See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/251986817

Impact of medium power inverter-based residential harmonic loads and PFCs on

low voltage lines

Article · November 2010

DOI: 10.1109/PECON.2010.5697669

CITATIONS READS
8 63

3 authors, including:

Mau Teng Au
Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN)
30 PUBLICATIONS   180 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Mau Teng Au on 27 July 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.


Impact of Medium Power Inverter-Based
Residential Harmonic Loads and PFCs on Low
Voltage Lines
Mau Teng Au*, John Steven Navamany**, and Eng Chin Yeoh***
* Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia. Email: mtau@uniten.edu.my
** Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia. Email: johnsteven@uniten.edu.my
*** Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia. Email: yeohec@uniten.edu.my
Abstract—Combination of a large amount of harmonic
currents produced by nonlinear/power electronic loads and
capacitance in the network usually results in harmonic resonance
which is detrimental to the performance of the distribution
systems. Over the last few years, there has been a very significant
increased in the usage of power electronic loads such as the
inverter air-conditioners, inverters refrigerators, compact
fluorescent lamps, etc. in residential households and
small/medium commercial premises. At the same time, there is
also a growing concern of meeting the required reactive power
necessary for voltage regulation and minimize technical losses of
the distribution network. This paper presents results of harmonic
measurements of new types of individual harmonic loads such as
the inverter control air conditioner and inverter refrigerators
which contribute more than 50% of total energy used in
residential households and analyze their impact on harmonic
resonance in the presence of small power factor correction (pfc)
capacitors installed extensively at low voltage (LV) service lines.
Results of the analysis indicate that a continuous growth in the
numbers of inverter control loads in residential households is
likely to cause harmonic resonance, and increased in total
harmonic voltage distortion (THDV) at point of common
coupling (PCC).
Index Terms—Harmonic resonance, residential harmonic
loads, power factor correction capacitors, low voltage.
I. INTRODUCTION
T he need for energy efficiency due to increasing energy
costs and the advancement in power electronics and
control has led to various new types of harmonic producing
loads being used in the residential buildings. Some the most
recent examples of harmonic loads which have penetrated into
the residential sectors are the inverter air-conditioners, inverter
refrigerators and the inverter washing machines. When
compared to most of the other types of harmonic producing
loads used in residential buildings such as compact fluorescent
lamps and television, these inverter control air-conditioners,
refrigerators and washing machines could have a greater
impact on the power systems harmonic performance as their
power ratings are much higher. In terms of power losses, it is
reported in [1] that the increase in harmonic losses slightly
exceeds the decrease in losses at fundamental frequency for
certain types of harmonic loads due its high harmonic
1
currents. To improve distribution losses, there is often the
need to install power factor correction capacitors along low
voltage overhead lines supplying to residential loads to
generate the required reactive power so as to reduce the I2R
losses. With the interaction of inductance from system
components and power factor correction capacitors located
along overhead lines, issues on harmonic resonance have to be
addressed. Resonance phenomena are analyzed and reported
in [2] and [3] of which the number of resonance modes is
dependent on the number of capacitive elements in the circuit.
This paper presents samples of harmonic measurement results
of inverter control air conditioner and washing machine, as
well as aggregate residential loads connected at distribution
transformers. The harmonic measurement results are used to
analyze possibility of major harmonic resonance problem
occurring in the LV network, voltage rise and increased in
THDV in particular with regards to the acceptable level of 5%
for LV network.
II. LOW VOLTAGE RESIDENTIAL DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
A. LV Distribution Network.
The utility LV distribution network in Malaysia is a three-
phase, four wires 440 V, 50 Hz system. Distribution supply
voltage is stepped-down from 11kV to 400V by distribution
transformers and connected to LV distribution boards. From
the LV distribution board, feeders can be overhead lines or
underground cables connected to the different types of
residential loads.
Residential loads will fall into basically two or three
categories. The high-end residential loads are generally fed by
underground feeders from the LV distribution board to the
premises. Two or three similar single premises will be fed
along the same feeder. Occasionally, these high-end
residential loads will be fed directly just to one premise, if the
load demand for the premise justifies it. The medium-to-low
end residential loads are typically fed from overhead lines.
The feeder cable from the LV distribution board feeds the
overhead lines. The overhead lines then feed the terraced-type
link residential loads on five-foot-way mains. Typically, the
terraced-link premises are all on single-phase, 240V 50Hz.

