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Power Quality Analysis on Arc Furnace Capacitor Bank System in

Thailand
To cite this article: Bancha Sreewirote and Atthapol Ngaopitakkul 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 541 012010

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2020 4th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 541 (2020) 012010 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/541/1/012010

Power Quality Analysis on Arc Furnace Capacitor Bank

System in Thailand

Bancha Sreewirotea, Atthapol Ngaopitakkul b

a
Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Thonburi University,
Bangkok, Thailand
b
Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang,
Bangkok, Thailand

Email: atthapol.ng@kmitl.ac.th

Abstract: A large arc furnace plant is currently in operation in Thailand has utilize a capacitor
bank system to compensate for the reactive power. However, the use of a capacitor bank, the
power quality has become a problem in terms of the harmonic current owing to the switching
transient that magnifies the current harmonics and causes severe damage to the capacitor bank
and other nearby sensitive equipment. In this study, we investigate the power quality issue in
terms of harmonics in a steel furnace factory, and its effect when switching the capacitor bank
into a system. We perform the study by using data from an arc furnace plant in Phetchaburi
province, Thailand for a case study. The results obtained from the power quality measurement
after installing a detuning reactor are satisfactory with a significant decrease in the harmonic
current. Thus, the proposed approach can be applied to an arc furnace plant in order to ensure
the safety and reliability of the plant.

1. Introduction
In recent decade, Thailand has been rapidly shifting from agrarian societies toward industrial societies
with significant growth in industrial sector. Steel industry is one of an important upstream industry
that produce raw material to the downstream sector such as construction, automotive, machinery,
which play major role in contribution to Thailand’s economic growth. Statistic data from United States
Department of Commerce reveal that Thailand steel production has been increase slightly to 1.98
million metric tons in 2016 compared to previous year at 1.95 million metric tons [1]. Steel production
data implied energy consumption growth in steel industry, which including steeling plant that
employed electric arc furnace. Energy situation report from Energy Policy and Planning office (EPPO),
Ministry of Energy, Thailand stated that in 2016, the statistical data from first 10 months shown that
electricity usage in steel industry is 5,941 GWh, increase by 5.96% compare to previous year [2] and
this trend still continue with energy consumption constantly increase over the period of time. This
statistical data and future forecast force government to set up master plan and action plan to reduce
energy consumption steel industry. The Master plan on Energy Conservation of Iron and Steel (2011-
2031) aim to reduce energy consumption in 2031 by 290 ktoe with opportunity for energy saving up to
25%. The Action plan on Energy Management for Iron and Steel Industry (2014-2019), which aim to
reduce energy usage by 45 ktoe or 4.6% [3]. In additional, electric utility company charges an
additional fee, if power factor falls below a threshold level set by utility due to an inefficiency in
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2020 4th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 541 (2020) 012010 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/541/1/012010

generation and transmission power to those plants [4]. The implementation of this plan and additional
fee from electric utility company result in all steel plant including those that used electric arc furnace
must implement energy saving technologies in order to compile with government policy.
For steel plant to reduce energy cost and additional fee, the methodology to improve energy efficiency
in term of power factor has been continuously studies and develop. However, power-quality
characteristics such as harmonics, flicker, and voltage unbalance, which result from the non-linear
characteristics of electric arc furnace plants are significant factor that must take into consideration
before implementing various energy efficient improvement methodologies [5]. Research and literature
that focused on the power-quality issue in arc furnaces have been reviewed and discussed [6]-[10].
The electrical arc furnaces characteristics in terms of electric power, stationary and transient states,
and the voltage unbalance are reported by Cano-Plata et al. [6]. The simulation model employed for
arc furnace systems to evaluate harmonic problems and their relation to the load condition has been
proposed [7]. Another study by Bhonsle and Kelkar [8] proposed an electrical arc furnace model for
power-quality analysis using MATLAB and Simulink software. In another study, harmonics and
transient analysis guidelines for arc furnaces have been discussed [9]. These power-quality issues in
arc furnace plants must be addressed in order to operate the system safely and efficiently.
To improve the energy efficiency, one of the systems that can be implemented into arc furnaces is the
use of a capacitor bank system. The reason for this is that arc furnaces mainly consist of a large
inductance, which results in a low power factor value with a capacitor bank, and it can help the system
to compensate for the reactive power that is present. Reactive power calculation for arc furnace using
simple methodology has been proposed [10]. The Capacitor bank application in industrial case study
to improve energy efficiency has been presented [11]. The application of capacitors in arc furnaces has
been proposed and discussed by Grebe [12]. Many technical issues regarding the use of capacitor
banks in arc furnaces were also discussed. The issues that require consideration include voltage
magnification, the tripping of adjustable-speed drives and harmonics also been presented.
Based on the literature discussed above, the power quality in arc furnace capacitor bank systems is the
main concern owing to the severity of the damage that occurs in the capacitor bank system. Therefore,
many arc furnace industrial sectors have realized that frequent capacitor bank failures occur inside the
main distribution board. Thus, there is a need for studies and analyses on capacitor bank systems in arc
furnaces before such system are implemented in order to mitigate the issue and prevent damaged to
capacitor bank units. In this paper, we propose a power-quality analysis in an arc furnace capacitor
bank system. The methodology consists of using a power-quality meter to obtain electrical parameters
and power-quality data in terms of the harmonic distortion from an arc furnace plant in Thailand. We
then compare and analyse the obtained data with the Thailand regulation in order to identify the cause
of capacitor bank damage in arc furnace plants. Results obtained from the study can be used to design
a protection scheme or device to reduce the occurrence of such problems in the future.

