SHRI S’AD VI DYA MANDAL

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
BHARUCH
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING
B.E. 4th YEAR (8th SEMESTER)

TOPIC:
Test locations and duration for power quality
measurement

Presented by: K Sai Kiran

 What is power quality?
• Power quality is a description of a power
supply that is free of disturbance.
• It is the degree to which both utilization and
performance of electric power affects the
performance of electric distribution system.
 Power Quality Issues
• Voltage sag (or dip)
• Voltage spike
• Voltage swell
• Harmonic distortion
• Voltage fluctuation
• Noise
• Voltage Unbalance
Voltage sag
Harmonics
Voltage unbalance
Noise
Causes of Power Quality Problems
• connections in the power and transmission
network
• connection and disconnection of electrical
loads
• lightning strikes
• disturbing electrical apparatus
• weak power and transmission networks and
variable power production
 Solving Power Quality Problems
• Improving the power quality requires the
study of the specific quantity which is to be
improved.
• Several devices like harmonic analysers,
transient disturbance analysers, oscilloscope,
data loggers etc.
 Why to measure Power Quality?
• Solving power quality problems depends on
acquiring meaningful data at the optimum
locations.
• In order to acquire the useful data,
instrumentation is required.
• Measuring power quality gives the foundation
to optimize your power and transmission
network and make cost savings!
 Power Quality Measurement
• The first step in solving power quality
problems is to determine the test locations.
• Setting up instrumentation at a location that is
not optimum with respect to the affected
equipment can yield misleading or insufficient
information.
• Electrical transients are especially prone to
errors depending on the type of the
instrument used and its location.
 Number of test locations
• Number of test locations depends on nature
of problem.
• Tests should be taken from number of
locations simultaneously.
• If simultaneous monitoring is not possible,
each location may be individually monitored.
• Experience also becomes important when
trying to resolve different scenarios.
If power quality problems are observed at location C
and not at B, it is not necessary to monitor A.
On the other hand, if problems are at C and B, then
location A should be tested as well as location D
 Test duration
• As a general rule, it is necessary to test each
location for at least one week unless definite
source of the problem is detected. In such a
case, the interval could be shortened.
• If feasible, power system disturbances can be
created to generate adequate amount of data.
• Care should be taken otherwise generated
conclusions can be risky.