Power Quality Disturbances, Causes, and Impacts

Impulse transient

Oscillatory
Transient

Dips/Sags

Swells/Surges

Notching

Waveform
Distortion

Transient
Noise

Undervoltage
(Brownout)

Impulse Transient
A sudden and short-duration disturbance caused by a very rapid change in the steadystate condition of voltage, current, or both, that is unidirectional in polarity.
Frequency range: >5 kHz (high frequency)
Duration: 30-200 uSec
Low-frequency transients: <500 Hz
Duration: <30 cycles
Causes:
Impacts:

Capacitor switching
Tripping of ASDs and other sensitive equipment
Voltage magnification at customer capacitors

Oscillatory Transient
A sudden and short-duration disturbance caused by a very rapid change in the steadystate condition of voltage, current, or both, that is bi-directional in polarity.

Medium-frequency transients (500 Hz-2 kHz)

Duration: < 3 cycles)
Causes:

Traveling waves from lightning impulses

Capacitor and circuit switching transients

Impacts: Failure of customer equipment

High frequency Transients >2 kHz

Duration: < 0.5 cycle
Switching on secondary systems
Causes:

Lightning-induced ringing
Local ferroresonance
Radiated noise may disrupt sensitive electronic equipment

Impacts: High rate of rise oscillations may cause low-voltage power supplies to fail
Short-duration voltage variations

Dips
Decrease between 0.1 and 0.9 pu in rms voltage or current at the power frequency for
duration from 0.5 cycles to 1 minute
Causes:

Local and remote faults

Impacts: Dropouts of sensitive customer equipment

Voltage Swells/Surges
Increase to between 1.1 and 1.8 pu in the rms voltage or current at the power frequency
for durations from 0.5 cycle to 1 min

Causes:
Impacts:

Single-line-to-ground faults
Equipment overvoltage
Failure of MOVs forced into conduction
Long-duration voltage variations

Overvoltage
Increase in the rms ac voltage greater than 110% at the power fre quency for a duration
longer than 1 min.
Load switching off
Causes:

Capacitor switching on
System voltage regulation

Impacts: Problems with equipment that require constant steady-state voltage

Under-Voltage
Decrease in the rms ac voltage to less than 90% at the power frequency for a duration
longer than 1 minute

Causes:
Impacts:

Load switching on
Capacitor switching off
Problems with equipment that require constant steady-state voltage, system
voltage regulation

Waveform distortion / Harmonics

Nonlinear loads, such as power electronic equipment, produce non-sinusoidal current
waveforms when energized with a sinusoidal voltage. They inject currents at harmonic
(integer multiple of the fundamental frequency) frequencies into the system. Harmonic
currents, and the voltage distortion they create as they flow through the system
impedance.
Causes:

Nonlinear loads
Improper operation of sensitive equipment

Reduction of equipment operating reliability and service life (0-100th

Impacts: harmonic)
Capacitor failures or fuse blowing
Telephone interference

Notching
Periodic voltage disturbance caused by the normal operation of power electronics
devices when current is commutated from one phase to another
Causes:
Impacts:

Noise

Normal operation of electronic equipment

Improper operation of equipment
Equipment failure

Any unwanted electrical signals with broadband spectral content lower than 200 kHz
superimposed upon the power system voltage or current in phase conductors, or found
on neutral conductors or signal lines
Improper grounding
Causes:

Normal operation of electronic equipment

Arcing devices
Switching power supplies

Impacts:

Interference with electronic devices such as microcomputer and

programmable controllers