Chapter 6

Power Quality - Harmonics

RECAP
•What is PQ
•Why need to concern about PQ
•Example of PQ problem
•Voltage regulation standard– on utility side

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 Background
•Definition: “sinusoidal currents & voltages
with frequencies that are integral multiples
(odd) of the fundamental frequency”
•When harmonic occur, the waveform will be
distorted
•Distorted waveform can be expressed as a
sum of sinusoids at odd integer multiple of
the fundamental frequency

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•The sum of sinusoids can be separated
using Fast Fourier Transform, and thus the
system can be analyzed separately at each
harmonic level
•Higher order harmonic: 25th -50th  are
negligible

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 Causes of Harmonic
• Caused:
1. Non-linear devices/loads
 Non-linear device: current is not proportional to
the applied voltage

 Applied voltage perfectly sinusoidal, the

resulting current  distorted

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 Example of nonlinear loads:
 Power converters
 Adjustable speed drives (ASD)

 Computers
 Fluorescent lighting (with electronic ballast)
 Sensitive electronic equipment supplied by
single phase switch mode power supplies, etc

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2. Saturable devices
 Example: transformers and other electromagnetic
devices with steel core, including motors
 Harmonic are generated due to the non linear
magnetizing characteristics of the steel

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3. Three phase power converters
 Do not generate 3rd harmonic currents
 Example:
 DC drives
 AC drives

4. Arching devices
 Example: arc furnaces, discharge type lighting
(fluorescent, mercury vapor, etc) with magnetic
ballast
 Voltage-current characteristics of electric arc are
nonlinear
– During arc ignition, V ↓, I ↑. Reactance is used to
limit current to a reasonable value

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 Harmonic Phase Sequence
•In balanced 3 phase system:
– 3 generator  produce 3 voltage output
– The voltages are exactly equal in magnitude &
120o different in phase

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 – 2 types of phase sequence:
 +ve sequence: A, B, C
 -ve sequence: A, C, B

•What happen to the phase sequence when

harmonic occur?
•Harmonic-consider odd components
Phase Phase seq.
Fundamental A B C A-B-C
0 0 0
0 120 240
3rd A’ B’ C’ No
Harmonics 3x0
0
3 x 120
0
3 x 240
0 rotation
0 0 0 0 0
(0 ) (360 = 0 ) (720 = 0 )

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 Phase Phase seq.
Fundamental A B C A-B-C
0
0
120
0
240
0
(+ve seq.)
3rd Harmonic A’ B’ C’ No
3x0
0
3 x 120
0
3 x 240
0
rotation
0 0 0 0 0
(0 ) (360 = 0 ) (720 = 0 ) (‘0’ seq.)
5th Harmonic A’’ B’’ C’’ C-B-A
0 0 0
5x0 5 x 120
0 0
(600 =720 -120 )
0
5 x 240
0 0
(1200 =1440 -240 )
0
(-ve seq.)
0
(0 ) (-120 )
0 0
(-240 )
7th Harmonic A’’’ B’’’ C’’’ A-B-C
0 0 0
7x0 7 x 120
0 0 0
7 x 240
0 0 0
(+ve seq.)
0 (840 =720 +120 ) (1680 =1440 +240 )
(0 ) 0 0
(120 ) (240 )
9th Harmonic A’’’’ B’’’’ C’’’’ No
9x0
0
9 x 120
0
9 x 240
0
rotation
0 0 0 0 0
(0 ) (1080 = 0 ) (2160 = 0 ) (‘0’ seq.)
11th Harmonic A’’’’’ B’’’’’ C’’’’’ C-B-A
0 0 0
11 x 0 11 x 120
0 0 0
11 x 240
0 0 0
(-ve seq.)
0 (1320 =1440 -120 ) (2640 =2880 -240 )
(0 ) 0 0
(-120 ) (-240 )
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•Based on the assessment, it can be
concluded that when harmonic occur, there
are 3 types of harmonic phase sequences
involved, which are:
– Positive sequence:
 Harmonic which rotate with the same sequence as
the fundamental
 h= 1, 7, 13,…(3n+1) n=1,2,3…∞
– Negative sequence
 Harmonic which rotate in the opposite sequence as
the fundamental
 h= 5, 11, 17,…(3n-1) n=1,2,3…∞

