MEASUREMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION LABORATORY
PRE-REPORT PRACTICE 7
CONDITIONING OF POWER AND MEDICAL
SIGNALS OF HARMONIC DISTORTION.
Luisa Marı́a Gil Cárdenas,Sebastian Ochoa Jaramillo,Allan Stward Soto Marin,Santiago Jaramillo Rincón
Electric Engineering, Technological University of Pereira, Colombia
(lmgil - allan.soto - santiago.jaramillo - sebastianoj1096)@utp.edu.co
Abstract—It is known that it is a total harmonic distortion,
because it is important in signal analysis, how to calculate it,
how it can be measured by means of an oscilloscope and what
precautions should be taken when making said measurement, all
of the above in order to design a power signal conditioning circuit
for which it is required to know the appropriate components,
to know how they affect the circuit when measuring the total
harmonic distortion.
Keywords— signal conditioning, harmonic distortion, isolation
transformers, capacitance, resistance, plug, breaker, iron core in-
ductance, shunt resistance, NI-myDAQ, data acquisition, Fourier
analysis
I. I NTRODUCTION
W I th the objective of measuring the harmonic distortion in a
power signal, for practice, it is necessary to design a power
signal conditioning circuit with the use of a data acquisition card
(DAQ). In order to comply with the development of the practice, it
is necessary to be clear about some concepts such as: what is total
harmonic distortion, how it is calculated and why it is important to
analyze electrical signals; know the appropriate elements to reduce
distortion; how the oscilloscope is used to measure it and what
precautions are required; the parameters that can be measured by
means of the DAQ in a signal conditioning circuit and finally how
the components of the circuit affect harmonic distortion.
II. CONTENT
A) Answers to questions posed.
a) What is total harmonic distortion and why is it
important in the analysis of electrical signals? how
is it calculated?
The total harmonic distortion or (THD), is a measure
that indicates how distorted a signal is with respect to
the original signal, these changes or deformations in the
signal, usually voltage or current is due to the presence
of harmonics that are added after passing through some
element can affect the quality of the signal and cause
interference in other electrical systems.
From there lies its importance because thanks to its
analysis the quality of a signal can be determined, by
knowing how much excess energy the signal stores
due to the harmonics that were awarded to the original
signal, with which modifications can be made in the
system to reduce these new components and improve
both signal quality and system efficiency.
1
In order to calculate the THD, it is necessary to identify
the fundamental frequency and its amplitude, then know
the amplitude of the harmonics present in the signal and
substitute them in the following equation, which is valid
for both voltage and current.
p
A22 + A23 + · · · + A2n
T HD = × 100 (1)
Af
b) What electrical components are best suited to reduce
total harmonic distortion in an electrical signal?
How can its proper value be calculated?
There are several methods or components with which a
signal THD reduction can be generated, this selection
will depend on the needs of the user and the purpose for
which the system is intended, some of the most common
components are:
Filters: If you know part of the harmonics or in general
if you want to attenuate part of the harmonics, you can
use different filters to reduce the presence of unwanted
harmonics in the signal, these can be determined thanks
to Fourier analysis .
Transformers: There are special transformers that can
be used to limit the current that contains unwanted
harmonic components. For this, its characteristics and
the turns ratio must be analyzed.
Frequency Converters: These use pulse modulation
techniques to generate variable frequencies in order to
reduce harmonic components.
Among many others, the value of these components
varies according to the characteristics of the signal
and topology of the system, as these can have a great
influence on the system, it is better to use computer tools
in order to simulate each modification in the system to
arrive at the reduction of these unwanted components,
if it is not possible, specific measurement tools must
be used to later add or modify system parameters;
Something to keep in mind is that you should try to use
elements that have linear responses, including the use of
rectifiers to improve the output signal.
c) How can an oscilloscope be used to measure total
harmonic distortion in an electrical signal? That
What precautions should be taken during this
measurement?
Several oscilloscopes today have the ability to measure
the THD of the signal, even so, the oscilloscope must
MEASUREMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION LABORATORY
be connected to the signal to be measured, and then
configure the oscilloscope in the parameters of interest
such as the voltage range, the sampling frequency and
the base time, after obtaining these parameters we
proceed to use the mathematical relationship to obtain
the THD.
For which it must be taken into account that the
oscilloscope is well connected to ground, use suitable
elements for the measurement of the type of the
signal such as the probes, verify that the measurement
signal is among the parameters that it can support the
oscilloscope so as not to saturate it, verify that it is in
the measurement option for the THD, verify that the
connection is adequate and that the elements are making
good contact, among others.
d) How can you use a DAQ board and software data
acquisition to measure different parameters electrical
in a conditioning circuit of signs?
To measure different electrical parameters in a signal con-
ditioning circuit using a DAQ board and data acquisition
software, it is necessary to follow several steps. First
of all, you must choose a DAQ board compatible with
the electrical parameters that you want to measure and
connect it to the circuit using the appropriate cables and
connectors.
Then, the data acquisition software must be configured to
set the measurement parameters, such as the sample rate
and resolution. Once the software has been configured,
the measurement must be started to acquire the data,
which can be analyzed using data analysis tools to obtain
useful information. In summary, the process involves
selecting the proper DAQ board, setting up the software,
connecting the board to the circuit, acquiring the data,
and analyzing it.
e) How do components in a signal conditioning circuit
affect harmonic distortion? total of an electrical
signal? Which ones are the best components to
reduce total harmonic distortion?
Components in a signal conditioning circuit can affect
the total harmonic distortion (THD) of an electrical
signal in several ways. THD refers to the presence of
unwanted harmonics in an electrical signal, which can
be introduced due to the presence of non-linearities in
circuit components.
Components that have nonlinearities, such as diodes
and op amps, can be a significant source of harmonic
distortion. Additionally, components that have non-linear
impedance, such as electrolytic capacitors, can contribute
to harmonic distortion in the signal.
To reduce total harmonic distortion in a signal
conditioning circuit, high-quality, linear components
should be used that have a flat frequency response
and stable impedance. Components most suitable
for reducing THD are those with high linearity, low
distortion, and low noise, such as high-quality metal
film resistors, polypropylene capacitors, and op amps.
In addition to choosing high-quality components, it
is important to make careful selection and design of
the signal conditioning circuit to minimize THD. This
may involve selecting suitable circuit topologies, using
noise mitigation techniques, and minimizing non-linear
2
interaction between circuit components.
In conclusion, to reduce total harmonic distortion in a sig-
nal conditioning circuit, one must use high-quality, linear
components, and carefully design the circuit to minimize
nonlinear interaction between components. This can help
improve the quality of the electrical signal and ensure
accurate and reliable measurements.
f) How is the differential mode connection made in
NI-myDAQ?
To make a differential mode connection in NI-myDAQ,
the following steps are required. First, you must connect
the measurement leads to the corresponding input
channels of the NI-myDAQ, making sure that the leads
are connected correctly and the channels are configured
for differential input.
Next, the NI-myDAQ input channels must be configured
for differential mode by opening the measurement
software and selecting the input channels to use. Next,
the differential configuration option must be chosen
from the input options menu.
Once the input channels have been configured in
differential mode, the measurement can be performed
using the data acquisition function of the measurement
software. It is important to note that to make a
differential mode connection, you need two different
input signals that are measured simultaneously and
subtracted from each other to get the differential signal.
Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that the measurement
leads are connected correctly and that the input channels
are properly configured to obtain accurate and reliable
measurements.
g) Design a signal conditioning circuit power with the
mentioned materials with V (t) = 100sin2π60t +
20sin(2π(3)60t) + 5sin(2π(5)60t)
To condition the circuit we use a lowpass filter with a
cutoff frequency of approximately 60 Hz in order to filter
the signal V(t) and this will cause the frequencies that are
below the cutoff frequency to pass without attenuation.
To calculate the resistance (R) and capacitance (C) values
for a low-pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 60 Hz, you
can use the following formula:
1
fc = (2)
2πRC
Where fc is the cutoff frequency, π is the mathematical
constant pi, and R and C are the values of resistance and
capacitance, respectively.
Solving for R and C, we obtain:
1
R= (3)
2πfc C
1
C= (4)
2πfc R
If you want a cutoff frequency of 60 Hz, you can choose
a standard capacitance value of 0.1 uF (microfarads).
Substituting this value into the second equation, we can
calculate the required resistance value:
1
R= ≈ 2654.4 Ω (5)
2π × 60 Hz × 0.1µF
MEASUREMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION LABORATORY 3

