Simulation of Power Quality Problems on a University Distribution System

Wu Jun
Guangxi Water Resources & Electric Power Design Institute Nanning 530023, P. R. China

Tapan Kumar Saha, Senior Member, IEEE

Department of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Qld-4072, Australia

Abstract This paper presents the power quality research work

on the distribution system of the University of Queensland, St. Lucia campus. The Alternate Transients Program (ATP) was used in modelling the distribution system components and simulating the processes of harmonic distortion, capacitor switching, voltagesag caused by system faults and large motor starting. The simulation results were analysed and compared with relevant standards for evaluating the quality of power in the distribution system. Keywords Power quality, distribution system, non-linear load, harmonics, capacitor switching transient, voltage sag, EMTP modelling and simulation.

I. INTRODUCTION There is a growing concern of Electric Power Quality in recent years with the proliferation of modern electronics such as PCs, variable speed drives and industrial programmable logic controllers (PLCs). While such equipments are sensitive to the variation of the supply voltage, they are also the source for power quality problems. Due to the non-linear load characteristics of solid state power conversion equipment, harmonics current is injected into the power system and causes voltage harmonics distortion. Apart from harmonics, transient voltage variations resulted from lightning strikes, switching of power line/capacitor bank and voltage sags caused by system faults and large motor starting are common concerns related to the Electric Power Quality issue. Power quality research mainly involves four areas: fundamental concepts and aspect [1][2]; power quality monitoring and measurement [3]-[5]; modelling and analysis [6]-[7]; engineering application and problem solving [8]-[9]. Most of the work is focussed on the distribution system where the customers sensitive equipment suffers mal-operation/interruption under various kinds of power disturbances both from the system and from the local network. The power distribution system of the University of Queensland consists of twenty four 11 kV substations, approximately 8 km of 11kV underground power cable with a maximum load level of 14MW. The distribution system is supplied by the local utility through a 33kV substation, which is located on the University campus. The load pattern of the distribution system mainly includes airconditioners, fluorescent lighting, PCs, heaters, workshop motors, etc. Some power quality related disturbances were reported in the University distribution system over the past few years. The motors in the central chiller plant tripped occasionally. The newly installed Mass Spectrometry (MS) instrument in the Chemistry Building which had been put into use for about 8 months suffered nuisance tripping during operation. Though no equipment had been severely

damaged under such abnormal tripping, the time consuming reset/restarting process for the MS instrument caused inconvenience to the operating personnel. For monitoring and evaluating the power quality in the University distribution system, previous research had been conducted in which a BMI 8010 PQ Node instrument was installed at several buses in Substation 2, the recorded data had been processed and initial analysis was reported [10]. The objective of this paper is to formulate the models of University distribution system components and simulate several processes related to power quality problems with the help of ATP which include harmonics distortion, capacitor switching and voltage sag from system fault and large motor starting.

II. COMPONENT MODELS

One of the typical feeders in the distribution system was chosen for this study, which involve Substations 10 and 2. The single line diagram is shown in Figure 1. Both Sub.10 and Sub.2 are responsible for supplying power to a number of University buildings and the load mainly includes airconditioners, fluorescent lighting, PCs and motors in laboratories and workshops. The Mass Spectrometry instrument in the Chemistry building just imported from the US with a rated voltage of 208/120V. So a 30kVA, 415/208V dry type transformer is used specifically for the MS instrument. 1. Transformer model The transformer is modelled with series impedance for the windings together with a shunt magnetising branch of the core. For a harmonic study, transformer short circuit impedance, magnetising characteristics and winding connections determine harmonic flows. Although the resistance and leakage inductance of the transformer windings are frequency-dependent, modelling them as constant R and L is generally acceptable for typical harmonics studies [6], [7]. Transformer saturation effect is neglected since the harmonics generated by a transformer is insignificant compared with the harmonics from non-linear loads. The phase-shift effect due to a transformers connection has been included in the three-phase transformer model. For the high frequency transient study, such as the lightning induced transient and line switching, the transformer winding stray capacitance and bushing capacitance have to be included in the transformer models. Basic transformer parameters (as supplied by a local manufacturer) used to generate input data for transformer models are shown in Table 1. 2. Underground power cable model A cable equivalent circuit with PI circuit was used to construct the three-phase underground cable models. First,

the unit-length series impedance and shunt admittance paraTable 1 Transformer basic parameters Capacity Io No Trans (kVA) (%) Rating (kV) 1 33/11 16,000 0.25 2 11/0.415 1,000 0.85 3 11/0.415 750 0.80 4 0.415/0. 30 0.60 208 pnl (kW) 10.0 1.0 0.8 0.25 Psh (kW) 75.0 9.0 7.1 0.85 Z (%) 10.0 5.0 5.0 4.0