2. Power Quality Measurement and Standard

To evaluate power-quality problems in arc furnace factories, in this study, we measured electrical
parameters using a power-quality meter. A single-line diagram of the arc furnace plant used in this
case study and measurement points are shown in Fig. 1. The system receives power from the
Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) through transformer and a main air circuit breaker (ACB). The
equipment in the main distribution board (MDB) consists of a circuit for the arc furnace with an AC to
DC converter, a load inside plant, and six steps of 60-kvar capacitor banks. The power-quality meter is
used to obtain the voltage, current, power factor, total harmonic voltage distortion (THDv), and total
harmonic current distortion (THDi). In this study, we also install a detune reactor in order to evaluate
its performance in terms of limiting the harmonic current. With the detune reactor, the new capacitor
bank has also been redesigned. We performed the measurement at three separate points in the arc
furnace plant as follows. According to the diagram in Fig. 1, measurement point 1 is located after
ACB in order to obtain a harmonic at the point of common coupling (PCC) between the plant and PEA
distribution network. Measurement point 2 is located before the AC/DC converter and the electrical

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2020 4th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 541 (2020) 012010 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/541/1/012010

arc furnace in order to obtain harmonics generated from the arc furnace to ACB and the capacitor unit.
Measurement point 3 is located before the magnetic contact and the capacitor bank unit to obtain a
harmonic level on the capacitor bank unit. The obtained data by the power-quality meter will then
compare with PEA standard before and after switching the capacitor bank in order to evaluate the
power-quality problem when switching the capacitor bank into the system. According to the PEA
standard.

TR

ACB Measurement
Point 1
MDB

Measurement
Point 2

AC/DC
Load
Converter

Arc
Furnace

Measurement
Point 3

Capacitor Bank Capacitor Bank Capacitor Bank Capacitor Bank Capacitor Bank Capacitor Bank
60 kVAR 60 kVAR 60 kVAR 60 kVAR 60 kVAR 60 kVAR

Power Quality
Meter

Fig. 1. Single-line diagram and measurement point of arc furnace plant.

Table 1. Permitted harmonic current values at point of common coupling (PCC)

Harmonic order Permitted harmonic current (A)
0.4 kV 11 and 12 kV 22, 24, and 33 kV 69 kV 115 kV and above
2 48 13 11 8.8 5
3 34 8 7 5.9 4
4 22 6 5 4.3 3
5 56 10 9 7.3 4
6 11 4 4 3.3 2
7 40 8 6 4.9 3
8 9 3 3 2.3 1
9 8 3 2 1.6 1
10 7 3 2 1.6 1
11 19 7 6 4.9 3
12 6 2 2 1.6 1
13 16 6 5 4.3 3
14 5 2 2 1.6 1
15 5 2 1 1 1
16 5 2 1 1 1
17 6 2 2 1.6 1
18 4 1 1 1 1
19 6 1 1 1 1

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2020 4th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 541 (2020) 012010 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/541/1/012010

Data obtain using power quality meter has been used to compare between, PEA standard, before, and
after switching capacitor bank in order to evaluate power quality problem when switching capacitor
bank into system. According to PEA standard, current harmonics at PCC must not exceed permitted
values as shown in Table 1. These values are defined in each voltage level ranging from 400V to 115
kV and above. The voltage level at PCC in arc furnace plant considered in this case study is 400V,
thus comparison must be done at appropriate voltage level.

3. Power Quality Analysis

We measured the electrical parameters using a power-quality meter from the measurement point,
which is located after the main ACB, as shown in Table 2. From the table, we observe that the voltage
under normal conditions is 385 V. When the switching capacitor bank six steps, each having 60 kvar
into the system, the voltage level is increased to 390V, and the current is decreased by 10% from
1,990 A to 1,831A. From the result, it can be seen that the apparent power is decreased because the
capacitor bank compensates the reactive power (Q) in the system; this also improves the power factor
from 0.85 to 0.93. For the power-quality issue, we determined the THD values in terms of the voltage
and current. The result shows that with the capacitor switching into the system, THD in both the
voltage and current has been significantly increased, especially for the current, where the THDi value
increased by 73% from 3.07% to 5.31% after switching the capacitor bank into the system. Meanwhile,
the voltage value, THDv in every phase is increased by approximately 45% from 3% to 4.4%.

