HARMONICS IN THE

POWER SYSTEM
 Introduction
 What are harmonics.?
 Classification of harmonics
 Causes and effects.
 Types of equipments that generates harmonics.?
 Problem caused by harmonics.
 Harmonic migration measures
 Conclusion

CONTENTS

www.forumelectrical.com
 Various methodologies and techniques were proposed to
improve the power quality.

 Any deviation from the perfect sinusoidal waveform is nothing

but distortion and hence harmonic distortion

 One of the parameters which affect the quality of power is

harmonics current are supplied by the non-linear equipment.

 Common risks of harmonics include potential fire hazard,

excessive heat, false tripping of branch circuit breakers and
consequently increases maintenance cost.

INTRODUCTION

www.forumelectrical.com
 “Harmonics” is the term which means waves having frequencies of
integer multiples of one another.
 It can be given as: fh= n*fundamental frequency

Figure 1 – Fundamental Frequency with third and fifth harmonics.

WHAT ARE HARMONICS ?

www.forumelectrical.com
 If a system has the fundamental frequency as 60Hz then its 2nd and 3rd harmonic would
have frequencies of 120Hz and 180Hz respectively.

 Figure 2 shows a fundamental with 70 % third order and 50 % fifth order harmonics
added.

 In practice, most distorted waveforms will be much more complex than this
example, containing many more harmonics.

Figure 2 – Distorted Composite current waveform.

www.forumelectrical.com
 Harmonics which are nothing but distorted waveforms have two
types namely voltage and current harmonics.
 The orders of harmonics and symmetrical components, these are
two concepts which are used commonly to describe harmonics.
 Regarding the harmonics, words odd and even harmonics are used
usually but the term triplen harmonics is not much known.

CLASSIFICATION OF
HARMONICS

www.forumelectrical.com
  Generally, representation of harmonic components is given with equation:

 Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) It is given as the ratio of the power of

all harmonic components to the power of fundamental frequency.

 Total Harmonic Current (THC) Usually, distorted current waveform is

caused by the contribution of current orders 2 to 40.

POWER
 QUALITY
Total Harmonic INDICES
Distortion Current (THDi) This value can be calculated
by taking the ratio of THC to the Fundamental current. It can be
given as:
UNDER HARMONIC
DISTORTION
Where 𝐼1= fundamental current
www.forumelectrical.com
 Total Harmonic Distortion of Voltage (THDv) It shows the total magnitude
of the distortion in voltage. It can be calculated by calculating ratio of distorted
or harmonic voltage to the non-harmonic or fundamental voltage.

 Total Demand Distortion (TDD) This concept is used widely used in North
America regarding harmonics. It is the ratio of harmonic current to the full load
fundamental current

𝐼𝑛 = current amplitude of nth order harmonic,

Il= total load current consumed by system
 Partial Weighted Harmonic Distortion (PWHD) It is the ratio of current or
voltage with selected group of higher order harmonics from 14 to 40 to the
fundamental value of voltage or current

www.forumelectrical.com
 SOURCES OF HARMONIC DISTORTION
 Static Compensators: Compensator which are controlled by Thyristor will produce near
about 1% of the 11th harmonic current.

 Power Converters Rectifiers. Hence the dc current is almost constant and then converter
starts acting as a harmonic voltage source on the dc side where as the harmonics current
source on the ac side.

 Transformer Because of saturation and hysteresis characteristics, a small level of

harmonic current will get produce by transformers when they are in steady state.

 Rotating Machines In the rotating machines, harmonic currents can be produced due to
asymmetries in the winding pattern.