The 33kV system source is modelled as a standard voltage source with the equivalent system impedance, which is converted from the three-phase short circuit strength at the 33kV bus. The capacitor bank is represented by a standard EMTP capacitor component with the threephase kVAR rating converted to F value. 6. Mass Spectrometry instrument The Mass Spectrometry instrument consists of a rotary vacuum pump, turbo-molecular pump and diffusion pump (single phase induction motor and resistive heater) and the

-meters are computed according to the geometrical and physical arrangement of the cable while the earth return effect is taken into account by Carsons homogeneous earth model. The earth resistivity is selected as a typical value of 100 ohm-m due to the lack of data. For the long-line effects, it was reported that the estimated critical cable length is 90/n mile, n is the harmonics number [6]. The length of the cable in this study is just several hundred meters, so the long-line effect is ignored. Under such consideration, the [Z] and [Y] matrices are simply the unitlength parameters multiplied by the cable length. 3. Harmonics source model Non-linear load, such as PCs, fluorescent lights and ASDs are modelled as constant harmonics current sources. The harmonics current spectrum is determined according to previous research [5] and is listed in Table 2.
Table 2 Non-linear load harmonics current spectrum (Ih / I1) H 3 5 7 9 11 13 PC 0.81 0.53 0.25 0.09 0.05 0.04 Flu. 0.16 0.086 0.029 0.02 0.014 0.008 light ASD 0.175 0.111 0.045 0.029 15 0.03 0.004

process control units of vacuum control, voltage control and gas control together with a PC work station. The various pumps are modelled as generalised linear loads while the control units and the PC facilities as single-phase AC-DC static converters. Induction pumps and the resistive heater can tolerate most power quality problems. However, the process controllers are very sensitive and it is reasonable to presume that some kind of network disturbances can cause the interruption of the process controller and can lead to the overall shut down of the MS instrument during normal operation.

III. SIMULATION RESULTS A Harmonic distortion The harmonic current is injected into the distribution network when the PC, fluorescent light and ASD are supplied with sinusoidal voltage due to the non-linear characteristics of the load. The distorted current flow through the network will produce a voltage drop across the network impedance and result in a distorted voltage.
The periodic voltage or current distorted waveforms can be represented by the sum of a series of multiple frequency terms of varying magnitudes and phase (Fourier series) as shown in Formula 1. (1) f(t)=a0+[an cos (nt+n)] n = 1,2,3,. The individual harmonic distortion (HD) and total harmonic distortion (THD) are defined as follows. HDn= an /a1 n = 2,3,4,. THD= [(an2) / (a12) Where an is the magnitude of the nth harmonic frequency, a1 is the magnitude of the fundamental 2

I1- fundamental frequency load current. Here h = Harmonics order, Ih- h harmonic current, 4. Generalised linear load model Linear loads are represented by parallel R and L elements. The value of R and L can be computed by the active power P and reactive power Q of the load according to the following formula: R=V2/P; L=V2/(2f0Q) 5. System source and capacitor bank

frequency ,n is the phase angle of the nth harmonic frequency and is the fundamental frequency. Reference [11] summarises the known effects of power system harmonics on equipment. There are two major categories of harmonic effects on equipment. The first is overheating in power handling equipment such as transformers, capacitors and motors, which could reduce the equipments operating life. The second category is disruption of operation for electronic controlled equipment such as PCs, ASDs, PLCs etc. To evaluate the possible harmonic effects on the electronic equipment in the University distribution system, the ATP simulation was conducted to attain the voltage and current harmonic distortion level at various buses. The voltage and current waveforms for some typical buses are shown in Figures 2-5 and the harmonic spectrum are shown in Tables 3 and 4.
20000

with the IEEE injected harmonic current limitation, and the harmonic current distortion level was found to exceed the IEEE requirement at all locations except BUS 1 and BUS 3.
Table 3 Harmonic voltage spectrum HDn and THD (%) N Bus 1 Bus 2 Bus3 Bus4 Bus5 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 THD 0.0013 0.0113 0.0208 0.0005 0.0018 0.00149 0.0002 2.41
200