B. Nonlinear Residential Loads.
Residential loads have increasingly become nonlinear over
the years and keep increasing. Particular mention can be made
to inverter-based air-conditioner, inverter-based refrigerators
and compact fluorescent lamps which have been introduced
over the last few years as technology improves. These
nonlinear loads produce current waveforms that are rich in
harmonics. This harmonic current flowing in the network
causes a power quality issue as they distort the voltage
waveform.
Harmonic power losses in the network are caused by the
harmonic currents flowing in it. The combined effect of these
nonlinear loads can become very significantly fatal as one
large harmonic source [1]. Another significant aspect is that of
capacitors connected in the network act as current sinks for
high frequency harmonic current produced by nonlinear loads.
Mitigation of the harmonic distortion caused by the
combined effect of all these nonlinear loads is difficult in the
network due to its dispersed nature. One large harmonic
source is easier to mitigate than a multitude of distributed
small harmonic sources. Studies conducted in a similar LV
residential distribution network where underground and
overhead feeding systems exist [1], indicated that most
harmonic losses occurred in the household loads, the next
highest harmonic losses occurred in the LV feeder and most of
the fundamental frequency losses occurred in the LV feeder.
C. Harmonic Resonance Considerations
In a network of rich harmonics over a wide spectrum, the
worst case is that some harmonics could coincide with the
natural frequencies of the circuit formed by power factor
correction capacitors pole mounted at various locations of the
overhead lines and the supply system impedance in the
upstream. When this happens, the harmonics injected into the
supply system will be amplified and cause
overvoltage/overcurrent in the system. To analyze the
situation, harmonic current flow analysis for a typical
residential distribution network is modeled by a simple
equivalent circuit of the network as shown in Fig. 1. The
network supply is represented by 230V, 50 Hz AC source with
source impedance X S , X 1 and X n is reactance of the
overhead line for the respective sections, and C1 …C n
represents the pole mounted pfcs.
XS X1
… Xn
230 V, AC,
50 Hz
C1
Cn
Fig.1. LV overhead line with pole mounted PFC capacitors feeding
nonlinear load
With multiple capacitors connected along the LV lines, the
network is expected to have multiple resonance modes [3]. As
a result, there is a higher chance of parallel resonance
2
occurring over a wide range of harmonic frequencies and
thereby increases the THDV at each node beyond acceptable
limits.
III. HARMONIC MEASUREMENTS OF INDIVIDUAL AND
AGGREGATE HARMONIC LOADS
A. Individual Harmonic Loads
Residential loads typically comprise of compact fluorescent
lamps, televisions, refrigerators, water heaters, and air
conditioners, of which the major producer of harmonic
currents are the compact fluorescent lamps and televisions.
However, with the inverter type air conditioners aggressively
penetrating into the electrical appliances market, it may
become the single most dominant medium power nonlinear
loads in the near future. Harmonic measurements indicated
that current total harmonic distortion (THDI) of inverter air
conditioners is as high as 95%.
In this paper, harmonic measurements of a one horse-
power inverter air conditioner were taken over a period of
approximately ten hours of continuous operation. Based on the
current profile as shown in Fig. 2, the operation of the inverter
air conditioner can be divided into three modes of operations,
namely T1, T2 and T3 mode. T1 mode is the initial period of
operation where the appliance is consuming power close to its
rated power of 1000 Watts. In T1 mode, THDI is in the range
of 35 – 40%. Subsequent to the T1 mode is the T2 mode
where there is a significant reduction in energy consumption
in this mode. THDI at the T2 mode is about 67%. Next, is the
T3 mode where there is a drastic increased in THDI to about
95%. Current waveforms at T1, T2, and T3 mode are shown in
Fig. 4, 5 and 6 respectively.
B. Aggregate Harmonic Loads at Point of Common Coupling
At the PCC, harmonic currents distortion is expected to be
lower than the sum total of individual harmonic loads due to
phase cancellations [4]. Harmonic measurements taken at the
PCC of a residential customer with typical loads such as the
inverter air conditioner, compact fluorescent lamp, television,
and refrigerator, etc. over the same period of time as the single
inverter air conditioner in section III A are shown in Fig. 3
which clearly indicates a significant reduction in current
harmonic distortion at PCC when compared to the harmonic
current distortion of the inverter air conditioner.
The aggregate harmonic current distortion level could be
approximated by applying a diversity factor (DF) to the total
sum of harmonic currents produced by individual loads [4]. In
this case study, total power consumption profile indicates that
the peak demand is at the time when the inverter air
conditioner is switched on and operating at T1 mode. See Fig.
3.
From Fig. 3, it can be observed that the total power
consumed at PCC is approximately 2 kW, of which 1 kW is by
the inverter air conditioner. The contributing factor associated
to the inverter air condition load a1 is therefore equal to 0.5 as
shown in Table 1. Similar approach is used to determine
 3

contributing factors associated with other loads, i.e, compact

fluorescent lamp (CFL), television (TV), and linear loads as
shown in Table 1. To determine the THDI of the aggregate
loads, a DF of 0.5 is used. Fig. 7 shows the measured average
THDI at the PCC varying at different times of day.

