cussions is that triplen harmonics are filtered out by the presence
of a transformer connection with delta-type windings. Again, this Fig. 7. Unbalanced and distorted three-phase load connected through a transformer
is rigorously true only for a symmetrical and balanced system. In with delta-grounded wye windings.
the general case with system unbalance and waveform distortion,
triplen harmonics may exist in the phase current even in the circuit erence (fundamental voltage at the wye side of the transformer).
located upward with respect to the delta-connected windings. To The primary-to-secondary winding turns ratio of the transformer
explain this issue on a simple circuit by computing the proposed is indicated with the letter r.
indicators, let us consider the case shown in Fig. 7. In this case, a At the fundamental harmonic, the currents at supply side of the
three-phase system containing a transformer with delta-grounded transformer are
wye windings supplies a portion of the circuit in which one of the  
 √ I RMS j  
phases is open and the other two phases supply a distorted load.
 1   3 e 6 

Without loss of generality of the concepts illustrated, symmetric  ĪA   r 
   
three-phase voltage supply and ideal neutral are assumed.  1   RMS −j 2 
 ĪB  =  I  (29)
A non-linear resistive load D is considered, leading to balanced    r e 3 
distorted currents composed, as in Section 3.1, of a fundamental  Ī 1   
component (RMS current IRMS ) and a third harmonic current with
C  I RMS j 
 e 
RMS value IRMS /3 and null phase angle with respect to the ref- r
1548 G. Chicco et al. / Electric Power Systems Research 81 (2011) 1541–1549

Table 6
Unbalance and harmonic distortion components and indicators for the three-phase currents (three-phase system connected through a transformer with delta-grounded wye
windings).

Phase currents and components Phase current indicators and triplen Triplen harmonics-related
harmonics-related contributions indicators
√ I RMS 
2 1
IA 3 r TPDI pb 0

5 3

2+2 √
IB I RMS
r
TPUI √
33
3
pu 2
2+2
3
I RMS
IC r
b3 0 pd 1

RMS
 
√I 2 I RMS
ITRMS
1
1 + 432 u3 3 r3
ˆ pb 1

3r3

ITRMS
2
√I
RMS
3r3
1 + 32 d3 2 I RMS
3 r3
ˆ pu 3
2+2
3
RMS
ITRMS 0 b12 √2 I ˆ pd 0
3 3 r

RMS RMS
Ipb √2 I u12 I√
– –
r

3 3r

RMS
Ipu √I 2+ 32 d12 0 – –

3r3

2 I RMS
Ipd 3 r3
– – – –

Applying (1), the transformed currents become to highlight that in unbalanced conditions triplen harmonics may
  provide a non-exclusive, although significant, contribution to zero-
  
 1   2I√RMS ej 6  sequence current components, calculating the explicit impact of the
 ĪT 1   
   3r  non-triplen harmonics.
 1   
 ĪT 2  =  I RMS j   (30) The proposed indicators can be easily calculated from measured
   √ e6  experimental data, by using DFT to obtain the components at the
 Ī 1   3r 
T3   various harmonic orders and transforming the resulting harmonic
 0  phasors in symmetrical components to obtain the inputs to the
At the third harmonic, the currents at supply side of the trans- calculation of the proposed indicators. Specific tutorial and prac-
former are tical application cases concerning three-phase systems with and
    without neutral, operating under unbalanced conditions and with
 Ī 3   0 
 A   distorted waveforms, have been illustrated and discussed to show
 3  I RMS  1  the details of application of the proposed calculations.
 ĪB  = 3 r   (31)
 3 3  −1 
 Ī 
C
Acknowledgements
and applying (1) the transformed currents are
   √ 
 Ī 3   j 3  The authors would like to thank Dr. Filippo Spertino (Politecnico
 T1   
 3  I RMS  √  di Torino, Italy) for his useful suggestions on measurement aspects
 ĪT 2  = 3 r  −j 3  (32) and for providing data of the photovoltaic system analysed.
 3  3  
 Ī   0 
T3

Clearly, all components with subscript T3 are null in the absence
of a return path. On the basis of the above indicated currents, Table 6
shows the analytic expressions of the unbalance and harmonic dis-
tortion components and indicators. In this case, the third harmonic
is present in two phase currents at the supply side, contributing to
the current unbalance according to the indicator pu (together with
the current components at fundamental frequency, represented by
the indicator ˆ pu ). In addition, the third harmonic is the only source
of distortion (pd = 1).
4. Conclusions
In this paper, the explicit role of the triplen harmonics in unbal-
anced three-phase systems with distorted waveforms has been
highlighted by introducing an original set of indices, derived from
the SCB framework proposed by the authors. These indices enable
us to determine in a quantitative way to what extent the triplen
harmonics impact on the balance, unbalance and distortion compo-
nents of the three-phase currents. The same approach can be used
to address distorted voltage waveforms, following the concepts
outlined in [3]. Further indices have been introduced to deal with
the quantification of the triplen harmonics content in the neutral
current. The indicators introduced in this paper have been exploited
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