Bus6 1 0.008 0.0055 0.019 0.0026 0.0017 0.0002 0.0003 2.26

0.0108 0.0065 0.0156 0.0032 0.0004 0.0012 0.0013 2.09

0.0048 0.0083 0.019 0.0013 0.0010 0.0009 0.0003 2.21

0.0023 0.0082 0.015 0.0009 0.0016 0.0022 0.0006 1.79

0.014 0.0036 0.015 0.0045 0.0023 0.0021 0.0013 2.17

Voltage(V) 10

V o lta g e (V )

100

10000

t(S )
0 .0 .1 6 0 0 .1 8 0 0 .2 0 0 0 .2 2 0 0 .2 4 0 0

0.0 .0250 .0750 .1250 .1750 .2251

-100

t(S)

-200

-10000

Figure 4 Bus 4 Voltage Waveform

400

V o lt a g e (V )

-20000

200

Figure 2. Bus 2 Current waveform

40

C u rre n t(A )

0.0 .1600 .1800 .2000 .2200 .2400

t(S )

20

-200

0.0 .1 6 0 0 .1 8 0 0 .2 0 0 0 .2 2 0 0 .2 4 0 0

-400

t(S )

-2 0

Figure 5 Bus 5 Voltage waveform Table 4 Harmonic current spectrum HDn and THD (%) N Bus 1 Bus 2 Bus 3 Bus 4 Bus 5 Bus 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 0.0003 0.139 0.069 0.149 0.200 0.173 5 0.074 0.085 0.045 0.094 0.092 0.077 7 0.032 0.038 0.024 0.049 0.047 0.022 9 0.0006 0.015 0.0077 0.017 0.023 0.021 11 0.0056 0.0066 0.0032 0.0084 0.0086 0.0076 13 0.0062 0.0059 0.0028 0.0072 0.012 0.068 15 0.0003 0.0046 0.0023 0.0058 0.005 0.0029 THD 8.09 16.88 8.62 18.48 22.73 19.19 Note: BUS1 current refer to the current of 11kV Sub2 & Sub10 feeder at BUS1, the other BUS current refer to the incoming main feeder current at the lower voltage panels.

-4 0

Figure 3 Bus 4 Current waveform

The simulation results show that the /Y0 connection of the 11/0.415 kV distribution transformer contribute to the blocking of triplen (3rd, 9th, 15th) harmonics current from entering the 11kV side. The 11kV Sub 2 & Sub 10 feeder have a low current distortion level due to the blocking of triplen harmonics. The harmonics distortion levels vary with the load level at the customer side. The harmonics monitoring at Sub 2 [10] indicated that at the 415V Bus, current THD falls in the range 10%-25% with voltage THD of 1.5%-3.2%. IEEE standard 519-1992 describes recommended practices and requirements for harmonic control in electric power system; this also specifies requirements on the user as well as on the utility. Comparing the simulation result of voltage harmonic distortions at different bus (Table 3) with the IEEE standard, both the individual harmonic and THD meet the IEEE requirements. The simulated current distortions at various locations (Table 4) were compared

B Capacitor switching Capacitor switching is a daily utility operation for the purpose of power factor correction. Because the capacitor voltage can not change instantaneously, energization of a capacitor bank results in an immediate drop in system voltage towards zero, followed by a fast voltage recovery (overshoot) and finally an oscillating transient voltage superimposed on the 50 Hz fundamental waveform. The peak voltage magnitude depends on the instantaneous system voltage at the moment of switching and can reach 2.0 times the normal system peak voltage under extreme 3

conditions. The magnitude is usually less than this due to damping by system load and network resistive elements. Typical distribution system overvoltages due to capacitor switching range from 1.1-1.6 pu with transient frequencies ranging from 300-1000Hz. The capacitor-switching transient was simulated and Figures 6-8 show the voltage waveforms at various buses. Since the voltage waveforms at the 415V bus of Sub 2 and Sub 10 are identical, only the Bus 5 voltage is plotted. The overvoltage at 11kV, 415V and 208V Bus are 1.69 pu, 1.50 pu and 1.53 pu respectively. This refer to the worse case of capacitor switching in which the capacitor is energised at the instant when system voltage is at its peak. In order to obtain the maximum anticipated overvoltages and the overvoltage distribution trends; the EMTP statistical switching (random switching) simulation was conducted.
20000

