What is Harmonics?. = Harmonics are sinusoidal voltages or currents having frequencies that are whole multiples of the frequency at which the supply system is designed to operate (e.g. S0Hz or 60 Hz). = Harmonics are simply a technique to analyze the current drawn by computers, electronic ballasts, variable frequency drives and other equipment which have modem “transformer-less" power supplies. ‘= There are two important concepts to bear in mind with regard to power system harmonics. = The fistis the nature of harmonic-current producing loads (non-linear loads) and the second is the way in which harmonic currents flow and how the resulting harmonic voltages develop. = There is a law in electrical engineering called Ohm's Law. This basic law states that when a voltage is applied across a resistance, current will ow. This is how all electrical equipment operates. The voltage we apply across our equipment is a sine wave which operates 60 Hertz (cycles per second) Voltage Waveform Api’ Voltage = To generate this voltage sine wave. It as (relatively) constant amplitude and constant frequency. = Once this voltage is applied to a device, Ohm's Law kicks in. Ohm's Law states that current equal's voltage divided by resistance. Expressed mathematically IEVIR = Expressed graphically, the current ends up being another sine wave, since the resistance is a constant number. Ohm's Law dictates that the frequency of the current, wave is also 60 Hertz. In the real world, this is true; although the two sine waves may not align perfectly (as a power factor) the current wave will indeed be a 60 Hertz sine wave. Voltage Waveform ‘= Since an applied voltage sine wave will cause a sinusoidal currentto be drawn, systems which exhibit this behaviour are called linear systems. Incandescent lamps, heaters and motors are linear systems. = Some of our modem equipment however does not ftthis category. Computers, variable frequency drives, electronic ballasts and uninterruptable power supplysystems are non-linear systems. In these systems, the resistance is not a constant and in fact, varies during each sine wave. This occurs because the resistance of the device is nota constant. The resistance in fact, changes during each sine wave Linear and non-linear loads (motors, heaters and incandescent lamps): = Alinear elementin a power system is a companent.in which the current is proportional to the voltage. ‘= In general, this means that the current wave shape will be the same as the voltage (See Figure 1). Typical examples of inear loads include motors, heaters and incandescent lamps. Linear loads 200 100 0 100 -200 Degrees (0-350) Figure 1. Voltage and current waveforms for linear Non-Linear System (Computers, VFDS, Electronic Ballasts): = Asin Figure As we apply a voltage to a solid state power supply, the current drawn is (approximately) zero until a critical “fring voltage” is reached on the sine wave. Atthis firing voltage, the transistor (or other device) gates or allows currentto be conducted. This current typically increases aver time until the peak of the sine wave and decreases unti the critical fring voltage is reached on the “downward side" of the sine wave. The device then shuts off and current goes to zero. The same thing occurs on the negative side of the sine wave with a second negative pulse of current being drawn. The current drawn then is a series of positive and negative pulses, and not the sine wave drawn by linear systems. ‘Some systems have different shaped waveforms such as square waves. These types of systems are often called non-linear systems. The power supplies which draw this type of current are called switched mode power supplies. Once these pulse currents are formed, we have a difficult time analyzing their effect. Power engineers are taught to analyze the effects of sine waves on power systems. Analyzing the effects of these pulses is much more difficultFiring voltage: “CURRENT Figure 2. Voltage and current waveforms for linear = The current drawn by non-linear loads is not sinusoidal but itis periodic, meaning that the current wave looks the same from cycle to cycle. Periodic waveforms can be described mathematically as a series of sinusoidal waveforms that have been summed together. Harmonic Sine Waves 200 [e120 mss 19 Ly \ y 0 - — mS wf VV SAY -200 1 roraseenevitesreumenrs Degrees (0-360) Figure 3. Waveform with symmetrical harmonic components = The sinusoidal components are integer multiples of the fundamental where the fundamental, in the United States, is 60 Hz. The only way to measure a voltage or current that contains harmonics is to use a true-RMS reading meter. fan averaging meter is used, which is the most common type, the error can be Significant = Each term in the series is referred to as a harmonic of the fundamental. The third harmonic would have a frequency of three times 60 Hz or 180 Hz. Symmetrical waves contain only odd harmonics and un-symmetrical waves contain even and odd harmonics. = Asymmetrical wave Is one in which the positive portion of the wave is identical to the negative portion of the wave. An un-symmetrical wave contains a DC component (or offset) or the load is such that the positive portion of the wave is different than the negative portion. An example of un-symmetrical wave Would be @ half wave rectifier. = Most power system elements are symmetrical. They produce only odd harmonics and have no DC offset. Harmonic current flow= When a non-linear load draws current that current passes through all ofthe impedance that is between the load and