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 – Zero sequence
 Harmonic which do not rotate at all because they
are in phase with each other
 Also called as ‘triplen harmonic’
 h= 3, 9, 15,…(3n) n=1,2,3…∞
•Sequence especially matters when we are
dealing with AC motors since the mechanical
rotation of the rotor depends on the torque
produced by the sequential ‘rotation’ of the
applied 3 phase power

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•Effect of each sequence on the AC motor:
– Positive sequence frequencies:
 Work to push the rotor in the proper direction
– Negative sequence
 Work against the direction of the rotor’s rotation
 Can cause motor’s performance degrade &
overheating
– Zero sequence frequencies
 Neither contribute to nor detract from the rotor’s
torque

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 Triplen Harmonic
•What?- zero sequence harmonic if the
loads are balanced
•If loads are unbalanced, triplen harmonic
may appear as +ve or –ve sequence
•System’s response is considerably different
for triplen harmonic compared to the rest of
the harmonic
•2 significant effects of triplen harmonic are:

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1. Overloading of neutral line
 This effect is more obvious for Y connection rather
than ∆
 In balanced Y connection:
 System connected to nonlinear load 
harmonic created, including triplen harmonic
 When triplen harmonic occur, all harmonic
currents are in phase
 The neutral current appear as the vector sum of
the 3 phases’ current
 This activity can cause neutral current becomes
3 times higher than individual phase current

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  Thus, the triplen harmonic occurrence can cause
high neutral current in 3 phase system
 In Y-Y connection, harmonic can be transferred
from one side to the other
 If ∆-∆ or Y-∆ connection is used, the harmonic
created can flow, but they remain trapped in the ∆,
& do not show up in the line currents on the other
side
 In some application, ∆-∆ connection is used to
block the flow of zero sequence harmonic current

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 Balanced fundamental currents sum to 0, but
balanced 3rd harmonic current, coincide

Neutral current contains no

fundamental, but is 300% of 3rd
harmonic phase current

High neutral currents in circuit Flow of harmonic current in 3 phase

serving non linear loads system

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2. Telephone interference
 Harmonic currents flowing on the utility
distribution system or within an end-user facility
can create interference in communication circuits
sharing a common path
 Voltages induced in parallel conductors by the
common harmonic currents often fall within the
bandwidth of normal voice communication

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 Harmonic Measurement
•2 indices used:
– Total harmonic distortion (THD)
 Current :


I
h2
2
h

THD I   100%
IF

 Voltage:



h2
Vh2
THDV   100%
VF
– Total demand distortion (TDD)

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•Both are measures of the effective value of a
waveform and may be applied to either
voltage or current
•THD can indicate how badly a waveform is
distorted with respect to a pure sine wave
•Limit for THD value must comply to IEEE
Standard

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IEEE Standard on Harmonic
Harmonic Current Distortion Limits (Ih) in Percent of IL

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 Effects of Harmonic
•The most significant effects:
– Overheating of motors & transformers
– Overloading transformer neutral
– Nuisance tripping of circuit breakers & fuses
– Telephone interference
– Insulation failure
– Severe lamp flicker
– Capacitor failure (resonance)
– Disoperation of SCR drives

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 Harmonic & Resonance
•All circuits containing both capacitances and
inductances which have one or more natural
frequency
•Resonance conditions are created when the
inductive & capacitive reactances become
equal at one of the harmonic frequencies
•When resonance occur, the value of voltage
& current at that frequency are very high

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•This condition may damage the capacitor
bank & other power system devices
•Resonance can be divided into 2 types:
– Parallel resonance
 Results in current multiplication
– Series resonance
 Results in voltage amplification

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 Parallel Resonance
•Below is the diagram for simple parallel
resonance circuit (cap. install in parallel):
Power system
Transformer

Xsys Xt
Xc Ih
Capacitor Converter
bank load
Figure 1

•From the diagram, we can estimate in which

frequency and/or frequency order the
resonance will occur in the system
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• There are 3 ways to determine the system’s
condition on resonance frequency &
resonance frequency order:
– Method 1
1
fr 
2π LC
– Method 2

