Introduction
Electrical power is not often thought of as raw material, but it is vital to virtually all types of manufacturing. The quality of power is therefore of concern. Unlike many raw materials, power is consumed as soon as it is generated. It cannot be stored to be analyzed for quality in the future. If power quality is unsatisfactory, it cannot be recycled or repaired and returned to the process. It must be monitored continuously and its quality established in real time. Its quality affects both the producers and the consumers, especially those loads contain sensitive electronic equipments, control systems and computers. Power quality is a phenomenon that has been recognized by all specialists in power industry. Due to this wide recognition, and since all manufacturing process contain sensitive equipments, it is becoming standard practice to adopt the power quality and seek the ways on how to monitor it's quality and make the needed correction
What is power Quality
Power quality is the set of limits of electrical properties that allows electrical systems to function in their intended manner without significant loss of performance or life expectancy. The term is used to describe electric power that drives an electrical load and the load's ability to function properly with that electric power. Without the adequate power, an electrical device (or load) may malfunction, fail prematurely or not operate at all. There are many ways in which electric power can be of poor quality and many more causes for it. Power quality can also be defined as; any Power problem manifested in voltage, current, or frequency deviations that result in failure or mis-operation of customer operation.
Factors affecting the quality of power
Power quality in power networks and equipments get affected due to many reasons such as :
- Harmonics
- Unbalance
- Voltage sag or swell
- Transient
- Power cutoff