the system source (See Figure 4). As a result of the current flow, harmonic voltages are produced by impedance in the system for each harmonic. Figure 4 - Distorted-current induced voltage distortion = These voltages sum and when added to the nominal voltage produce voltage distortion. The magnitude of the voltage distortion depends on the source impedance and the harmonic voltages produced. «Ifthe source impedance is low then the voltage distortion will be low. Ifa significant portion of the load becomes non-linear (harmonic currents increase) and/or when a resonant condition prevails (system impedance increases), the voltage can increase dramatically. Harmonic currents can produce a number of problems: Equipment heating Equipment malfunction Equipment failure Communications interference Fuse and breaker mis-operation Process problems Conductor heating, How harmo! S are generated = Inan ideal clean power system, the current and voltage waveforms are pure sinusoids. In practice, non-sinusoidal currents are available due to result of the current flowing in the load is not linearly related to the applied voltage = Ina simple circuit containing only linear circuit elements resistance, inductance and capacitance. The current which flows is proportional to the applied voltage (ata particular frequency) so that, ifa sinusoidal voltage is applied, a sinusoidal current will ow. Note that where there is a reactive element there will be a phase shift between the voltage and current waveforms the power factor is reduced, but the circuit can still be linear. ‘= Butin The situation where the load is a simple full-wave rectifier and capacitor, such as the input stage of a typical switched mode power supply (SMPS). In this case, current flows only when the supply voltage exceeds that stored on the reservoir capacitor, .. close to the peak of the voltage sine wave, as shown by theshape of the load line. ‘= Any cyclical waveform can be de constructed into a sinusoid at the fundamental frequency plus a number of sinusoids at harmonic frequencies. Thus the distorted current waveform in the figure can be represented by the fundamental plus a percentage of second harmonic plus a percentage of third harmonic and so on, possibly up to the thirtieth harmonic. = For symmetrical waveforms, i.e. where the positive and negative half cycles are the same shape and magnitude, all the even numbered harmonics is zero, Even harmonics are now relatively rare but were common when half wave rectification was widely used. 1 The frequencies we use are multiples of the fundamental frequency, 60 Hz. We call these multiple frequencies harmonics. The second harmonic is two times 60 Hertz, or 120 Hz. The third harmonic is 180 Hertz and so on. In our three phase power systems, the “even” harmonics (second, fourth, sixth, etc.) cancel, so we only need deal with the “odd” harmonics. ‘THIRD HARMONIC. ‘Applied Voltage @0 Ha) xX 2d (airs SY TE VOLTAGE = This figure shows the fundamental and the third harmonic. There are three cycles of the third harmonic for each single cycle of the fundamental. Ifwe add these two waveforms, we get a non-sinusoidal waveform. ‘This resultant now starts to form the peaks that are indicative of the pulses drawn by switch mode power supplies. we add in other harmonics, we can model any distorted periodic waveform, such as square waves generated by UPS of VFD systems. Itis important to remember these harmonics are simply a mathematical model. The pulses or square waves, of other distorted waveforms are what we actually see if we were to put an oscilloscope on the building's wiring systems. = These current pulses, because of Ohm's Law, will also begin to distort the voltage waveforms in the building. This voltage distortion can cause premature failure of electronic devices. = On three phase systems, the three phases of the power system are 120’ out of phase. The current on phase B occurs 120 deg (1/3 cycle) after the currenton A. Likewise, the current on phase C occurs 120" after the current on phase B. Because of this, our 60 Hertz (fundamental) currents actually cancel on the neutral. we have balanced 60 Hertz currents on our three phase conductors, our neutral current will be zero. Itcan be shown mathematically that the neutral current (assuming only 60 Hertz s present) will never exceed the highest loaded phase conductor. Thus, our over current protection on our phase conductors also protects the neutral conductor, even though we do not put an over current protective device in the neutral conductor. We protect the neutral by the mathematics. When harmonic currents are present, this math breaks down. The third harmonic of each of the three phase conductors is exactly in phase. When these harmonic currents come together on the neutral, rather than cancel, they actually add and we can have more current on the neutral conductor than on phase conductors. Our neutral conductors are no longer protected by mathematics! = These harmonic currents create heat. This heat over a period of time will raise the temperature of the neutral conductor. This rise in temperature can overheat thesurrounding conductors and cause insulation failure. These currents also will overheat the transformer sources which supply the power system. This is the most obvious symptom of harmonics problems; overheating neutral conductors and transformers. Other symptoms include: Nuisance tripping of circuit breakers Malfunction of UPS systems and generator systems. Metering problems Computer matfunctions. Over voltage problems