Xc
fr  f0
X sys

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– Method 3

MVA sc
fr  f0
MVar c

where;
fr = resonance frequency
fo = fundamental frequency
L = value of inductor (Tx)
C = value of capacitor (cap. bank)
Xc = capacitor’s reactance (cap. bank)
Xsys = inductor’s reactance (Tx)
MVAsc = system’s short circuit value in per
unit system
MVarc = capacitor’s value (cap. bank)
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Example 1

2000kVA 500HP ASD

IH
13.8kV 480/277
6% reactance
Supply Voltage 13.8kV
M
∆Y 500HP ASD
IH
750kVAR
Capacitor
Bank
Figure 2

The above figure shows a 2000kVA 60Hz 13.8kV 480/277 V

transformer with leakage reactance of 6%, feeding a bus
containing two 500hp adjustable speed drives. A 750kVAR Y-
connected capacitor bank is installed on the 480V bus for power
factor connection. Perform an analysis to determine the conditions
for resonance.

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 Quality Factor
•The current amplification factor (CAF) of
a parallel resonance circuit is approximately
equal to the Q (quality factor) of the circuit
Tx

Xc Ih
Xsys Xt Converter
Magnified
load
harmonic
current
Figure 3

•Q is a measure of energy stored in the

inductance and capacitance of the system
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 maximum energy stored
Q  2π (1)
energy dessipated per cycle
know that
1 (2)
max. energy stored  L(Im )2
2
and
R (I m ) 2
energy dissipated per cycle  (3)
fr
replacing (2) and (3) into (1);

ωr L X L(at rsnce) X C(at rsnce)

Q   (4)
R R R

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•Q also can be define as the ratio of reactive
power to the average power
reactive power
Q
average power
I2X L

I2R
ωr L X L X C
   (same with eqtn (4))
R R R
•Figure 4 shows the equivalent circuit for
Figure 3

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 Xc Xt
Ih XLeq

QIh Xs

Zp Figure 4

•At resonance frequency, the value of Zp

(apparent impedance) seen from the harmonic
current source become very large
X 2
Leq XC2
Zp    QX Leq  QX C (5)
R R

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•During parallel resonance, a small harmonic
current can cause a large voltage drop (V p)
across Zp
Vp  QX cIh (6)

•Based on equation 6, we can see that voltage

near the capacitor bank will be magnified
and heavily distorted when resonance
occur

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•Lets examine the behavior of current
flowing into the capacitor (Ir) during parallel
resonance
Vp
Ir   QI h (7)
Xc

•From the above equation, it is clear that the

current flowing in the cap. bank & in the
power system will also be magnified Q
times, when harmonic occur

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Example 2
From Example 1, determine:
i. The 7th harmonic current seen by the parallel resonance circuit
if the 7th harmonic current is 5% of the fundamental
(Fundamental current = 550A for each ASD)
ii. Current amplification factor, Q, if the total resistance is 1%
iii. Net current flowing through the capacitor during resonance

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 Harmonic-Mitigation
techniques
In line reactors
Isolation
or chokes
transformer
Zigzag
Capacitor bank & HMT Transformer
filter reactor
Active
Passive
Harmonic
Harmonic
Filter
Filter
Series
Parallel Series Low pass Parallel (Shunt)
(Shunt) broadband filter

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1.Capacitor bank & filter reactor
– Adding, resizing, or relocating a shunt
capacitor bank can effectively modify an
unfavorable system frequency response.
– Thus, this approach will bring the harmonic
distortion to an acceptable level
– Reactor can perform the same function by
detuning the system off harmful resonances
2.In line reactors or choke
– A simple but often successful approach to
control harmonic generated by ASD

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– In this approach, a small reactor or choke is
inserted at the line input side of the drive
 The inductance slows the rate at which the
capacitor on the dc bus can be charge and forces
the drive to draw current over a longer period
 The net effect: a lower magnitude current with
much less harmonic content while still delivering
the same energy
– Other advantages of choke in ASD application:
 The effect of slowing the dc capacitor charging
rate  makes the choke very effective in blocking
some high frequency transients