The possible maximum voltage at 11 kV, 415V and 208V buses caused by the capacitor switching is 1.69 pu,
Table 5 Statistical switching of 5 MVAR capacitor bank, 200 shots, overvoltage Maximum Mean Standard Deviation Bus1 Voltage 15253V 11564V 0.201 (8980V Crest) (1.698 pu) (1.29 pu) Bus4 Voltage 266V 202.6V 0.188 (169.7V Crest) (1.57 pu) (1.19 pu) Bus5 Voltage 517V 392V 0.197 (338.8V Crest) (1.53 pu) (1.16 pu) Table 6 Statistical switching of 5 MVAR capacitor bank, 200 shots, trends V1.2 V1.3 V1.4 V1.5 pu pu pu pu BUS 1 113 shots 86 shots 66 shots 38 shots (11 kV) (57%) (43%) (33%) (19%) BUS 4 83 shots 61 shots 36 shots 25 shots (208V) (42%) (31%) (18%) (13%) BUS 5 78 shots 61 shots 33 shots 10 shots (415V) (39%) (31%) (17%) (5%)

V o lta g e (V ) 10

10000

0 .0 .0 2 5 0 .0 7 5 0 .1 2 5 0 .1 7 5 0 .2 2 5 1

t(S )

-1 0 0 00

-2 0 0 00

Figure 6 Bus 1 Voltage waveform, capacitor switching

400

V o lta g e (V )

200

0 .0 .0250 .0750 .1250 .1750 .2251

t(S )

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1.53 pu and 1.57 pu respectively. While indicating the switching transients is damped by the network when it propagates downstream, it also shows that the transients remain almost undamped when it passes through the stepdown transformer due to the low frequency character of the capacitor switching transients. The trend study illustrates similar tendencies that the low voltage BUS (415V, 208V) has less probability of overvoltage than the high voltage BUS (11kV). Even so, the 208V BUS4 where the MS instrument is connected will still have about 42% probability of overvoltage exceeding 1.2 pu under a capacitor switching condition. Some kinds of sensitive electronic equipment have a low overvoltage protection threshold to protect the semiconductor components. For example, the ASD (pulse- width modulated (PWM)) has a low tripping level of 1.17 pu at the dc Bus. The capacitorswitching transients may cause nuisance tripping for such kinds of equipment. C Voltage Sag Voltage sag is the decrease in the RMS voltage magnitude lasting between one cycle and several seconds, which is usually caused by faults on the power system and motor starting. Voltage sags due to system fault normally lasts 3-6 cycles, which is the total time for fault detection and breaker operation to clear the fault. The duration of the sag caused by motor starting is generally longer, but with a smaller sag magnitude. Previous research on monitoring distribution system power quality indicates that the majority of voltage sags have a magnitude around 80% and a duration of 4-10 cycles [3]. The controller tripped at about 80% voltage regardless of the duration. To evaluate the voltage sag condition in the University distribution system, the simulation of sags due to system faults and motor starting was conducted. C1 Voltage sags due to system faults Most of the faults on the utility transmission and distribution system are single line to ground faults 4

Figure 7 Bus 4 Voltage waveform, capacitor switching

8 00

V o lta g e (V )

4 00

0 .0 .0 2 50 .0 7 50 .1 2 50 .1 7 50 .2 2 51

t(S )

- 4 00

- 8 00

Figure 8 Bus 5 Voltage waveform, capacitor switching

The statistical closing target time is the maximum phase A voltage at the capacitor bank and the random closing was allowed to vary over 1 cycle of 50 Hz (20ms) using a Gaussian (normal) distribution. Table 5 and 6 show the results of 200 shots of statistical capacitor switching.