 Electric Arc Furnace As the arc feed material varies, the harmonics rise up and their
value cannot be predicted certainly

 Switched Mode Power Supplies (SMPS) SMPS unit draws current pulses contain large
amount of harmonics of third and above higher order harmonics.

www.forumelectrical.com
 Harmonic currents and voltages cause many problems in electrical
installations, including

* Overheating of equipment and cabling,

* Reduced energy efficiency,
* Reduced functionality due to loss of electromagnetic
compatibility.
 Harmonic currents from installations flow back into the network and
propagate as voltage harmonics.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS
 Designers and specifiers must now consider harmonics and their side
effects very carefully to ensure the safety and resilience.
www.forumelectrical.com
  Harmonic load currents are generated by all non-linear loads.
These include:

*Single phase loads

1.Switched mode power supplies (SMPS) – all electronic
MN devices
2. Electronic fluorescent lighting ballasts
3.Small uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) units

*Three phase
TYPES loads
OF EQUIPMENTS THAT
1.Variable speed drives
GENERATES
2. Large UPS units
HARMONICS

www.forumelectrical.com
SWITCHED MODE POWER SUPPLIES

 The majority of modern electronic units use SMPS.

 These differ from older units in that the traditional step-down transformer and
rectifier.
 The advantage is that the size, cost and weight is significantly reduced.

FLUORESCENT LIGHTING BALLASTS

 Electronic lighting ballasts have become popular in recent years claiming improved
efficiency
 Their great disadvantage is that they generate harmonics in the supply current

SINGLE PHASE LOADS

www.forumelectrical.com
 In general are usually based on the three-phase bridge, also
known as the six-pulse bridge .
 The six pulse bridge produces harmonics at 6n +/- 1 .
 The magnitude of each harmonic is the reciprocal of the
harmonic number .

THREE PHASE LOADS

www.forumelectrical.com
 Basically, harmonics are difficult to reduce.
 But the power quality gets reduced because of
harmonics.
 They show economic impacts such as earlier
failure of equipments, losses in distribution
systems.
 So, they should be detected at early stage.

WHY HARMONICS SHOULD

GET DETECTED?

www.forumelectrical.com
There are several common problem areas caused by harmonics: -

 Problems caused by harmonic currents:

o Overloading of neutrals
o Overheating of transformers
o Nuisance tripping of circuit breakers
o Over-stressing of power factor correction capacitors
o Skin effect
 Problems caused by harmonic voltages:
o Voltage distortion
o Induction motors
o Zero-crossing noise
 Problems caused when harmonic currents reach the supply

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY
HARMONICS

www.forumelectrical.com
 2.Second effect concerns the triple-N harmonics
NUISANCE TRIPPING OF CIRCUIT BREAKER
 Nuisance tripping can occur in the presence of harmonics for two reasons .

*Firstly, the RCCB, being an electromechanical device, may not sum the higher
frequency components correctly

*Secondly, the equipment that generates harmonics also generates switching noise

*The situation is easily overcome by providing more circuits, each supplying fewer
loads

EFFECTS ON TRANSFORMERS

www.forumelectrical.com
 Skin effect is normally ignored because it has very little effect
at power supply frequencies but above about 350 Hz.
 Skin effect will become significant, causing additional loss
and heating.
 Multiple cable cores or laminated busbars can be used to help
overcome this problem.
PROBLEMS CAUSED BY HARMONIC
VOLTAGES
 Because the supply has source impedance, harmonic load
currents give rise to harmonic voltage distortion on the voltage
waveform .

SKIN EFFECT

www.forumelectrical.com
 Harmonic voltage distortion causes increased eddy current
losses in motors in the same way as in transformers.
 Additional losses arise due to the generation of harmonic
fields in the stator.
 Where harmonic voltage distortion is present motors should be
de-rated to take account of the additional losses.

ZERO CROSSING NOISE

 When harmonics are present on the supply the rate of change
of voltage at the crossing becomes faster and more difficult to
identify.
 There may in fact be several zero-crossings per half cycle.

INDUCTION MOTORS

www.forumelectrical.com
 When a harmonic current is drawn from the supply it gives
rise to a harmonic voltage drop.
 Which proportional to the source impedance at the point of
common coupling (PCC) and the current.
 Since the supply network is generally inductive, the source
impedance is higher at higher frequencies.
 The voltage at the PCC is already distorted by the
harmonic currents drawn by other consumers and by the
distortion inherent in transformers, and each consumer
makes an additional contribution.