h) Design a signal conditioning circuit power

with the mentioned materials with V (t) =
100sin2π60t + 20sin(2π(3)60t) + 5sin(2π(5)60t)

addAnalogInputChannel(s,’Dev1’,0,’Voltage’);

data = s.startForeground();

plot(data);
xlabel(’Tiempo (s)’);
ylabel(’Voltaje (V)’);
title
(
’Grafico de voltaje en el tiempo
’);
mean_voltage = mean(data);

std_voltage = std(data);

III. C ONCLUSIONS
• Differential mode connection in NI-myDAQ is done
using two input channels to measure the differential
signal and a third input channel for the ground refer-
ence.
• Components in a signal conditioning circuit can affect
the total harmonic distortion of an electrical signal.
The best components for reducing total harmonic
distortion are those that can reduce the amplitude of
unwanted harmonics, such as inductors and capacitors.
The appropriate value of these components can be
calculated through formulas and mathematical models.
• You will learn to analyze the acquired data using
Fourier analysis to decompose the signal into its
harmonic components and determine the percentage
of total harmonic distortion (THD), which will allow
you to evaluate the quality of the electrical signal.

R EFERENCES
[1] Andres F. Calvo, German A Holguın L. INSTRUMENTA-
CION DE SISTEMAS ELECTRICOS DE POTENCIA.
Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira. 2014.
[2] Ramon Pallas. SENSORES Y ACONDICIONAMIENTO
DE SEÑAL. 2 a edicion, capitulo 6 . 1994.
[3] E.GIraldo, Y.Martinez,“Guı́a práctica 7”