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 Thus, it helps to avoid nuisance drive tripping
during capacitor energization as well

Fig. 6: Effect of AC line chokes on ASD current harmonic

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3.Isolation transformer
– Isolation transformers can provide the same
benefit as choke, but the installation is costly
– Isolation transformer with multiple drives
offer the advantage of creating effective 12-
pulse operation
 12-pulse configuration can be achieved by
supplying one drive through a Δ-Y Tx, & another
drive through Δ-Δ Tx
 Figure 6 shows the waveform for 2 nos. 6-pulse
ASDs

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 Fig. 6: 12-pulse configuration as a method to control
harmonic current from 2 ASDs

 When the 2 waveforms are added together on the

primary, the resulting waveform injected onto the
utility system has much lower distortion (5th & 7th
harmonics are cancelled out)

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3.Zigzag transformer
– Applied in commercial facilities to control
zero-sequence harmonic components
– Zigzag Tx acts like a filter to the zero sequence
current by offering low impedance path to
the neutral
– Thus, it can almost reduce neutral currents
to the acceptable level
4.Passive filter
– Consists of XL, XC and R elements 
configured & tuned to control harmonic
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– Advantage: this approach is most commonly
used & inexpensive compared to other
techniques
– Disadvantage: potentially interacting
adversely in power system
– This type of filter is employed to:
 Shunt the harmonic current off the line, or
 Block harmonic current flow between parts of the
system by tuning the elements to create a
resonance at selected frequency
– Among the example of passive filters:
i. Shunt passive filters
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  Most common: single tuned “notch” filter

Fig. 7: Common passive filter configuration

 It is series-tuned to present a low impedance
to a particular harmonic current & it is
connected in shunt in power system
 Harmonics currents are diverted from their
normal flow path on the line through the filter
ii. Series passive filters
 Series passive filters is connected in series
with the load
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 In this filter, XL & XC are connected in series
to provide a high impedance at selected
harmonic frequency
 The high impedance then blocks the flow of
harmonic currents at the tuned frequency only
 Series filters are used to block a single
harmonic current (eg. 3rd harmonic) and are
especially useful in single phase circuit where
it is not possible to take advantage of zero
sequence characteristic
 Disadvantage: can not be used to block
multiple harmonics currents

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 iii. Low-pass broadband filters
 An ideal filter to block multiple harmonics
currents/frequencies
 Current with frequency components below the
filter cutoff frequency can pass, but, above the
cutoff frequency is filtered out
4. Active filter
– An Active Harmonic Filter is an electronic
power inverter using IGBT semiconductors
with various control loops to increase power
factor and reduce harmonics by injecting a
dynamic cancellation signal into the power
line
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– Advantages:
i. These filters do not resonate with the system
ii. Can address more than 1 harmonic at a time

Fig. 8: Principle of operation of active

filter

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 Effect of Harmonic on
Capacitor Bank
•When large levels of voltage and current
harmonic are present, the ratings of cap. bank
(voltage, kVAR, etc) are quite often
exceeded, resulting in failures (overloaded)
•Cap. banks are designed to operate at a max.
voltage of 110% of their rated voltages and at
135% of their rated kVARs

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•IEEE Std for shunt capacitor specifies the
following continuous capacitor ratings:
– 135% of nameplate kVAR
– 110% of rated RMS voltage (including harmonic
but excluding transient)
– 180% of rated RMS current (including
fundamental & harmonic current)
– 120% of peak voltage (incl. harmonic)

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Example 3
Referring to Figure 9;
i. Draw the Y-equivalent filter reactance V =12.47kV
L

ii. Find the reactor size to trap 5th harmonic

if the 5th harmonic current is 5% of the Filter
reactor
line current
iii. Verify that the voltage across the
capacitor does not exceed the capacitor
maximum voltage rating (110%) 600kVar existing PF
correction capacitor
iv. Verify that the total kVAR production Fig. 9
of the capacitor is less than 135% of
nominal value
v. Conclude your finding based on iii) & iv

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