Term Paper

Submitted By: Javaid Iqbal Mehdi

Registration No: Ph.D-009 (Electrical Engineering)
Subject: Advance Power System Quality
Topic: Harmonics (Even Harmonics)
Submitted To: Sir. Dr. Ahmad Umair Mian

i. Introduction:
In todays industrial world, there are many cases where the sine wave is cut, sliced, diced, rectified, or
otherwise distorted. This causes harmonics to be generated in the current flow.
With the advent of solid state electronics in the marketplace, there has been a increase in the number
and magnitude of transients and harmonics present in the Alternating Current power supplies that we
use every day.
Sometimes these variations are harmless, and sometimes they can cause real problems. This term
paper presents what are the reasons for generation of harmonics, types of harmonics and even
harmonics are discussed along with the solutions to mitigate this problem.
ii. Literature Review:
For this purpose different papers and catalogs are studied to address the above given problem.
[1] Christopher I. Connolly, Roderic A. Grupen, Harmonic Control, Laboratory for Perceptual
Robotics, Computer Science Department, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, May 26, 1992.

[2] Julio Barros, Matilde de Apriz and Ramn I. Diego, Analysis of second order harmonic
voltages in power systems, Department of Electronics and Computers Escuela Tcnica Superior
de Nutica, University of Cantabria Dique de Gamazo 1, 39004 Santander, Spain.

[3] Oscar Armando Maldonado Astorga, Jos Luz Silveira, Julio Carlos Damato, The influence of
harmonics from non-linear loads in the measuring transformers of electrical substations,
Laboratory of High Voltage and Electric Power Quality Otimization Group of Energy Systems.

[4] Robert J. Scoff, PE, How Harmonics Are Generated, PDHengineer.com Course No E-3018,
2008.

[5] C. J. KIM and B. DON RUSSELL, Harmonic Behavior during Arcing Faults on Power
Distribution Feeders, Department of Electrical Engineering, Texas A & M University, College
Station, TX 77843-3128 (U.S.A.), January 3, 1988.

[6] Paul C. Buddingh, P.Eng. Member, IEEE, Even Harmonic Resonance- An Unusual Problem,
Material IEEE Paper No. PCIC 2002-11, Universal Dynamics Limited 100 13700 International
Place Richmond, BC V6V 2X8 Canada.

[7] Harmonics in your electrical system Eaton Corporation 1.800.356.5794.

iii. Presented Paper Methodology:

Harmonics
A harmonic is a signal or wave whose frequency is an integral (whole-number) multiple of the
frequency of some reference signal or wave.
The term can also refer to the ratio of the frequency of such a signal or wave to the frequency of
the reference signal or wave.
The deviations from the fundamental frequency sine wave, expressed as additional sine waves of
frequencies that are a multiple of the generated frequency.
Types of Harmonics:
Odd Harmonics
Even Harmonics
Inter-Harmonics

Even Harmonics:
Even order harmonic components are undesirable power system components that produce
asymmetries between positive and negative half-waves in voltage and current waveforms.
Nonlinear loads with asymmetrical i-v characteristics inject even harmonic currents that, when
circulating through the power system, produce even harmonics in voltage waveforms.
Even order harmonics produce higher detrimental effects in power system loads than odd order
harmonics. For this reason international power quality standards define very strict limits for even
order harmonic components.
European Standard EN 50160 defines the individual limits for even order harmonics in voltage
supply in public distribution systems.
Even Harmonics
Harmonic Order % of Nominal Voltage
2 2 %
4 1 %
6.24 0.5 %

The main effect that produces even harmonics is the asymmetry of voltage or current waveforms.
The r.m.s. magnitude of the even harmonic components or their percentages with respect to the
fundamental component do not give an exact representation of the asymmetry between the
positive and negative half-cycles of voltage or current waveforms.
To this purpose, the Asymmetry Factor (AF), can be used to characterize the difference between
the positive and negative peak values of a signal.
The Asymmetry Factor is a function of the magnitude and phase angle of the even harmonic
components.
AF = (V
pp
- |V
pn
| ) / V
1

















Some of Asymmetrical Loads:
Half-wave Rectifiers
Full-wave Rectifiers
Half-Controlled Converters
Arc Furnaces
Electrical Discharge Devices
Have-wave Rectifier
It consists of a voltage source, a resistor, and a solid state diode. The solid state diode only
conducts current in one direction.
Therefore, the resistor, R, only has a current flow through it, and a voltage across it when the
alternating current input voltage is positive.
This particular circuit has a DC component, the first harmonic, and even harmonics such as the
second, forth, sixth, and so on.



