Fig. 5. Current waveform of an inverter based air conditioner

during T2 mode

Fig. 2. Power consumption profile of an inverter based air conditioner over

a 10 hour period

Fig. 6. Current waveform of an inverter based air conditioner

during T3 mode

TABLE I
Fig. 3. Load profile at PCC AGGREGATE LOAD MODEL

Harmonic Inverter CFL TV Linear Aggregate

Order, h AC a2=0.1 a3=0.2 Load Load
a1=0.5 a4=0.2 (DF=0.5)
1 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
3 35% 90% 85% - 21.8%
5 23% 72% 71% - 16.4%
7 11% 24% 54% - 9.0%
9 9% 30% 36% - 7.4%

IV. HARMONIC RESONANCE ANALYSIS – LOW VOLTAGE

Fig. 4. Current waveform of an inverter based air conditioner
during T1 mode
FEEDERS SUPPLYING RESIDENTIAL LOADS
In section III, measurements have shown that significant
levels of harmonic currents are produced by residential loads
with inverter-based air conditioners. Harmonic currents
 4

distortion of 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th order are present and its
respective level of distortion at PCC is approximately 22%,
16%, 9% and 7%.
Along the LV feeder, it is often necessary to place pole top Effects of multiple pfc on
LV Line
power factor correction capacitors for reactive power
compensation as shown in Fig. 8, and this may result in
harmonic resonance.

Single pfc on LV line

Figure 10 Frequency responses with multiple pfcs

Frequency scan analysis of the LV feeder with pole top pfc

placed 200 meters apart along a feeder of 1000 meter length is
shown in Fig. 9 and 10. It can be observed from Fig. 10 that
there are four distinct resonance frequencies. The lowest
resonance frequency is close to the 7th harmonic order, while
the second lowest is above the 21st harmonic. In comparison as
observed in Fig. 9, placing a single pfc at the feeder source
(substation) results in resonance close to the 9th harmonic.
Fig. 7 Average THDI at PCC Additionally, pfcs at adjacent feeders further impact the
frequency response curve by decreasing its resonance
frequency.
However, the used of pfcs results in one primary
advantage in terms of voltage level which is shown in Table II
where the fundamental voltage at each node is increased as a
result of connecting pfc at node 1, 3 and 5. Consequently,
higher energy efficiency of the LV network is achieved.
With higher penetration of harmonic loads, in particular the
inverter air conditioner and the connection of pfcs along the
LV lines, THDV at PCC supplying residential loads is shown
to increase significantly. See Table II. From a nominal THDV
Fig. 8. Low voltage overhead line feeding residential loads installed with
of between 4 and 7%, it has gone up to a high of 17% at node
pfcs
5.

TABLE II
VOLTAGE AND THDV RISE DUE TO PFCS

Node Fundamental RMS Voltage [V] THDV [%]

Voltage [V]
No Pfc at No Pfc at No Pfc at
pfc node 1, pfc node 1, pfc node 1,
Effects of pfc from adjacent 3, 5 3, 5 3, 5
feeders 1 231.5 236.2 231.7 237.8 4.1 11.7
2 227.1 232.2 227.4 234.3 5.4 13.5
3 223.8 229.3 224.3 231.9 6.4 15.2
4 221.6 227.3 222.2 230.3 7.1 16.2
5 220.5 226.4 221.2 229.7 7.5 17.1

Fig. 9. Effect of pfc on frequency response curves

 5

V. CONCLUSIONS
It is shown from harmonic measurements that residential
loads are potential contributors of harmonic currents when
medium range power loads such as the inverter type air
conditioners are widely used in households. Hence, the
increasing trend of using inverter air conditioners in
residential households together with the drive for higher
energy efficiency of LV distribution network using pfcs will
inevitably caused deterioration in harmonic performance.
Incidences such as harmonic resonance and other power
quality problems may then be the norm in future LV network
supplying residential loads.

VI. REFERENCES
[1] Neville R. Watson, Tasman L. Scott, and Stephen J. J. Hirsh,
“Implications for Distribution Networks of High Penetration of Compact
Fluorescent Lamps,” IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 24, No. 3, July
2009.
[2] Zhenyu Huang, Yu Cui, and Wilsun Xu, “Application of Modal
Sensitivity for Power System Harmonic Resonance Analysis”, IEEE
Trans. Power System, vol. 22, No. 1, Feb. 2007.
[3] Wilsun Xu, Zhengyu Huang, Yu Cui, and Haizhen Wang, “Harmonic
Resonance Mode Analysis”, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 20, No.
2, April 2005.
[4] A. Mansoor, W. M. Grady, A. H. Chowdhury, and M. J. Samotyj, “An
Investigation of Harmonic Attenuation and Diversity among Distributed
Single Phase Power Electronic Loads,” IEEE Trans. Power Delivery,
vol. 10, No. 1, Jan. 1995.

View publication stats