Various concerns regarding monitoring& measurement of power quality problems

Abstract

Power quality has been catching the attention of researchers worldwide. With the advent of more and more semiconductor based equipments, the power quality standards have been re-written. There are many causes of power quality problems, voltage sags/swells, harmonics, fast impulses or subcycle impulses, neutral to ground high frequency noise etc. Some of these occur very frequently and cause problems and others (such as 1 nanosecond or 0.5 nanosecond impulses) either occur very rarely or cause problems rarely. It is important to evaluate power quality level and identify the source of faults that origin electrical disturbances in electrical power systems, which determines the responsibility of a bad quality of power. In order to evaluate and identify the disturbances and its origin, power quality monitoring is the tool that utilities and customers can use. This paper attempts to review the power quality issues including ways of monitoring power quality and also the effect of harmonics on power quality.