What causes poor power quality?
As grids have been evolving towards more complex structures and consumer’s demand for reliable, secure electricity increases, the quality of power is more critical ever than before to meet these expectations. In addition, electrical equipment works in defined certain limits of voltage and frequency while operating in these tolerance limits.
First, what good power quality means?
Hence, we can define good power quality as a power supply that is always available for everyone in safe limits. However, poor power quality can be defined as basically the one unreliable and not always available in tolerance limits, and so causes lots of problems.
It is better to know what causes the poor quality to solve many related issues, like economic losses, not meeting industrial standards etc.
Why we have poor power quality?
As power quality is quite a complex subject itself, we can’t assume only one reason for having poor quality. There could be many reasons for the poor power quality. Still, we can summarise them under main topics which are listed below, and each of these has different solutions to be addressed best practice.
Besides this, there is always a solution for each power quality problems, and some improvement strategies have been listed below.
| DIPS or SAGS | |
|---|---|
| Symptoms | • Lighting dimming, computer lockups, relay and contactor chatter or complete dropout, equipment and system shutdowns • Spurious and unexplained alarms and shutdowns |
| Potential causes | • Starting large loads, especially large inductive • Similar operations in neighboring facilities • Short-circuit faults • Severe weather conditions |
| How to Solve | • Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) • Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) Click to see ENDOKS DVR Solution |
| SWELLS | |
| Symptoms | • Overvoltage shutdowns and alarms on variable frequency drives (VFDs) and other electronic devices • Failure and damage on equipment and loads |
| Potential causes | • Fault on single phase of three-phase system • Sudden load decrease • Capacitor bank switching |
| How to Solve | • Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) • Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) Click to see ENDOKS DVR Solution |
| UNDERVOLTAGE / OVERVOLTAGE | |
| Symptoms | • Overheating of equipment • Insulation failures • Performance and life time degradation on equipment |
| Potential causes | • Uncontrolled reactive power flow in transmission and distribution systems • Variations in the generation of PV and wind power systems |
| How to Solve | • Static VAR Compensator (SVC) Click to see ENDOKS SVC Solution • Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) Click to see ENDOKS STATCOM Solution • Magnetically Coupled Reactor (MCR) Click to see ENDOKS MCR Solution • Voltage Regulator |
| VOLTAGE FLUCTUATIONS / FLICKER | |
| Symptoms | • Light flicker • Nuisance tripping due to misoperation of electronic devices |
| Potential causes | • Intermitted loads like electric arc furnaces and welding machines • Variations in the generation of PV and wind power systems |
| How to Solve | • Static VAR Compensator (SVC) Click to see ENDOKS SVC Solution • Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) Click to see ENDOKS STATCOM Solution • Magnetically Coupled Reactor (MCR) Click to see ENDOKS MCR Solution • Voltage Regulator |
| TRANSIENTS | |
| Symptoms | • Flashover and arcing effects in distribution equipment • Damaged insulation • Failed electronics • Computer lockups |
| Potential causes | • Lightning strikes • Switching of capacitors • Reenergizing systems after a power failure • Sudden stoppage of large equipment • Dirty or worn contactors |
| How to Solve | • Surge Arresters • Isolation Transformers |
| INTERRUPTIONS | |
| Symptoms | • Equipment shutdowns |
| Potential causes | • Momentary loss of utility power |
| How to Solve | • Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) |
| UNBALANCE | |
| Symptoms | • Overheated three-phase motors and transformers • Overvoltage and overloading problems in neutral conductors |
| Potential causes | • Unbalanced loads across individual phases of three-phase panelboards • Unbalanced utility supply • Operation of large single-phase loads • Open-delta transformers |
| How to Solve | • Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) Click to see ENDOKS STATCOM Solution |
| HARMONICS | |
| Symptoms | • Overheated line and neutral conductors • Overheated motors and transformers • Spurious and unexplained alarms and shutdowns of electronic equipment |
| Potential causes | • Nonlinear loads such as switching power supplies • Converter sections of uninterruptible power supply (UPS), VFDs and battery chargers • Welders • Arc furnaces |
| How to Solve | • Passive and Active Harmonic filters Click to see ENDOKS Pasif and Active Harmonic Solutions |
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