Transients: The phenomenon or quantity varying between two

consecutive steady states during a time interval that is short compared

with the timescale of interest. A transient can be a unidirectional
impulse of either polarity.
Sags: A decrease in rms voltage or current at power frequency for
durations of 0.5 cycles to 1 min. A voltage sag of 10% means that the
line voltage is reduced to 10% of the nominal value.
Swells: A temporary increase in rms voltage or current of more than
10% of the nominal value at power system frequency, which lasts from
0.5 cycles to 1 min.

Undervoltage: Refers to a voltage having a value less than the nominal

voltage for a period of time greater than 1 min.
Overvoltage: When used to describe a specific type of long - duration
variation, this refers to a voltage having a value greater than the
nominal voltage for a period of time greater than 1 min.
Interruptions (power outage): The complete loss of voltage (below 0.1
pu) on one or more phase conductors for a certain period of time

Harmonics: Sinusoidal voltages or currents having frequencies that are

multiples of the fundamental power frequency.

Voltage Flicker: Voltage fluctuations are systematic variations in the

envelope or a series of random voltage changes with a magnitude that
does not normally exceed the voltage ranges of 0.9–1.1 pu. Among the
most common causes of voltage flicker are arc furnaces.

Notch: A periodic transient reduction in the magnitude of the quasi –

sinusoidal mains voltage. It lasts less than one half - cycle and usually
less than a few milliseconds. Notching is caused mainly by power
electronics devices that draw a heavy load current during a small
portion of the sine wave.
The undesirable effects (disadvantages) of the harmonics are:

1. Capacitors may draw excessive current and prematurely fail from

increased dielectric loss and heating.
2. Harmonics can interfere with telecommunication systems,
especially noise on telephone lines.
3. Transformers, motors, and switchgear may experience increased
losses.
4. Induction motors may refuse to start (cogging) or may run at sub-
synchronous speeds.
5. Circuit breakers may fail to interrupt currents due to improper
operation of blowout coils.
6. The time–current characteristics of fuses can be altered, and
protective relays may experience erratic behaviour.
7. Errors happen in induction kilowatt-hour meters.
8. Excitation problems cause generator failure.
9. Interference occurs with large motor controllers.
Converter Bridges:
Converter bridges are commonly used in 3-phase power electronics
based equipment such as drives (AC and DC) and UPSs.
The switches used can either be controllable (e.g., IGBTs and
thyristors) or uncontrollable (diodes).
Depending on the equipment, the DC side of the bridge is connected
to a smoothing capacitor, a smoothing inductor or both.
6 -Pulse Bridge has harmonics of the order 6n+1 and line current
contains harmonics of the order 5, 7, 11, 13...
The 12-pulse converter comprises of two parallel 6-pulse converters.
The first is connected via a star/star transformer while the second one
is connected via a star/delta transformer. Due to the phase
relationships some of the currents components in one bridge are in
anti-phase with those in the other converter.
The Fourier analysis of the ac input line current of a 12-pulse
converter is the sum of the individual currents of the 6-pulse
converters. The 5th, 7th, 17th, 19th….are cancelled and the harmonic
series contains only harmonics of order 12n ±1. The line current
contains harmonics of the order 11, 13, 23, 25,.....
HARMONICS due TO Inrush Current
The transient current drawn by a transformer when it is first energized
depends upon the instant of switching. If the transformer is energized
when the applied sinusoidal voltage is at its peak, usually there is no
transient.

if the transformer is energized when the applied voltage is zero and it

has a residual flux with unfavourable polarity, then the total flux that
would be required to counteract the applied voltage according to
Lenz’s law would be 2m + r. To produce such a flux, the
transformer may have to draw many times (say, 100 times) the normal
exciting current of the transformer.

In actual practice, the inrush current may be 8 to 10 times the full-load

current of the transformer, depending upon the instant of switching
and polarity of the applied voltage.