SYSTEM RESPONSE

CHARACTERISTICS AND EFFECTS OF

HARMONIC DISTORTION

Prepared by: John Reyniel Balagbagan

Bien Miguel Cubilo
Three Primary Variables affecting the
System Response Characteristics

 System Impedance
 Presence of a Capacitor Bank
 Amount of resistive loads in the system
System Impedance
 At fundamental frequency, power systems are primarily inductive,
thus the equivalent impedance is simply the short-circuit
reactance.
 Capacitive effects are frequently neglected on utility distribution
systems and industrial power systems.
Zsc is a phasor quantity however, if the short-circuit data contain
no phase information, one is usually constrained to assuming that
the impedance is purely reactive. Inductive reactance portion of
the impedance changes linearly with frequency so it is important
in harmonics analysis to adjust the reactance for frequency.
Reactance at hth harmonic is determined by:
 In most power systems, one can generally assume that the resistance
does not change significantly when studying the effects of harmonics
less than the ninth.
 At utilization voltages, such as industrial power systems, the equivalent
system reactance is often dominated by the service transformer
impedance. A good approximation for XSC may be based on the
impedance of the service entrance transformer only:

While not precise, this is generally at least 90 percent of the total

impedance and is commonly more. This is usually sufficient to evaluate
whether or not there will be a significant harmonic resonance
problem.
Transformer impedance in ohms can be determined from the
percent impedance Ztx found on the nameplate by

where 3-phase MVA is the kVA rating of the transformer. This

assumes that the impedance is predominantly reactive.
Example:

Compute the equivalent impedance on the

480 V side for a 1500-kVA, 6% transformer.
Presence of a Capacitor Bank
 Shunt capacitors, either at the customer location for power
factor correction or on the distribution system for voltage
control, dramatically alter the system impedance variation
with frequency.
 Capacitors do not create harmonics, but severe harmonic
distortion can sometimes be attributed to their presence.
The equivalent line-to-neutral capacitive reactance at fundamental
frequency for a capacitor bank can be determined by:

Parallel Resonance

All circuits containing both capacitances and inductances have one or

more natural frequencies. When one of those frequencies lines up with
a frequency that is being produced on the power system, a resonance
may develop in which the voltage and current at that frequency
continue to persist at very high values. This is the root of most
problems with harmonic distortion on power systems.
Parallel resonance occurs when the reactance of XC and the
distribution system cancel each other out. The frequency at
which this phenomenon occurs is called the parallel resonant
frequency. It can be expressed as follows:
At the resonant frequency, the apparent impedance of the parallel
combination of the equivalent inductance and capacitance as seen from
the harmonic current source becomes very large

where Q =XL/R = XC/R and R << XLeq, Q often is known as the

quality factor of a resonant circuit that determines the sharpness of the
frequency response.
Current behavior during the parallel resonance:

Currents flowing in the capacitor bank and in the power system

will also be magnified Q times. This phenomenon will likely
cause capacitor failure, fuse blowing or transformer overheating.
At harmonic frequencies, the shunt capacitor bank appears in
parallel with the system inductance.
The extent of voltage and current magnification is determined by the
size of the capacitor bank. The figure above shows the effect of varying
capacitor size in relation to the transformer on the impedance seen
from the harmonic source and compared with the case in which there
is no capacitor.
Resonant Harmonic (hr)
Example:
Find the approximate resonant harmonic for a 1500-kVA, 6 percent
transformer and a 500-kVAR capacitor bank

Series Resonance
There are certain instances when a shunt capacitor and the inductance
of a transformer or distribution line may appear as a series LC circuit
to a source of harmonic currents. If the resonant frequency
corresponds to a characteristic harmonic frequency of the nonlinear
load, the LC circuit will attract a large portion of the harmonic
current that is generated in the distribution system.
The harmonic source shown in this figure represents the total
harmonics produced by other loads. The inductance in series with the
capacitor is that of the service entrance transformer. The series
combination of the transformer inductance and the capacitor bank is
very small (theoretically zero) and only limited by its resistance. Thus
the harmonic current corresponding to the resonant frequency will
flow freely in this circuit.
The voltage at the power factor correction capacitor is magnified and
highly distorted. This is apparent from the following equation:

where Vh and Vs are the harmonic voltage corresponding to the

harmonic current Ih and the voltage at the power factor capacitor
bank, respectively. The negligible impedance of the series resonant
circuit can be exploited to absorb desired harmonic currents. This is
indeed the principle in designing a notch filter.
Amount of resistive loads in the system
Effects of resistance and resistive load
 Determining that the resonant harmonic aligns with a common harmonic source is
not always cause for alarm. The damping provided by resistance in the system is often
sufficient to prevent catastrophic voltages and currents.

Effect of resistive loads on parallel resonance

 Loads and line resistances are the reasons why catastrophic harmonic problems
from capacitors on utility distribution feeders are seldom seen. That is not to say
that there will not be any harmonic problems due to resonance, but the
problems will generally not cause physical damage to the electrical system
components.

