Power Quality in Electrical Power System - Coursework Example

Power Quality in Electrical Power Systems Introduction Power quality is defined as the limits of electrical properties that allow the electrical systems to work without major power losses in their intended manner. It is also referred to as the electrical load’s ability to work efficiently and properly. When it comes to the quality maintenance of the electrical system the issue of power quality becomes critically importance and considerable attention is usually devoted to assure the power quality maintenance so that the electrical system could work efficiently and uninterruptedly. The consequences of improper power may result in causing the electrical device to fail prematurely or not operate at all. Power quality is actually the quality of the voltage rather than the quality of power or electric current (Kazibwe and Sendaula, 1993). Components of Power Quality Power quality components mainly include line reactors, dv/dt reactors and filters, sine wave filters, harmonic filters and regen reactors and filters. A line reactor is an electronic component and is generally wired between a power source and the load. Its function is to oppose sudden and rapid changes in electric current. It has most uses for the three phase electric power and they are usually installed in motor driven equipment in order to limit the starting current (Fuchs and Masoum, 2008). DV / DT are defined as the capacity of capacitors to withstand high currents. Dv / DT Filter are designed to reduce dv/dt and peak voltages to motors fed from a wide variety of inverters. The suitability of this filter is for a specific application therefore it must be determined by the customer before use. Sine Wave Filters are basically designed for converting the output voltage wave forms that are produced by a wide variety of inverters into a low distortion sine wave for drive, power conversion applications and various other applications (Dixit and Yadav, 2010). Harmonic filters are used to eliminate harmonic waves and are also used for the production of necessary reactive power. The equipment is also used to eliminate spurious signals in the frequency range of power-line carrier equipment, in the range of 30 kHz to 500 kHz. Important Of Maintaining High Power Quality Power quality forms the basis of the global economy hence power quality is an issue for industrialists and economic leaders. There hardly can be a machine or product that doesn’t requires electrical energy to be operated. Engines, automobiles, planes, computers etc all need electricity in order to be in proper running conditions. High power quality will directly impact on improving potential and capital of industries. It is usually referred to as one of the future issues of economy. Better power quality will obviously result in better benefits as suboptimal power quality does not only causes additional costs and expenses but can also damage sensitive machineries. Poor power quality will not only destroy machineries but will also cause voltage surges, resistors to burn out. The damage caused could be due to the variations in voltage, fundamental frequency and harmonic distortions or the high frequency notes occurring repeatedly could also be the factor leading to the malfunctioning of machinery (Benysek and Pasko, 2012). Power quality will extend the life cycle for the machineries and will tend to improve efficiency. High and efficient power quality would also contribute in protecting grids and saving resources. High power quality will result in less power losses as the power quality bar will be high there will be less consumption and therefore less losses of power. This will all aid in improving the economy of the industry as when the power quality will be maintained, power losses will be minimal so automatically expenses will be saved. Not only this, high power quality would also have an impact over production as under good power conditions production of products would on the verge of increase and furthermore the machineries having provided with high power quality will be in the most efficient working conditions. It has been said that “power quality pays off always and forever” (Kazibwe and Sendaula, 1993). Maintaining high power quality is therefore an important aspect of economy. Factors Impacting Power Quality Other than poor quality service in most of the regions there are numerous other factors impacting power quality. Among these are lack of investment, poor planning of capital fund to keep the spare capacity of state-owned generating stations, overloaded transmission lines and distribution feeders and uncontrolled energy losses in electrical distribution systems are some of the causes. In developing countries the variations in the distribution of electricity have greatly affected the power quality. Due to the energy losses, the economy of the electrical companies have been in the red that indicates the alarming point. Poor administration and poor management practices have also been a reason behind poor power quality (Dixit and Yadav, 2010). Most of the investors and industrialists do not pay attention towards the investment to ensure a good power quality. They rather tend to spend their cash towards increasing their production which pretty much gives the fact that at present usually the economy leaders are unaware of the worthy of power quality. As otherwise they would have made their focus towards the quality of power production which ultimately leads to increased electricity output and hence product generation (Dugan, 2003). The governments have also played its part in being the factor behind low quality power production in electrical power systems. Lack of interest shown by the government towards the transmission lines, PMT’s and power houses have also caused an unsteady flow of power towards electrical power industries. One of the other factors has also been the overloaded transmission lines which ultimately enhance poor power production disrupting electrical power systems and machinery. Means Of Controlling And Improving Power Quality Firstly attempts must be made by different electrical engineers to start awareness programs for the people in government and different company owners so that they understand the importance behind improving power quality. To avoid poor management and administration practices proper methodical work should be done for the particular case also and supervision must be done to avoid any kind of mishaps. The government must make an attempt to try and improvise new solutions towards poor quality. They should be on their toes and make an effort to improve grid station and substation standards. Further it should be ensured that power generation and power distribution is of supreme quality and that attempts should be made to avoid the overloading of transmission lines (Kazibwe and Sendaula, 1993). Among the technical approaches towards controlling power quality are load conditioning and line conditioning. Load conditioning will ensure that the power equipment or electrical power system is less sensitive to power distortions and disturbances while line conditioning counteracts any kind of voltage disruptions. These two solutions can be obtained by using and installing active power filters. In the same way the addition of harmonic fitters and capacitor banks will also aid us in our quest. The installation of surge protectors will also prevent a large percentage of overloads (Benysek and Pasko, 2012). Batteries and flywheels must be used because they have long term power storage so if a grid goes down for hours electrical systems could still be in working condition. For devices that work on D.C supply, more efficient relays and circuit breakers should be installed. Furthermore the use of smart grids must be enhanced being a modern technology and various advantages. It would automatically shut off the non critical equipments to lighten the load in order to provide a quality power (Dugan, 2003). Working of the power quality improving subsystems: Power quality has played a major role in improving and defying the new standards for subsystems. Subsystems contribute together to form a larger part for example session manager in computers is a subsystem of the whole windows. Session managers have their uses to create environment variables, create DOS device mappings and run of Win32 subsystem. Due to advancement in computer technologies, a human now expects the computers and windows to work faster and power quality has made it possible to run subsystems at a good high rate (Benysek and Pasko, 2012). Not only in computers but in all the electrically operated machines power quality has really improved the standards of subsystems hence have improved the overall efficiency. Today we have mobile phones or more rightly the smart phones that work at immense quality or the GSM or WIFI all have their subsystems basis improved because of high extreme power quality. In the GSM network switching subsystems carries out call switching and mobile roaming functions. It allows mobile devices to communicate with each other and telephones in a public switched telephone network (PSTN). This technology has been made possible only because of excellent power quality. Therefore, the working of the power quality has become a backbone in improving the subsystems. Power quality is an important aspect of industries today and the issues related to it must be overcome since numerous barriers could be overcome if super fine power quality is available. References: Benysek, G. and Pasko, M. (2012). Power Theories for Improved Power Quality. London: Springer Dixit, J., and Yadav, A. (2010). Electrical Power Quality. Delhi: Laxmi Publications Dugan, P. (2003). Electrical Power System Quality. US: Tata McGraw-Hill Education Fuchs, E. and Masoum, M. (2008). Power Quality in Power Systems and Electrical Machines. Texas: Academic Press Kazibwe, W. and Sendaula, M. (1993). Electrical Power Quality Control Techniques. London: Springer Read More