(SLGFs). These faults are the most common cause of voltage sags for distribution system customer. The voltage sag simulation presumes that SLG fault occur at phase A in the 33kV system for a duration of 6 cycles before the fault is cleared. The resulting waveforms in bus 4 are shown in Figures 9-11. The 415V bus voltage at Sub10 and Sub2 are similar since the two substations are nearby and both of the 11/0.415 kV transformers power rating and windings connection scheme are identical. Table 7 lists the threephase voltage sags magnitude due to 33kV system phase A SLG fault.
Table 7 Voltage sags magnitude due to 33kV system SLG fault (phase A)

200

V o lta g e (V )

100

t(S )
0.0 .0 2 5 0 .0 7 5 0 .1 2 5 0 .1 7 5 0 .2 2 5 1

-100

-200

208VBUS4 (169.7V Crest) 415V BUS5 (338.8V Crest)

PhaseA 169.7V (1.0 pu) 300V (0.886 pu)

PhaseB 125V (0.737 pu) 300V (0.886 pu)

PhaseC 125V (0.737 pu) 220V (0.649 pu)

Figure 10 Bus 4 phase B voltage waveform

200

V o lta g e (V )

100

0 .0 .0 2 5 0 .0 7 5 0 .1 2 5 0 .1 7 5 0 .2 2 5 1

t(S )

The transformer winding connections between the point of the fault and the equipment terminal attributes to different three-phase voltage sag pattern at BUS4 and BUS5. The SLG fault in the 33 kV system will result in the extreme voltage sag of 0.737 pu at BUS4 and 0.649 pu at BUS5 for about 6 cycles respectively. This is severe enough to trip the sensitive equipment such as the process controller which can not tolerate a sag below 0.80 pu [12]. C2 Voltage sags due to motor starting Motors draw high reactive current (5-7 times of rated current) from the supply during the starting process, which usually lasts for about 30 cycles. This sudden rise of current flow through the network impedance results in the voltage sag at the terminal bus. The sag magnitude mainly depends on the starting motors power rating, the network impedance and the system source strength. A motor with a power rating of 150 kW connected to 415V Bus 2 is simulated for the starting process; the starting current is 6 times of the rated current. The result is shown in Figures. 12-14. Voltage sags at motor terminal, Sub. 10, 415V panel and at MS lab 208V Bus are 0.82 pu, 0.94 pu and 0.95 pu respectively. As expected, voltage sags are most severe at the motor terminal, the other equipment connected with the starting motor at the same feeder suffers the most. But the 415V main distribution panel and the other feeders experience insignificant voltage sag during the motor starting process. The voltage sags due to motor starting are not severe enough to cause equipment misoperation.
20 0

-100

-200

Figure 11 Bus 4 phase C voltage waveform

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V o lta g e (V )

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0 .0

.07 50

.22 50

.37 50

.52 50

.67 50

t(S )

-200

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Figure 12 Motor terminal voltage waveform (motor starting)

400

V o lta g e (V )

200

1 0 .0 .0 7 5 0 .2 2 5 0 1 .3 7 5 0 .5 2 5 0 .6 7 5 0

t(S )

-2 0 0

-4 0 0

Figure 13: 415V Bus 2 voltage waveform (motor starting)

200

V o l t a g e (V )

100

V o lta g e (V )
t (S )
1 0 .0 .0 7 5 0 .2 2 5 0 .3 7 5 0 .5 2 5 0 .6 7 5 0

10 0
-100

t(S )
0.0 .02 50 .07 50 .12 50 .17 50 .22 51
-200

- 100

Figure 14 208V Bus 4 voltage waveform (motor starting)

- 200

Figure 9 Bus 4 phase A voltage waveform

IV MITIGATION METHOD FOR IMPROVING TRANSIENTS OVERVOLTAGE One commonly used method for limiting the transient overvoltage on the DC bus of the sensitive equipment is to arrange a reactor in series with the AC input terminal. EMTP simulation is performed to evaluate the mitigation effects. The process controllers of the MS instrument is modelled as single-phase diode bridge rectifiers with a large filter capacitor connected on the DC side. A series 5% reactor (approximately 0.28 mH) is connected at the AC input terminal. DC Bus voltages for five different capacitor switching simulations are shown in Table 8.
Table 8 MS instrument DC Bus voltage under capacitor switching condition