Full-wave Rectifier
Full wave rectified loads are a more serious problem because, in practice, full wave rectified
loads can be much larger than half wave rectified loads.
A typical single phase full wave rectifier circuit is shown in Figure.






















iv. Improved Methodology:

The following are the methods to overcome the even harmonics:
Oversize the neutral wiring
Use separate neutral conductors
Use DC power supplies, which are not affected by harmonics
Use K-rated transformers in power distribution components
Use Powerware power distribution units (PDUs) with harmonic-mitigating transformers
The details of these methods are given as follows:
Oversize the neutral wiring
In modern facilities, the neutral wiring should always be specified to be the same capacity as the
power wiring, or largereven though electrical codes may permit under-sizing the neutral wire.
An appropriate design to support a load of many personal computers, such as a call center, would
specify the neutral wiring to exceed the phase wire capacity by about 200 percent.
Particular attention should be paid to wiring in office cubicles. Note that this approach protects
the building wiring, but it does not help protect the transformers.
Use separate neutral conductors
On three-phase branch circuits, instead of installing a multi-wire branch circuit sharing a neutral
conductor, run separate neutral conductors for each phase conductor.
This increases the capacity and ability of the branch circuits to handle harmonic loads.
This approach successfully eliminates the addition of the harmonic currents on the branch circuit
neutrals, but the panel board neutral bus and feeder neutral conductor must still be considered.
Use DC power supplies, which are not affected by harmonics
In the typical data center, the power distribution system converts 480-volt AC utility power
through a transformer that steps it down to 208-volt AC power that feeds racks of servers.
One or more power supplies within each server convert this AC input into DC voltage appropriate
for the units internal components.
These internal power supplies are not energy efficient, and they generate substantial heat, which
puts a costly burden on the rooms air conditioning system. Heat dissipation also limits the
number of servers that can be housed in a data center.
According to a recent article in Energy and Power Management magazine, ''Computers and
servers equipped with DC power supplies instead of AC power supplies produce 20 to 40 percent
less heat, reduce power consumption by up to 30 percent, increase server reliability, offer
flexibility to installations, and experience decreased maintenance requirements.
That sounds good, but when cost, compatibility, reliability and efficiency are considered together,
the move from AC to DC power is not justified for most data centers. AC powereven though it
is slightly less efficientis universally acceptable to existing equipment.
Use K-rated transformers in power distribution components
A standard transformer is not designed for high harmonic currents produced by non-linear loads.
It will overheat and fail prematurely when connected to these loads.
When harmonics were introduced into electrical systems at levels that showed detrimental effects
(circa 1980), the industry responded by developing the K-rated transformer.
K-rated transformers are not used to handle harmonics, but they can handle the heat generated by
harmonic currents and are very efficient when used under their K-factor value. K-factor ratings
range between 1 and 50. A standard transformer designed for linear loads is said to have a K-
factor of 1.
The higher the K-factor, the more heat from harmonic currents the transformer is able to handle.
Making the right selection of K-factor is very important, because it affects cost and safety.
The table shows appropriate K-factor ratings to use for different percentages of non-linear current
in the electrical system.
Non-linear Load K-Rating
Incidental electronic equipment representing <5 percent K1
Harmonic-producing equipment representing <35 percent K4
Harmonic-producing equipment representing <50 percent K7
Harmonic-producing equipment representing <75 percent K13
Harmonic-producing equipment representing <100 percent K20

v. How the result can be improved:
The usual power quality indices (e.g., total harmonic distortion, telephone inference factor) are well
defined for even harmonics. However, none of those indices can capture the waveform asymmetry.
Total even harmonic distortion (TEHD) is proposed to consider the special effect of even harmonics.
The difference between the AF and the crest factor (CF) must be clarified.
vi. Final Paper (Abstract):
This article deals with the even harmonic components (especially second harmonic components) in
power system voltages and currents. The power system even harmonic components can be generated
from semi-controlled three-phase rectifiers and dc-biased transformers. Those components cause
unequal positive and negative peak values, which are called waveform asymmetry. Waveform
asymmetries have a harmful impact on the loads sensitive to voltage or current peaks.
Relative increases of the odd and even harmonics (the unit is the percentage of the
fundamental 60 Hz) during an arcing fault without capacitor banks
Odd Harmonics Even Harmonics
Order Value Order Value
1 100 2 .14
3 .83 4 .16
5 .35 6 .24
7 1.0 8 .06
9 .50 10 .10
11 .38 12 .11
13 .19 14 .07
15 .10 16 .11
17 .09 18 .07