HARMONIC-PART 1

(LECTURE 10)

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 Introduction
•Definition: “sinusoidal currents & voltages
with frequencies that are integral multiples
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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•Higher order harmonic: 25th -50th  are
negligible

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 Causes of Harmonic
• Caused:
1. Non-linear devices
 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 0
0 120 240 (+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 240
11 x 0 11 x 120
0 0 0 0 0
(2640 =2880 -240 )
0
(-ve seq.)
0 (1320 =1440 -120 )
(0 ) 0 0 NZA 2009
(-120 ) (-240 )
•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 ∆-∆ 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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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)**
–Total demand distortion (TDD)
** commonly used
•Both are measures of the effective value of a
waveform and may be applied to either
voltage or current
•THD can indicate how much extra heat will
be produced when a distorted voltage is
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applied across a resistive load or as an
indication of the additional losses caused by
the current flowing through the conductor

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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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