HARMONIC PROBLEMS AFFECTING

THE SUPPLY

www.forumelectrical.com
Harmonic mitigation measures are required to:

 Meet local harmonic emission limits

 Reduce overloading of, e.g., cables and transformers
 Improve resilience of equipment by reducing voltage waveform distortion

Mitigation methods fall broadly into three groups;

 Passive filters,
 Isolation and harmonic reduction transformers
 And active solutions

HARMONIC MITIGATION
METHODS

www.forumelectrical.com
 Passive filters are used to provide a low impedance path for harmonic currents so
that they flow in the filter and not the supply .

 The filter may be designed for a single harmonic or for a broad band depending on
requirements.

PASSIVE SERIES FILTERS

 A series filter is intended to block harmonic currents rather than provide a controlled
path for them so there is a large harmonic voltage drop across it.

 This harmonic voltage appears across the supply on the load side.

 PASSIVE SHUNT FILTERS

Series filters can be useful in certain circumstances, but should be carefully applied;
they cannot be recommended as a general purpose solution.

www.forumelectrical.com
 Triple-N currents circulate in the delta windings of transformers, are a
problem for transformer manufacturers and specifiers .
 The extra load has to be taken into account – it is beneficial to systems
designers because it isolates triple-N harmonics from the supply.

ACTIVE HARMONIC CONDITIONERS

 A current transformer measures the harmonic content of the load current .
 Since the harmonic current is sourced from the active conditioner, only
fundamental current is drawn from the supply .
 Harmonic current magnitudes can be reduced by 90 % and, because the
source impedance at harmonic frequencies is reduced, voltage distortion is
reduced.

ISOLATION TRANSFORMERS

www.forumelectrical.com
 Virtually all modern electrical and electronic equipment involves
some form of power control and so is a non-linear load.

 Linear loads are comparatively rare – undimmed filament bulbs and

uncontrolled heaters being the only common examples.

 A range of design strategies and mitigation techniques are available

to mitigate the effects of harmonics in installations and to comply
with any harmonic pollution regulations.

 Each
CONCLUSION
successful strategy to prevent future problems will be a
combination of good design practice, the right electrical equipment,
and good maintenance.
www.forumelectrical.com
 Harmonics in Your Electric System, A White Paper of Eaton Corporation.
 Douglas Andrews, Martin T. Bishop, John F. Witte,(May-June 1996), Harmonic
Measurements, Analysis, and Power Factor Correction in a Modern Steel
Manufacturing Facility, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol. 32, No. 3.
 Masoud Karimi-Ghartemani, and M. Reza Iravani,( January 2005), Measurement of
Harmonics/Interharmonics of Time-Varying Frequencies, IEEE Transactions On
Power Delivery, Vol. 20, No.3.
 David M. McNamara, Alireza K. Ziarani, Thomas H. Ortmeyer(January 2007), A
New Technique of Measurement of Nonstationary Harmonics, IEEE Transactions
On Power Delivery, Vol. 22, No.1
 Weicheng XIE, Xia YANG, (2010), A Power Harmonic Measurement System
Based on Wavelet Packet Transform and ARM9, IEEE.
 Gary W. Chang, Senior Member, IEEE and Cheng-I Chen, (2010), Measurement
REFERENCES
Techniques for Stationary and Time-Varying Harmonics, IEEE
 Hsiung Cheng Lin, (February 2012),Power Harmonics and Interharmonics
Measurement Using Recursive Group-Harmonic Power Minimizing Algorithm,
IEEE Transactions On Industrial Electronics, Vol. 59, No.2
www.forumelectrical.com
 Dobinson, L. G. "Closer Accord on Harmonics", Electronics and Power, 15
May, 1975, pp 567 - 572.
 ANSVIEEE Std 100-1 988, "Standard Dictionary of Electrical and Electronics
Terms", ISBN: 1-55937-000-9, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Inc.
 IEEE Std 519-1992, IEEE Recommended Practices and Requirements for
Harmonic Control in Electric Power Systems.
 Limits for Harmonics in the United Kingdom Electricity Supply System, G.93,
' September 1976, Classification C.

www.forumelectrical.com
THANK YOU

www.forumelectrical.com