 It is a misconception that resistive loads damp harmonics because in the absence

of resonance, loads of any kind will have little impact on the harmonic currents
and resulting voltage distortion. Most of the current will flow back into the
power source. However, it is very appropriate to say that resistive loads will
damp resonance, which will lead to a significant reduction in the harmonic
distortion.

 Motor loads are primarily inductive and provide little damping. In fact, they may
increase distortion by shifting the system resonant frequency closer to a
significant harmonic. Small, fractional-horsepower motors may contribute
significantly to damping because their apparent X/R ratio is lower than that of
large three-phase motors.
Effects of Harmonic Distortion
Harmonic currents produced by nonlinear loads are injected
back into the supply systems. These currents can interact
adversely with a wide range of power system equipment,
most notably capacitors, transformers, and motors, causing
additional losses, overheating, and overloading. These
harmonic currents can also cause interference with
telecommunication lines and errors in power metering.
Impact on capacitors
As discussed earlier a capacitor bank experiences high
voltage distortion during resonance. The current flowing
in the capacitor bank is also significantly large and rich in a
monotonic harmonic.

IEEE Standard for Shunt Power Capacitors (IEEE Standard

18- 1992) specifies the following continuous capacitor
ratings:
■ 135 percent of nameplate kvar
■ 110 percent of rated rms voltage (including harmonics
but excluding transients)
■ 180 percent of rated rms current (including fundamental
and harmonic current)
■ 120 percent of peak voltage (including harmonics)
The fundamental full-load current for the 1200-kvar capacitor
bank is determined from

The capacitor is subjected principally to two harmonics: the fifth

and the seventh. The voltage distortion consists of 4 percent fifth
and 3 percent seventh. This results in 20 percent fifth harmonic
current and 21 percent seventh harmonic current. This means
that the example is within standard limits.
Impact on transformers
There are three effects that result in increased transformer heating when the load
current includes harmonic components:

1. RMS current. If the transformer is sized only for the kVA requirements of the
load, harmonic currents may result in the transformer rms current being higher than
its capacity.

2. Eddy current losses. These are induced currents in a transformer caused by the
magnetic fluxes. These induced currents flow in the windings, in the core, and in
other conducting bodies subjected to the magnetic field of the transformer and cause
additional heating.

3. Core losses. The increase in core losses in the presence of harmonics will be
dependent on the effect of the harmonics on the applied voltage and the design of
the transformer core. Increasing the voltage distortion may increase the eddy
currents in the core laminations.
Guidelines for transformer derating are detailed in ANSI/IEEE Standard C57.110-
1998, Recommended Practice for Establishing Transformer CapabilityWhen Supplying
Nonsinusoidal Load Currents.

The per-unit full-load loss under harmonic current conditions is given by

Exceptions
There will be cases where transformers will run hot or fail due to
what appears to be overload even if they don’t appear to have
harmonics problem from the criteria given in Table 5.2. A common
case is found with grounded-wye transformers wherein line currents
contain about 8 percent third harmonic. Although this is relatively low
the transformer is overheating at less than rated load. Discounting
mechanical cooling problems, chances are good that there is some
conducting element in the magnetic field that is being affected by the
harmonic fluxes.
Impact on motors
Harmonic voltage distortion at the motor terminals is translated into
harmonic fluxes within the motor. Harmonic fluxes do not contribute
significantly to motor torque, but rotate at a frequency different than
the rotor synchronous frequency, basically inducing high-frequency
currents in the rotor. Decreased efficiency along with heating,
vibration, and high-pitched noises are indicators of harmonic voltage
distortion. Excessive heating problems begin when the voltage
distortion reaches 8 to 10 percent and higher. Such distortion should
be corrected for long motor life.

 IEEE Standard 519-1992 limits of 5 percent THD and 3 percent for

any individual harmonic
Impact on telecommunications
Voltages induced in parallel conductors by the common harmonic currents often fall
within the bandwidth of normal voice communications. Harmonics between 540
(ninth harmonic) and 1200 Hz are particularly disruptive. Triplen harmonics (3d,
9th, 15th) are especially troublesome in four-wire systems because they are in phase
in all conductors of a three-phase circuit and, therefore, add directly in the neutral
circuit, which has the greatest exposure with the communications circuit. Harmonic
currents on the power system are coupled into communication circuits by either
induction or direct conduction.
Impact on energy and demand metering
Harmonic currents from nonlinear loads can impact the accuracy of
watthour and demand meters adversely. Traditional watthour meters
are based on the induction motor principle. Conventional magnetic
disk watthour meters tend to have a negative error at harmonic
frequencies. That is, they register low for power at harmonic
frequencies if they are properly calibrated for fundamental frequency.

For non-linear load, the meter would read:

The measured power is a little greater than that actually used in the
load because the meter does not subtract off quite all the harmonic
powers. Although these powers would just go to feed the line and
transformer losses, the customer injecting the harmonic currents will
pay additional for the increased losses in the power system.
 Fortunately, in most practical cases where the voltage distortion is
within electricity supply recommended limits, the error is very small
(much less than 1 percent). The latest electronic meters in use today
are based on time-division and digital sampling. These electronic
meters are much more accurate than the conventional watthour meter
based on induction motor principle.
Reference:

 Electrical Power Systems Quality 2nd Edition