VI REFERENCES
[1] A. Domijan, G. T. Heydt, A. P. S. Meliopoulos, S. S.Venkata, S. West, Direction Of Research On Electric Power Quality, IEEE Trans. On Power Delivery, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 1993,429-435. [2] R. C. Dungan, M. F. McGranaghan, H. W. Beaty, Electrical Power Systems Quality, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1996. [3] E. W. Gunther, H. Mehta, A Survey Of Distribution System Power Quality-Preliminary Results, IEEE Trans. On Power Delivery, Vol. 10, No. 1, January 1993, pp. 322-328. [4] D. O. Koval, How Long Should Power System Disturbance Site Monitoring Be To Be Significant, IEEE Trans. on Industry Application, Vol. 26, No. 4, July/August 1990, pp. 705-710. [5] A. Mansoor, W. M. Grady, Predicting The Net Harmonic Currents Produced By Large Numbers Of Distributed Single Phase Computer Loads, IEEE Trans. On Power Delivery, Vol. 10, No. 4, October 1995, pp. 2001-2006. [6] Task Force On Harmonics Modelling And Simulation, Modelling And Simulation Of The Propagation Of The Harmonics In Electric Power Networks, Part I: Concepts, Models And Simulation Techniques, IEEE Trans. On Power Delivery, Vol. 11, No. 1, Jan. 1995, pp. 450-460. [7] Power Electronics Modelling Task Force & Digital Simulation Working Group, Guidelines For Modelling Power Electronics In Electric Power Engineering Applications, IEEE Trans. On Power Delivery, Vol. 12, No. 1, January 1997, pp. 505-513. [8] J. K. Phipps, J. P. Nelson, P. K. Sen, Power Quality and Harmonic Distortion On Distribution System, IEEE Trans. On Industry Applications, Vol. 30, No.2, Mar./Apr.1994, pp. 476-484. [9] A. A. Girgis, C. M. Fallon, J. C. P. Rubino, R. C. Catoe, Harmonics And Transient Overvoltages Due To Capacitor Switching, IEEE Trans. On Industry Application, Vol. 29, No., Nov./Dec.1993, pp.1184-1188. [10] C. K. K. Victor, Power Line Signal Processing (Power Quality Monitoring), Bachelor Of Engineering Thesis, The University Of Queensland, THE12171, PSE Library, University of Queensland, Oct. 1997. [11] IEEE Task Force On The Effects Of Harmonics On Equipment, Effects Of Harmonics On Equipment, IEEE Trans. On Power Delivery, Vol. 8, No.2, April. 1993, pp. 672-680. [12] J. Lamoree, D. Mueller, P. Vinett, W. Jones, M. Samotyj, Voltage Sag Analysis Case Studies, IEEE Trans. On Industry Applications, Vol. 30, No. 4, Jul./Aug.1994, pp.1083-1089.

No. 1 2 3 4 5

No mitigation 1.57 pu 1.38 pu 1.29 pu 1.34 pu 1.52 pu

With mitigation 1.09 pu 1.04 pu 1.01 pu 1.01 pu 1.05 pu

The results indicate that the mitigation method of connecting a series reactor at the AC input terminal of the sensitive equipment could significantly reduce the overvoltage at the DC side thus enhance the ride through capability under capacitor switching conditions.

V CONCLUSIONS EMTP simulations had been performed in relation to power quality analysis in a University distribution system. The voltage harmonic distortion level is relatively low and within the IEEE 519-1992 limits. However, the harmonic current injected into the system by most of the customers loads exceeds the limits. For the switching of an 11kV, 5 MVA capacitor bank, the maximum transient overvoltage at 415V Bus is around 1.53 pu. Two hundred shots random switching indicates that about 40% of switching induced overvoltage exceeds 1.2 pu at 415V Bus which could cause interruption for some sensitive equipment. Voltage sag at 415V and 208V Bus due to SLGFs in 33kV system is 0.65 pu and 0.74 pu respectively, severe enough to trip sensitive equipment such as process controllers which can not tolerate a voltage sag below 0.8 pu. Voltage sag due to motor starting is insignificant related to power quality concerns. A 5% line reactor installed at the MS instrument terminal can significantly reduce the transient overvoltage at its internal DC bus thus enhance the ride through capability under capacitor switching conditions.

VII BIOGRAPHIES
Wu Jun graduated with an Electrical Engineering Degree and has been working with Guanxi Water Resources and Electric Power Design Institute in China. He worked as a research fellow in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland in 1998. His research interests include power systems and power quality. Tapan Kumar Saha was born in Bangladesh and came to Australia in 1989. Dr. Saha is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Australia. Before joining the University of Queensland he taught at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh for three and a half years and at the James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Australia for two and a half years. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Chartered Professional Engineer of the Institute of Engineers, Australia. His research interests include power systems, power quality, high voltage and insulation engineering.

VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Mr. Adrian Mengede, Senior Electrical Engineer of the Property and Facilities Division of the University of Queensland for his assistance throughout this research.