Table 2. Electrical parameters and power quality measured at main circuit breaker
Capacitor bank Off Capacitor bank On % increase
Voltage R-S (V) 382.34 388.27 2%
Voltage S-T (V) 388.47 388.47 2%
Voltage T-R (V) 385.18 385.18 2%
Current-R (A) 1,990.64 1,831.38 -8%
THDv (R-S) 2.90 % 4.20 % 45%
THDv (S-T) 3.13 % 4.41 % 41%
THDv (T-R) 2.96 % 4.38 % 48%
THDi (R) 3.07 % 5.31 % 73%

We obtained the electrical parameters and power quality from the main circuit breaker of the arc
furnace using a power-quality meter. In Fig. 2, we show data obtained over the period of time in both
before switching the capacitor bank indicated by the OFF-CAP period and after switching the
capacitor bank into the system indicated by the ON-CAP. The electrical parameter consists of the
current, voltage, and power factor, are illustrated in Fig. 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c), respectively. The actual
waveform obtained from power quality meter both before and after switching capacitor bank of
voltage and current is shown in Fig. 3 (a) and (b) respectively. This waveform also shown the similar
trend with characteristic discussed above with both current and voltage waveforms have been distorted
from sinusoidal form switching when capacitor bank into system.

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2020 4th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 541 (2020) 012010 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/541/1/012010

(a) Current

(b) Voltage

(c) Power factor

Fig. 2. Electrical parameter in case of switching the capacitor bank on/off: (a) Current, (b) Voltage,
and (c) Power factor.

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2020 4th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 541 (2020) 012010 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/541/1/012010

Phase A Phase B Phase C Phase A Phase B Phase C

(a)

(b)

Fig. 3. Waveform measured before and after switching capacitor bank into the system: (a) Voltage
waveform, and (b) Current waveform.

The result shows that switching the capacitor bank into the system causes the power factor to increase
significantly. The voltage also rises slightly compared to the value before switching. Meanwhile,
capacitor bank does not affect the current characteristic. The power quality in terms of both THDv and
THDi are presented in Fig. 4(a) and 4(b), respectively.

(a)

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2020 4th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 541 (2020) 012010 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/541/1/012010

(b)

Fig. 4. Total harmonic distortion in case of switching the capacitor bank on/off: (a) THDv, (b) THDi.
140
PEA Standard
Without Capacitor Bank
120 With Capacitor Bank

100
Current Harmonic (A)

80

60

40

20

0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Harmonic Order (n)

Fig. 5. Current harmonic measurement values at main air circuit breaker.

It can be seen that the THD after switching the capacitor bank is increased significantly compared to
the value before switching the capacitor bank into the system. This graph is in agreement with the data
presented in Table 2, with drastic increase in THDv by up to 24% for case after switching the
capacitor bank. Fig. 5 shows a comparison of the current harmonics obtained from the arc furnace for
each order between harmonics before and after switching the capacitor bank using the PEA standard
as a reference. In the case before switching the capacitor bank into the system, only the 5th current
harmonic order exceeds the standard permitted value. However, after switching the capacitor bank into
the system, the current harmonics in the 5th, 7th, and 11th orders are significantly higher than the
standard permitted value, especially the 5th order. The result indicates that the capacitor bank can
amplify the harmonic current for some orders. Hence, preventive measures must be implemented;
otherwise, severe damage may occur to the capacitor bank and other sensitive equipment.

4. Conclusion
This research proposed the power quality analysis in Thailand arc furnace that installed capacitor bank
to increase its power efficiency. With the installation of a capacitor bank system in an arc furnace
factory, the power factor and efficiency of the plant has been significantly improved, but the results
obtained also indicate that when we switched the capacitor bank into the system, the harmonic currents
from the arc furnace will be injected into the capacitor bank. This will cause resonance phenomena
and increase the harmonic current. When compared with the PEA standard, we observe that current

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2020 4th International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 541 (2020) 012010 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/541/1/012010

harmonics of some orders are significantly higher than the permitted values. This can result in severe
damage to the capacitor bank system, and a protection system should therefore be implemented to
ensure the safety and reliability of the arc furnace plant capacitor bank system. This research
methodology and result can be applied to other arc furnace plants or other industries, which are
dealing with the same technical issue. We believe that as the root of the problem has been addressed in
this study, we can propose other techniques to solve the mentioned power-quality issue.

References
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of Thailand, 2014.
[4] Electricity Tariffs, Provincial Electricity Authority
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support received from the Faculty of Engineering
Thonburi University Research Fund.